1974 telecaster

HPhillipsmusic

Hello guys

A friend of mine asked me to help find a nice tele for him - and struck gold with a beautiful refinished 1974 telecaster, black refin, rosewood board - vibes galore and affordable due to a brass nut added, a rewound neck pickup, replaced saddles. Some of these seem like upgrades to me to be honest. 

The advert from this well-known guitar shop didn't mention the bridge pickup at all, but seeing as they mentioned the neck pup had been rewound I assumed this was all original. I've just seen the guitar for the first time in person now as he picked it up and bought it last week - there's a flatpole bridge pickup on there...

I love flatpole bridge pickups, but I'm 99% sure they didn't exist on any telecasters leaving the factory in 1974. It's likely replaced the original which was on there right? An original 1974 tele bridge pickup goes for upwards of £400, sometimes a lot more - so I feel like he's been wronged a bit here? Even if the pickup sounds good, you'd want to know if it was original or replaced. 

My questions are - could it be original and that Fender sometimes used flat pole's for random guitars in the 70's - and if not and its an obvious replacement, do you think there are grounds to go back to the shop and (although it sounds petty), ask for some compensation?

Many thanks

guitars4you

Won’t be original with 50,s Blackguard style flat magnets 
Suspect upgrade with every thing else you mentioned 
Suspect an oversight on the dealers behalf considering everything else they mentioned and did not try to hide 
Also suspect probably better if a decent brand 
best thing you can do on those guitars is take out the 1meg pots and fit decent 250k pots 

CarbonCopy

Unless they said it was all original except for the items they mentioned, or specifically asked them if the bridge pickup was original before purchase, I don't think they have done anything wrong. It certainly hasn't been missold.

I bought an early 1982 Japan Squier JV Telecaster from a shop in Kingston Upon Thames about 15 years ago. They were collectible guitars even then, although current prices I've seen some advertised for are obscene! I subsequently found out the bridge pickup had been swapped for a Seymour Duncan. However, they never said the bridge pickup was original and I never asked, so I didn't feel hard done by. I suspect that because of their scarcity, an original bridge pickup from this era would be quite expensive (although probably inferior) and has theoretically devalued the guitar as it's not completely original.

As an aside, it transpired that the bridge pickup was out of phase with the neck pickup and made the middle position sound odd. I sorted that out recently and it sounds great!

I have a '74 Tele Custom and a '75 Tele and the bridge pickups aren't really that great in my opinion. They both have staggered pole pieces. If they are selling for £400, I suspect it's to buyers looking to restore an old guitar rather than people buying them because they sound better than modern production pickups.

I wouldn't expect a guitar from that era to be much cheaper (certainly nowhere near £400 cheaper) with a replaced bridge pickup given that it's already a players guitar rather than a collectors one with the other changed features.

ICBM

£400 for a ‘74 Tele pickup?!

Yes, it’s true that they’re much less horrible with 250K pots, but even so…

guitars4you

ICBM said:

£400 for a ‘74 Tele pickup?!

Yes, it’s true that they’re much less horrible with 250K pots, but even so…

I brought an original 74 about 12 months ago - Okay it had a pro refret but that is a bonus- Had original pots but bad crackle- fitted a whole new pro spec loom with 250k pots
Whole emotion and control plus superior tone is far far better 
Those 1 meg pots are yuk

digtheditch

Pickups should be staggered so it's not a 74 tele pickup. 

I would also say that if this has not been communicated to you, then I would think it breaches the Consumer Rights Act, as goods should be as described. If you are buying something advertised as a 1974 Tele then it should receive a 1974 spec Tele. Any deviation from this should be communicated.

guitars4you

CarbonCopy said:

I have a '74 Tele Custom and a '75 Tele and the bridge pickups aren't really that great in my opinion. They both have staggered pole pieces. If they are selling for £400, I suspect it's to buyers looking to restore an old guitar rather than people buying them because they sound better than modern production pick up

I wouldn't expect a guitar from that era to be much cheaper (certainly nowhere near £400 cheaper) with a replaced bridge pickup given that it's already a players guitar rather than a collectors one with the other changed features.

So true - but as above fit 250k pots and the difference is immense 

HPhillipsmusic

to show where I arrived at £400 for the pickup... not my price, and seems ludicrous to me but here's the two I could find with a quick google

https://reverb.com/uk/item/50851851-1974-vintage-fender-telecaster-bridge-pickup-original-1970s-tele

https://reverb.com/uk/item/41434772-1974-vintage-fender-telecaster-custom-deluxe-bridge-pickup-1970-s-tele-clean

ICBM

HPhillipsmusic said:

to show where I arrived at £400 for the pickup... not my price, and seems ludicrous to me but here's the two I could find with a quick google

https://reverb.com/uk/item/50851851-1974-vintage-fender-telecaster-bridge-pickup-original-1970s-tele

https://reverb.com/uk/item/41434772-1974-vintage-fender-telecaster-custom-deluxe-bridge-pickup-1970-s-tele-clean

Interestingly the insanely overpriced one is listed as 'sold', whereas the simply overpriced one is listed and 'ended' (ie not sold). I do find the first one hard to believe.

I actually wouldn't think £200-£250 for a definitely original, unrepaired one to be wildly unrealistic, to be honest - given how much originality (or at least not being provably non-original) matters to the value of an old guitar.

Even then, they are often microphonic unless potted, and coil failure due to corrosion on the inside wraps around the magnets is probably a case of 'not yet' rather 'not at all', so originality may be a two-edged sword...

CarbonCopy

ICBM said:

HPhillipsmusic said:

to show where I arrived at £400 for the pickup... not my price, and seems ludicrous to me but here's the two I could find with a quick google

https://reverb.com/uk/item/50851851-1974-vintage-fender-telecaster-bridge-pickup-original-1970s-tele

https://reverb.com/uk/item/41434772-1974-vintage-fender-telecaster-custom-deluxe-bridge-pickup-1970-s-tele-clean

Interestingly the insanely overpriced one is listed as 'sold', whereas the simply overpriced one is listed and 'ended' (ie not sold). I do find the first one hard to believe.

I actually wouldn't think £200-£250 for a definitely original, unrepaired one to be wildly unrealistic, to be honest - given how much originality (or at least not being provably non-original) matters to the value of an old guitar.

Even then, they are often microphonic unless potted, and coil failure due to corrosion on the inside wraps around the magnets is probably a case of 'not yet' rather 'not at all', so originality may be a two-edged sword...

That reminds me that the bridge pickup on my Tele Custom was microphonic and had to be potted to be usable.

OilCityPickups

HPhillipsmusic said:

to show where I arrived at £400 for the pickup... not my price, and seems ludicrous to me but here's the two I could find with a quick google

https://reverb.com/uk/item/50851851-1974-vintage-fender-telecaster-bridge-pickup-original-1970s-tele

https://reverb.com/uk/item/41434772-1974-vintage-fender-telecaster-custom-deluxe-bridge-pickup-1970-s-tele-clean

Absolutely bollock-stupid price for a 74 tele pickup. Right ... I rewind these all the time as 70s Fender pickups break down if you just look at them funny. Firstly they are machine wound and very much made down to a CBS price.

Often the pole pieces are so corroded due to sloppy top flatwork (which curls up like a banana with time) that the pickup eats itself from the inside out - oh, that's caused mostly by sweat ... and when you open one of these babies up ... it smells that way too


You could be paying £400 for something rapidly self destructing from the inside out.
Whatever you have in there ... it will be better than a 1974 original, trust me!   

PS microphonc bridge pickup is usually a loose baseplate