Interesting..on that Tele the string tree is placed much more towards the posts. Again, that's a CS and these are MIM/Player "Custom Shop Designed"...so that's probably the difference. Same with the curve..less pronounced on the CS, so I see where you were coming from.
The low E and A are at a wonky angle. Should be nearly straight. The tuner holes, headstock shape and nut in its relative position do not line up correctly. That chunk of machined maple is a reject imwo. Where was QC? Sorry... how I see it.
That's a Fullerton AV, right? '83 or so? Don't compare to the Baja... it's a different animal. The headstock shape, logo, and string tree position all look fine. Buy it, play it, love it.
No, it's a Baja. He and I have already talked about it privately earlier today, that's how I know what it is. And it is all correct for a Baja.
Is there a serial number on it? Is it advertised as a Classic 50d model or a Baja? Or something totally different? Headstock doesn’t look bad to me except for the nut, which seems to be cut poorly as others said. What’s the asking $?
Don't be. I asked for opinions. I'm not one of those who only wants to listen to people who validate me. thanks.
The only issue by I can see is the low E nut slot is about 1-1.5mm too close to the edge... Doesn't sound much but makes a significant difference on a 42mm nut. You can see the gap between the low E and A at the nut is noticeably bigger than the gaps between all the other strings. While it's not as bad, the high E is a tad too close to the edge as well. There should be 2.7-3mm space between the E strings and the edge of the nut/fretboard. The space on the low E side looks to be about 1.5mm and on the high E maybe a little over 2mm. I think these nut issues, which are a fairly cheap fix, are making everything else look askew.
I had this originally with my brand new Acoustasonic. The store has a certified Fender repair tech. All he did was to move the nut closer towards the low E. That helped somewhat, but the Fender nut was still wrong, as was the neck alignment. The thing about the nut and the bridge is all about the physics and angles. I added the pics of the original nut, on top of the new nut. Not only was the original nut, cut wrong, but it was also too high, making the first fret to Barr a F chord, a pain. You can slo see how it would "fall" off the edge for the high E. This is why I prefer to not have the store fix my gear, when I know a very trustworthy and reasonable tech, even if the store would fro the repair at no cost to me. My tech, fixed fret sprout, filed bullet tip ends, aligned the neck and put in a new nut for $125- something I am sure the store would not have done.
This is a Fender Baja Tele, I'm 100% certain. I have one. The 12th fret dots are closer together like a pre-52 broadcaster. The neck alignment doesn't look too bad to me. Might be a hair off but we can't be sure from these pictures. Fortunately my Baja is the most perfect guitar that has ever come out of Ensenada (in my opinion of course )
This is my Baja. Well cut nut, very good alignment. Perfection to me. The lower edge of the headstock going inwards almost flush with the high E is characteristic of them.
They're great guitars. Those pickups are the best Tele setup I've ever heard. I actually have one that it looks like someone attempted to relic to look like a roadworn...go figger. This one is cosmetically perfect. The small stuff I'm willing to fix. And now I can work on the cosmetics on the other one and not worry about having one to play. Think I might try one of those skins. Maybe a nice rattlesnake motif.
That's a beauty man. Thanks for posting it so I could do a side by side. The low E slot is indeed cut a bit off on this one, but for the price I'm paying I can put a new nut on it. Might as well go with Tusq. Might even buy a few cheap ones and try my hand at it. No time like the present to learn and I can always have my tech cut the Tusq nut.
It's a Baja (with the S1 swtch). I see nothing wrong with it and I've owned (and still own) Teles with both American and Mexican vintage style necks. The only differences between the Mim 1951 neck I currently have and my old AO52 is the rolled fingerboard edges, and the nut finish. The strings may be out of alignment but sometimes even that is just an optical illusion from a photograph. I wish people would restrain from stating "it's a fake!" all the time unless they know better.
The neck very well maybe outta whack...however, I recently purchased a new Fender FMT Tele that presented the same issues (on line purchase), poor string alignment. I took it to a good luthier to see what he thought. He quickly agreed that it appeared to be the nut. He chose a bone nut, cut it and completed the install. It was a string alignment issue...now the little $800 guitar plays surprisingly well...great action, and the pickups sound much better.
Newb eyes, newb question. Is it possible a previous owner may have had a nut cut to increase string spacing, because he had stumpy sausage fingers?
