Fender Telecaster, Blonde (1958)

1958 Fender Telecaster just into the shop on consignment!

This late '58 Tele came to us from the son of the original owner. His mother bought it new and played in a duo group throughout her younger years. The guitar stayed in the family as her son took possession of it in his teens. It's a fabulous sounding and playing example of the rarer "top loader" variation of the Telecaster that had been newly introduced at the end of the year, forgoing the typical string-through body style for the bridge-through string mounting.

It's a particularly lightweight example that features a great playing transitional neck carve, combining some elements of the V profile of '57 with the slimmer Oval C that would take over in '59. Previously refretted with similar sized fretwire some time ago, it offers a great vintage playing experience with nice natural and honest wear on the neck. The son described his experience with the guitar, having played it in the 1970s and eventually stripping the original Blonde finish off of the guitar as we see so many times with older Fender electrics. It was refinished in Blonde some 15-20 years back, and the work was nicely done! It shows off the beautiful grain of the one-piece Ash body as well, and has already developed some light play wear that inches it closer to looking more era-correct.

Some additional changes over time included the replacement and/or repair of the neck pickup (there's an additional neck pickup included that was once installed in the guitar) and replacement of the volume and tone pots, which developed some signal shorts and noise. Those CTS pots show date codes of the 25th week of 1958, which aligns with the guitar's production period.

The bridge pickup is original and sounds just as it should - bright and chimey with a nice woodiness and twang in its response. The original "top loader" bridge features its original threaded steel saddles, which were introduced in late '58 as a replacement to the smooth barrel steel saddles that came before. The original ash tray cover is also included, along with the leather strap that came with the guitar when purchased new.

While we'd certainly consider this more of a player-grade vintage piece, it still remains an uncirculated family owned Telecaster from Fender's Golden Age, and maintains the great qualities that continue to make these guitars so desirable.