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About This Listing
Up for sale, a 2012 Fender Telecaster Custom ‘72 vintage reissue Futoshi Abe Signature model TC72TS in near-mint condition and in perfect working order, complete with the original hangtags and a molded Fender hardshell case. A unique iteration of the Tele Custom platform offered by Fender Japan only for the Japanese domestic market, this Custom is a Futoshi Abe signature model, best known for his work with Thee Michelle Gun Elephant. The Tele features a six-saddle bridge, a redesigned control layout, and distinctive single-ply tortoise pickguard.
With a Wide Range humbucker in the neck position and a traditional Tele single coil at the bridge, this Tele has a very broad tonal spectrum, from thick, meaty humbucker tones in the neck position to chiming, twangy single coil tones at the bridge. Of course the middle position is truly a "best of both worlds" setting, and the two pickups balance well both in terms of output and their respective tonal attributes. Weighing 8lbs 15oz with an ash body, this guitar has a bold, clear acoustic tone with solid sustain. This Tele Custom has been professionally setup here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar with 10-46 strings, low action, and spot-on intonation.
The maple neck has a medium C-shaped profile carve with nicely rounded shoulders and lightly rolled fretboard edges, measuring .850” deep at the 1st fret and .920” at the 12th. The thick slab rosewood fretboard has a vintage-spec 7 1/4“ radius, and the slender fretwire is nigh-flawless, with well-rounded crowns and their full factory height. The guitar plays cleanly up the 25 1/2“ scale with a straight neck and a responsive, optimally-adjusted truss rod, and the bone nut measures 1.650” (42mm) in width. The headstock sports a block Telecaster Custom logo and bullet truss rod nut, and the Gotoh tuning machines turn smoothly and hold accurate pitch. The “Made in Japan” text and JD12-prefix serial are present above the three-bolt “F”-embossed neck plate.
All of the electronics function as intended, with the pickups governed by independent Volume knobs, a Master Tone control, and a three-way pickup selector switch. The chrome-plated Fender-embossed neck pickup cover is notably clean, as is the six-saddle bridge. Plastics comprise the trio of witch hat knobs and the one-ply red tortoise pickguard.
This guitar is stunningly well-kept, with wear on the gloss Black finish limited to just a couple faint scratches on the body as a whole. The smooth ambered gloss on the neck profile is similarly immaculate and highlights light figuring in the maple on the bass-side.
An upgraded Fender-branded molded hardshell case is included, along with the original hangtags.
The first era of Fender Japan began in 1982, when domestic market Japanese Fenders started rolling out of factories. While Fender Japan is popularly known for some of their more extravagant aesthetics, the bulk of domestic Japanese production was focused on reissues of historic American Fender models. These reissue models were labeled by a two letter/two number model code for the model and reissue year, followed by a suffix that indicated the price in Yen, and any unique specifications the model had. While a given model might come in a variety of price points during a given model year, from entry level to the near Custom Shop quality of Fender Japan's ExTrad series, all the models would broadly follow the aesthetic and technical specifications of the original American models. Reissue models would follow this naming convention until 2015, when Fender Japan revamped their product line to more closely mirror the organizational structure of the Mexican and American made Fender lines. Models on this page represent the 1982 - 2015 era of Fender Japan production, and typically feature the old style Fender Japan serial number at the base of the neck, as opposed to the contemporary "JD-" serial number format found on the back of the headstock. The original model codes (and frequently the value suffix) can usually be found in the neck pocket of the body, and at the base of the neck where the mounting holes are.
