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Fender Classic 60's Telecaster

 

Review of the Fender Classic 60's Telecaster by The Man in the Jar

Honestly, it's like putting King Herod in charge of Mothercare...

Features of the Fender Classic 60's Telecaster 

Tuners - Vintage style covered (not sealed) tuners of the Kluson style with small knobs and the capstans have slots instead of holes. But there's nothing vintage about their performance, they're tight and accurate.

Headstock - Classic no waste, no frills, post-war austerity, any-colour-you-like-as-long-as-it's-black, "who are you looking at?" Telecaster simplicity. Yet to be bettered. 

Nut - The nut is a set-in-slot type, white plastic and perfectly finished.

Neck - The bolt-on maple neck is instantly familiar and comfortable with its C profile and distinctive "crazed" graining. Rather disappointingly there's no skunk stripe as the truss rod is inserted in and accessed at the body end of the neck. The maple has been coloured to give it that lovely caramel colour that normally only comes with age.

Fretboard - The rosewood fretboard is a nice ruddy-red-brown with an attractive grain and carries bog-standard white position-markers. The radius of the fretboard is just over 7 inches. This refers to the curve worked into the board in the plane in which the fret-wire runs. The higher the radius measurement the flatter the neck (a typical Les Paul for instance has a radius of about 12 inches). So the rather pronounced curve on this fretboard will make it easier and more comfortable to play chords up and down the neck, but over-wild string bending is likely to choke out. The small position markers on the player's side, which are normally white, seem to have got mixed up in the staining process of the neck, but they remain visible against the darker rosewood.

Frets - 21 thin-profile vintage-style frets provide an authentic playing feel.

Action - This Telecaster is set up with a medium action from the box. This is to give the best compromise for string-bending bearing in mind the pronounced fretboard radius. If you're just playing rhythm then you might like to drop this a bit.

Body - Timeless Telecaster slab body in alder. Simply the best body shape there is...

Bridge - The ashtray bridge-plate, so called due to the raised lip around three edges, carries three vintage-style barrels that each carry a pair of strings. So intonation is adjustable only in pairs, but individual string height adjustment can be achieved quite easily. Stringing is through-body and the bridge plate is stamped "Fender Pat. Pend." - a nice historic touch.

Pickups - Two stock Tele pickups, the standard open coil single mounted under the bridge-plate and the smaller neck single coil under its traditional metal cover. 

Controls - One Volume, one Tone and the three-way selector switch.

Scratchplate - Three-ply mint/black/mint scratchplate contrasts nicely with the Olympic White finish.

Strap-buttons - Two generous strap-buttons, one on the upper bout and one on the base of the body.

Output Jack - On the lower edge in the traditional Telecaster bucket.

Finish - Very good throughout this Mexican made instrument.

Accessories - A rather nice padded Fender gigbag.

 

Sound of the Fender Classic 60's Telecaster 

I love Telecasters. There I said it!  But sometimes the sheer treble response of the beasts gets a bit much. This particular model has that aspect of the Tele legacy exactly right. The bridge pickup has plenty of bite but stops short of stripping the enamel from your teeth. Excellent rock n roll, country or boogie tones from this position - just thrash out the intro to Wild Side of Life and you know you're in the right territory. Flick to the neck pickup and enjoy a gorgeous bluesy mellowness that seduces you with silk sheets. I don't know how much the rosewood fingerboard informs this tone, but it's the best blues sound I've heard from a Tele in yonks. Now run them together and the two balance and compliment each other very sweetly, producing a really nice "all-round" workhorse guitar tone.  

 

Overall Impressions of the Fender Classic 60's Telecaster 

Once you get used to the fretboard radius this is a cracking little example of all that's good about Telecasters. It's by no means a cheap guitar but it does represent great value for money if you're looking for a great sounding rock n roll axe with a bit of a vintage vibe.  

Buy the Fender Classic 60's Telecaster

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