my dear kind patient learned Keith Guitar Experts,
oh no it's me again, hoping you'll help me sort out some of Keith's less-commonly-seen teles.
as usual, i'll be fascinated to hear anything anyone knows about these models, what's sweet about them and what's ornery,
along with any details about when Keith acquired them, what he used them for and what became of them.

the first one i've come up with is this pale-blue buddy (thanks for the correction, Milo!) -
the photo's from the october 1967 2000 Light Years promo shoot.


- october 67, courtesy BrownEyedGirll (don't know who took it, sorry!)

next is one that i think i've only seen in photos from the 78 tour:


- 1978, by Lynn Goldsmith

then there's this one from the 82 tour - is that thing as heavy as it looks??


- 1982, by Denis O'Regan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-10-28 18:31 by with sssoul.

AS you may know, keith first started using the 72 tele, on the 72 tour, but only on a couple numbers, he used a black 59 tele a lot during the 75/76 tour, on 81/82 he had the black, gold and sunburst tele, all except the black you see often today, im not sure how he acquried them, but i would be very interested......hope it helps

The Tele in the Satanic Promo is a Lake Placid Blue or Placid Blue. I think it was a 67, brand new. Fender has recently reissued that color.

The other two....you got me. The second pic looks like he had a Rosewood neck put on. The body looks like early 70's.

To be certain I would have to check my Tele book

Milo, NYC
Its time to get up

The Tele Keith started using on the 72 tour is a 52 model, and the black one he started using during the 75 tour is a 72 Custom model. There was a thread about this model some days ago, where Mathijs gave us a lot of info about it.

About the pics Sssoul posted, I already had been surprised when I saw the first one time ago. Now I know it's from the 2000LY promo shot. Thanks for that!. Could it be the one Brian is playing on the JJF promo, too? It could be a late fifties model, as I think the sixties models had rosewood fretboard over the maple neck.

I would say the last one is the Rosewood Tele. Solid rosewood body, so it must be quite heavy (don't know if heavier than a Les Paul, however). You can see George harrison playing one of those on the Let It Be film, if I recall correct the first solid rosewood model was given to Harrison as a present from Fender. (About the second one, I wouldn't be surprised if it was the very same guitar)

[There'll be no wedding today...]

Though it's a bit hard to tell, I think the the first Tele may be a post CBS model, i.e., after Fender was acquired by CBS in 1965. The extra pickguard screw that you see at the top of the pick guard was not present on 50's Teles (there should be another screw at center bottom) and Fender didn't use maple necks on their Teles in the 60's until after CBS bought them. As to the other two I could only hazard a guess.

Thanks again Ms sssoul for the great pics! You are a gold mine! Mathijs, over to you...

No technical info here but I remember that first pic. I have it somewhere in b&w because it always baffled me. It looked like prettye arly on Keith; also the mike is old fashioned. But then there is that Tele. I am wondering if that Tele is indeed white or if that is just a lot of glare on a cream colored, more common model.
In the second pic I do notice that Keith seems to be using six strings. Looks like a standard C chord he's playing, or a G type chord.
The 3rd one I also recall George playing in the LIB movie.That guitar reminds me so much of the 81 tour.

That brown Telecaster is a the solid rosewood edition, original. A friend of mine once had one, UNBELIEVEABLE sound...best sustain ever on a Tele, but REALLY heavy, for a tele..

Rare as hensteeth, and big bucks, even when they were 1st issued...

JR

thank you thank you for all this input, gentlemen - go on go on!

here's another shot from 82, which ...
[scratchin head & peering hard] okay gentlemen: i am officially puzzled!
(but it's one of my all-time favourite photos anyway)


- Rotterdam 1982, by Philip Kamin

>> The Tele Keith started using on the 72 tour is a 52 model <<

is this the one you mean?


- winterland 72 Happy (don't know who took it, sorry!)

>> I think the the first Tele may be a post CBS model, i.e., after Fender was acquired by CBS in 1965.
The extra pickguard screw that you see at the top of the pick guard was not present on 50's Teles <<

fascinating, ChrisM - thanks! that would fit nicely with Milo's assesment that it's a 67.
and i'm glad if the photos groove you - i try. :E



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2006-05-17 20:53 by with sssoul.

That photo was taken early on in the tour. Strange that Keith changed Teles for Happy after a while in the tour. He is playing Slide in this pic.

>> That brown Telecaster is a the solid rosewood edition, original. A friend of mine once had one,
UNBELIEVEABLE sound ... best sustain ever on a Tele, but REALLY heavy, for a tele. <<

ah thank you Stones-Relic - which brown one do you mean, though -
or do you mean it's the same instrument in the shots from 78 and 82?

and that one in the 1967 photo *is* blue, isn't it, as Milo's pointed out.
it's so funny, now that he's said that i don't know why i ever thought it was white. :E
i think it's not the colour that Fender now calls Placid Blue, though;
it looks more like their Sky Blue, or maybe the (apparently discontinued) shade called Sonic Blue?
[www.fender.com]

> is this the one you mean?

Nope, my dear. The butterscoth blonde one. This one is: (thanks stoneslib)




About the one you show, another surprise for me! I had never seen Keith playing a sunburst tele in 72. How many guitars has this guy played, for god's sake????? Hundreds!!

Another more question: not all the 52 Teles played this tour were humbucker-equipped, innit? I think I've seen some pics with the standard tele neck pickup...


[There'll be no wedding today...]

sssoul, I think the "sonic" blue that Fender uses might be darker. I used to play a Strat that was called sonic blue and was a lot darker. But it was newer model. So it might be that Fender uses 'sonic' for a different shade nowadays. And also it WAS a Strat I am talking about. I have to confess, I have been a musician for all my life but am terrible with the technical aspects..

>> That photo [with the sunburst tele] was taken early on in the tour. <<

yep! the winterland gigs were june 6th and june 8th, according to nzentgraf.

>> I had never seen Keith playing a sunburst tele in 72.
How many guitars has this guy played, for god's sake????? Hundreds!! <<

thousands! gotta be! :E
thanks Bruno, for the clarification and the photo -
i believe that shot you posted is from the Charlotte show on july 6th.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-10-29 01:40 by with sssoul.

Some info on the "birth" of the rosewood tele.

From

[juliensauctions.com]



C



In the midst of recording and filming, George Harrison acquired a new instrument---a beautiful Fender Rosewood Telecaster, custom made for him. Fender's marketing department wanted to add new solid body rosewood Telecasters and Stratocasters to its line, and felt that a good way to jump start the instruments' popularity would be to present the prototype of the Telecaster to Harrison and the prototype of the Stratocaster to Jimi Hendrix.

According to the book Beatles Gear, (Andy Babiuk, Backbeat Books, 2002) in 1968, Phillip Kubicki, a young, talented guitar maker, was told by his boss, Roger Rossmeisl, that Fender would be making the guitars. Recalls Kubicki: "For me, this was about as exciting as things could get. The Beatles and Hendrix were at their peak and were a big part of the times." According to the book, "Rossmeisl decided that a safe course would be to produce two prototypes each of the Rosewood Telecaster and the Rosewood Stratocaster and then select the best to give to the star musicians. The bodies for the guitars were made with a thin layer of maple sandwiched between a solid rosewood top and back. "I spent hours sanding the bodies to perfection," recalls a misty eyed Kubicki. "Eventually, a clear polyurethane finish was applied and allowed to dry, and we selected the two best bodies and necks for Harrison and Hendrix." Kubicki says that Harrison's telecaster became a priority because Fender knew it was required for an album that The Beatles were working on. The guitar was carefully and painstakingly finished, set up, checked and carefully rubbed with a fine cloth until it became highlighted. The second body and neck were stored in Fender's R & D department.

Kubikci followed the guitar's history and, according to the book reported that "Harrison's guitar was flown to England-in its own seat-accompanied by a courier, and hand-delivered to the Apple offices in December 1968. "I remember when I saw the guitar for the first time in the Let It Be film," smiles Kubicki. "I was so thrilled I almost jumped out of my seat." Also, according to Beatles Gear, "A myth has circulated for years that Harrison and John Lennon each received a Rosewood Telecaster, but Lennon certainly never had one. Harrison's Telecaster bore the serial number 235594.

The guitar was used almost exclusively by Harrison in the Get Back recording sessions and was chosen by him to play the rooftop final performance on January 30, 1969. This performance was the film's final climax---the band's celebrated final live public performance atop Apple's roof. The group played 'Get Back', 'Don't Let Me Down', 'I've Got A Feeling', 'The One After 909' and 'Dig A Pony'. The next day, another performance was staged, this time in the Apple basement studio. With the cameras rolling, they performed and recorded 'The Long And Winding Road', and 'Let It Be', with Harrison using his Rosewood Telecaster. Shortly thereafter, the band would go their separate ways forever. By the end of 1969, each of the Beatles had designs on solo projects and began their own respective journeys to that end.

On December 1, 1969, George Harrison, along with Ringo Starr, attended Delaney & Bonnie's performance at London's Royal Albert Hall. Eric Clapton was on the bill that night and following the show asked Harrison if he would join the group for a few shows throughout Britain and Denmark. The next day, Harrison joined the tour and presented Delaney with a wonderful gift-his Fender Rosewood Telecaster. Harrison told Delaney "This is for what you did for me last night."

Delaney recalls that during the tour the various band mates would sometimes switch guitars, although he primarily used his newly acquired Rosewood Telecaster. Since that special day in 1969, Delaney has cherished the 'early Christmas gift' bestowed upon him by Harrison. Guitar collectors and historians have long known the whereabouts of the instrument, but few have had the privilege of seeing it in person. The closest they have been able to come to admiring the Rosewood Telecaster has been via the two-page spread in which it is illustrated in Beatles Gear.

Delaney Bramlett has counted the guitar among his very dearest possessions and hopes that its new home will be with a collector who will treat it with the same respect and dignity he has for the nearly three decades it has been in his possession. The guitar is in fine condition and is accompanied by the hard shell case used by Bramlett to transport it as he toured with his Delaney Bramlett and Friends road show, of which Harrison and Eric Clapton were a part.

An unprecedented opportunity to acquire a truly world-class and historically significant instrument. Accompanied by a letter of authenticity written by Delaney Bramlett himself. $200,000 and up.

Nice read, liddas!

[There'll be no wedding today...]

very interesting indeed, Liddas, thanks! some nice photos on that auction site too.

meanwhile i'm still brooding over the ones in the shots i posted from 78 and 82.
i'm back to thinking it's not the same instrument in 78 - even if Keith had the pickguard and (it looks like!) the knobs changed,
the grain of the wood (what you can see of it, anyway!) looks different in that second shot from 82.
so what have we got here: two different solid-rosewood buddies?
both heavy as a muhfuh but ahhh the sustain, the sustain?

>> Could it be the one Brian is playing on the JJF promo, too? <<

here's the best shot of that one i can find - what do you think?


- 1968, by Peter Shillingford, courtesy of BrownEyedGirll

yeah with sssoul, could it be. But in keith's pic the guitar looks white to me, this one seems blonde. really don't know!

yeah, it's hard to tell what the colour really is. i watched the JJF promos last night too;
in the colour "no-warpaint" version there's a close-up of Brian's guitar, and it looks greyish/blue-ish or silvery.
anyway it seems to have that same upper pickguard screw that ChrisM commented on in the 2000LY shot of Keith ...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-10-30 00:01 by with sssoul.

>> Mathijs, over to you ... <<
oh yes please and thank you very kindly!

The first picture (the 2000 LY promo pic of Keith) is a 1966 (CBS) Fender Telecaster with transition logo. It is the same guitar as Brian Jones uses in the JJF clip and the same as Taylor's Telecaster of the Saville 1969 shows. Other pictures can be found in Gered Mankowitz' books, taken at studio sessions for Satanic. The colour actually isn't Lake Placid Blue: that's a lot stronger, metalized kind of blue. In the mid 60's you could order a Fender in almost any colour you can imagine, and as most colours were actually car paints, Fender was really experimenting with every instrument they had to paint. Other aspects, like pore fillers and clear coats all determined the final result. Even for true vintage specialist determining a colour is very hard, especially under stage lights. Contenders for this Telecaster are Blue Ice, Daphne Blue, Sonic Blue and Olympic White. You just can't tell: this guitar seems grey-isch with a hint of blue in it, so in between Olympic white and sonic blue would be my guess. I have never seen another picture of this guitar after 1969.

The second -1978- picture is an original 1969 Fender Rosewood Telecaster neck, with a custon made body by Ted Newman Jones. It was a project he did for Keith, where Newman Jones had in his own words "this great neck, and I had this great old wood for a body lying in my shop" and he asked Keith if he would be interested in Newman Jones building him a Telecaster. So he did, and Keith used it quite a lot in the studio in 1977 and 1978, and on stage in 1978. I have never seen it afterwords again.

The other pictures are of a 1969/1970 Fender Rosewood Telecaster. For the first couple of 1981 shows Keith was experimenting with Les Paul Juniors for a somewhat warmer and fatter sound for Let's Spend the Night, Let Me Go, Black Limo, but halfway the tour he switched to this Rosewood Telecaster, played with both pickups on (switch in the middle position) for Let's Spend The Night and Waiting on a Friend. The Rotterdam 1982 picture is taken from the James Karnbach The Last Tour book btw. It is this guitar that is mentioned by Keith as "the custom being too heavy" on his website. These guitars are a bit weird. They lok great, are heavy as hell, and sound more like a LP Junior with a P90 than like a standard Tele. They have much sustain, but that's something you're not really looking for in a Telecaster.

The sunburst Telecaster from the 1972 tour is a big puzzle to me too. I have this picture, and one taken backstage of Keith tuning this guitar. It is most probably not the same guitar as his 1967 Sunburst he uses nowadays. I don't know anything more about this guitar, and why he played it. I know for sure that the first couple of 1972 shows saw Keith experimenting with diferent guitars -he played a 1954 Les Paul Goldtop for Happy in Seattle, he used a stripped Les Paul Standard for YCAGWYW and he still used his Dan Armstrong. He first played Midnight R. on his LP Standard, but halfway switched to the LP Custom. Apperently he took a bunch of guitars with him on the tour, and tried out several on stage.

Mathijs

thank you so much for all this education, Mathijs!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2005-10-30 15:10 by with sssoul.

with sssoul Wrote:
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> thank you so much for all this education, Mathijs!
>
>
>
> Edited 1 times. Last edit at 10/30/05 14:50 by
> with sssoul.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-11-11 18:04 by open-g.

hey with sssoul where did you find all these cool pics!?

Farawayeyes, i draw on a lot of sources for photos.
i'm glad if they groove people. :E



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2005-11-11 18:45 by with sssoul.

:E



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-11-11 17:57 by open-g.

Keith using a blue stratocaster in 1964 has shown up on occassions.

It amazes me that Fender never put out a Keith Richards signature model Tele. I have a 95 blonde that has a humbucker in the neck position and 5 pickup settings. A great guitar, could have been a KR signature.

Even though he has, and still does, use many Teles Fender owes him one, he basically had a Tele in his hands onstage almost always from about 72 through 94 until he started bringing out the lighter semi-hollow Gibsons in 97.

Milo, NYC
Nothing ever gets done

well he was using gibsons off and on since 1964 also.

The Fender Custom shop made 20 exact copies of Keith's main Tele, but Keith's lawyers forbid them to sell them. Nobody know what happened with them, but one has shown up for sale at Maverick Music for $20.000.

Mathijs