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Post subject: 1979 Tele
Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 2:47 am
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hi there

any ideas why i am struggling to find a 1979 Telecaster ? i am based in london, and have searched uk+us sites aswell as vintage guitar shops/ebay...and i can only find 2, considering i can find lots of other 70's vintage tele's, i find it odd that i cant find a 100% original 1979 tele....

pleased to hear


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Post subject: Re: 1979 Tele
Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 3:25 am
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IMO any tele close to '70 could be better than a '79


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Post subject: Re: 1979 Tele
Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 4:23 am
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i appreciate your comment and yes i agree, but its for different reasons why i specically asking about (and want) a 1979 tele.....

so again....can anyone give me a good reason why they are soo difficult to come by ?


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Post subject: Re: 1979 Tele
Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 4:39 am
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From what I see you're looking for a notchless tele.

Image


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Post subject: Re: 1979 Tele
Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 9:45 am
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I don't know if they are more difficult to come by than any year before 1979. But if you say so.


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Post subject: Re: 1979 Tele
Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 11:48 am
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jsfleet wrote:
i appreciate your comment and yes i agree, but its for different reasons why i specically asking about (and want) a 1979 tele.....

so again....can anyone give me a good reason why they are soo difficult to come by ?


Let me guess - you're really looking for a Tele that has an "S9xxxxx" serial number on the headstock, right? Sorry, you're not going to find one, and here is the explanation:

For whatever reason Fender wound up using "S8xxxxx" serial number decals from 1978 all the way through 1982 on Teles (excluding the 1982 '52 Reissue models of course). To get a closer date of manufacture you have to remove the neck and check the date stamps. There are plenty of 1979 Teles to be found out there, but since these all have these "S8xxxxx" serial number decals people just assume they were all built in 1978 - unless they can pinpoint it by a color that was only offered for a specific year or they have taken the time to remove the neck and check the stamps.

It's a known serial number anomaly that that all Teles from this era have the "S8xxxxx" decals and all Strats from 1979 through 1981 have "S9xxxxx" serial number decals.


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Post subject: Re: 1979 Tele
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 2:55 am
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excellent reponse thanks ! really interesting what you say and yes thats prob why people just assume rather than actually check...oh well i doubt ill get the chance to take the neck off every 78-82 tele i find so ill just keep searching. i did see a 1979 sunburst tele offered by a company in chicago but i think not 100% original...being fussy now i know...thanks anyway !

by the way the reason why im looking for a 1979 tele is alot sadder than your very good explanation !....i would simply like to own a fender that was made in teh year i was born ! since i have strats already and dont own any tele's i thought i go down that route

:-)


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Post subject: Re: 1979 Tele
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 3:37 am
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jsfleet wrote:

by the way the reason why im looking for a 1979 tele is alot sadder than your very good explanation !....i would simply like to own a fender that was made in teh year i was born ! since i have strats already and dont own any tele's i thought i go down that route

:-)


Good reason.

Don't forget to look the pots date code . Chrome plate is very easy to remove , two screw to remove . If body and neck is dating 79 and pot date code is 1980 , the guitar is not a 1979.


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Post subject: Re: 1979 Tele
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:43 am
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great advice thanks ! bit of amind field it seems ! maybe ill just buy new like all my others and let it grow old with me !


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Post subject: Re: 1979 Tele
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 6:24 am
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i mean 'mine field' ofcourse....sorry typo


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Post subject: Re: 1979 Tele
Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 4:08 pm
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The Serial No on my Tele begins with S8 which is a late 1977 to early 1978 but was put together by Fender in 1981 (date stamp on neck), I heard that Fender had so many guitar parts left over in the late 70s that they used all the old stock (left overs) before manufacturing new parts, hence the reason there are mismatch guitars in the late 1970s early 1980s

I do have the original pick ups for it but I have Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders in it at the moment and they are coil tapped with push pull pots.

Sunburst 2 tone with single ply black scratch-plate and solid 1 piece maple neck, this was bought in London UK in 1982 and has just been set up professionally ( http://www.jwhite-guitarworkshops.co.uk/ ) and it plays and sounds great.

PS looks almost the same as the above Tele but slightly more used..


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Post subject: Re: 1979 Tele
Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 7:17 pm
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Gazbonk wrote:
The Serial No on my Tele begins with S8 which is a late 1977 to early 1978 but was put together by Fender in 1981 (date stamp on neck), I heard that Fender had so many guitar parts left over in the late 70s that they used all the old stock (left overs) before manufacturing new parts, hence the reason there are mismatch guitars in the late 1970s early 1980s



Sounds like a cool old Tele there Gazbonk.

The story I've heard is that the people at Fender responsible for ordering the headstock decals just forgot to change the year code digits on the decals when they ordered the next batches. Even given the size of that CBS factory if they had tried to stockpile 4 years worth of Tele necks (and 3 years of Strat necks) they would have had so many of them hanging around they wouldn't have had room to build necks for the other Fender models (Mustangs, Broncos, Starcasters, MusicMasters, Leads, and Bullets).


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