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Post subject: Not quite sure what I have... but I'm keeping it !
Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 3:16 pm
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One of my obsessions is classic European cars and I'm pretty active in the local scene. I have a friend who's a bit of a rookie mechanic that I'd been teaching and he asked me to help him mechanically restore his car, a vintage BMW. Over the summer, I did most of the 'heavy lifting', including installing a new motor and rebuilding the tranny.

Anyway, was over at his house today and he asked me what he could do for me for all the help I had given him. I told him nothing was needed, that's it's a hobby and I like being able to pass along the knowledge others previously passed on to me.

As we chatted, I told him I was starting to learn the guitar, that I'd bought an FSR Am. Vin. '57 Stratocater Ltd. Ed. and LOVED it ! He told me to wait and went upstairs and
returned carrying a Fender gig bag and told me he wanted me to have it. Well, inside was a Cream/Black Telecaster and a Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Fuzz-Wah pedal !

He said that he bought it about 10 yrs. ago from a guy he worked with who's brother was into Guitars big time. The brother gave this to his co-worker who quit after 6 mos. Peter, my friend, tried to learn for about a year before also quitting and the guitar just sat in his closet since. Said that he had thought about selling it, but didn't want the hassle, so was happy to see it going to me.

Anyway, the guitar shows some, but little use. Pete did say that the guy's brother put the pickups out-of-phase (whatever that means). It has a really nice action and good tone.

It has a Cream Body w/ 3-ply Black PG, Maple neck with Rosewood Fretboard, 2 chrome knobs and what appears to be a vintage Black knob on the 3-way switch. The headstock decal says: Fender w/ Made in Mexico underneath, and "Telecaster" at about 5-o'clock relative to the Fender Logo plus a decal on the end which says Deluxe Series. On the reverse is the serial # MN8121329 (but the number isn't straight).

When decoding the serial # through GDP, it says:
Guitar Info:
Your guitar was made at the
Ensenada Plant (Fender), Mexico
in the Year(s): 1998 - 1999

Now this is consistent with the timeline given to me, but I cannot find any other info. re. an MIM '98/'99 Deluxe Series Telecaster.

I'd just like to know what I got, I'm keeping it for sure... I mean you don't look a Gift Tele in the Mouth do you..??

Can anyone tell me exactly what it is I have...??

TIA

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cheers!

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'11 FSR Am. Vtg. Ltd. Ed. CAR '57 Stratocaster (SN# LE02639)
'14 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster
'12 Telebration Empress Telecaster
'99 Deluxe Nashville Telecaster
'12 FSR Telecaster HH
'10 Heritage H-535
'99 Martin DC-1E
'13 Lanikai Tenor Ukulele


Last edited by Lightnin MN on Sun Sep 30, 2012 7:32 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: Not quite sure what I have... but I'm keeping it !
Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 3:38 pm
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Congrats ! Fleet is growing ! According to this http://www.fender.com/en-NO/support/art ... uct-dating it should be as you said -98-99 . And it is normal that the number is not properly aligned . My experience with mexican deluxes are just very good . Enjoy !

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Post subject: Re: Not quite sure what I have... but I'm keeping it !
Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 5:44 pm
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Sweet..okay somebody teach me how to fix cars NOW!!! lol lol..Personally I just think its awesome someone appreciated what you did!

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Post subject: Re: Not quite sure what I have... but I'm keeping it !
Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:34 am
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Location: Chorley, Lancs, UK
Hi, Congrats on the new tele it really does look good.

I have two Mexicans in the house they are great fun, but be careful they do tend to multipy fairly quickly :D

If you email Fender Customer Relations consumerrelations@fender.com with your serial number they can usually get back to you within a couple of days giving you a bit more detail about the guitar.


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Steve


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Post subject: Re: Not quite sure what I have... but I'm keeping it !
Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 10:16 am
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Hi there,
Well.. the serial number traces back to a Deluxe Nashville Tele in White from 1998 but that model is/should be a 3 pickup model. So my guess...and only a guess-- is that the neck is for a Nashville Tele on what looks to be a standard Tele body.
This is where the "How's it play?" question can matter.
....and yes the serial # decal does look a little "off".

Best regards,
rob

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Post subject: Re: Not quite sure what I have... but I'm keeping it !
Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 3:55 pm
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Rob Schwarz-Fender wrote:
Hi there,
Well.. the serial number traces back to a Deluxe Nashville Tele in White from 1998 but that model is/should be a 3 pickup model. So my guess...and only a guess-- is that the neck is for a Nashville Tele on what looks to be a standard Tele body.
This is where the "How's it play?" question can matter.
....and yes the serial # decal does look a little "off".

Best regards,
rob


Rob,

Thanks for the info !!

The Plot thickens...

Unfortunately, your info just adds to the Mystery... I brought the Guitar up to my local Guitar Store - Willie's American Guitars (an Auth. Fender Dealer) to get new strings for it so they could gauge what's already on there - .11's . They played it, adjusted the Truss and the Bridge, and thought it was excellent. They said (45 years combined experience selling Fender Products) that it looked to be an MIM '62 reissue because of several features, including the neck, tuning machines, frets and a 3-position pu switch (A Nashville would have a 5-way). They said it would have originally had a White PG, which may have been swapped when the pups were wired out of phase, also said that the original pups would have been swapped for the mod as they weren't 4-wire units, although the original 3-wire pups may have since been re-installed.

If you look closely at the frontal pics, you'll see that there's a small extra hole in the Control Plate, hand drilled, not machine drilled. They speculated that it once held a Phase switch. Interestingly, the Guitar also came to me with a new chrome Fender Control Plate and either a Red Pearloid or Red Tortoise Shell (I think it's TS) PG which I assume was for de-modding.

Now that I have the new strings, I'm gonna add the Red TS PG and replace the Control Plate which means I'll get to see how the body was routed (whether for single coil or H'buckers).

In the end, it doesn't really matter because whatever it is... or isn't, it IS a FREE Telecaster that plays brilliantly with excellent tone. It feels natural in my hands and I love the sound !!

I'll update as more info. becomes available.

cheers!

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'11 FSR Am. Vtg. Ltd. Ed. CAR '57 Stratocaster (SN# LE02639)
'14 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster
'12 Telebration Empress Telecaster
'99 Deluxe Nashville Telecaster
'12 FSR Telecaster HH
'10 Heritage H-535
'99 Martin DC-1E
'13 Lanikai Tenor Ukulele


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Post subject: Re: Not quite sure what I have... but I'm keeping it !
Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 5:37 pm
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Lightnin!

Free + plays awesome= score!!! ;O)

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Proudly serving Fender Customers
for over 30 years

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Post subject: Re: Not quite sure what I have... but I'm keeping it !
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 4:22 am
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Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2012 7:29 am
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Did they ever do a 62 RI that wasn't a custom? It's not a body from a 62 custom RI, and it doesn't have a 3 saddle Bridge either. I don't think that's any sort of RI body.


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Post subject: Re: Not quite sure what I have... but I'm keeping it !
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 4:21 pm
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OK Guys,

First, Thanks for all your help and guidance !

Mystery Solved.. !!

It IS an MIM Fender 'Nashville' Telecaster !

I decided today to clean it up, re-string it, Oil the Fretboard and add the Tortoise Shell PG and new chrome Control Panel that came with it (the 'Nashville' was originally spec'd with a TS PG).

It was absolutely filthy from a decade of sitting in a dusty closet !

The Fretboard was so Dry that it sucked up more oil than a '62 Cadillac !

When I removed the Black PG, I found that the body had originally been routed for the middle Strat pup and there was a piece of masking tape inside saying: "orig. TexMex PU's on Blnd. Strat. - Std. Tele sngl. coils and 3W S-1 installed, Feb. '99". The middle pup on the Nashville was attached to a special 2-hole (for PUs) PG.

Also, my buddy called today saying he ran into the guy he bought it from 10 years ago, and asked about it, the guy said IHRC, it was a 'Memphis' - guess he's confused about the City, but got the State right .

So that solves it. This guitar was modded, then demodded, but not back to orig. 'Nashville' spec, but standard Tele. Owner likely did not want to give up the Tex-Mex pups he had transplanted to another guitar, or buy the Tele/Strat PG, so the easiest and cheapest thing to do was just make it a Std. Tele.

I may at some future point turn it back into a proper 'Nashville', but for now, I'm just gonna enjoy it as it is.

Here's a couple pics of it cleaned up and with the nice Red Tortoise Shell PG - I really like it !

Image

Image

BTW, here's the full stable...

Image

cheers!

_________________
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'11 FSR Am. Vtg. Ltd. Ed. CAR '57 Stratocaster (SN# LE02639)
'14 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster
'12 Telebration Empress Telecaster
'99 Deluxe Nashville Telecaster
'12 FSR Telecaster HH
'10 Heritage H-535
'99 Martin DC-1E
'13 Lanikai Tenor Ukulele


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