Fender Telecaster with Bigsby Model Solid Body Electric Guitar (1967), made in Fullerton, California, serial # 208507, Lake Placid Blue lacquer finish, alder body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, original black tolex hard shell case.

This is a generally well-preserved example of a rare Telecaster variation: Lake Placid Blue with factory Bigsby and rosewood fingerboard neck. It was built less than three years after Fender became CBS/Fender; the neck date stamp is November 1967 and the pots are coded to the 42nd week of 1966. While a solidly CBS-era guitar it still retains the feel of earlier instruments with an all-lacquer finish.

In 1967 the Bigsby vibrato was a brand-new extra-cost option for the Telecaster, introduced in the July 1967 FENDER FACTS. Due to bad blood between the Paul Bigsby and Leo Fender this never happened under Leo's reign but by this point both men had sold their respective companies. This guitar is a very early such example, a double custom order with the blue metallic body in addition to the vibrato. It picked up the nickname "The Blue Devil" in the shop as there is a factory job number "666" die-stamped into the wood under the pickguard; this does not appear to be the sometimes seen hand-etched indicator of a factory refinish job.

Standard features of the Telecaster from this era include a wide bevel 3-ply laminated white plastic pickguard (replacing the earlier 3-ply greenish nitrocellulose), the then brand-new "big" logo decal (supposedly instituted by CBS so the guitar would be more recognizable on TV) and the new-style Fender-made "F plate" tuners. The wiring is still the earlier 60's cloth-covered style, and the guitar is still rigged in the old 1950s control scheme with the "mud cap' on the front pickup and no two-pickup combination without balancing the switch between positions #2 and #3.

This guitar is medium weight for a later '60s alder body Telecaster at 8.58 lbs.; the Bigsby adds some noticeable weight but it still handles very nicely. The very comfortable slim rosewood-fingerboard neck has a lovely lacquer finish with some checking but minimal wear, much thinner than the Polyester used the next year. The metallic Blue lacquer on the body has a lovely deep and vibrant hue, with less fade than many. This is a supremely cool and rather rare 1960s Telecaster variation, in superb playing condition and sounding as great as it looks!

Overall length is 38 3/4 in. (98.4 cm.), 12 5/8 in. (32.1 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 25 1/2 in. (648 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).

This rare beautiful and blue Tele is not perfect but for 58 years old it really is pretty clean! The body finish has some minor dings, dents and handling marks with chipping along the back edges. The finish retains excellent color with much less "greening" and fading than many. The back of the neck has very little wear though there is some checking on the headstock.

All hardware inside and out is original except the neck pickup has been perfectly rewound to exact original spec by the redoubtable Norio Imai and sounds great; the 1967-dated bridge pickup was wax potted long ago but appears otherwise intact original. These later '60s CBS-era Tele pickups can be VERY microphonic so this is fairly common. As a result some solder joints have been redone but all internal components remain original. As noted the original rather archaic wiring scheme is still intact; this is a very late example of a Telecaster wired this way, we have had Telecasters with earlier '67 neck dates fitted with the "modern" wiring scheme from the factory.

The instrument is complete except for the nearly-always-lost snap-on bridge cover. A few metal parts show some wear, noticeable on the bridge plate where a player rested their finger and the unplated Bigsby. This very striking and fairly unique metallic blue Telecaster with a wangability option plays as good as it looks, with just some minor fingerboard divoting and light fret wear in the lower positions. It includes the original black Tolex HSC, worn but fully serviceable. Overall Excellent - Condition.