The guitar's electronics have remained almost entirely original, with the exception of two changes. First, the guitar was slightly modified from its original "dark circuit" wiring (found stock on all vintage Telecasters before 1968). A small toggle switch was installed between the volume and tone controls, and the tone capacitor network responsible for the darker tone settings was sent to a leg of the switch. Bypassing this setting gave access to what we know as 'modern' Tele wiring - neck, both pickups, and bridge.

What's really cool about this old mod is that the dark circuit works in conjunction with the modern wiring configuration. Think of it like how Jazzmasters work with their Rhythm/Lead circuits. It's very cool to have access to those tones in each pickup position, and simply toggle out of them for your standard operating Tele tones.

Secondly, the original 3-way switch suffered some damage at one point. The switch leg broke off, impacting the ability to comfortably change pickup positions and keep a proper switch tip in place. While still functional, we felt a proper replacement was more practical. The original switch is included with the sale of the guitar.

The original frets show some wear throughout, but were recently crowned and dressed in-house and still feel good enough to play on. The future owner may want to consider a refret down the road based on preference, but we felt they didn't warrant replacing at this time.

This could easily be a benchmark for Fender's Custom Shop relic work, so much so that we've sent photos over in hopes of exploring an opportunity to recreate the look of this very guitar!