The Telecaster Custom

In the late 1950's and early 1960's the twangy single-coil sound produced by Fender guitars enjoyed a considerable amount of popularity. However as the 60's progressed this popularity began to fade as guitarist's began to seek a creamier sound that the standard Fender Telecaster did not deliver, this was a result of artists such as Eric Clapton and Mike Bloomfield plugging their humbucker equipped Gibsons into over-driven Marshall Amps. In order to replicate this sound Fender player began to replace the single coil standard pickup on their Telecasters with after market humbuckers.

In order to establish a foothold in this emerging market, Fender hired Seth Lover in 1967 the designer of the Gibson Humbucker, however as the patent hadn't quite expired on the Gibson Humbucker, he designed one that was similar but produced a more "brilliant" sound that he felt Fender was known for. Lover perfected this new pickup called the Wide Range Humbucking Pickup by late 1970, and in 1971 they were offered for the first time on a redesigned version of the semi-hollow Telecaster Thinline model, with two of them replacing the Thinline’s two single-coil pickups.

Many of the Telecaster lovers in the late 60’s and early 70’s loved the thinline because of the famously bright and snappy sound of the guitar’s single coil bridge pickup, consequently, an common modification of the era was to retrofit Telecasters with humbucking pickups, but only in the neck position. This didn't go unnoticed by Fender either and in 1972 they introduced a solid body Telecaster with a Humbucking pickup in the neck position whilst placing the single coil pickup in the bridge position, this became the Telecaster Custom.

The 1972 Telecaster Custom bore little resemblance to any previous Telecaster model apart from the bridge pickup and body. It had an elongated pickgaurd that encompassed both pickups, and unlike any previous Telecaster Model the Custom had four skirted black control knobs (volume and tone for each pickup) and a toggle-type pickup selector switch mounted on the upper bout, all of which were also encompassed by the pickguard.

With recent interest in the Telecaster Custom, the 1972 Telecaster Custom has been re-released in 1999 and the cheaper Fender brand Squier also introduced two models the Vintage Modified Telecaster Custom (2003) and the Vintage Modified Tele Custom II (2004), although the former has two humbucking pickups and the latter has two single-coil pickups.

Looking to pick up your own '72 Custom Telecaster? Head to the Guitar Lounge to try one out for yourself, if not try one of our many other Fender guitars! The Guitar Lounge, Fender heaven.