1974 Fender® Deluxe Telecaster® Blonde, Excellent, Original Hard,

Fender must have been eyeing Seth Lover’s Gibson made humbucker design for almost a decade and a half before they were able to get one of their own by 1971. Lover had already designed a wide range pickup but apparently Gibson didn’t like it since the stock was sold to Harmony for use in their Silvertone 1446 guitar. The Fender Wide Range pickup differed from the Gibson humbucker in more ways than just the obvious staggered pole piece design. Instead of an Aluminum/Nickel/Cobalt bar magnet underneath the pole pieces, the Wide Range pickup uses threaded and slotted Copper/Nickel/Iron pole pieces as the magnets themselves. Players have noticed a high similarity to a fat Gibson humbucker but with a slight increase in clarity.

The early 1970s were an interesting time for Fender’s finishing department. Fender was using thick polyester finishes on most guitars but were still using nitrocellulose on certain custom colors. This guitar uses a mix of the two finishes: nitro on the front of the headstock, polyurethane on the back of the neck, a thin poly base sealer coat on the body and a thin nitro blonde finish on top of the base. Since this guitar has the rare blonde finish, it also has the rare Ash body. The result is a lighter, more resonant guitar (8lbs 10oz).

The Fender Deluxe Telecaster features two Wide Range pickups, two volume/two tone knob control setup and a 3 position switch on the upper bass bout. This setup would be very comfortable to a player used to the Gibson Les Paul since all the controls are similar and in the same place on the guitar. This guitar is all original except for a new custom fit bone nut. All electronics are functioning just as they did from the factory. The guitar is recently set up by Jason Burns and is ready for the stage. The original case is structurally solid but has suffered some damage at the hands of a hungry pooch. This is a great original package that’s just as comfortable hanging on the wall as it is on the stage.