There's a story behind this Fender 1972 Reissue Thinline Telecaster

There's a story behind this guitar.

I am referring to my Fender 1972 Reissue Thinline Telecaster.

You see I have a problem, I collect guitars that talk to me. If you are a guitarist then you will understand what I mean by that. If you don't then let me explain.

I bought my telecaster in 2008 from a guitar shop in Chester called Back Alley  Music. I had always wanted a telecaster. As a boy my dad used to take me along to play with his friends who met in a tiny room, in a rough area of Cambridge. One upright piano with Keith doing his best 'Jerry Lee Lewis' and Roy on his telecaster. Roy was simply rhythm, not a lead guitarist but his sense of rhythm and his tone was beautiful. I was so inspired. He had a white traditional single coil Tele. 

Roy had this tone that was exciting and inspiring as he played through his Fender amps. Roy seemed to know hundreds of chords.

I was learning at the time and was doing my best to keep up on my battered acoustic guitar. I so wanted to play like Roy!

With this memory in the back of my mind, I went into that music shop in Chester aiming to get a Tele, paid for by a recent sales bonus (I was in Chester for a works Christmas do). I must have tried about eight different telecasters. Some were the expensive American made ones and some were the cheaper Mexican made ones with poorer build quality. 

Amongst guitarists, there is a fastly held belief that all American made guitars are built to a higher level of quality than guitars built in Mexico or countries in the Far East. In the 50s and onwards to about the mid 1980s this was probably true, so this has become more of a snobbery thing than perhaps a real truth now.  That said, at the time I was determined to get an American one...

Sadly, the American ones didn't cut it for me, they didn't make my heart sing or inspire my playing. 

So I needed to try something else.

I picked up a Mexican Tele with humbuckers. It even had screws missing, clearly the build quality was poorer. I even didn't even like the wood grain finish on it with the white pearloid pickguard. It looked like a guitar that would be at home on the stage of the Grand Ole Oprey rather than a run down Blues bar on the Southside of Chicago where my musical influences came from.

I thought I would give it a go for contrast purposes.  

So I strummed it.  This guitar sat in my hand like the most comfiest glove and it literally did something to me that made me play in a way that I had never been inspired to play before. Seriously I didn't like the look of the guitar, I didn't want the guitar from an aesthetic perspective, but this thing damn well made me express something that, unbeknownst to me, was going to unlock something later in life with my music. 

So I felt compelled to buy it. 

Having performed as a bass player for most of my life, this was about to change. I joined The Juliet's, a bunch of friends playing covers for a one off party for my friend, Juliet's 40th birthday. In this band there were two bass players and so as we alternated I would play this Tele. 

The band continued after the party celebrations and did gigs across Cambridgeshire and I got more confident with my ability to perform as a lead guitarist.

Then alongside this, I was asked to join the long running, Fat Band, who I saw in 1985 and at the time wished that I could be in a band like that... Be careful for what you wish for!

The Fat Band is a rock n roll band that has been knocking around for more than 40 years. They had lost their lead guitarist and asked me to join them. I love this band and their music and I thrived with my trusty Tele beside me.  Playing in the Fat Band led to gigs internationally including playing at a festival in the Israeli occupied West Bank, in the Middle East. 

Playing with the Fat Band in the West Bank on main stage at the Bet Lahem Festival in 2013.

Another shot of mainstage at the Bet Lahem Festival in 2013.

The airport staff at Luton Airport dropped my Tele in it's case and this resulted in a crack in the lacquer on the body of the guitar. It's first battle scar! I was gutted at the time but I'm affectionate about it now.

The sound I get from this guitar is different to standard telecasters. I always felt it was a harsher more nasally sound that seemed to cut through the mix.  Later on I discovered the work of Albert Collins, the 'Ice Man' and that name truly describes the tone.

Many demonstrators of modern guitars will talk about a tone being 'ice picky'. Well if it stands out and makes people listen then it can't be a bad thing!

I recently had this guitar serviced after many years of use and it is back to it's original charm!

Find out more about the 1972 Reissue Thinline Telecaster, click here.

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