While post-CBS Fender guitars are widely considered the least consistent, gone are the days where the good ones go under-appreciated.

This 1971 Fender Telecaster pulls in a lot of the great late 60s tele sensibilities that continue to make these popular options in the vintage electric world without getting into the high-dollar pre-CBS guitars. Much of the late 60s specs stick up into 1971, making these a great value in a truly great guitar.

The factory Blonde/Maple combination represents the gold standard for the Telecaster and is one of the most common configurations seen post 1967/1968. Both the neck and the body are polyurethane finished but exhibit some nice vibe and natural wear. A really comfortable medium C neck carve with factory frets that are still in great shape present some great playability and feel. The original Fender stamped tuners work great as well. It's got a great weight with some nice resonance, and the bridge pickup is wonderful sounding, with classic twang and bite.

As is the case with some of these 70s Fenders, this one is not without some mods. Most notably, an old DIY humbucker rout was done some time ago. It's well concealed under the replacement 3-ply pickguard, and would make a future hot rod "fat tele" modification easy. The original wiring harness was replaced with the more desired 250k pot setup, but the entire original wiring harness remains intact and is included. The pot codes on the harness are of 1966 vintage, which is very common for early 70s Fenders when Fender had purchased a massive inventory of 1 MEG CTS pots that they spent years using in builds. The neck pickup is a replacement and was loosely identified as being a Seymour Duncan telecaster neck pickup. The bridge pickup is original, but the actual bridge is a later Fender replacement with 6 individual saddles. A single string ferrule is also a replacement (low E).

Given the rise in vintage prices for these teles, this is a example at a player-grade price point.

Priced with original Fender hardshell case

• Factory Blonde finish over Ash body
• Maple neck w/ original frets and F stamped tuners
• Neck date stamp 3AUG71B
• Medium C neck profile: .86" @ 1st fret / .94" @ 12th fret
• Replaced neck pickup (6.92k) and pickguard
• Original bridge pickup - 5.82k ohm output
• Replaced bridge
• Modern 250k wiring harness
• Original harness included - 1 MEG pot codes '6636' indicating 36th week of 1966
• Neck pickup humbucker rout
• Weight: 7lb 12oz