Fender Gold Foil Telecaster
I have been intrigued by the Fender Gold Foil Telecasters since they first came out. One reason is they are very striking looking. Something about the candy apple burst with the gold foil pickups makes for a very cool looking guitar.
The second reason is I have wanted to hear what the gold foil pickups sound like.
I live hours from the nearest guitar store, so it is not an easy thing for me to go and try something out for myself. To put things in perspective the other day someone asked me to ship his guitar to him via FedEx and I needed to explain that I live in a rural area and the closest FedEx drop off point is over an hour away.
I saw on eBay a Telecaster Gold Foil guitar loaded body. It was for a great price, and I could not see any damage to the body. I should have asked about the electronics – foreshadowing.
When I got it home, I installed a neck on the body and strung the guitar so I could finally hear for myself what the gold foil pickups sounded like. I had not played one before but had spoken to several folks that owned one and they are a very devoted group to the guitar.
First observation is the loaded guitar body is kind of heavy. Adding another two-pound neck to it bright it up to almost 9 pounds.
I plugged the guitar into an amp and strummed. It sounded like crap. I mean really high end without any middle. I thought to myself – this could not be what people rave about.
I pulled the control panel off the guitar. I wanted to see if someone had altered the wiring. Yes, they had. They had installed an obsidian wiring harness.
The obsidian wiring harness or board looks amazing. Very well made. If I had at the time looked up the instructions, I would have realized that the harness was not configured correctly, and this is probably the reason for the poor tone I had heard earlier. The gold foil pickups are humbuckers. Mini humbucker but humbuckers none the less.
The obsidian harness was setup for single coils.
Fender describes the pickups as:
Fender Gold Foil mini humbuckers deliver iconic
visual flair and distinctive mid-range bite and are
inspired by the dazzling aesthetics of those cult-
classic pickups treasured by blues, rock and
indie musicians alike.
Instead of trying to figure out the obsidian harness I built a standard humbucker/humbucker wiring harness. I used two 500k CTS solid shaft pots with a .022 uf Capacitor. The harness also has an Oak Grigsby 3-way pickup selector switch.
The original version of this guitar when you buy one comes with a maple neck with ebony fretboard that has a 12-inch radius. Also, the face of the headstock is either painted black for the Candy Apple Burst (my guitar) or White for the White guitar. I would of really liked to have one of the original necks.
My neck that I installed is not so special. It is standard Fender Modern Telecaster fare of Maple and a 9.5-inch radius. The one upside is the neck is a US made Fender Tele neck.
Here are some facts for the guitar:
The guitar was released in 2023 and is still being made today and on the Fender website for sale in 2024.
The guitar is made In Mexico.
I have already described the neck. The body is made of Mahogany.
New the guitar goes for $959. Used the guitar goes for $673 – $842
I did not understand why the guitar was as heavy as it is until I read the specifications. This is not an ordinary guitar body. It is made of Mahogany.
After building my own wiring harness and plugging the guitar back into the amp – I have to say that I really like the pickups. They are most definitely not Telecaster like but phenomenal sounding pickups none the less. Amazing clarity.
#Fender #Gold #Foil #Telecaster
Originally posted by UCRvDWHLh1q7WA3qMlKlTt2w at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvsmNTJyePk
Good Stuff!
True mahogany from Cuba or Honduras is usually pretty light. The problem is, it's rarely if ever Real mahogany. More often its a wood that has similar color and grain, but has no actual botanical relation to real mahogany. These are terms for lumber classification (And Salesmanship). African, Ipe and Sapele mahogany species are heavier, harder amd more plentiful. Based on the fact its a MiM Fender, the wood would most likely be from Honduras. Honduran Mahogany is a true mahogany, but can vary wildly, based on the area its grown in. Honduran mahogany tends to have a high silica (powdered stone) content, adding weight to the final project… It also dulls tools faster. This is the same reason northern white ash and southern "swamp ash" have such drastic weight differences.
These are humbuckers, not really like a teisco gold foils. Look up victory pickups on reverb, theyre not too expensive like lollar or mojotone and they sound great
Question for you…im putting together a cheap partscaster…blue flower tele body from gfs and all maple ebay neck…neck has thick gloss finish…neck pocket is too tight and crusty from finish, do i sand the pocket or neck sides for a better fit?
Wish Fender would sell these gold foil mini-humbucker pickups separately. Would also like to see Harmony sell their gold foil mini-humbuckers as they are my favorite humbuckers of all time.
I’m redoing a 1965 Harmony Rocket with 2 Gold Foil Dearmonds. They are amazing , very different sound…..I’d like to snag one and put it in the neck position on my tele….great Video as usual ????????
Dude!!! That’s righteous!! I’m still looking for a tele. Can’t wait !! Ty GCG!!