See the start of the CBS Telecaster story here CBS Telecasters
The model number 010-1303 usually with 850 after it for the Butterscotch colour was used right through until 1997,
I will reference the non CBS guitars in later pages, when I get time.
The variable quality and changes during the CBS years meant that people looked back fondly on the pre CBS years and
wanted guitars from earlier days, so Fender decided to make them again. Various reissues were released in 1982
and appeared in the 1983 Catalogue.
There were some details of these that were not vintage accurate,
probably because of re-tooling costs, but they were well received and started the whole business of vintage reissues
Some differences
Butterscotch Blonde instead of the original blonde, this was meant to look like blonde faded with time
Different pickups and headstock shape
Wider 12 fret dot spacing
Contained kit to update the bridge and controls to 1980s style.
At this stage Fender did not use the word reissue but the model is described as The Vintage 52 Telecaster.
There were some slight variations during the period. The early ones had a Certificate of Authenticity, some had a serial number on a
sticker in the neck pocket or pickup cavity. Serial numbers were 4 digit. The earliest one I have seen, that I can date,
is 0146 which has a neck date of March 1982 possibly they started with 0001. 2148 is May 1982 so I suspect that they were not used in strict order.
Pictured below is an even lower serial number but I can't date it.
Some other serial numbers and dates
2983 has a neck date of July 1982 3022 a neck date of May 1982 and 0660 has pot date of March 1982 but a neck date of May 1982
and a coa dated May 1982
This shows that these dates on necks and pots only shows when that item was made not when the guitar was put together
Specifications
Body Ash
Neck Maple C shaped 4 bolt
Fretboard Maple 7.25" radius 21 Vintage Frets
Headstock Original 52 style
Tuners Kluson Style Vintage Tuners
Pickups Standard Tele Single Coils described as "authentically original"
Controls Knurled Chrome 1 Volume 1 Tone 3 way switch*
Nut 1.65"
Hardware Chrome
Bridge 3 Brass saddle standard Tele
Pickguard Black 5 Hole
Colours Butterscotch Blonde
Comes with Vintage correct tweed case
* From the factory it comes with the pre CBS switching see start of this page. Often it has been changed to the
modern standard switching.
The 1983 Catalogue specifically states that the Vintage 52 Telecaster is not available in any of the custom colours,
however somebody got one as Mike and Mike's Guitar bar in Seattle had a black one. Obviously an original finish this is 0660
mentioned earlier. I will post pictures if they give me permission.
I have had interesting info and pictures from Andrea Sighinolfi in Italy. From Andrea's Email:
I owned one of these models for several years, with the neck heel date stamped "Nov 15, 1981". I had always understood
that production of the Vintage Reissue models didn’t actually begin until 1982. Could this perhaps be one of the very first
necks produced? The serial number stamped on the bridge is "2410"—fairly low, though not the very lowest. It has always struck
me as a rather unusual date/serial combination
Another distinctive feature of these instruments (’82–’84), in my opinion, is the body radius, which is noticeably more rounded
compared to later Reissues.
This shows again that the serial numbers were not used in sequence and that the neck dates are only the necks. These were shown to the
world in January 1982, so there would have been a reasonable number of necks made prior to release.
The Tele Bridge a development
This interesting piece of information comes from Yegbert of the Telecaster Forum
Fender around 1983 I think it was began altering the Tele bridge design, initially using a flat L-shaped plate with 6 saddles somewhat
like the ones eventually used, but its offsets of the saddle mounting/intonation screws were offset to one side on the left 3, and the other
side on the right 3.
I thought it was a pretty design point, but I guess they eventually used them all offset one way for righties, and the other way for lefties.
Here is the owners manual may be helpful or interesting
Vintage Telecaster Owners Manual