My old vintage 1959 Fender Telecaster guitar by Gerry Joe Weise.
1959 Fender Telecaster with a maple neck, Swamp Ash body and original pickups.
You can hear how it sounds on the song "Espresso" (mp3) with the same vintage Telecaster guitar, on the 2012 album "Live And Proud" Amazon iTunes eMusic
Extra information about this Telecaster was written on the Telecaster Forum by my good ol' Aussie friend Jon Torano, who was the original owner of this beat up vintage Fender: "Here is a story about what used to be my once owned Telecaster. My wife and I had a house in Sydney, Australia. And there was stashed stolen gear found under our house, dating back to the 1980s. As nobody had claimed it, we became the legal owners of this stash. One such item found under our house, was a 1959 Fender Telecaster with a maple neck, all rusted and wrecked! We ended up giving that guitar to ace Australian blues guitarist Gerry Joe Weise who was on the lookout for a vintage Telecaster. As we have been good friends over the years, I gave it to Gerry Joe, knowing it would be put to good use on stage and in the studio. This photo shows what blues guitarist Gerry Joe Weise, had customized on the old 1959 Fender Telecaster. He told me he has also kept all the original replaced guitar parts as well. I will miss having that guitar, but I am sure Gerry Joe is putting it to great use!"
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| 1959 Fender Telecaster guitar and vintage tweed amp. (photo Gerry Joe Weise) |
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| Vintage 1959 Fender Telecaster swamp ash guitar. (photo Gerry Joe Weise) |
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| 1959 Fender Telecaster guitar body close up. (photo Gerry Joe Weise) |
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| Different body angle on the 1959 Fender Telecaster guitar. (photo Gerry Joe Weise) |
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| 1959 Fender Telecaster guitar headstock. (photo Gerry Joe Weise) |
1959 Fender Telecaster broken pick plate. (photo Gerry Joe Weise)
Pre-CBS Serial Number Dates
000 to 6,000 = 1950 to 1954
6,000 to 10,000 = 1954 to 1956
10,000s = 1955 to 1956
10,000 to 20,000 = 1957
20,000 to 30,000 = 1958
30,000 to 40,000 = 1959
40,000 to 50,000 = 1960
50,000 to 70,000 = 1961
60,000 to 90,000 = 1962
80,000 to 90,000 = 1963
90,000 to L10,000 = 1963
L10,000 to L20,000 = 1963
L20,000 to L50,000 = 1964
Leo Fender and the Californian Fender instrument amplifier company introduced the Telecaster in early 1951. Several of its features were carried over from the Hawaiian steel guitars Fender had been making since 1945. If the Telecaster's maple neck broke or became too worn, without any complex luthiery involved, you can screw on a new one. Unlike many existing guitars at the time, the Telecaster’s strings were pulled straight over the nut, with all the tuners on one side of the headstock, ideas that Leo himself said he borrowed from 19th Century Istrian folk guitars and Viennese Staufer guitars.
In 1952 the control arrangement became known as the "conventional Telecaster" wiring layout. Putting the selector switch in the bridge (rear) position delivered the bridge pickup alone, with the rear knob acting as a proper tone control. The selector switch in the middle position delivered the neck pickup alone, with the rear knob again acting as a tone control. The selector switch in the neck (front) position delivered the neck pickup alone with the preset bassier sound. In this control scheme, there was no switch setting in which both pickups were on at the same time, an arrangement that lasted until the late 1960s. The Fender Telecaster had an incredible bright clean cutting sound with thick midrange bass.
Muddy Waters electrified the Delta Blues, and when he first toured England in 1958, he shocked audiences who were expecting acoustic Country Blues. For many young guitarists in Great Britain, Muddy’s 58 tour was the first time they ever saw a Telecaster in real life. By 1959 some of those English kids were dabbling in Telecaster guitar wizardry: 13y Syd Barrett, 14y Eric Clapton, 15y Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, 16y Keith Richards and George Harrison. The dramatic effects were evident in the 1960s with bands such as, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones, to name a few.
About Jimmy Page's 1959 Fender Telecaster which was dubbed the "Dragon Telecaster". This guitar was originally played by Jeff Beck, when Beck left the Yardbirds in 1966, the Telecaster was left behind for Jimmy Page to use. By March 1967, eight reflective circles appeared on the front body of the guitar, perhaps as a nod to Syd Barrett from Pink Floyd, who donned a similar Telecaster in 1967 for a recording session for the movie "Let's All Make Love". That same year Jimmy Page stripped the blond paint off and handpainted a green, red and orange psychedelic dragon onto the front of the swamp ash body. He replaced the pickguard with one made of clear acrylic, there was a sheet of diffraction grating film underneath. Jimmy Page played the Dragon Telecaster in early Led Zeppelin and used it as his primary guitar till mid 1969 when he bought the Gibson Les Paul from Joe Walsh. The Dragon Telecaster was also used on the guitar solo for "Stairway To Heaven" in late 1970. Jimmy Page explained the following concerning the fate of the Dragon Telecaster: "I still have it (referring to the Dragon Tele), but it’s a tragic story. I went on a Led Zeppelin tour with the '59 Les Paul that I bought from Joe Walsh, and when I got back, a friend of mine had kindly painted over my paint job. He said, I have a present for you!" He thought he had done me a real favour. As you can guess, I wasn't real happy about that. His paint job totally screwed up the sound and the wiring, so only the neck pickup worked. I salvaged the neck and put it on my brown Tele string bender that I used in the Firm. As for the body... it will never be seen again! (laughs)"
