A Near Mint Custom Color 1968 Maple-Cap Telecaster

1968 Fender Telecaster

This rare 'custom color' late 1968 Olympic White Telecaster weighs just 6.90 lbs. Solid alder body with a one-piece maple neck with a nut width of just over 1 5/8 inches, a scale length of 25 1/2 inches and a a wonderful thick profile. Maple-cap fretboard with 21 medium (0.07) frets and inlaid black dot position markers. CBS 'black' headstock logo with "Fender" logo in black with gold trim, "Telecaster" in black beside it, and two patent numbers beneath. Individual Fender "F" tuners with octagonal metal buttons. Single "butterfly" string tree. Four-bolt neck plate with large Fender "F" logo and serial number "182552" between the top two screws. One plain metal-cover pickup (at neck) with an output of 8.08k and one light gray-bottom six-polepiece pickup (angled in bridgeplate) with an output of 5.79k. Three-layer white/black/white (over pearloid) plastic pickguard with eight screws. Two controls (one volume, one tone) and one three-way selector switch with black plastic "Top-Hat" tip, all on metal plate adjoining pickguard. Chrome knobs with flat tops and knurled sides. Fender combined bridge/tailpiece with original chrome "ashtray" bridge cover. The neck is stamped in black "3DEC 68B" and the pots are dated "137 6634" (CTS August 1966). The Olympic white color is rich and fresh and there is just one small surface chip, approximately 1/8 inch square on the top edge of the treble horn. When we purchased this guitar we noticed that the neck pickup was not reading correctly so we sent the guitar to our luthier Scott Lentz who has successfully restored the pickup back to its former glory. The guitar has been expertly re-fretted with the correct gauge fret wire and the nut has been replaced with a perfect modern replica. Otherwise apart from some miniscule and totally inconsequential surface marks this fine example is in near mint (9.25+) condition. Complete with the original "ashtray" bridge-cover. Housed in the original (worn) Fender black hardshell case with red plush lining and "tail" on Fender logo (8.50). This is only the second 'sixties' Olympic White Telecaster that we have handled - custom color Telecasters are very hard to find.

The serial number 182552 usually refers to a 1967 guitar however there are noted exceptions - 182371 is a November 1969 Esquire; 182911 is a September 1966 Stratocaster (Werner's List). Assembly at the Fender factory in the mid-to late sixties was unfortunately not an exact science - all parts had to be used up, and this caused the anomaly with date identification. Our guitar is certainly a late 1968 with the 'thick-skin' polyester finish and PVC plastic covered wiring.