Is this guitar original?

Loobs

What did you pay pay for it?

stonevibe

GuitarMonkey said:

stonevibe said:

Tuners look correct.

Yes but they don't look to be nearly 40 years old.

It looks like it had different tuners on at some point too:

My tuners are from around '69 and they look the same. No discolouration at all.

stonevibe

I'd not pay anywhere near £1000 for it, so if it was more than that I'd be pissed.

EDIT

£1200!

Just saw this on Ebay.

Are you mad?

I'd not be best pleased with this deal fella.

Wolfetone

stonevibe said:

I'd not pay anywhere near £1000 for it, so if it was more than that I'd be pissed.

EDIT

£1200!

Just saw this on Ebay.

Are you mad?

I'd not be best pleased with this deal fella.

I paid £1200 for it but luckily, Ebay are very pro buyer these days. If you read the sellers description, I think that he's been quite economical with the truth. I tend to judge people by my own standards but I wonder if that's a flaw in my approach to buying?

jonnyburgo

Personally, Id send it back, on a £1200 guitar i would want EVERY bump and ding and alteration listed in detail, non of this "the bloke I bought it off said" bullshit.

Its a steep learning curve but if you paid by paypal all above board I think you have a good case for a full refund, send a detailed account of the inconsistences to ebay and paypal.

lamf68

neck pocket looks like an original burst finish was on there, but fender could've sprayed over that with black at the factory, pretty sure they did this in the 50's /60's but not sure if they went to that much trouble in the 70's! 

lamf68

I still think it looks awesome though

stonevibe

That is a dog of a guitar for that kind of money.

You could buy a used Custom Shop or a mint late '70s for that sort of money fella.

jonnyburgo

Definitely was a burst originally

Wolfetone

One final thing I spotted was that the bridge plate doesn't quite cover the pickup cavity and you can see the cavity protruding from under it!!

fretfinder

Wolfetone said:

One final thing I spotted was that the bridge plate doesn't quite cover the pickup cavity and you can see the cavity protruding from under it!!

That is a classic Fender feature from this and other eras, more proof of originality than fakery! And I'm not joking! 

p90fool

Yep, that's normal

Iamnobody

Fenders from this area are difficult to date. As someone else mentioned the late seventies serial numbers were used into the early eighties.

It sounds to me like you aren't happy with it so it's probably best to take advantage of any buyer protection while you can.

Loobs

1200...woah.

meltedbuzzbox

jonnyburgo said:

Definitely was a burst originally

Wouldn't it be Natural being a 70s Tele?

stonevibe said:

That is a dog of a guitar for that kind of money.

You could buy a used Custom Shop or a mint late '70s for that sort of money fella.

I hate to piss on your chips but I totally agree with Jef. The guitar looks car crash bad. The only exception I could make for the guitar would be if it plays like nothing else. If its average (and heavy like a 70s Fender) I would send it back and get a used custom shop again as Jef mentioned. The CS would be significantly better 

richardhomer

In spite of opinions being that 'everything' was wrong with post mid-70s Fenders, Teles were usually better than Strats - there were no body contours to get wrong (though as @ICBM noted - the outline altered), the four bolt neck join was inherently more stable than a three-bolt/micro tilt and generally an all-round simpler guitar to make.

The one thing that was rarely an issue was finish quality. Yes they were thick - but as a result of this, they did not sink into the grain and could be polished to a high gloss, without any risk of going through to the wood. 'Orange peel' finishes are atypical of the period - hence I would strongly suspect a refinish.

On a guitar of that vintage, a refinish (done well) doesn't really matter - as long as it's reflected on the price.

At £1200, it hasn't been....

meltedbuzzbox

My friends has a 70s Tele (72 I think) it has a 3 bolt micro tilt neck plate 

Did that stop in the mid 70s then?

GuitarMonkey

koneguitarist said:

Case looks right to me,

It isn't . It would have red lining and a plastic logo on the outside. The logo may have been lost but there are no holes where it might have been attached.

Wolfetone

I am happy that a '77 Tele would be worth £1200 or even more. I would say that's a good price to pay for a genuine guitar. The main gripe I have is that the buyers description certainly doesn't match the reality. 

The electrics have been replaced and will require attention. I am unhappy with the state of the fretboard as whoever did the refret, firstly, didn't remove the old frets properly (from the side) and then failed to make good the damaged lacquer. It's a mess.

Any other qualified views are very welcome before I decide how to approach the seller.

ICBM

meltedbuzzbox said:

My friends has a 70s Tele (72 I think) it has a 3 bolt micro tilt neck plate 

Did that stop in the mid 70s then?

No, only the Custom and Deluxe got the neck tilt - standard Teles remained with the four-bolt.

The thin F plate is correct - Fender reduced the amount of metal in them, then when they dished and indented the finish at the corners, they added the plastic gasket to stop it!

The tuners have definitely been replaced with a larger type with a front compression nut/collar at some point and then re-replaced - if you take one of them off you'll see the bore has been opened out to a larger diameter… if done really well, only from the back to a depth of about 2/3 the way through.

As the others have already said, far too much about this guitar is non-original for it to be worth anything like the price, and easily enough to make a 'significantly not as described' claim worth pursuing, if it was sold as original.

Refinished

Badly refretted

Tuners replaced & headstock almost certainly bored out

Badly replaced electrics

Wrong case (if claimed to be original)