Fender Road Worn '72 Telecaster Custom

I bought this guitar from Sam Ash Illinois for the paltry sum of $629 plus tax.

I have always loved Teles and needed a reliable and versatile gigging guitar.

The range of tones that can be rung from this guitar is incredible. Everything I ask of it, from Hank Williams to Metallica it it undertakes wiyh aplomb,almost daring me to find it new challenges.

The neck is a delight. Chunky enough to prevent fatigue, yet much faster than I can fully exploit. It has rock solid tuning, and perfect frets, high enough for outrageous bends, yet without badly affecting intonation.

Sustain is outstanding, and unusually for a guitar, the pots actually do make a difference throughout their entire range.

The finish is beautiful, and lets face it... nothing looks cooler on stage than a Telecaster slung low...

The machineheads although fine at the moment, don't give the impression that they will last as long as the rest of the guitar. A small concern as at 36 years old now,I intend to be buried with this guitar a long time in the future.

Solid alder body, maple neck and fingerboard, 21 beautifully finished frets. Gloss polyurethane finished neck (very slick).

One word sums it up, SOLID...

The quality of construction is superb, only one loose screw found on purchase. Fender Mexico is no poor relation.

The finest guitar I have ever owned, and that is saying a lot (I own 11 at the moment, including vintage US Fenders).

The perfect guitar for any gigging musician who does not want to carry around 7 or 8 guitars, for that particular tone needed for one or two songs.

The 72 Custom Telecaster has it all and more. I am buying a spare on my next visit to the States. And what about that price? They are practically giving it away.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Telecaster has always been a good platform for modification. In the early 50s Leo Fender used a guitar similar to a Telecaster to test out pickup designs on. In the 60s when the Telecaster was very popular people began to modify it to get a wider range of tones. With the hard twang of the bridge single coil something was needed to balance it out. With more humbucker guitars coming on to the market guitar players found that if they put a Humbucker in the neck position they could get a very smooth tone that would complement well the twang and clarity from the bridge single coil. Fender caught on to what guitarists were doing to their guitars and being a company that likes to make money they decided to put out a guitar that came in this configuration from the factory. The 72 Telecaster Custom is this guitar. It wasnt called the 72 Telecaster Custom when it came out, the 72 is in the name to recognize when the model was originally released. This guitar has a few more Gibson esque features along with the humbucker. It has dual volume and tone controls and a 3 way toggle very similar to that of a Les Paul.

UTILIZATION

This reissue of the 72 Custom is very accurate to the fact that the 72 Custom played a lot differently than the 72 Deluxe which many people confuse it with. The Deluxe was the model with 2 humbuckers and the large headstock. The neck on the Custom has a more traditional Telecaster feel. It has the old school 7 inch radius and very vintage style frets. Because of this you will not be able to get a very low action on the guitar. It has the small tele headstock with a 72 bullet truss rod piece.It has the 70s tree bolt neck with micro tilt. The 3 bolt neck is not a problem although some people hate it. It works just as fine as the 4 bolt ones did and with the microtilt you dont have to take the whole neck off to shim it. I think people just saw back in the day that it had one less bolt and assumed it was worse. Now there are high end boutique guitar makers making strat style guitars with 2 bolt necks. The controls may be awkward for someone who is use to a traditional tele setup. But this is not a traditional tele. They might not be use to having a usable tone control. I am not a big fan of telecaster ashtray bridges. I find them a bit uncomfortable.

SOUNDS

With this guitar you can still get the trademark tele quack since it still has the single coil in the ashtray bridge. In the bridge position it is all tele with all the brightness and clarity you associate with 50s music and telecaster recordings. I am not the biggest fan of this sound be there are fans out there for it and this guitar can do it. The humbucker in the neck can get you some jazzy and smoother sounds than the bridge. One thing that might be a problem is the noise you get when you have a guitar with singlecoils and humbuckers. You get use to either the quietness of the humbucker or the noisyness of the singlecoil and you adjust your amp to that characteristic and when you switch pickups its like you have a different guitar. This wasnt much of a problem back then when everything was super noisy but nowadays it can be a hassle.

OVERALL OPINION

This is a nice reissue of a guitar that was a typical mod of the time. A humbucker in the bridge of the tele really extends the tonal capabilities of the guitar. The smooth sound of the neck position complements well the twang and bite of the bridge single. If you are looking for a 70s telecaster that looks like it is from the 70s this is a good guitar.