SOLD – Fender Custom Telecaster 1962

The first Fender ‘Custom’ Telecaster and Esquire variants appeared in the summer of 1959.  A double bound sunburst alder (not ash) body, rosewood fretboard and triple ply w-b-w pickguard provided an upmarket look and feel, while all the remaining hardware and electronics matched the standard models.  A 15% price premium applied to the Custom versions.  Fade problems with the red lacquer in Fender’s sunburst  were resolved in 1961, and up until mid ’62  the thicker ‘Slab’ Brazilian fretboards were fitted.  Into this historic sweet spot fits our 1962 Custom Tele, serial 88533, neck date stamp March ’62.

1962 is a legendary year for Fenders generally and this guitar is a great example.  The neck, body, binding and lacquer are all in great shape, show normal ageing and black-light correctly. There’s one serious belt buckle wear patch on the back and one hard-to-photograph thin lacquer wear mark on the top.  The 3ply w-b-w pickguard is high quality replacement using NOS  original celluloid. All metal hardware is correct and the bridge ‘ashtray’ cover is in the case.  At 3.4kg (7.58lbs), it’s very comfy and smooth to play with a  42mm (1-10/16”) nut width ‘B’ neck,  a very dark Brazilian Rosewood fretboard, and full C neck profile.  Noticeable for this era is that Fender gave their rosewood  fretboards a slightly flatter radius than the standard 7.25″, as mentioned in the Duchoissor Telecaster book (p.19).  

A professional refret in un-worn 6130 medium wire and  re-lacquer of the back of neck was done some years ago.   We have reinstated the original Kluson Safe-T-Post  tuners. Some filled screw holes visible, however the tuner post headstock holes have not been drilled out. There is a tidy professional rout under the guard for a humbucker, however the original 6.75 ohm neck pickup is now back in place.  The original bridge pickup  rewound by Sydney vintage specialist Rod ‘Slider’ McQueen (7.5 ohm), is in place.  Both sound superb.  The case is a vintage 1960s Fender black tolex with maroon interior in good condition with all latches working.