This beautiful 1953 Fender Telecaster is the quintessential "blackguard". It sounds particularly good, is light weight, and has a great feeling, medium big neck very typical of a '53. The Telecaster really came together in 1953, and this particular guitar is a prime example of that.
In 1953 Fender switched from the earlier "blend" style wiring to employ a tone control. This makes '53s particularly usable, as the stock wiring offers all the "modern" Tele sounds. Yes, the front position of the pickup selector is still the dark preset Leo Fender envisioned to simulate a bass instrument, but the middle position is the neck pickup by itself, the rear position is the bridge pickup by itself. Just like on a 3-way switch equipped stock Strat, you can find the spot between neck and bridge pickups that allows for both of them to be on together. The actual tone control missing on 1952 and earlier Teles is particularly useful and something most Telecaster players use to thicken up the sound.
This Telecaster is fully original as it left the factory, except for a fairly recent refret by Holger Notzel and a new bone nut. Fret wire is Jescar nickel silver .090 wide by .047 tall, a nice medium size wire that make string bending a breeze. The guitar is perfectly set up with .010s.
The original truss rod had an issue with cross threaded threads, and the nut was replaced by Chris Flemming of the Fender Custom Shop. There is no issue with the neck that would indicate the rod was over-tightened. In fact, it is strong and stiff and barely needs any tension from the rod at all to be set up perfectly.
This 1953 Tele comes with its original "thermometer' form fit case and bridge cover.
