He never used it for SMU, but for JJ Flash and Happy. The Custom is proper lighweight, got one meself, Gwen is right, the rosewood one is a heavy mother******.

[www.youtube.com]

yup, that's the custom. and it's heavy too because that's the guitar he clubbed the guy with during satisfaction. said so himself.

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sundevil
yup, that's the custom. and it's heavy too because that's the guitar he clubbed the guy with during satisfaction. said so himself.

... It's on video, so it doesn't need confirmation,
and he didn't actually connect with the guy (that's on video too).
So that doesn't have anything to do with the weight of the thing.
Whatever it weighs, the rosewood one is definitely considerably heavier.
If Keith ever indicated otherwise, he probably wasn't listening carefully to the question -
that happens sometimes.

I have one. Great guitar.

Keith also used this in 1981 on Little T@A
in standard tuning.

I held one of Keith's 72 style customs, proably his #1. I believe it to be alder wood. More dense than ash. I'd guess it to be about 8lbs - 9lbs, which is a medium weight for a Tele. Also spent time with his white - brown neck pre-cbs Tele, That is a delicious vintage guitar.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-02-21 00:40 by DoomandGloom.

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DoomandGloom
I held one of Keith's 72 style customs, proably his #1. I believe it to be alder wood. More dense than ash. I'd guess it to be about 8lbs - 9lbs, which is a medium weight for a Tele. Also spent time with his white - brown neck pre-cbs Tele, That is a delicious vintage guitar.

I thought Teles were usually made from ash? The paint on my '74 Custom is stripped off and it s ash. It was originally finished in either brown or sunburst it seems.

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gwen

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DoomandGloom
I held one of Keith's 72 style customs, proably his #1. I believe it to be alder wood. More dense than ash. I'd guess it to be about 8lbs - 9lbs, which is a medium weight for a Tele. Also spent time with his white - brown neck pre-cbs Tele, That is a delicious vintage guitar.

I thought Teles were usually made from ash? The paint on my '74 Custom is stripped off and it s ash. It was originally finished in either brown or sunburst it seems.

thus is the secret those 70's Blackie are not ash like the reissue. That's why Keith wanted his #2 to be black he was under the same assumption that I have, the black ones have different wood is something Keith has said in guitar mags. I own a 60's regular Tele that is alder, works good with rosewood necks.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-02-21 03:07 by DoomandGloom.

Most early 70's Strats and Tele's in black are alder. Black was a custom color back then as well. I believe white Tele Customs may be alder, Keith would know..,. Sunburst, natural, and baby poop brown are ash, they were not costom colors like black. There's nothing wrong with ash the alder may react better to the humbucker, Keith is one of the few that realized and explored the difference, his choice was not merely happenstance since he generally prefers much older guitars.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-02-21 05:03 by DoomandGloom.

Thank you D&G, you provided an interesting reading subject on a sleepless night. It seems though that ash is generally sligthly heavier than alder. That would be a good explanation on why my '74 ash Custom feels a bit heavier than my '75 black Custom which should be in alder. Unfortunately you can't tell for sure on the used parts of the body.

Northern ash is even heavier than swamp ash

Some insights from Fender regarding the woods they use:
[www.youtube.com]
[www.youtube.com]

Or if you want a bit less blah blah blah:
[www.youtube.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-02-21 13:55 by with sssoul.

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gwen
Thank you D&G, you provided an interesting reading subject on a sleepless night. It seems though that ash is generally sligthly heavier than alder. That would be a good explanation on why my '74 ash Custom feels a bit heavier than my '75 black Custom which should be in alder. Unfortunately you can't tell for sure on the used parts of the body.

yes late 60's and most 70's Fenders havy heavy ash as that's what was available as the quality declined. Many pre CBS guitars are very light but my buddie has a 50's no-castet and it's way over 10lbs. Perhaps his is pine, I will ask him. To.own a 70's black Tele Custom is a cool thing.one of the coolest guitars you can have for under 2 grand. The Mexican reissues are not the same guitars for a few reasons. The modern mex copy out of the box plays better those 70' but tone wise the old ones are chubby. The saddles and type of bridge is a big deal. Keath likes those brass 6 way, I prefer the ashtray with compensated saddles. Brass or steel make different results depending on fretboard material. All more important factors than pickup flavors.

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DoomandGloom
To.own a 70's black Tele Custom is a cool thing.one of the coolest guitars you can have for under 2 grand.

I agree I wasn't even looking for one when it came my way, just casually browsing Telecasters on the local eBay. It was delivered just a few days before the Stones invited us for the warm up show at Bondy on Valentine day '14.

It was very weirdly set up when it arrived but when properly set it really plays and sounds good.

Just came across a picture from the autumn of 2005 where Keith plays the black Custom but without the capo at the 4th fret but he got the index on the 5th so I assume it's either Start Me Up or Brown Sugar he's playing. Anybody knows what tune it could be? Maybe Love Is Strong? If it's BS I'd guess it's from the Columbus show as that was the only time (and the last, at least until now) where they opened with it.... Unfortuantely I can't upload the photo as I don't know how to do it.

Anybody knows?