For a vintage guitar geek, I definitely have one of the coolest jobs ever. A couple of days ago my job was to travel to a city in central Florida to buy, and bring back to Carter Vintage, a 1953 Fender Telecaster from the original owner. The guitar came with a Fender Deluxe amp that the owner, a man named Bob, bought together at the same time he bought the guitar.
I strolled onboard the People’s Airline jet at 5:15 in the morning. Southwest was only boarding the A and part of the B groups so I knew I’d probably have a row of seats to myself. Sure enough, when we took off a few minutes later I had a whole row to myself. I set out to get some sleep. Unfortunately, we rolled and tumbled all the way to the Sunshine State and the captain never turned off the seatbelt sign. I leaned my seat back, closed my eyes. The next thing I knew we were touching down in Tampa.
Since I was bringing the guitar back to Carter’s with the amp, a rental car was in order. I jumped in the rent -a – racer a few minutes after touchdown and set off for a small town about an hour away. I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the roads are in Florida. No potholes. How refreshing! Maybe the TDOT people should talk with the FDOT people about how to build roads? I travel a lot, I’m kind a connoisseur of fine roads. These roads in Florida were most excellent. Way to go Florida.
I pulled up to Bob’s neighbor’s house across the street Bob’s house. Bob’s neighbor Joe, was facilitating the sale for Bob and he came out to greet me as I rolled up the driveway. Joe’s a very nice man who seemed to be able to read my mind. His wife Nancy materialized a much need cup of coffee within a minute of my arrival.
I walked into, what else, the Florida room of their house and there sat the guitar, in it’s original case, and the amp. Once again, I was surprised. The pictures that had been sent to us were a little out of focus a little and not too clear. I didn’t have high expectations about this guitar and when I saw it I was really happy to see how clean and well cared for it was. It was in beautiful condition considering it was now 71 years old.
Gary Bohannon, CVG Senior Authenticator, and ’53 Tele Owner Bob
Joe picked up the guitar from it’s original “Thermometer bulb” case and handed it to me. It wasn’t heavy. That was my first impression. My second impression, as I wrapped my left hand around the neck, was the very clear fact that an absolute genius who’s name was Tadeo Gomez shaped the neck. The neck on this guitar is, in a word… perfect. That neck said one thing to me, “Play me!” I sat down, tuned the guitar up, and played a few chords and some licks. The guitar played perfectly; like it had a recent set up. I could feel it resonate against my body as I hit an E chord. This thing has some serious potential.
Most blackguard Teles you run up on these days are usually beat to death: they’re refinished, they have rewound pickups, they have replaced parts. Not the case this time. This Tele was very well cared for. That being said, it showed signs of being played quite a bit. I looked it over carefully from the top of the headstock to the strap button on the bottom of the guitar. I turned it over and examined it again. Some honest playing wear but it was obvious to me that Bob really cared about this instrument and took excellent care of it. He also played it a lot. I noticed the wear on the control plate under the volume knob. The plate was lightly pitted and showed the sweeping motion of a player turning the knob to get different sounds out of the guitar. Bob knew how to operate this thing. Something told me I would’ve loved hearing Bob play the guitar back in the day.
Speaking of Bob, I looked out the window and saw an elderly gentleman walking towards the door accompanied by a woman with a cane, holding Bob’s arm. A minute later I met 91 year old Bob and his wife Jo. We exchanged pleasantries and talked a little bit about the guitar. He asked me if I liked it? I couldn’t help but laugh a little. Yes sir, I liked it I told him, I liked it a lot.
Time for some questions. I had to get the “Requisite guitar purchase questions” out of the way with. So, I asked him, “Did you buy this new?” He told me he bought the guitar, and the amp, brand new in 1953 right after being discharged from the Army. He told me he had a Gibson flat top guitar but he wanted to play some of the music that he heard, for the first time, while he was in the army. He told me he was fascinated with Hank Williams’ sound and that he also loved the music of Ernest Tubb, along with naming a few other artists from the era like Hank Thompson.
I asked him what he had planned to do with the guitar after he bought it. Bob told me he hoped to “Get a little band together; so we could play Saturday night dances.” He said he hoped he could play some music for people to enjoy, so they could “Dance and have fun.” That was it. That’s all he wanted to do; he wanted to make music so people could enjoy themselves dancing. Man, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I got choked up and excused myself from the room for a minute. I went out to the car, opened a door on the opposite side of it and poked my head in so nobody would see me trying to regain my composure. I was tore up in the best way possible.
Now I’ve lived in Nashville for a long time and I’ve heard just about every story there is regarding why this artist, or that picker, got into playing music. Almost all the stories revolve around two things, the two usual things: Fame and Fortune. Not Bob. He didn’t want to be famous and he wasn’t looking to get rich. He just wanted to make music for people to dance to and have fun with. I was totally not ready for such an innocent and sweet reason to play a guitar. Bob went straight into the “Coolest people I’ve ever met” column.
We talked about music for good long while and I was thoroughly enjoying myself listening to him. I asked another requisite guitar acquisition question, “Bob, have you ever had any work done on the guitar, any problems with it?” No he said. He changed the strings a few times and that was it. I wasn’t sure if anyone had looked at it before me and I asked him if anyone had ever taken the guitar apart. “Oh heavens no, you’re the first person to look at it; with the intent of buying it.”
So, I’m looking at a guitar that was made at the Fender Factory on Raymond Street, in Fullerton California, in 1953 and it hasn’t had so much as a screw turned on it since it left the factory 71 years ago. This doesn’t happen too often. Not too often at all. I was looking at a total rarity in the vintage guitar world.
I asked Bob if it was ok if I checked out a couple of details on the guitar? He said yes. I put a quarter inch plug in the jack. I hooked up the multi-meter that I brought with me. The bridge pickup read 6.5K ohms. Huge relief! Thank goodness! The pickup wasn’t dead. That’s a real concern with Fenders from this era. Dead pickups aren’t exactly common but it’s also not unusual for one to be non-functioning either. I put the switch in the middle to check the neck pickup and it was alive and well too. Ok, this thing’s gonna work like it’s supposed to. I thought for a moment about the monumental genius of Leo Fender and his brilliant creation. Right out of the starting gate, Leo got it exactly right.
Authentication time. I wasn’t about to dismember Bob’s baby in front of him and, thinking about it, there was no need for it. I was talking with all the authentication I needed, as far as this guitar was concerned. I did want to peak under the control plate and check the pots for a possible date reference. I knew I wanted to see ink stamps on the pots with the codes for manufacturer and date of manufacture that every potentiometer, made in the USA, carries with them. I asked Bob if it was ok if I remove the two screws holding the plate on the guitar and he gave me permission.
I started to turn the first screw and heard a cracking/popping sound. Sure enough, that screw was last turned in California; over seventy years ago. I very carefully removed both the screws holding the plate on the guitar and gently broke the bond between the metal and the guitar’s lacquer finish. I looked at the pots and the switch. Perfect solder joints, perfect wire insulation that wasn’t frayed at the ends from being manipulated. I noticed the ink stamps on both pots and they were covered with solder. No dates to see here and that was perfectly fine. Everything here was “Factory fresh.”
I put the plate back on and placed the guitar in the case and closed it. The authentication process was finished. Money was exchanged and we all talked for another hour. The coffee was so welcome and it was good; so was the conversation.
We took some pictures of Bob with his guitar. I saw him sneak a glance at the guitar and he smiled to himself. It was like he was saying thank you to that guitar for all the good times and pleasure it brought him. He told me that he hoped the guitar would find a good owner that would enjoy it half as much as he did. I almost had to run out to the car again to compose myself. I with you Bob, I’m so with you man.
We all shook hands, exchanged goodbyes and pretty soon I was cruising up I-75, heading home. All I could think about was how lucky I was to do what I do. And one other thing… what does thing sound like through an amp? The way the guitar resonated when I played it was a good indicator that I was going to hear something special.
I got home about 10:30 that night and first thing I did was fire up an amp and plug the guitar in.
Damn thing sounds like records.
A little after midnight I reluctantly went to bed. I got up at six the next morning and I couldn’t plug the guitar in fast enough. I made some coffee and started playing. I thought I had played for about half an hour. Three hours had passed. I was totally spellbound by this Tele. I’ve had the good fortune to own some great blackguard Teles and Esquires. All those other guitars paled in comparison. This one cleaned all their clocks.
I thought about something a friend of mine, a very successful record producer in town, told me one time. He told me you have to be careful what you pick up and play because you can’t “Un-hear” things. Once you hear something so great that everything pales in comparison, well… you’re kinda screwed.
Sure enough. I’ll never un-hear this guitar and it’s totally ruined me for other Teles. This one’s magic. Man, I’ve got one helluva fun job.
Gary Bohannon is Senior Authenticator and Acquisitions for Carter Vintage. If you have a vintage instrument you’d like to sell through CVG, reach out to info@cartervintage.com
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