Up for sale, a 1969 Fender Telecaster in excellent condition and in perfect working order, complete with the original case. 100% original save for a modern refret and nut, this Tele features a traditional tonewood complement with an alder body and one-piece maple neck, yielding a lively, balanced natural acoustic tone
The original single coil pickup pair offers sparkle and chewy twang in the bridge position, with a snappy percussive cut when both pickups are engaged, and a smooth, round neck pickup sound with ideal clarity for complex chording. Weighing 8lbs 9oz, we’ve had ths Telecaster professionally setup here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar with 10-46 strings, low action, and spot-on intonation.
The maple neck has a moderately chunky C-shaped profile carve with ample shoulder and lightly rolled fretboard edges, measuring .865” deep at the 1st fret and .935” at the 12th. The fretboard retains its original 7 1/4” radius, refretted with medium jumbo fretwire. The frets are practically perfect with well-rounded crowns and ample meat, only showing just a hint of wear beneath the plain strings on frets 1-2. This guitar plays cleanly up the 25 1/2“ scale with a straight neck and a responsive, optimally-adjusted truss rod. The replacement nut measures 1 5/8“ in width, and the headstock has its original block logo and set of “F” tuning machines which turn smoothly and hold accurate pitch. The neck heel has a bold March, 1969 date stamp, with all of the original factory stamps and markings present in the pocket and on the heel. The truss rod nut is also flush with the neck heel, necessitating little adjustment in the past 50+ years.
All of the electronics function as intended, with the original single coil pickup pair, untouched solder joints, and a transitional combination of plastic and cloth-covered leads. The Stackpole pots date back to the 17th week of '66, and given the large quantity of pots purchased by Fender in 1966, it's extremely common to see these '66-dated components used until 1970. The original chrome-plated hardware is extremely clean, including the flat-top knurled knobs, control plate, and factory-installed Bigsby B5 vibrato. The Bigsby actuates smoothly and bounces back to pitch, perfect for surfy, expressive warbles. The original three-ply white pickguard rounds out the plastics.
The original gloss Olympic White finish exhibits uniform yellowing of the clear coat and prominent checking on the back, with tighter, fainter checking on the top and body perimeter. There is some additional darkening of the finish along the lower bout body edge with some small nicks and finish scratches on the body as a whole (in large part relegated to the lower bout perimeter). The smooth gloss finish on the neck profile is practically perfect.
The original black tolex hardshell case with orange interior is included. The tail-less Fender badge is largely intact on the lid, with some missing black leather trim along one edge. The original three latches are present and functional, as is the original handle.