I had the good fortune to come across a really nice late 70s telecaster in a rare sienna burst finish. I snapped it up as it was an extremely reasonable price and the seller was really helpful. He said he had the guitar bought for him when he was 14, played it for a year and then put it away into storage. It shows as it's extremely clean, you'd think it was maybe 2 or 3 years old and all original. Besides the really playable slim neck, I'd have to say I'm most impressed with the sound out of these pickups. Can anyone give me any info on how fender was making these in '77/'78? I've played many telecasters through my Fender '68 CPR and none of them have sounded anywhere near as clear and defined as this one. Anyway, enough rambling, here's the pics:
http://imgur.com/gallery/3APFFq1
Comments
why does a 15 year old put a nice guitar into storage?
There's things I've had, there's things I wanna have"
I don’t think these were sold until the 80s. Sienna sunburst was part of the international colour series maybe 81?
The late seventies serial number is as a result of an overstock of parts.
That's correct. You should be able to date it more accurately from the pot codes - assuming both aren't obscured by solder - and/or date stamps in the neck pocket and sometimes under the pickguard, but it's certainly much later than '78 in that colour.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Correct. According to the A.R. Duchoissoir book, Sienna and Cherry Sunburst both first appeared in 1981. (IMO, your guitar is Cherry Sunburst. Sienna was a two-tone brown 'burst à la Fifties.)
When the opportunity presents itself, inspect the neck pocket and pickup cavities for date and Q.A. stamps.