Rare 1966 Lake Placid Blue Telecaster

1966 Fender Telecaster

This 12 3/4-inch-wide, 1/3/4 inch thick, "custom-color" Telecaster weighs just 7.90 lbs. Solid alder body, one-piece maple neck with a 'B' nut width of just over 1 5/8 inches, a scale length of 25 1/2 inches and a wonderful medium to thick profile. Veneer rosewood fretboard with 21 original thin frets and pearloid dot position markers. Headstock with "Fender" 'transition' logo in gold with black trim, "Telecaster" in black beneath it, and "Pat 2,573,254  3,143,028" beneath that. Single "butterfly" string tree. Individual dual-line Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons and "D-169400 / Patent No" stamped on the underside. The end of the neck is stamped "3 MAY 66B." Four-bolt Fender "F" neck plate with serial number "177321" between the top two screws. One plain metal-cover pickup (at neck) with an output of 6.43k and one 'gray-bottom' six-polepiece pickup with staggered polepieces (angled in bridgeplate) with an output of 5.59k. The potentiometers are stamped "304 6613" (Stackpole March 1966). Three-layer white over black plastic pickguard with eight screws. Two controls (one volume, one tone) plus three-way pickup selector switch, all on metal plate adjoining pickguard. Chrome knobs with flat tops and knurled sides and black plastic 'Top-Hat' switch tip. Fender combined bridge/tailpiece with three 'threaded' steel saddles. This guitar is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition. The son of the original owner informed us that shortly after purchasing the guitar in 1966 his father sent it back to the Fender factory because the neck was not straight. Fender replaced the neck (neck dated May 1966) and as was the case in those days when guitars were returned to the factory they marked the body under the pickguard with various letters including "L.P. Blue" crudely done with a soldering iron. As with many other 1966 Fender 'custom color' guitars there are two letters "ES" stamped into the body just by the neck pickup route (only visible when the pickguard is removed) which signify that this guitar was "Enter Special". The original thin frets and fretboard show almost no sign of wear. There is some light finish checking on the body and one surface chip on the lower bass edge (measuring approx 3/8 x 5/16 inch) and a few other very minor edge marks. The Lake Placid Blue color is bright, fresh. This is an exceptional example of a very rare custom-color Telecaster - certainly one of the best we have seen. Complete with the original 'Ashtray' bridge cover and the original black leather guitar strap. Housed in its original Fender black hardshell case with reddish orange plush lining and black leather ends - tail end of Fender logo missing (8.75).

The specifications of the Telecaster were unchanged between late 1965 and late 1967. The only change to the 1964 specification that was made in 1965 was the change of the logo from the 'Spaghetti' version to the 'Transition' one.