The '72 Custom in Detail
An in-depth part-by-part look at the '70s Custom and reissues. Caution: unhealthy amount of tiny facts inside.The Body | The Neck: Heel and Micro Tilt | The Neck: Headstock Decals | The Neck: Tuners
Bridge Single Coil Pickup | Wide Range Humbucking Neck Pickup
On this page we'll go through most integral (and not so integral) parts of the '72 Tele Custom (or rather, 70s Tele Custom and RIs), one by one with pictures and info on variations through the years, and "reissue vs. original" comparisons. Comments, corrections and contributions are as always welcome. Note that this is a first version of this page. More info and pics will follow.
The bodies on the 1972-1981 Tele Customs were all made of Ash (excepting any of CBS's "unofficial" variations that may exist), and were the same as regular Telecaster bodies but routed differently to accomodate the humbucker and controls. Like the Thinline and Deluxe it was also drilled for the 3-bolt micro-tilt neck fitted on these guitars.
The body of the MIJ/CIJ reissue is made of Basswood while the MIM is being made of Poplar and Alder, black and sunburst, respectively (probably because Poplar is cheap while Alder has a prettier wood grain). All those woods basically sound "Alder", which makes the reissues perhaps a bit darker sounding than the original (especially as the '70s Ash Fenders tended to be on the dense/bright side).
One interesting thing on the '70s Customs is the flatter curve of the upper bout of the body. This is a typical CBS phenomenom caused by too straight routing, and evident on all Teles of the '70s, but thanks to the large curved (and shape consistent) pickguards that follow (or should follow) the body curve on the Customs, it is more obvious on this model. The reissues, however, have a more "defined" '50s-'60s curve and pickguards that "fit".
The Neck: Heel & Attachment
One of the differences between the regular Tele model and the three humbucker Teles of the '70s is the 3-bolt Micro Tilt neck attachment, otherwise found on Strats and a few other Fender models from this time. Since these models were new at the time, and considered more modern and "progressive" than the regular Tele, they were fitted with this invention.
The idea with the Micro Tilt is to be able to adjust the neck's angle without removing the neck and putting shims in the pocket, but the way it was designed by Leo in the early '70s, it had to be attached with three bolts instead of the usual four. Due to the uneven quality of '70s Fenders, this arrangement recieved a bad rap for being unstable. No MIJ and MIM reissue seem to have this problem, though, so it seems like it can basically be addressed to sloppy manufacturing and not the actual design.
The butt end of Fender necks were traditionally stamped/signed with a date code ever since manufacturing started in Fullerton in the '50s. Human-readable dates were stamped on all necks up through at least 1973, at which time CBS had started to use more complicated date/inventory codes that made dating the guitar by the neck stamp much harder, if not impossible. Most '70s Tele Customs have this kind of neck stamp.
None of the reissues have, as far as I know, anything stamped or written on the neck heels at all.
The Neck: Headstock Decals
The headstock decal on the '72 Telecaster Custom was initially the regular bold and black "TV-friendly" Fender Telecaster logo (with patent numbers) plus "Custom" in a script style. All reissues have this decal, stripped of patent numbers, but I've never seen a picture of a '70s Custom with it, except an official Fender photo on page 27 in A.R. Duchossoir's book.
Some time very early on, the script style "Custom" word was replaced with one in a straight sans serif font, which is the common one on the 70s Customs. In 1976, the patent numbers were removed and the serial number was moved from the neck plate to the decal, like on all Fender guitars. "Made in USA" was also added, below "Custom". This decal was used until the model was discontinued in 1981.
The Japanese reissue Fenders usually have the serial numbers on the back of the neck near the heel, but as seen in the picture to the right, the Custom obviously came with the s/n on the headstock too. (Someone might be able to fill in the gaps here.).
The Neck: Tuners
The tuners on the original 1972-1981 Tele Custom were always the Fender/Schaller "F" tuners, found on most Fender guitars during the CBS era. Those came in two versions, the first being produced "in house" at Fender until the mid-'70s, and the later variant by Schaller. The latter is commonly said to be better, but the only visible difference is the hole showing the pin end on the Fender version.
The MIM reissue has reissue "F" tuners basically identical to the originals (seem to be better "polished" though) but with slightly larger ferrules, while the MIJ reissue has modern Gotoh tuners with horisontal string hole and much larger ferrules.
Bridge Single Coil Pickup
The bridge pickup was during the original Custom's lifespan the exact same as on the regular Telecaster. In 1974 the pole pieces were changed from staggered to flush, and in the late '70s the fiber bobbin was changed to plastic. They have Alnico 5 magnets and are wired with 7800 turns of 42GA Polysol wire, giving a DC resistance of about 6.4k Ohms.
The reissues carry vintage reissue bridge pickups, with staggered pole pieces and plastic bobbins. DC resistance is around the same as the originals. The MIM (don't know about the MIJ) does not have the metal base plate, however. This helps minimize microphonics, but gives less Tele twang character to the sound.
Fender Wide Range Humbucking Neck Pickup
The "Fender Wide Range Humbucker" in the neck position is in the heart of the Tele Custom and one of its unique features. The WRHP was designed in 1970 by Seth Lover – inventor of the original PAF humbucker for Gibson in the '50s – and was made with Cunife (Copper/Nickel/Ferrite, as opposed to Alnico) polepieces which were magnetized themselves instead of having a one-piece bar magnet underneath like the PAF. Cunife was chosen mainly because it was both magnetic and soft enough for threading. All 12 polepieces are height adjustable, but only 6, offset in two rows, are adjustable from the front. The WRHP, which remained in production until 1981, was wired with 2x5000 turns of 42 gauge Polysol wire, giving a DC resistance of 10.6k Ohms and an inductance of 4.85 Henries.
Construction-wise, the reissues are a bit different from the original. They have a bar magnet underneath the non-Cunife (Alnico?) polepieces, like the common PAF style pup. According to Fender, using the Cunife design would have made the MIM too expensive. They share the exact same size and offset polepiece arrangement, however, and sound very similar to the original (at least the MIM). The MIM also have a 4-conductor wire exposed on its back, making it suitable for coil splitting. DC resistance of the MIM is ~7.8k Ohms.
Sound-wise, the WRHP was designed to have a brighter tone, with more "Fender character" compared to the PAF, and seem to succeed in this for most of the time. Setting it too high might yield in a "muddy" tone, however, and also much of its difference in sound from Gibson guitars are due to differences in wood and construction, etc.
More to come!
Front of a Blond '74
Front of body on Esquire's '01 reissue
Heel on Esquire's MIM. Note absense of stamp.
Neck heel with Micro Tilt on the '74 Blonde
Neck pocket on Esquire's MIM.
Headstock with pre-1976 decal.
Neck from Esquire's MIM.
MIJ reissue headstock, decal and tuners.
"F" tuners, first version.
Mid-70s bridge pickup with flush pole pieces.
MIM reissue bridge pickup. Notice absence of copper base plate.
Back of MIM Wide Range Humbucker with exposed 4-conductor wire.
MIM reissue (top) and rewound 70s original humbuckers without covers. Note the wax that is "wound" around the MIM.