1952 Fender Telecaster, Blonde

A superb, characterful 1952 Fender Tele from the first full year of 'Telecaster' production and one of the most important periods in Fender’s history. Following directly on from the Broadcaster and “Nocaster” guitars of 1950-51, these early Telecasters represent the point at which Leo Fender’s revolutionary solidbody design was settling into the form that would define the electric guitar for decades to come.

By 1952 the model name issue had been resolved, the Telecaster decal was in use, and the model had already begun establishing itself as a serious professional instrument. Given the early stages of production the model would subtly evolve over the coming years as the manufacturing process was refined. '52 Blackguards sit in a particularly desirable window of Fender’s very first production solidbodies, but with the Telecaster identity fully established, and this is a fantastic original example worthy of its place in any collection.

We purchased this one from the owner of around 25 years. He purchased it when on tour in the US from a producer named Steven Bruton who was selling some of his collection to fund studio equipment at the time.

It has a Tadeo Gomez pencil neck and body date of 7-23-52, and 7-1-52 respectively, both with the “D” stamp present. The neck is to die for, with a perfect goldilocks carve that sits really nicely in the hand, with a hint of soft V towards the lower frets. The nut measures 42.5mm, 1st fret depth is 21.8mm, 12th fret is 24.9mm  It retains the correct narrow 12th fret dot marker spacing on the maple neck, along with the correct cross-head truss rod nut and partially threaded Phillips neck screws. One particularly interesting feature is the maple truss rod plug, more commonly associated with late Broadcaster and Nocaster-era guitars, making it a very cool detail to find on a mid-1952 model.

The guitar retains its correct early bridge plate, stamped with serial number 2339, together with the correct flat-bottom brass saddles. The lead pickup cavity shows the expected drill hole and router mark, and the bridge pickup retains its copper base plate. When we received this guitar the bridge pickup was weak in output and reading high so we had it rewound to original spec by Monty’s Guitars. It sounds excellent, with plenty of bite, clarity across the strings and that wonderfully raw Blackguard throaty character. It measures 6.22k with the neck pickup reading 6.27k balancing well with the bridge.

Electronically, it retains the correct early blend circuit, as seen on Fenders from 1950 into 1952. This early configuration used the 2nd control knob not as a tone control but as a blend control between the bridge and neck pickup when in the bridge pickup switch position. This gives these early blackguards a sound and usability all of their own separating them from the models that followed shortly after, and contributing to their desirability. The middle switch position is the neck pickup (again, no tone control) and the neck pickup position wires in the dark circuit. The guitar also retains the correct early 3 PAT. No. switch with orange sheath, along with the correct first-generation Cornell-Dubilier 0.05 MFD capacitor.

The tone pot is Clarostat, ink coded 140 148, dating to late 1951, with solid brass shaft. The volume pot codes are beneath solder but you can just make out “IO” the word “AUDIO” and has a period-correct solid aluminium shaft. The chrome-plated brass knobs are correct for this year, and the guitar is fitted with no-line Kluson tuners with open shells and slot-head screws.

The nut has been changed and it's been refretted in the past. The string tree had previously been moved closer to the nut, leaving a small hole, but this has avoided the original decal and it has now been reinstated its original position.

Overall, this is a very exciting early-’50s Blackguard Telecaster with a great neck, two superb pickups, character in spades and key early details that make these models so desirable. Comes complete with the original Thermometer brown hard case.