1978 Fender Telecaster in custom colour black...!

This guitar certainly looks the part. Not a common sight in factory black but this guitar certainly cuts a striking figure combined black pickguard and rosewood fretboard. The finish has survived remarkably well with only a few minor marks.

The poly finished neck is in good shape, with a few marks but nothing serious. The fretboard shows no real signs of wear and the original frets have plenty of life left in them. The headstock still has the original decal and the finish has faded somewhat. The mechanical section of the top e string tuner has been changed as has the string ferrule for the a string. 

Hardware shows signs of mild corrosion but nothing too extensive. The plastics are in excellent order too.

Electrically everything looks correct without any sign that solder joints have been disturbed. Pots are dated week 33 of 1978.

The guitar comes in a hardshell case.

The received wisdom is that 70's tele can be somewhat on the shrill side, almost certainly due to the fact that Fender fitted 1 Meg pots during this period. This coupled with a treble bleed cap certainly doesn’t help matters. As with any vintage guitar, particularly from the CBS era, each guitar is best taken on its own merit. This one certainly delivers that classic tele tone without taking your head off, the neck pickup having that chewy quality that holds its own so well when combined with the bridge pickup. Once in that bridge position, there is that unmistakable Telecaster twang, surely the reason youve picked it up in the first place. The treble bleed does slice off a hefty chunk of low end when the volume is rolled back but this does still produce usable tones in all positions. 

These 70's Fenders can be surprising. With tone and looks like this, it goes to show you should never prejudge a guitar before its on your lap. Grab it before it gets away.