FENDER AMERICAN ORIGINAL ’70S TELECASTER CUSTOM

PRICE: £1,789 (inc case)

ORIGIN: USA

TYPE: Single-cutaway solidbody electric

BODY: Ash

NECK: Maple,‘Medium C’ profile, bolt-on w/ Micro-Tilt

SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”)

NUT: Bone

FINGERBOARD: Maple, black dot markers, 241mm (9.5”) radius

FRETS: 21, vintage tall

HARDWARE: Vintage-style stringsthrough-body Tele bridge with plain steel rod saddles, Vintage ‘F’-stamped tuners – nickel/chrome plated

ELECTRICS: Fender Vintage-Style ’70s single coil Tele (bridge), Tim Shaw Authentic Cunife Wide Range humbucker (neck), 3-position toggle pickup selector switch, individual pickup volume and tone controls

OPTIONS: Rosewood fingerboard (3-Color Sunburst only)

RANGE OPTIONS: Other Teles in the American Original range: ’50s Tele (£1,699); ’60s bound Tele with rosewood ’board (£1,749); ’60s Telecaster Thinline (£1,879)

LEFT-HANDERS: Yes, ’50s Tele Butterscotch Blonde only (£1,699)

FINISHES: Vintage Blonde

(as reviewed), Mocha, 3-Color Sunburst – gloss nitrocellulose

Fender Musical Instruments EMEA 01342 331700 www.fender.com

PROS Excellent American Original build; proper Wide Range humbucker with balanced bridge single coil; a proper version of a badly executed original design

CONS While it’s great to hear how it would have sounded back in the day, we’d probably opt for 500k pots