Opinions on 70's Fender Telecasters.....

chris78

The only 70s teles I’ve played and liked were the cbs versions- deluxe, thinline etc. Even those had thick thick thick poly, crappy neck pockets etc. Sure there are some gems, but with prices rising, get a reissue

BenSirAmos

Mine is the wrong shape, lots of 70s' brass, messed about with, poly disintegrating, non original neck pick up, heavy as fuck.

I love it to bits and struggle to play anything else on stage - it is the one. 

Jimbro66

In my early/mid teens I was very lucky to be loaned a ‘62 Strat by an older guy. I was knocked out by that guitar and couldn’t wait for the day when I could afford my own Fender.

That day came a couple of years later after I’d saved money from a weekend job. Not a Strat because they were too expensive but a used 1971 Tele. I was so excited to have my own guitar with the Fender name on the headstock which meant it had to be great, didn’t it?

Before long disappointment set in. It wasn’t great, it was a pile of poo. Nothing like the quality of that borrowed Strat. It sounded dead acoustically. Amplified the pickups were weedy and had no real tone. The neck was like a telegraph pole. It just felt cheap. Big disappointment. Then I heard mutterings (pre-internet) of pre-CBS being the only good Fenders. Damn!

So I worked as many hours as possible alongside my studies and a year later bought a brand new Schecter Tele from Chandlers. Night and day! The Schecter was a vastly better guitar in every way but, granted, more expensive than the Fender of that time.

Now when I see folk paying big money for an early 70s Tele I think that either they are lucky to find a good one or, like me, they don’t see any farther than the name on the headstock. The moral has to be try before you buy and don’t appraise the guitar through rose coloured glasses.

jeztone2

I’m not sure of the year of the one I tried. But it was heavy and not terribly well made. Personally I’d go CS.