Fender American Vintage '72 Telecaster

esandes

Well-known member
..from the custom shop. i tried one today and it was nice. the action was really low and the neck felt just right. when i'd play a natural harmonic i could feel the vibration right through the neck. the pickups were designed by the late great Seth Lover. does anyone have experience with this guitar? what do you think about it?
 
Re: Fender American Vintage '72 Telecaster

Without photos, I'm guessing that this thread is about the Fender Telecaster Deluxe. Thirty odd years ago, somebody at my school had one. He could get a pretty decent Hendrix tone from the neck pickup. The guitar was heavy but it played nicely - very like my friend's 76/77 Stratocaster.
 
Re: Fender American Vintage '72 Telecaster

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Re: Fender American Vintage '72 Telecaster

It would be interesting to know where Fender is sourcing the pickups for this re-issue series. The original CBS/Fender units have some unique qualities that recreations do not always capture. (The magnet material is the usual stumbling block.)

If the example that you tried has strong natural acoustic resonances, it has every chance of being a good 'un.
 
Re: Fender American Vintage '72 Telecaster

It would be interesting to know where Fender is sourcing the pickups for this re-issue series. The original CBS/Fender units have some unique qualities that recreations do not always capture. (The magnet material is the usual stumbling block.)

If the example that you tried has strong natural acoustic resonances, it has every chance of being a good 'un.

from wiki, they come from mexico. it's not a faithful replica. the mexican one has an alnico bar. the original had two fenico rods.
 
Re: Fender American Vintage '72 Telecaster

..from the custom shop. i tried one today and it was nice. the action was really low and the neck felt just right. when i'd play a natural harmonic i could feel the vibration right through the neck. the pickups were designed by the late great Seth Lover. does anyone have experience with this guitar? what do you think about it?

Do you mean the Telecaster Custom? Just a couple things:
1) These are not Custom Shop reissues. These are just part of the American Vintage production line guitars.
2) The reissue "wide range" humbuckers are not the original Seth Lover design. The originals used magnets that are now fairly rare and as such are very expensive. I've done a bunch of reading on the new pickups and apparently they're just a regular sized humbucker underneath the big wide-range cover, with the extra space being filled by wax. I think Fender has attempted to voice the humbucker to be a fair approximation of the original, but not a reproduction by any means.

I've picked up a couple of these in the store. Both the MIM and the newer MIA AVRI ones. These are a guitar I REALLY WANT to like, but I have not been blown away by any of the ones I've handled. FWIW, I feel the AVRI models are overpriced given that the MIM ones are very similar spec. Really, is an Ash body (vs Alder) and a lacquer finish worth an extra $800? You decide.
 
Re: Fender American Vintage '72 Telecaster

i'm thinking about walking on this one actually. the body is made of three pieces glued together. i can tell from the different flow of grains. my US strat plus deluxe strat body is made from a single piece. i'll try something new. my bros insist i check out the PRS line. after my strat is loaded with some decent pickups, it'll sound perfect anyway for that fender tone.
 
Re: Fender American Vintage '72 Telecaster

What were the qualities in the Thinline that you desired? Low weight? Hum-cancelling pickups? A different look? All of these can be found in the La Cabronita Telecaster.
 
Re: Fender American Vintage '72 Telecaster

What were the qualities in the Thinline that you desired? Low weight? Hum-cancelling pickups? A different look? All of these can be found in the La Cabronita Telecaster.

the most important qualities were (in order):
-high quality US made fender
-the humbuckers

my US strat plus deluxe has the quality hardware that really spoiled me. the wilkinson roller nut, the locking saddles that never break strings prematurely, as mentioned the quality of the build. i also like how the 'good' deluxe fenders don't use those posts on the headstock where the two high strings go under. i expected alot more from the tele. the tele's thick neck is great for rhythm but i think it would be tough to play for lead melodies.

i'll check out the thurston moore jazzmaster. i always enjoyed the tones of sonic youth and dinosaur jr. plus it has jumbo frets.
 
Re: Fender American Vintage '72 Telecaster

I have one of these thinlines and I really like it.

Again not custom shop but US Vintage line.

The body may be multiple pieces but I can't tell since it's a solid color. (black rather than candy apple) It doesn't make a difference to me.

I do dig the pickups even if they aren't complete repros of the original. I think they capture the tones pretty well. I have a post up here with some samples of the guitar.
 
Re: Fender American Vintage '72 Telecaster

Apologies for thread resuscitation but it seemed like a better idea than beginning a new thread.


Today, I had a go on the AVRI '72 Telecaster Custom FSR Natural finish model. Some nice aspects. Some questionable areas. Unfortunately, for my tastes, the FSR Natural Ash model is only offered with a "veneer" rosewood fingerboard. I would have preferred maple - one-piece or applied. The humbucker was close but not quite right. The single coil lacked snarl. The pot resistance tapers behaved like 1 Meg jobbies - in all probability, that is because they were.

The example that I tried would have benefitted from a set-up. (No deal breaker.) Somehow, it lacked that immediate, special, "buy me" feeling of the 2012 Tele-bration La Cabronita model.
 
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