1966 Fender Telecaster Electric Guitar

Hey, it's a Tele. We all know them. Most of us love them. I certainly do. This one has my favorite neck profile on old Fenders, too -- a 1 5/8" nut with a medium-round-C back profile and tight board radius. It's yum and the same profile (and Fender era) neck I have on my main-squeeze electric.

My friend Tom bought this from the original owner when it was just a year or two old. He's had it ever since, but is off on wild camper-van adventures this year and so it's finally time to let go. I'd given it a glorified setup some time back but I figured it was time for a fresh blog post on it.

It's entirely stock except for the nut and the fact that he refinished the body to natural around 1970. The original blonde-white finish had cracked-up and it was the fashion of the day. I think it's handsome, this way, myself. He used some sort of poly and it shows all of the loving wear to the guitar -- nicks, dings, scratches, bumps, you name it -- and because it was done so long ago, it feels right.

For a Tele, it's somewhat lightweight, too, at 7 lbs 7 oz. That's not shabby at all for an ash body with no weight relief.

I gave it another "glorified setup" this time around and strung it with 9s which intonate pretty happily with the original 3-barrel saddles. It'll take 10s or 11s just fine (I've seen them on it in the past) and has plenty of truss adjustment room. The frets are the low/small period wire but have only been dressed once -- they still have decent height left to them, considering their stature.

I have a ton of pics further down the post to show all of the details you might want to see.

Repairs included: mild fret level/dress, mild cleaning, setup.

Body wood: multi-piece ash

Bridge: original 3-barrel (period 6-saddle included, too)

Fretboard: maple cap board

Neck wood: maple

Pickups: original Fender neck & bridge

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall
String gauges: 42w-9, unwound G

Neck shape: medium-round-C

Board radius: 7 1/4"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: small/low

Scale length: 25 1/2"

Nut width: 1 5/8"

Body width: 12 3/4"

Body depth: 1 11/16"

Weight: 7 lbs 7 oz

Condition notes: it's entirely original except for a replacement nut and a refinished body. The neck shows minor playwear but looks great. All hardware is tarnished a bit but in good order. The pickguard shows average wear but is in good health. The refinish job is from around 1970 and is poly and shows all of the scuffs, nicks, dings, and scratches you might expect from an old body. It looks good, though.

Also: the wiring was modified at some point (by a friend of Tom's) but looks like it was brought back to "stock" positions via some resoldering of the leads and some electrical tape. All good.

It comes with: its original hard case and a period 6-saddle Telecaster bridge and slightly-later black pickguard -- both played-in. The case smells like basement, as you might expect, heh heh.