1968 Fender Telecaster Paisley Red

Stunning 1968 Fender Paisley Red Telecaster, in very good condition.

A rare model which stems from the crossing of paths of the "Flower Power" movement and of rock’n’roll – on one hand, the head honchos of the newly formed CBS/Fender aiming to capitalize on the hippie craze of the late 60s by putting out an instrument sporting the Paisley motif, iconically linked to the movement. On the other hand, the fact that this model ended up in the hands of non other than James Burton, who would go on to play guitar alongside the King Elvis Presley up until his untimely demise.

Despite all the stars being aligned for this model to succeed, it surprisingly went almost unnoticed for the two years where it was produced, from ’68 to ’69, and Fender didn’t even bother adding it to its product catalog before silently discontinuing it. All in all, only around 1500 instruments are thought to have left the assembly line. Thus, if not for Chuck Weiner, one of the directors at Fender/CBS, and his visionary idea to gift one of the Paisley Teles to James Burton, it may have ended up among Fender’s forgotten guitars.

The present example is in great condition, with a great aging of the finish that shows of the tricks employed by Fender builders to create the finish: a thin layer of Paisley wall paper with the sides of the guitar painted red, and everything sealed in a layer of transparent lacquer. This model is an early variant and has the "maple board" neck instead of a one piece maple neck. All original condition, neck stamp dated to 3 SEP 67.

Complete professional setup done at our workshop, in perfect playing condition. In original hardshell case.