I've just returned from a great guitar safari to Boyds, Maryland where I picked up a clean 1970 Fender Rosewood Telecaster and a 1969 Gibson SG Standard! The seller has owned both of these since about 1982, but she found that she played her other guitars more often. She contacted me to sell her guitars so I booked a flight to go get them. I'm always looking for clean Fender and Gibson guitars from the 1950s and 1960s. You can contact me here to sell a Fender guitar or to sell a Gibson guitar.
Why is the Fender Rosewood Telecaster 1970 valuable?
This Fender Rosewood Telecaster from 1970 is a long term guitar dream come true! Legendary guitar designer Roger Rossmeisl made, for the first time in Fender history, a Telecaster model constructed almost completely out of Indian Rosewood in December of 1968. The body featured two thick slabs of Rosewood mated together in the middle with a thin Maple strip. The early Rosewood guitars were solid Rosewood and very very heavy. They soon started chambering the bodies of the original Fender Rosewood Telecasters so that they weren't quite so heavy.
This 1970 Fender Rosewood Telecaster has a chambered body that's visible inside the control cavity. I haven't weighed it yet, but it didn't feel as heavy as I anticipated. The neck and fretboard are one piece solid Rosewood with a Maple truss rod cavity plug. I'm thrilled to have it!
I've dated this Fender Rosewood Telecaster to 1970 based on the serial number, potentiometer codes, and features. You can learn more about Fender guitar dating and serial numbers here: How to date Fender guitars.
Gibson SG Standard, 1969
On the other end of the guitar spectrum, I was thrilled to also get this 1969 Gibson SG Standard! The SG Standard model debuted in the price list in 1963, but the body style debuted in 1961 still called the Les Paul Standard. By 1969, the SG Standard featured a much larger pickguard and a skinny nut width measuring about 1 9/16".
We can date this Gibson SG Standard to 1969 by using its serial number, features, and potentiometer codes. There is not Made In USA stamp and no neck volute. The neck is one piece Mahogany instead of three piece. The potentiometer codes indicate that they were made in late 1968. You can learn more about Gibson guitar dating here: how to date a Gibson SG.
I had a half day to spend in nearby Washington, DC so I decided to see the sights! Here I am standing on the Lincoln Memorial looking out toward the Washington monument.
