Here's a left-handed vintage Tele more for the player than the collector. A fantastic-sounding Fender Telecaster with a neck date of June 1971. Serial number on the F neckplate is 395923, normally associated with a 1973 build. However, neck plates are notoriously unreliable, and the pots (high quality CTS) have been changed, so the neck date is the most concrete dating factor to use in this instance.

This has been a much-played guitar, and you know the old adage about the good ones are the ones that get played. Weight of this Alder-bodied '70s Tele is nice, at 3.5kg, or 7.7 pounds.

The tuners have long been replaced with Schallers, and the pickups are high-quality aftermarket items. The bridge pickup is a ballsy Seymour Duncan Jerry Donohue model (modeled on Jerry's original '52 Tele), while I can not identify the neck pickup, but it's a high-quality, high output unit with quality cloth-covered wiring on the leads. At some stage the guitar has been fitted with humbuckers, as the pickup recesses in the body have been professionally routed to suit (see the detailed photographs in the 'more pictures' link below).

The black finish on the body is original, as can be clearly seen in the neck pocket and other close-up details (check the 'more pictures' link). The yellowed pearl scratchplate is a later replacement, but looks damn cool, so I'm leaving it as-is. The bridge has been fitted with compensated brass saddles. The jumbo frets are quite worn - the guitar plays well as-is, but it would not be too long before you would be looking for a re-fret. The body has its share of bumps and scrapes, including a sizeable chip (retouched at some point) to the lower front edge, but this can all be seen in the photographs above and in the 'more pictures' link below.

If this guitar had been untouched, the price would be approaching three times the asking price. However, at the price I am selling this '71 Tele, it represents a real tone bargain to the working musician. It comes with what appears to be its original case.

Leftie vintage Fenders are next to impossible to find - if you're a southpaw looking for a great gigging vintage Tele with mojo, this will be very hard to beat.

Sold to David

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