I'm thrilled to be the buyer for this 1957 Fender Telecaster and Princeton Amp out of Macon, Georgia yesterday! The good folks from Macon inherited this classic Fender guitar and amp and were looking for a vintage guitar dealer to pay a fair price for their guitar and amp. I'm always a Fend guitar buyer but I'm especially looking for clean Fender guitars from the 1950s and 1960s. You can contact me here to sell a Fender guitar or Sell a Fender amp.
Get help with Fender guitar dating here: How to date Fender guitars.
I always ask about the story when someone reaches out to sell a vintage guitar. The story of how this 1957 Fender Telecaster is so clean is quite something! The gentleman's dad in the picture received the Telecaster guitar and Princeton amp as a gift from his wife in late 1957s. He played it sparingly and took great care of it during his military career in the 1960s. He retired in 1970s and purchased a cow ranch. One fateful day, his arm got stuck in the hay bailer while the tractor was on. He used his leg to jam in and stop the motor and in doing so, lost both his arm and leg. He was unable to play the guitar after that. None of his children or grandchildren played so the guitar hasn't been played until now. Incredible!
It's important to accurately date an instrument before you attempt to sell a Fender guitar. Since this Telecaster had never been taken apart, I've attempted to date it via the exterior features including the serial number, decal, finish type, neck shape, etc. Since the serial number begins with a "-", it indicates the guitar was made in 1957 (check out Fender guitar serial numbers here). We can also see a Maple neck, white Blond finish, thin single ply white pickguard, and soft V shape neck. All of these support the 1957 production date. As I carefully removed the pickguard to adjust the truss rod, I could see a small piece of the neck heel pencil date "2/5x" with the last digit behind the wood of the body. I'm betting that last digit is a 7. What do you think?
