vintage fender telecaster

Classic to-the-bone Fender: a 1952 blackguard Tele and a ’53 Pro amp.

Found during a house renovation, this guitar is a classic example of Fender’s prized blackguard gems.

Leo Fender’s efforts to create a professional solidbody guitar began in the late 1940s and resulted in the one-pickup Esquire and the two-pickup Broadcaster in 1950. By the end of 1951, the two-pickup guitar was renamed the Telecaster, due to a name conflict with Gretsch’s Broadkaster drum set. As we all know, today the Telecaster continues to be a versatile tool for amateur and professional musicians.

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This Fender Custom Telecaster has the coveted slab-rosewood fretboard, only available from 1958 to 1962.

For his farewell column, Richie Owens tells the story of his dad’s exceptional Fender, from arrival to unsavory departure to return.

This is my last Vintage Vault column, so I want to finish with a story about a guitar near and dear to my heart: my father’s 1960 Fender Custom Telecaster.

The Fender Custom Telecaster was first offered at the NAMM show in 1959, and its initial full year of production was 1960. It came with an ash body, a maple neck, and Fender’s famed slab-rosewood fretboard, which is considered very desirable. This fretboard was only available from 1958 to August 1962. Sunburst was the model’s original standard finish, but other colors were also available, and my dad’s came in red with white binding.

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