Is this guitar original?

koneguitarist

ICBM said:

Wolfetone said:

I understand that some of the Fender stuff from the mid-seventies wasn't the best but I notice a few paint blemishes that I can't believe would have made it passed QC.

You haven't seen too many 70s Fenders then . I'm not even sure they *had* QC by 1977…

Looks OK to me, although I don't think the case is original. The pot codes will confirm it, but obviously only if they're original. They should read 13777**, or maybe 13776** if it's an early '77.

Mm

Pots could have dates over a year out.

jpfamps

ThePrettyDamned said:

FelineGuitars;384083" said:

77?Wouldn't that have a bullet truss rod adjuster and a 3 bolt plate?

the bridge not covering the hole is commonplace

There is a 70s strat in the local shop. It's 2400 quid!

Has the bullet truss rod, and an odd, covered looking bridge. The wood looks really odd, it's got real grain, but it doesn't look real - and I think its a 3 piece, but didn't look closely.

The finish is a sunburst one but looks quite ugly and abrupt, it's in good nick though.

When I first looked at it, I assumed squier had released a model with an odd looking bridge. It looks like a cheap guitar to be honest! It's in good nick, but I'd have a hard time chalking up half that unless it played and sounded really, really amazing.

http://musicstreet.co.uk/used-fender-stratocaster-1979-with-hardcase/

That's bonkers for a 79 hardtail.

marantz1300

Every thing is bonkers.
I remember being able to buy a 1975 MV Agusta 750 for £2000.
I bought a Hiwatt DR103 for £65.
Times and prices change.

Loobs

I once bought a Mars bar for 2d.

Loobs

Those were the days.

ICBM

koneguitarist said:

Pots could have dates over a year out.

They're actually usually quite accurate by the late 70s - Fender had got over the ordering three years' supply at once era .

It's the serial numbers that start to get inaccurate beyond 1977… they can certainly be up to two years out relative to the pots, but in the other direction. We'll never know with this one though, since they're missing.

I'm sure anyone involved in the production at that time would be astounded that anyone would care after 35 years!

sweepy

Thats not uncommon for the pickup cavity to be visible next to the bridge plate , just one of those 70's quirks

WezV

marantz1300 said:

They look good.Here's a few pics,
Stick some decent pickups in it and play it .You paid a fair price,some people want a lot more.
£700 for a 70's Tele,I ain't seen that for a while.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii98/marantz1300/78tele4_zps074e98df.jpg

it that a Kluson imprint above the highest tuner?

Gagaryn

sweepy said:

Thats not uncommon for the pickup cavity to be visible next to the bridge plate , just one of those 70's quirks

...and 50's, 60's, 80's, 90's, 00's and 10's! So not really a quirk, rather a 'Fender design feature' :-)

GuitarMonkey

Gagaryn said:

sweepy said:

Thats not uncommon for the pickup cavity to be visible next to the bridge plate , just one of those 70's quirks

...and 50's, 60's, 80's, 90's, 00's and 10's! So not really a quirk, rather a 'Fender design feature' :-)

Yes, fit the ashtray cover, that'll hide it. 

geepers0677

Really interesting read, looking forward to next instalment!

GuitarMonkey

marantz1300 said:

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii98/marantz1300/1df491fc-9aeb-4451-9531-cd130741dada_zpsa2e962e0.jpg

Replaced switch?

ICBM

Yes, and the tone pot and some of the wiring. And pickups…!

It also looks like the ground wire from the jack is soldered to the tone pot as Fender usually do originally. You get less hum if you move it to the volume pot. I twist the wire pair to the jack as tightly as possible too, which reduces buzz. (Or you can replace it with shielded cable.)

Wolfetone

I had a response from the seller this evening.

I don't think that it's fair to print his text but the the gist is that he thought that it was in good condition for the year and was unaware of the wrong tuners, crappy paintwork and thought the fretwork was OK.

I responded by giving agreement that a guitar of this age would more than likely have had work but not done as poorly as this. I listed off the defects and told him that he had breached T's & C's by the condition description and also the fact that all original parts were included. The pots weren't and the tuners weren't.

His tone was reasonable but seemed to be suggesting that I paid a price lower than it was worth. I told him that it would have been worth the price if the work had been done to a proper standard.

ICBM

If he thinks you got it too cheap, he can take it back and try selling it again for a higher price.

If he won't be reasonable and offer you a full refund just open a dispute. I wouldn't even try to negotiate, that comes across as trying to get it for less and it's not even really worth the trouble to be honest.

Wolfetone

ICBM said:

If he thinks you got it too cheap, he can take it back and try selling it again for a higher price.

If he won't be reasonable and offer you a full refund just open a dispute. I wouldn't even try to negotiate, that comes across as trying to get it for less and it's not even really worth the trouble to be honest.

I had considered asking him for a partial refund. What would a luthier charge to restore the paint, lacquer and other troubles?

meltedbuzzbox

Wolfetone said:

ICBM said:

If he thinks you got it too cheap, he can take it back and try selling it again for a higher price.

If he won't be reasonable and offer you a full refund just open a dispute. I wouldn't even try to negotiate, that comes across as trying to get it for less and it's not even really worth the trouble to be honest.

I had considered asking him for a partial refund. What would a luthier charge to restore the paint, lacquer and other troubles?

I hate to be so blunt but you cant polish a turd mate

get shot of it 

GavRichList

Yes, please get your money back.

Wolfetone

meltedbuzzbox said:

Wolfetone said:

ICBM said:

If he thinks you got it too cheap, he can take it back and try selling it again for a higher price.

If he won't be reasonable and offer you a full refund just open a dispute. I wouldn't even try to negotiate, that comes across as trying to get it for less and it's not even really worth the trouble to be honest.

I had considered asking him for a partial refund. What would a luthier charge to restore the paint, lacquer and other troubles?

I hate to be so blunt but you cant polish a turd mate

get shot of it 

I know what you mean but is there anything that couldn't be restored? Perhaps the headstock may prove difficult but I have seen a few Tele's earlier and later with the same tuners fitted. The board could be stripped and re-lacquered with the original thick tinted finish as could the body. All this would probably have happened to most working Tele's of its age anyhow.

richardhomer

The thing is, if you were to get the issues solved by someone truly capable of doing the job properly, you would still not have an original '77 Telecaster - you would have a skilfully refretted and refinished '77 Tele.

So it would still have 'issues' from a collectibility point of view, ergo even if you got a 50% refund, the cost of fixing it would take it beyond the market value of a refin '77 Tele.

The guy needs to give you your money back....