does anyone own fender telecaster '52 american vintage reissue? and what do you think about this guitar?

I don't own it but i have played on a couple of times fortunately, a friend of mine has one. It is an awesome guitar!!!! If you can buy one you must!

I have a esp telecaster, Ronnie Wood model, and i love it. I'm a big fan of telecasters!!!

Cheers,
Wuudy

thanks woody - I am seriosly thinking of buying this guitar, so i'm interested in eveything about it. I think that with this guitar I will get very close to the famous "keith richards sound".

A lot of Keith's sound can be acheived by putting a humbucker in the neck pick-up position instead of the standard Tele pick-up. Take off the low E string and tune the remaining strings Low to High: G D G B D

This will give you an open-G chord. Moving a single barre finger up the neck will give you the various chords - for example, C at the 5th fret. By placing your middle finger one fret higher on the second string and your ring finger two frets higher on the fourth string (the standard Am7 shape), you get a pretty close sound.

If you already knew this, sorry. If not, you're gonna love this.

its simply a great guitar. GREAT sound, especially, if you are playing through 10 inch speaks. I have a 73 Fender super reverb, and it sounds awesome, used to have a twin, but the 12 inch speakers are much to hot for the tele sound, imho. I bought this amp for my electrified Harp, and had the twin for my guitars. But once I played the tele through this, it was done. I learned to play on a real 1952 tele and buddy loaned me. That guitar was REALLY awesome, as it was so cured....but the reissue is close.

Get one if you can.

JR

The only problem with the 52 resisue is that the neck pickup has no tone control, which is like the originals, so its ounds a bit muddy with just that pickup on. Still, this is easily recitified and it is a great guitar. Buy it!

I've got a '57 reissue Strat and I love it. It can be a bit difficult (ex. - changing the strings is a bitch and a half) but the quality is amazing and the faithfulness to the original seems pretty much spot on. Plus, you gotta love the three-way pickup selecter.

The '52 Tele reissue is next, unless I go for the '72 Tele Custom reissue instead.

Anybody have one of the new Mexican-made '72s?

I had a 57 resissue Strat as well Jaun and loved it. (Wish I still had it) but I never had a problem with changing the stings. What problem do you have then?

Why not just buy an original instead of a reissue?

Because the reissues only cost about $1000, Niklas, as opposed to $10,000+!

Chris - the problem I have is a really stupid one. The tuning pegs don't have the hole going through them, just the little groove. My other guitar's a Gibson, which is basically what I learned to string on - just the hole, no groove.

Basically, I just need to shut up and practice winding them so I can get the technique down.

I was trying some teles (but no 57s available!) in a guitar store the other day.

In my opinion the best non-vintage tele you can get for a decent price is the G&L asat. 1000 times better than any new fender I saw.

C

I've got a Fender Telecaster Jerry Donahue model, and I'm very pleased.
Too bad my band vanished in the ozon. You used to be my party doll.

Despite I equipped my own Tele type guitar with a Humbucker in the neck position, this whole humbucker pickup question on Keith's guitars must be subject of a discussion here...

I mean, which songs does Keef play with the HB pickup?? YCAGWYW, yes, but any other warhorse?? If open-g warhorses are probably the songs that define the Stones sound the most, which ones are played with the neck HB pickup????

edited before any reply: My guess is none. All are played with the bridge... Am I wrong??

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



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-05-04 20:47 by bruno.

A very good question: Keith hardly ever uses the humbucker on his Tele. He used the twin pickup setting for YCAGWYW, and that's about it. I have seen him use it on Tumbling Dice once in w while, and on Brown Sugar in 1981. But that's actually all.

About the '52 Vintage Reissue Tele: I must admit that I am a big fan of Tele's, but I find the 52 Tele just not a go guitar. Of all the ones I played I found the body to be to heavy, the neck way too thin (they really have pencil necks) and I hate poly finish on any guitar. If you need a Telecaster I find the Japanese build Tele's far and far better: the wood is better, the craftmanship is better. The only bad thing is the electronics, you have to replace the pickups for better ones. Then, the Custom Shop offers really good guitars, some of them actually fantastically good! A tip: Custom Shop Esquires are not very much wanted, and can be bought on ebay for not much more than a '52 Reissue say 1500 bucks). Buy an Esquire, take it to a luthier and have him put a humbucker in the neck position. Now you have $3500 worth of guitar for under $1700.

Mathijs

Are you sure the '52 Reissue Tele has poly finish, Mathijs??. I'll have to check, as I always assumed it had nitrocellulose (sp?) lacquer finish, giving its price.

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

I checked, and the '52 Tele has nitrocellulose finish. Don't know about its quality compared to Gibsons, though, for example.

[www.fender.com]

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

Bruno -

I could be wrong but I think Keith keeps the pickup switch on the middle setting, so you simultaneously get the brightness of the bridge single coil and the raunch of the humbucker.

Mathijs, I have read somewhere that Keith's Telecasters may be wired the same way as early Telecasters with the now-known-as-bridge switch position being a mix of bridge and neck pick ups with the tone pot adjusting the mix between both pick ups. Any truth in that ?

Meant to ask you a while ago by mail but time just flies.

I am using that guitar since 10 years, i bought it in Austin TX at that time i was working there.
I love the thin kneck, and i have figured out to have a good sound using the 2 mics at the same time (selector in the middle position).
I love that guitar. It is quite a large part of history in your hands...

JuanTCB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Chris - the problem I have is a really stupid one.
> The tuning pegs don't have the hole going through
> them, just the little groove. My other guitar's a
> Gibson, which is basically what I learned to
> string on - just the hole, no groove.
>
> Basically, I just need to shut up and practice
> winding them so I can get the technique down.


Hey Juan, do you have these Kluson deluxe tuners? with a slot instead of a hole?
If so, you must cut the string about 2 Pegs longer than you're stringing to.
then put the string in the middle of the peg, bend it through the slot and the start winding (preferably with a winding peg) It works real fast for me.
I've done it on stage in the middle of a song and I finished the song with the guitar all set up.
I really like them Kluson pegs.


[www.rockinger.com]

Heres mine, Micro finish, black "circumference band".....its a killer.....

JR

Its name is "Roland".....blow your horn!



JR

PS there's a nob missing & that aint stock...I busted it off playing along to Steve Earle's "Unrepentant"...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-05-05 01:36 by stone-relics.

How old is your babeeeee?

what a cute blonde - yeah

nice, nice,.... NICE GUITAR!

here are the original specifications for 52 telecaster:

Model Name American Vintage ‘52 Telecaster®
Model Number 010-0202-(850)
Series American Vintage Series
Colors (850) Butterscotch Blonde,
(Nitrocellulose Lacquer Finish)
Body Premium Ash Body
Neck 1-Piece Maple, “U” Shape,
(Nitrocellulose Lacquer Finish)
Fingerboard Maple, 7.25” Radius (184mm)
No. of Frets 21 Vintage Style Frets
Pickups 2 American Vintage Tele® Single-Coil Pickups
Controls Master Volume, Master Tone
Pickup Switching 3-Position Blade:
Position 1. Bridge Pickup
Position 2. Neck Pickup with Tone Control (Bright Vintage Circuit)
Position 3. Neck Pickup with No Tone Control (Dark Vintage Circuit)
Bridge Original Vintage Style Tele Bridge with 3 Brass Saddles and “Ash Tray” Bridge Cover
Machine Heads Fender/Gotoh® Vintage Style Tuning Machines
Hardware Chrome
Pickguard 1-Ply Black
Scale Length 25.5” (648 mm)
Width at Nut 1.650” (42 mm)
Unique Features “U” Shape Maple Neck,
Black Dot Position Inlays,
Vintage styling
Strings Fender Super 250R, Nickel Plated Steel,
Gauges: (.010, .013, .017, .026, .036, .046),
p/n 073-0250-006
Accessories Vintage Tweed Case,
Strap,
Cable,
Modern Six-Saddle Bridge,
Bridge Cover,
Capacitor and Wiring Diagram (For Updating to Modern Switching Circuit),
Certificate of Authenticity,
Meguiar’s Mist and Wipe Kit
Case Vintage Tweed Case
Introduced 1/1998

I've owned my US vintage '52 reissue telecaster for approx 10 years & it's a beauty. It's one of my main instruments. Over the years Fender has tried to make these reissues more & more accurate- therefore, the neck on the current reissue is quite fat. Mine has a very slim neck (which I like), but no original '52 would have had a slim neck.
Tele's are pretty much unbreakable, but I have alot of guitars. Don't you think it's weird that the more 'beaten-up' a Fender is the 'cooler' it is considered, whereas as a'beaten-up' Gibson is just seen as 'abused'?. Strange but true.

A couple of other points: ALL US vintage reissues use a nitrocellulose finish. It's the Jap models (& mexican) that use polyurethane.

Also, if you buy a new US one, it comes with the original switch wiring, which means you don't get the option of both pick-ups on together. As the original guitar was invented before the first electric bass guitar, the 'woolly, bassy' sound of the front switch position (which is pretty much unusable) was designed to emulate a bass sound.
The guitar comes with a 'switch conversion kit' though- which is easy to install.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2006-05-05 11:15 by Doolittle.

and also, modern six-saddle bridge, which keith uses is included

Lets talk about the sound of the modern six-saddle bridge vs the old fashionend three barrel bridge.
If you want to get as close to the Riffmaster as you can get, you'll sure be in for the 6 saddle bridge. But the old bridge sounds much more bright and twangy. It gets more sustain out of the whole body due to the pressure of the strings.

If one string brings on a pressure of lets say 10 pounds onto the saddle, the old barrel type carrying 2 strings, will double that.

any thought on that?

interesting, interesting....

>Don't you think it's weird that the more 'beaten-up' a Fender is the 'cooler' it is >considered, whereas as a'beaten-up' Gibson is just seen as 'abused'?. Strange but >true.

Doolittle, so true. My main guitar is a 20 year old Les Paul Stnd. that I've gigged the hell out of. Every nick and scrape is like a badge of honor, yet people look at it with revulsion and me like I just killed their grandmother. I think it's because Fenders have always been perceived as more disposable than Gibsons - they're lighter, they're cheaper, and those bolt-on necks can be easily replaced.

pretty beaten up - but workin' fine

it's not a Fender, it's Rockinger