1966 Fender Telecaster Black, Very Good, Original Hard, $16,000.00

When CBS bought Fender in 1965, they didn't come in on day one and ruin the quality of the "pre-CBS" Fender products. Changes were made slowly-some benign, some disastrous. Mostly they were trying to make more money by making changes that saved production costs. Telecasters (and Esquires) were already pretty basic and there wasn't much to be done to maximize their profits. In fact, Telecasters didn't change that much into the 70's. A 66 Telecaster isn't much different than a pre CBS Telecaster. The finish was still nitrocellulose lacquer (changed to poly in 68), The tuners were still Klusons (Changed to the horrible "F" tuners in 1967) and still a 4 bolt neck (never changed on the standard Tele). This one is factory black and black Telecasters are rare and very cool. I've seen only a few over the years. This one is all original with only a re-fret and a rewound neck pickup. There is some touchup on the back only. Original case.