NGD

kswilson89

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

Andy79

Looks great!

sev112

Very nice
why does a 15 year old put a nice guitar into storage?

kaypeejay

I love that colour. 

SRich

sev112 said:

Very nice
why does a 15 year old put a nice guitar into storage?

The discovery of girls......

Iamnobody

Nice!

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.

DB1

Very nice indeed! You deserve a bit of good fortune with the guitar acquisition stuff, and it looks like you've got it. Congrats!

Paul_C

Iamnobody said:

Nice!

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.

I bought one new in 1983 (maple board) which I still miss.

ICBM

kswilson89 said:

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.

The bright, clear and defined tone is mostly a result of the fairly dense ash body, hard thick finish and (I think they were still using at that point) 1Meg pots, rather than the pickups.

Iamnobody said:

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.

Funkfingers

kswilson89 said:

Can anyone give me any info on how fender was making these in '77/'78?

Paraphrasing Douglas Adams, none at all.

Iamnobody said:

I don’t think these were sold until the 80s. Sienna sunburst was part of the international colour series maybe 81? 

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.)

Iamnobody said:

The late seventies serial number is as a result of an overstock of parts.

When the opportunity presents itself, inspect the neck pocket and pickup cavities for date and Q.A. stamps.

richardhomer

I had a 1980 Sienna Sunburst Strat - it wasn’t part of the ‘International Series’ - it was a replacement for three-tone sunburst. My guess is that the scratch plate may be a replacement - it ‘should’ be b/w/b - but there may well be exceptions.

digtheditch

I would think the scratchplate is correct for an 'International Series' guitar going by the ones I've seen and catalogue/guitar pictures online. As already mentioned, Fender were using up left over parts so I'm sure there were exceptions to the rule.