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tjon901 « 72 Deluxe reissue in the rare Walnut finish »
Published on 10/10/11 at 19:39In the 70s when Fender wasnt doing so well they had to try and get guitar players loyal to other brands. This was their attempt to get some Gibson players over to the Fender side. This is one of the most unique Telecasters that Fender ever put out and it is one of my favorites. You can tell from the design that it has a more Gibson Les Paul orientation to it and that pretty cool. With this guitar you get an alder body with strat style contours on the back. The bolt on neck has the 3 bolt attachment with the microtilt adjustment. You get a once piece maple neck with a maple fretboard with 21 big frets. Up top you get the big 70s headstock which looks pretty cool on a Telecaster. The pickups are two humbuckers. They are Fender Widerange humbuckers from the 70s. The bridge is a strat style hardtail bridge so there is no uncomfortable ashtray on this guitar. The control layout is straight Les Paul with a volume and tone for each pickup with a 3 way toggle on the upper bout. The Walnut finish on this guitar is very vintage looking. Like a relic model with out the scratches. The black and sunburst models look brand new while this one looks like it could have been from 72.
UTILIZATION
The playability on these Deluxe models is nothing like a normal Telecaster. The neck is a bid wider and flatter than a normal Fender neck so they feel more like a Gibson. The frets are larger as well. The factory setup is nice and the microtilt adjustment lets you get a nice action up where the truss rod doesnt help. The microtilt is like a self shimming system. The strat style hardtail bridge is more comfortable in my opinion than the normal ashtray Telecaster bridges.
SOUNDS
The tone on this guitar is vintage but not Tele vintage. It isnt that much of a twang machine with the Widerange pickups but they have a bit of bite to them. They are hotter that the single coils that you would have gotten otherwise but they are by no means hot pickups by todays standards. They have a very vintage voice to them. This is probably the smoothest sounding solid body telecasters out there. The tone of the pickups is very p90 ish but with more bottom end. It does not have the telecaster quack that tele players may be use to. With the smoothness there is a bit of a loss of clarity in the tone. Overall there is a nice old school woody tone to the guitar. This guitar also has a great jazzy tone. It is very warm without getting boomy. The humbuckers in this tele give you unique tones that no other Telecaster has. This is a true period guitar with period tone.
OVERALL OPINION
They have been making reissues of this model for a long time and it is no surprise because it is such a great and unusual model. The normal Telecaster is such a one trick pony that not many people are able to use them for modern music. A model like this with humbuckers and full controls give the platform much more versatility to play all sorts of music. The Walnut finish is my favorite finish on this model as well. It has a very period look to go with the tone. If you are looking for a Telecaster that is something more and something different this is a good alternative to your typical tele.
UTILIZATION
The playability on these Deluxe models is nothing like a normal Telecaster. The neck is a bid wider and flatter than a normal Fender neck so they feel more like a Gibson. The frets are larger as well. The factory setup is nice and the microtilt adjustment lets you get a nice action up where the truss rod doesnt help. The microtilt is like a self shimming system. The strat style hardtail bridge is more comfortable in my opinion than the normal ashtray Telecaster bridges.
SOUNDS
The tone on this guitar is vintage but not Tele vintage. It isnt that much of a twang machine with the Widerange pickups but they have a bit of bite to them. They are hotter that the single coils that you would have gotten otherwise but they are by no means hot pickups by todays standards. They have a very vintage voice to them. This is probably the smoothest sounding solid body telecasters out there. The tone of the pickups is very p90 ish but with more bottom end. It does not have the telecaster quack that tele players may be use to. With the smoothness there is a bit of a loss of clarity in the tone. Overall there is a nice old school woody tone to the guitar. This guitar also has a great jazzy tone. It is very warm without getting boomy. The humbuckers in this tele give you unique tones that no other Telecaster has. This is a true period guitar with period tone.
OVERALL OPINION
They have been making reissues of this model for a long time and it is no surprise because it is such a great and unusual model. The normal Telecaster is such a one trick pony that not many people are able to use them for modern music. A model like this with humbuckers and full controls give the platform much more versatility to play all sorts of music. The Walnut finish is my favorite finish on this model as well. It has a very period look to go with the tone. If you are looking for a Telecaster that is something more and something different this is a good alternative to your typical tele.