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Post subject: Am I missing anything else?
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 9:52 am
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I have seen the GC site currently listing two different versions of the 52 Vintage Tele's. One is listed for $1699 with a description of "Fender American Vintage Series '52 Telecaster" and one is listed for $1999 described as "Fender American Vintage '52 Telecaster". The only differences seem to be the pickups and the wiring. Am I wrong, is there more that I'm missing? The specs are much less robust for the $1699 model, so I cannot make a line by line comparison from that.
I am in love with the butterscotch finish, and am scratching my head over the 300 dollar difference between the 2 listings. Anyone know? Thanks!


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Post subject: Re: Am I missing anything else?
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 10:20 am
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Professional Musician
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Location: Kansas
alvie666 wrote:
I have seen the GC site currently listing two different versions of the 52 Vintage Tele's. One is listed for $1699 with a description of "Fender American Vintage Series '52 Telecaster" and one is listed for $1999 described as "Fender American Vintage '52 Telecaster". The only differences seem to be the pickups and the wiring. Am I wrong, is there more that I'm missing? The specs are much less robust for the $1699 model, so I cannot make a line by line comparison from that.
I am in love with the butterscotch finish, and am scratching my head over the 300 dollar difference between the 2 listings. Anyone know? Thanks!



Alvie - Fender just updated the American Vintage series last month, and there was a fairly significant price increase with the new models. The current version is the one priced at $1,999 and the one priced at $1,699 is the model that has been "retired".

Fender went back and did some more hands-on research with models from the respective years; plus they have made some changes to mixture of the nitro finish. For the AV '52 Tele the most significant changes are to the neck shape - I have not gotten to play one yet but the reports are that the neck is thicker than the previous model. You will notice the color is less "aged" looking - the necks have very little tint to the finish at all, and the body finish is lighter or perhaps a bit more yellow than the previous model - to me the photos look more like the Fender CS "Nocaters" when they are done in the "NOS" finish.

Beyond the neck shape, finish and reworked pickups the other significant change is to the wiring - the new series now comes with "modern" wiring from the factory and instructions on how to convert it to "vintage wiring"; in the past AVs came with "vintage" wiring from the factory and instructions on how to convert it to "modern" wiring. The other changes are cosmetic (reworked switch tips, the look of the tuners, things like that).

"Vintage wiring" on the Teles means the 3-way was wired this way (going with "1" being the switch pointed toward the bridge):

1. bridge pickup with tone control active
2. neck pickup with tone control active
3. neck pickup with a tone capacitor (the "muffled" sound)

"Modern" wiring uses a master tone conrol for all three switch positions, and the positions are:

1. bridge pickup
2. both pickups
3. neck pickup

Actually the '52 Tele is the only one of the prior AV models that was updated; the other models all changed - the '57 Strat, '62 Strat, '70s Strat, '62 Custom Tele, '62 Jazzmaster, and '62 Jaguar were all retired and replaced with new models as Fender tries to do some different neck shapes and acutally do a "round laminate" rosewood fingerboard in the 60s models instead of a slab fingerboard:

'56 Strat
'58 Tele (new - Fender never had a third Tele model)
'59 Strat (with both maple and rosewood fingerboard)
'64 Tele (no more Custom Tele with binding)
'65 Strat
'65 Jazzmaster
'65 Jaguar

Hope that helps - both are fine guitars from Fender. Only you can determine if the new model has changes that you like over the old model and if it is worth the extra cost.


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Post subject: Re: Am I missing anything else?
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:10 am
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Wow thanks! That's exactly all the info I was looking for.


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Post subject: Re: Am I missing anything else?
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 5:11 pm
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Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
I have no plans to trade my "retired" version AVRI 52 Tele in for the new one. 8)

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Post subject: Re: Am I missing anything else?
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 6:10 pm
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Joined: Thu Jun 28, 2007 12:18 pm
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Location: Seattle, WA
one could also have be a "thin kin" model...

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Post subject: Re: Am I missing anything else?
Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2015 9:27 pm
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Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2012 9:45 am
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I ended up with a "retired" 52 AVRI and it's my favorite guitar by feel, the color is ever so tasty, and the tone for any style is fantastic. Thanks for the info, it really helped me find this baby. It has me lusting after a Jazzmaster now. GAS!!!


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Post subject: Re: Am I missing anything else?
Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 9:02 pm
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Joined: Sun Jan 30, 2011 2:35 pm
Posts: 807
Location: Just East of Event Horizon
I have never seen or played a 2012+ Fender American Vintage 52 Tele that I like better than my 2009, two piece body, 52 Tele.
I swapped out the original electronics for a new set of controls with modern wiring and a new chrome plate, and kept the original 52 style electronics intact on the original chrome plate, to maintain the integrity of the guitar, should it ever be worth returning the Tele to original spec.

Personally, I think the "orange" 52 Teles are much cooler looking than the newer ones, and the neck is perfectly sized for my likes.
I'm pretty certain that these guitars will appreciate in value over time, relative to the value of new future models, and in 20 years, will be very sought after Teles.

So the correct answer is: .....You are not missing anything!!

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