Fender USA [Ikeshibu Used Goods Festival Item] VINTAGE Telecaster '68 w/Bigsby Tremolo Laminate Maple Fingerboard Blond/M

"Items exhibited at the Ikebukuro Used Goods Festival"
During the event, our products will be on display and for sale on the first floor of Ikebukuro.

Debuting in 1950 as the Broadcaster, the Telecaster has since reigned alongside the Stratocaster as one of Fender's flagship guitar models. Not only is it an original Fender model, but inspired models have also been produced by various other manufacturers, making it a truly classic electric guitar.

This particular guitar was shipped around 1968. It's a popular model packed with rare specifications, including a late-production lacquer-finish neck, laminated maple neck, and original B-5 tremolo. This is a player's condition guitar with some parts replacements, mainly in the control section.

【body】
The overall weight is approximately 3.7kg. The body is made of ash. One of the appealing features of this guitar is the optional Bigsby B-5 tremolo unit. The finish used during this period is "Fender Thick-Skin High-Gloss," which uses polyester as a base coat. The regular blonde color has a nice, moderate patina. There is some weather checking commensurate with its age, dents and touch-ups with paint peeling mainly on the body sides, scratches, and tarnishing on the metal parts, but it has a good vintage guitar feel and the paint is still glossy, making it in good condition. There is a routing and filling mark where a humbucker was previously installed in the front pickup area. The pickguard has been slightly modified to allow access to the truss rod.

【neck】
The neck is made of maple, and it features a maple fingerboard glued to a maple neck, a so-called "laminated maple" specification. This is one of the last models to feature a lacquer finish neck. There is some weather checking on the headstock top and back, paint peeling on the back of the neck from use, and tarnishing on the metal parts, but like the body, it is in relatively good condition. The tuners function properly, although there is some slight variation in the tightness of the winding. The frets and nut have been replaced once, and the playability is good. The clear coat on the fingerboard and back of the neck has been repainted following the refretting. Headstock thickness is 15.9mm. Nut width is 41.2mm. It features a relatively sturdy neck shape.

[Electrical System]
The controls are current wiring, allowing for pickup mixing. They consist of a 3-way pickup selector (neck/mix/bridge), volume, and tone. The front (neck) pickup is unknown, while the rear (bridge) pickup has been replaced with a Seymour Duncan STL-1. Other consumable parts such as the selector switch, potentiometers, and tone capacitor have also been replaced. The pickups do not interfere with the character of the wood material, and the combination of a laminated maple neck and maple fingerboard provides a clear attack and excellent responsiveness to picking nuances. Combined with the light response characteristic of a lacquer-finished neck, it delivers a bright, glossy tone in clean sounds and a sharp, sustained tone when driven.

Accessories: Later Fender black Tolex hard case

Weight: 3.7kg
Body Material: Ash 3 piece w/Fender Bigsby B-5 Tremolo Unit
Neck Material/Scale: Maple 1 piece/648mm (25-1/2inch)
Fingerboard/Fret Marker/Radius: Maple round laminate/Black dot/184.15mm (7.25inch)
Nut Width/Fret Size (width): 41.2mm (replaced)/2.5mm (replaced)
Neck Thickness (1F/7F/12F): 22.0mm/23.2mm/23.9mm
Pickup (Neck/Bridge): Unknown TL Model (6.85kΩ)/Seymour Duncan STL-1 (7.1kΩ) (both replaced)
*The DC resistance of the pickup is measured through the control section.

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