Mentioned some time ago that mate of mine bought the 52 reissue Tele that Eruera sent back as there was an issue with the advertised and actual production date.
His one is a 93 and mine is a 97.
His is Butterscotch and mine is copper.
Had the good fortune to have the guitar for the last two weeks and get it in front of my Tweed Deluxe clone and do a decent A/B against my 52 Reissue.
From a previous post:
"First thing that struck me was how light the guitar is compared to mine. Very noticeable!!
Secondly, the tone was what I would consider pure Tele twang! It's a whole lot more airy and twangy than mine.
Mine has a lot of midrange and fullness compared to this one.
Thirdly, little changes have been made like the three saddles being threaded steel - not brass - and some of the slot head screws being replaced with philips head.
Fourthly, the case does not appear to be a G&G that comes with the reissues.
Still a very nice guitar which sounds very nice through my mates Marshalls.
I have asked to borrow at some stage so I can hear it through my Tweed Deluxe clone."
Fender through Fender (albeit a clone) is absolutely stunning and this Tele to me epitomises those classic 50's tones in spades.
The tele has Don Mare pickups installed and they are bell like when playing clean and bring that tele twang to the fore in a real good way.
The neck pickup is fantastic for blues or some jazzy chords (not that I'm any good at Jazz).
When playing my 52 it was interesting to note that the output of my pickups were so much hotter than the Don Mares.
Same amp settings and my tele was pushing the amp that little bit harder.
My 97 has a more chunky neck than the 93 and it took me a little while to get the feel of the 93 but once there, it certainly is an easy guitar that does not cause any major fatigue.
The other thing of note was that the 93 maintained it's airyness when using some heavy overdrive courtesy of a Krank pedal whereas my 97 just gets balliser and hits a Shihad kind of tone quite easily.
If I think of any more superlatives, I'll update.
V52