Quote
Loudei
This is me with my Telecaster 72 custom. It's an 85' Japanese re issue... I love it. Also love the Boogie Subway rocket....

I can see the image link when I quote your post but the image itself does not appear, at least with Firefox. Hmmmmm....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-01-06 01:44 by ChrisM.

Quote
Mathijs
oldkr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> this guitar is a real custom -- its not even made
> from the same wood as the others you find from the
> same year

Sorry, that's not true. Keith bought his first Tele Custom from Gene Warner (now repair man at Krazy Kat Music) in San Antonio, TX June 2nd 1975 (the exact date is known since the local dealer made it to national press with his story). According to the dealer, he had the guitar for about half a year, meaning it most probably was a 1974 model. In all accounts, it was a regular off-the-shelf Custom, straight from the factory: a two or three piece ash body, maple neck, bridge single coil pickup and fender Wide Range Humbucker in the neck, classic three-saddle Telecaster bridge, white switch tip. Keith used this guitar during the 1975, 1976 and 1978 tour. He replaced the guitar for the 1979 tour (most probably due to a bunch of guitars being either stolen or damaged in the 1979 Redlands fire) with a late 1975/early 1976 model with the then modern 6-saddle bridge, and a black switch tip. He used this guitar for the new Barbarians tour. Somewhere before the 1981 tour (probably during the Longview Farm rehearsals), this guitar was modified: the Fender 6-saddle bridge was replaced with a Schaller modern 6-saddle bridge, the tuners were changed to Schallers, and the jack cup was replaced by a Gibson Les Paul type jack. The switch tip was changed back to white, as it was replaced by a click-less Les Paul switch. This guitar –a straight from the factory late 1975/early 1976 model- would be his main guitar for the 1981 and 1982 tours and his Hail Hail R&R guitar. The guitar returned in 1993 for the Winos, but now in 5-string modification: it was strung to 5 strings, and the low E slug of the single-coil was pulled and filled with wax, in order to get rid of unwanted noise. It was put away after the Winos tour, only to be pulled out again for the last two shows of this 2005 tour! Notice another change: the pickup selector switch has moved to the neck pickup’s tone pot. In this way, Keith won’t accidentally hit it as he plays really high on the neck when playing open G.

The white Custom Telecaster is a late 70’s one, probably 1978 or 1979. During these two years, the volume and tone knobs changed from Amp/witch hat style to smaller, true guitar knobs in black instead of black with aluminum top.

To me, the classic Keith sound I like best is him playing the Custom with both pickups on. Check out Hampton 1981: he plays like this for 75% of the time. It’s warm, fat, and still biting. Check out Just My Imagination, Shattered, Beast of Burden, Going To A Go-Go –it’s all that sound.

The only way to get this sound is with a true, vintage Wide range humbucker on an ash body. These pickups are very muddy, but there’s a trick: Fender installed 1 MEG volume pots to clean up the muddiness. The Mexican reissue of the Custom Telecaster is worthless: it’s an alder body with thick plastic coating, and the Wide Range humbucker is just a cheap Mexican humbucker installed in the bigger casing. It sounds and plays like shit. In order to get the real Keith sound you have to buy a vintage Custom, but these are expensive, and 70’s Fender’s can be really heavy and quite badly made. There is another option: the Japanese make an exact copy of the Keith Custom, including ash body, thin polyurethane coating and the big Schaller tuners. The Wide Range Humbucker is the same as the Mexican one, so you need to replace it with a vintage unit, which can be found for about $250, and the bridge pickup is terrible too, so you need to shell out for something good like a Seymour Duncan Antiquity. The guitar is far better made than American Fender’s as they are made of light ash, and the Japanese just know how to build guitars. Their craftsmanship truly is excellent. Sadly these guitars aren’t imported to Europe or the US, but you can order them straight from Japan, and will cost about $1000 including tax. So, for $1250 you have a better guitar than the US made guitar, and you will sound like Keith in 1981!

Mathijs

Hi Mathijs, ....and all
Gene Warner posted his story over at TDPRI and a picture is awaited
here goes:

Thought you might get a kick out of knowing that another old geezer (myself) who reads the tele forum pretty regularly, sold Keith that black Fender custom.
I was working at Caldwell Music in San Antonio, Texas, when Keith, and Ron Woods came into the store, the day after their concert.
They were real personable, and Keith bought the black custom from me. I still have a carbon copy of the original sales receipt with the serial number on it.
I also have a black and white photo I snapped, of Keith reaching into a very "deep" pay envelope, for bills to pay with.
Being as I am an old timer, and not up on all this new technology, I am going to have to find a youngster to help me post those items for you all, as I don't know how to go about it.
Besides helping my commision check that week, it was a lot of fun.
Gene Warner
repairman

------------------------------------------------------------------

You guys are pretty knowledgeable about all this old stuff. I was not aware of the article on the Rolling Stones site about the black Custom. I'm glad to have that in my files.
Was that posted by John Mathis (alias Mentor)?
I have a young friend who is willing to help me get the pics posted for you-all.
You Tele addicts will know much more about the nuts and bolts of that guitar, than I do.

It was just one of several new Fenders hanging on the showroom wall. I will however, be able to supply you with the serial number.
I don't remember everything, because as they often say about that time period, "if you can remember it, you weren't really there".
My good friend, and fellow salesman John Ramirez, said the two San Antonio concerts were on Sunday, and Monday nights. I had gone to the Monday evening show, and was back in the saddle at Caldwell Music store on Tuesday, selling gear, and nursing a bit of a hangover.
A young kid came running into the store, yelling "the Rolling Stones" are over at the liquor store!
San Antonio, at that time had five music stores in about a two block stretch. We were at the end that was closest to the liquor store.
After getting some fortification, the Stones started making their trip down "music row".

Sure enough it wasn't long before Keith Richard, Ron Woods, and a roadie sauntered into the store. We didn't go nuts, we needed to stay cool, and just treat them like any good customer. They were quite personable, and easy to talk with.
Keith wore a blue work type shirt, with a hole cut out over one of his nipples. Ron and Keith went straight to the guitar wall, while the roadie placed an order for some drum heads. Keith mentioned a "Tele with a bucker" in his british accent, and soon had it in his hands.
I don't think he ever plugged it in, just noodled around on it. We had a Dobro in a display frame, and I think it was Ron Woods who told me about one that had been presented to him, that had pirate maps engraved on the cover plate.
I don't believe Keith ever put the black Custom down, but held on to it until he got over to the counter to complete the transaction.

Our owner Ed Fest, published a small monthly newspaper, that had pics of many different customers posing with gear they had just purchased.
It was the duty of the salesmen on the floor to grab a camera that was always loaded, and take the pictures for "The Caldwell Happenings".
I had read in the news of incidents between camera flashers, and members of the Rolling Stones.
I decided I should ask first, and shoot later. After explaining why we wanted the pic, Keith said "do it". I took one shot, and he kind of posed for me, holding up the fat white pay envelope, and reaching in for bills to buy his Tele.
Someone asked where Jagger was, and Keith said "He's probably in the bloody jet, setting at the end of the runway cursing us".
They were scheduled for concerts in New Orleans in the next few days.
I read an interview in "Guitar Player" magazine much later, where Keith was asked about the black Custom. He said that he couldn't remember whether he had bought it in San Antonio, or in New Orleans.
The whole thing probably took less than fifteen minutes, and then they asked us to call them a cab, and they were gone.

I was bummed about the Monday night concert, because on Sunday night Jagger had bounced around the stage on a giant blow-up phallus.
On the Monday night show, our prudish city leaders forbade them to do it.
Selling Keith the Fender more than made up for that.
One last interesting tidbit. It seems that a few years earlier (before I worked there), the Stones had tried to rent some equipment from the same store, for some show in San Antonio, at a time when they were just beginning to "make it".
They had been turned down by the owner Ed Fest, and he had been heard to say that he "wasn't going to let any gear out of the store, with longed haired characters like that".
On this second visit, they probably had clout enough to purchase most of "music row" if they had wanted to.
Gene Warner
repairman

Thanks open-g, great story.

.
I just saw I need to reply to this post. A good four years late, but what the heck.

Quote
Mathijs
LieB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> The Wide Range
> humbucker is worse than the original, but not by
> any big measures.
> I got a rewound (to original
> specs) in my MIM reissue, and it did not make a
> very big difference compared to the original
> Mexican unit.

Here I wholeheartedly disagree. First, rewinding an reissue Wide Range Humbucker to original specs is not possible, as both pickups are entirely different beasts. The original one uses magnitized CuNiFe pole pieces with a copper wrap, while the reissue uses standard AlNiCo bar magnets with copper winding. The original pickups sounds strong, vibrant and clear while the reissue sounds dark, muddy and over loaded.

Mathijs

I was a little sloppy in my original post. What I actually have is an original '70s Wide Range Humbucker professionally rewound to original specs because it was dead when I bought it from eBay.
I do know that the MIM humbuckers are Alnico and have a bar magnet, while the originals are Cunife with individually magnetized pole pieces.
Anyway ... since I swapped my MIM pickup for the rewound original I got the opportunity to hear the difference. And I agree that the original is less muddy, but not by much. Considering the differences in specs, I find them quite similar in sound, in my experience. But I'm sure it varies from guitar to guitar.

Generally, I'm sure the Japanese '72 Customs are better built, and the originals pack more mojo and tone. But if you get a good MIM it's got a lot of potential. I've changed the bridge pickup as well (to a Dimarzio Twang King I found cheap) and it was a big improvement.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-03-29 16:27 by LieB.

way cool - thanks open-g and Gene Warner! hope to see that photo soon :E

Quote
LieB
.
I just saw I need to reply to this post. A good four years late, but what the heck.

Quote
Mathijs
LieB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> The Wide Range
> humbucker is worse than the original, but not by
> any big measures.
> I got a rewound (to original
> specs) in my MIM reissue, and it did not make a
> very big difference compared to the original
> Mexican unit.

Here I wholeheartedly disagree. First, rewinding an reissue Wide Range Humbucker to original specs is not possible, as both pickups are entirely different beasts. The original one uses magnitized CuNiFe pole pieces with a copper wrap, while the reissue uses standard AlNiCo bar magnets with copper winding. The original pickups sounds strong, vibrant and clear while the reissue sounds dark, muddy and over loaded.

Mathijs

I was a little sloppy in my original post. What I actually have is an original '70s Wide Range Humbucker professionally rewound to original specs because it was dead when I bought it from eBay.
I do know that the MIM humbuckers are Alnico and have a bar magnet, while the originals are Cunife with individually magnetized pole pieces.
Anyway ... since I swapped my MIM pickup for the rewound original I got the opportunity to hear the difference. And I agree that the original is less muddy, but not by much. Considering the differences in specs, I find them quite similar in sound, in my experience. But I'm sure it varies from guitar to guitar.

Generally, I'm sure the Japanese '72 Customs are better built, and the originals pack more mojo and tone. But if you get a good MIM it's got a lot of potential. I've changed the bridge pickup as well (to a Dimarzio Twang King I found cheap) and it was a big improvement.

I find myself that the value of the pots are very important -1 MEG for volume AND tone works best. I changed the tone pot to 250K and it's just too dark, and I actually did not expect the value of the tone pot to have such impact. I will try 500K, but in the end I think I will change back to 1MEG for both.

Mathijs

Quote
Mathijs
I find myself that the value of the pots are very important -1 MEG for volume AND tone works best. I changed the tone pot to 250K and it's just too dark, and I actually did not expect the value of the tone pot to have such impact. I will try 500K, but in the end I think I will change back to 1MEG for both.

Mathijs

That's interesting. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the pot values won't matter when they're all set to 10 (zero resistance), right?
Sometimes I use the middle pickup switch position and set the humbucker to 8 and bridge to 10, but otherwise I keep the knobs on 10. I have also put a master volume in my Custom, so now I have individual volumes, master volume and master tone. I don't remember what value I chose for the master volume pot, but I'm certain it's more than 250 k.

by Oscar Fernandez

It has taken my good friend Oscar Fernandez and Alamo to get it done.
The people in the picture are (left to right):
Unknown, believed to be the kid who ran into the store announcing that "the Rolling Stones are at the liquor store", Keith Richards, Ron Wood, the Stones Roadie.

The Black Fender Custom, is laying on the counter in front of the kid, and not in it's case yet.
It appears that the one with the "blue shirt with the nipple hole cut out may have been Ron Wood, not Keith.

The original sales ticket for the black Custom reads as follows:
1 Fender Telecaster, Custom black M/N (maple neck), ser. # (serial number) 556094, $380.00, case $75.00,
total $455.00,
less 20% discount (I was as generous as my boss would allow) $91.00, sub total $364.00,
tax $18.2?,
total $382.??.

Gene Warner
repairman







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-04-02 00:23 by open-g.

A 20% discount to millionaires? Wtf is this?

VERY nice pix thanks a lot!

Great story and pictures ! Thanks for posting.

sc uk

FWIW - It's been said before, at the beginning of this thread, but now we can see the written down serial #.
The serial number of Keith's Custom is 556094 which dates it to 1974.

F-Series (late 1965 to mid-1976)
After CBS took over Fender changed the neck plates once again. This time, probably in a corporate branding effort, a large Fender script “F” was added to the neckplate below the serial number. F Series guitars are generally considered CBS Fenders… though most collectors will value all 1965 Fenders similarly to Pre-CBS (the sale was consummated in early February, 1965)

500000 to 580000 = 1974

Great stuff, open-g! Thanks!

Fantastic stuff open-g, thank you- one question I would like to throw out there is - what exactly happened to this guitar? If he replaced it in 79 with a 75 or 76 model, what happened to this one here?

Beautiful story. Keith & Ronnie paying less for a Fender than me. It;'s cool.
What gets me is how good, and healthy they look. In 75 were they not supposed to be surviving on speedballs? Ron and Keith look tanned, well fed, rested...good. Both with washed hair, blowdried...up at 11 am buying a 400$ guitar in Texas. Chuch looks the worst of all.

very nice very nice! thank you open-g and Gene Warner

thank y'all.
...and since Palace mentioned it - the Stones roadie of course is Royden "Chuch" Magee.
[www.iorr.org]
[www.iorr.org]

Hi,
I just found this old post. I have Japan made Custom from 1994 and I'm thinking of changing at least bridge pickup. Is Seymour Duncan Antiquity still what you suggest? Any tips for better humbucker?

Quote
Mathijs
oldkr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> this guitar is a real custom -- its not even made
> from the same wood as the others you find from the
> same year

Sorry, that's not true. Keith bought his first Tele Custom from Gene Warner (now repair man at Krazy Kat Music) in San Antonio, TX June 2nd 1975 (the exact date is known since the local dealer made it to national press with his story). According to the dealer, he had the guitar for about half a year, meaning it most probably was a 1974 model. In all accounts, it was a regular off-the-shelf Custom, straight from the factory: a two or three piece ash body, maple neck, bridge single coil pickup and fender Wide Range Humbucker in the neck, classic three-saddle Telecaster bridge, white switch tip. Keith used this guitar during the 1975, 1976 and 1978 tour. He replaced the guitar for the 1979 tour (most probably due to a bunch of guitars being either stolen or damaged in the 1979 Redlands fire) with a late 1975/early 1976 model with the then modern 6-saddle bridge, and a black switch tip. He used this guitar for the new Barbarians tour. Somewhere before the 1981 tour (probably during the Longview Farm rehearsals), this guitar was modified: the Fender 6-saddle bridge was replaced with a Schaller modern 6-saddle bridge, the tuners were changed to Schallers, and the jack cup was replaced by a Gibson Les Paul type jack. The switch tip was changed back to white, as it was replaced by a click-less Les Paul switch. This guitar –a straight from the factory late 1975/early 1976 model- would be his main guitar for the 1981 and 1982 tours and his Hail Hail R&R guitar. The guitar returned in 1993 for the Winos, but now in 5-string modification: it was strung to 5 strings, and the low E slug of the single-coil was pulled and filled with wax, in order to get rid of unwanted noise. It was put away after the Winos tour, only to be pulled out again for the last two shows of this 2005 tour! Notice another change: the pickup selector switch has moved to the neck pickup’s tone pot. In this way, Keith won’t accidentally hit it as he plays really high on the neck when playing open G.

The white Custom Telecaster is a late 70’s one, probably 1978 or 1979. During these two years, the volume and tone knobs changed from Amp/witch hat style to smaller, true guitar knobs in black instead of black with aluminum top.

To me, the classic Keith sound I like best is him playing the Custom with both pickups on. Check out Hampton 1981: he plays like this for 75% of the time. It’s warm, fat, and still biting. Check out Just My Imagination, Shattered, Beast of Burden, Going To A Go-Go –it’s all that sound.

The only way to get this sound is with a true, vintage Wide range humbucker on an ash body. These pickups are very muddy, but there’s a trick: Fender installed 1 MEG volume pots to clean up the muddiness. The Mexican reissue of the Custom Telecaster is worthless: it’s an alder body with thick plastic coating, and the Wide Range humbucker is just a cheap Mexican humbucker installed in the bigger casing. It sounds and plays like shit. In order to get the real Keith sound you have to buy a vintage Custom, but these are expensive, and 70’s Fender’s can be really heavy and quite badly made. There is another option: the Japanese make an exact copy of the Keith Custom, including ash body, thin polyurethane coating and the big Schaller tuners. The Wide Range Humbucker is the same as the Mexican one, so you need to replace it with a vintage unit, which can be found for about $250, and the bridge pickup is terrible too, so you need to shell out for something good like a Seymour Duncan Antiquity. The guitar is far better made than American Fender’s as they are made of light ash, and the Japanese just know how to build guitars. Their craftsmanship truly is excellent. Sadly these guitars aren’t imported to Europe or the US, but you can order them straight from Japan, and will cost about $1000 including tax. So, for $1250 you have a better guitar than the US made guitar, and you will sound like Keith in 1981!

Mathijs

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-03-23 22:22 by johnnyjolene.

Has Keith played this guitar earlier on this tour?

this looks like a new (different )guitar that we have not seen before ?maybe a fender custom shop "custom telecaster",but the pearl shell pickguard throws me off ? any ideas ?

Hi, where did he play it and on what/which songs? I was guessin "Miss You" from MJ's strat? I've posted this over at the telecaster BB so I might get you an answer there
cheers
john

Thanks John. The pic is from last night in Anaheim. My guess would be Miss You, too, although it could have been Doom and Gloom as well...

But judging by the pic it looks like he's riffing in A, like he does on Miss You in standard tuning.

Got 1 reply so far... heres a link to the thread
[www.tdpri.com]

john

Well since it's "obviously a Custom" I reckon we can ask bv to merge this thread with the Keith's Custom Tele thread:
[www.iorr.org] - is that okay with you, Dandelion P?

Of course! I love that thread!

Quote
DandelionPowderman
although it could have been Doom and Gloom as well...

?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-05-16 22:30 by gwen.

Quote
Mathijs
oldkr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> this guitar is a real custom -- its not even made
> from the same wood as the others you find from the
> same year

Sorry, that's not true. Keith bought his first Tele Custom from Gene Warner (now repair man at Krazy Kat Music) in San Antonio, TX June 2nd 1975 (the exact date is known since the local dealer made it to national press with his story). According to the dealer, he had the guitar for about half a year, meaning it most probably was a 1974 model. In all accounts, it was a regular off-the-shelf Custom, straight from the factory: a two or three piece ash body, maple neck, bridge single coil pickup and fender Wide Range Humbucker in the neck, classic three-saddle Telecaster bridge, white switch tip. Keith used this guitar during the 1975, 1976 and 1978 tour. He replaced the guitar for the 1979 tour (most probably due to a bunch of guitars being either stolen or damaged in the 1979 Redlands fire) with a late 1975/early 1976 model with the then modern 6-saddle bridge, and a black switch tip. He used this guitar for the new Barbarians tour. Somewhere before the 1981 tour (probably during the Longview Farm rehearsals), this guitar was modified: the Fender 6-saddle bridge was replaced with a Schaller modern 6-saddle bridge, the tuners were changed to Schallers, and the jack cup was replaced by a Gibson Les Paul type jack. The switch tip was changed back to white, as it was replaced by a click-less Les Paul switch. This guitar –a straight from the factory late 1975/early 1976 model- would be his main guitar for the 1981 and 1982 tours and his Hail Hail R&R guitar. The guitar returned in 1993 for the Winos, but now in 5-string modification: it was strung to 5 strings, and the low E slug of the single-coil was pulled and filled with wax, in order to get rid of unwanted noise. It was put away after the Winos tour, only to be pulled out again for the last two shows of this 2005 tour! Notice another change: the pickup selector switch has moved to the neck pickup’s tone pot. In this way, Keith won’t accidentally hit it as he plays really high on the neck when playing open G.

The white Custom Telecaster is a late 70’s one, probably 1978 or 1979. During these two years, the volume and tone knobs changed from Amp/witch hat style to smaller, true guitar knobs in black instead of black with aluminum top.

To me, the classic Keith sound I like best is him playing the Custom with both pickups on. Check out Hampton 1981: he plays like this for 75% of the time. It’s warm, fat, and still biting. Check out Just My Imagination, Shattered, Beast of Burden, Going To A Go-Go –it’s all that sound.

The only way to get this sound is with a true, vintage Wide range humbucker on an ash body. These pickups are very muddy, but there’s a trick: Fender installed 1 MEG volume pots to clean up the muddiness. The Mexican reissue of the Custom Telecaster is worthless: it’s an alder body with thick plastic coating, and the Wide Range humbucker is just a cheap Mexican humbucker installed in the bigger casing. It sounds and plays like shit. In order to get the real Keith sound you have to buy a vintage Custom, but these are expensive, and 70’s Fender’s can be really heavy and quite badly made. There is another option: the Japanese make an exact copy of the Keith Custom, including ash body, thin polyurethane coating and the big Schaller tuners. The Wide Range Humbucker is the same as the Mexican one, so you need to replace it with a vintage unit, which can be found for about $250, and the bridge pickup is terrible too, so you need to shell out for something good like a Seymour Duncan Antiquity. The guitar is far better made than American Fender’s as they are made of light ash, and the Japanese just know how to build guitars. Their craftsmanship truly is excellent. Sadly these guitars aren’t imported to Europe or the US, but you can order them straight from Japan, and will cost about $1000 including tax. So, for $1250 you have a better guitar than the US made guitar, and you will sound like Keith in 1981!

Mathijs

Some corrections:

I have learned that the replacement modern bridge for the 81/82 tour was a Schecter, not Schaller. The machine heads are Sperzels, just like Richards now has on all his Tele's.

The Fender 6-way bridge as it was in 1978 was put back before the 1983 Jerry Lee Lewis gig, and has stayed on until at least 1993, after this the modern Schecter bridge was put back. Somewhere after the 1982 tour the guitar received a Harley-Davidson sticker on the back, which can be seen at the Hail Hail movie.

As a present Jim Barber bought an exact 1975 Custom in 1983, added a sticker on the back, and replaced tuners and bridge. According to him, the two guitars where only distinguischable by the colour of the switch tip. He does not know whether Richards has actually used this spare Custom.

Mathijs

Quote
open-g

Kieth?

The guitar used in Anaheim for Miss You could most probably be the black Telecaster a fan gave Keith in Copenhagen in 2007. Both times he used it for Miss You and the body of the guitar has a painting or sticker which can also be seen in the pic from Anaheim.

Quote
gwen

Quote
DandelionPowderman
although it could have been Doom and Gloom as well...

?

Probably not,since Mick is playing a Strat...

did that one not have a skull painted all over the body?