People kept asking Fender, “Why don’t you make a Tele that’s more like a Strat?” So they did, but so they weren’t too much like a Strat, they stuck a pair of their honking big, Seth Lover designed humbuckers in ’em… and thus, in January 1973, yet another famous Fender model was born.
A great playing, fantastic sounding axe
With its Strat-style headstock and “belly cut” contoured body, some called the Deluxe a “Stratocasterized Tele with humbuckers”. It doesn’t matter, because what it is, is a great playing, fantastic sounding axe, quite capable of eating lesser-credentialed guitars for breakfast.
Big name players
Time has brought a raft of big name players to the pleasures of the Tele Deluxe, from Steve Morse to the Cure’s Robert Smith and Coldplay’s Chris Martin to Buddy Guy. Other Deluxe players include both Thurston Moore & Lee Renaldo from Sonic Youth, Graham Coxon, (Blur), Alex Turner, (Arctic Monkeys), Brendon Urie, (Panic! At The Disco), and locally, Daniel Johns of Silverchair, and the legendary Charlie Owen.
Seth Lover
As the man who invented the humbucking pickup, Seth Lover sure knew what he was doing when he drew up his new pickups for Fender. With around 6800 turns of wire, his “Wide Range’ humbuckers have noticeably more grunt than those he designed during his tenure at Gibson. Coupled with 1 meg pots, the sound is not murky, the way some Les Pauls can be – slightly livelier, if you will – and a lot more in-your-face. Listen to our soundfile and hear how it’s still a Tele, just… more.
Solid Poplar body
One of Fender’s traditional timbers, a solid Poplar body keeps the weight down to 7lb 14oz / 3.6kg, and paired with the Maple neck, imparts around 16 - 18 seconds of natural sustain. While we’re on the subject of the neck, the profile is amazing – it fits so comfortably in your hand it could be the very one that all modern ‘C-profile’ necks are based on – it’s that good!
A very early Tele Deluxe
With a neck stamped “TEL-DELX 73”, original CTS pots dated the 3rd week of 1973, plus two stamps in the neck pocket that may indicate the 15th and 16th weeks of 1973, it’s safe to say this is a very early Tele Deluxe. (This can be cross-checked against the 41XXXX serial numbers, which commenced in April of that year)
Fantastic condition
Medium-jumbo frets, Strat-style individual bridge saddles, ‘bullet’ truss-rod, the twin humbuckers – it’s all here, and it’s all in fantastic condition. Our pics show how little playwear there is, our soundfile shows how truly great this guitar sounds.
Original hard shell case
Complete with its original hard shell case – in likewise great condition – your 1973 Telecaster Deluxe comes with free courier delivery to any address in Australia, or $100 airfreight to New Zealand, and $175 to the US, Canada, UK and mainstream European countries
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