frettedamericana | 1 decade ago
http://www.frettedamericana.com/fender_telecaster_1954-d-1211-0.html
This featherwight fifty-six-year-old Blond beauty weighs just 7.50 lbs. and has a nut width of just over 1 5/8 inches inches and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Solid ash body and fretted maple neck with a really thick profile and 21 original thin frets and black dot position markers. Single "round" string tree. Headstock decal with "Fender" spaghetti logo in silver and "Telecaster" in black below it. Individual "no-name" Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons. The tuning keys are stamped on the underside "2356766/PAT. APPLD". One plain metal-cover "black-bottom" pickup with slot-head adjusting screws (at neck) with a very strong output of 7.81k, and one black six-polepiece "copper-coated metal plate bottom" pickup with flush polepieces (angled in bridgeplate) with an output of 5.83k. Single-ply black Bakelite pickguard with five screws. Two controls (one volume, one blender) plus three-way "tone" switch and original "patent number" black plastic "barrel-like" tip, all on metal plate adjoining pickguard. Shorter chrome knobs with more pronounced domes and heavy knurled sides. Telecaster combined bridge/tailpiece with three flat bottomed brass "Fender" spaghetti logo in silver and "Telecaster" in black below it. saddles. Serial number "3890" on the bridge plate beneath the words "FENDER/PAT. PEND." The neck is dated in pencil "10-54" and the bridge pickup cavity is dated in blue pencil "11-54X". The potentiometers are stamped "304 432" (Stackpole, August 1954) and the three-way switch is stamped "CRL 1452." According to the previous owner - the neck pickup was apparently re-wound by Lindy Fralin some years ago. There is a small area of surface loss (belt buckle wear) on the back (approximately one inch by one inch). There are some small marks / dings / surface wear on the edges of the body. There is a small amount of playing wear on the fretboard, but far less than is usually seen and the original frets also show very little wear. There are a few small marks on the back of the neck and a small area of varnish loss on the 'skunk stripe' behind the third to the seventh fretsl The lovely grain of the ash body shows very well through the Blond finish and this fifty-six-year-old gem in 9.00 exceptionally fine condition is quite simply one of the nicest "black-guard" Telecasters that we have ever seen. Complete with the original 1954 Fender hang-tag with matching serial number. Housed in it's original Fender 'Tweed' side-pocket hardshell case with tan leather ends and bright red plush lining (8.75).
