An Exceptionally Fine Super Rare Custom Color 1968 Telecaster

1968 Fender Telecaster

This super rare 'custom color' early 1968 Firemist Gold Telecaster weighs 7.70 lbs. Solid alder body with a one-piece maple neck with a nut width of 1 5/8 inches, a scale length of 25 1/2 inches and a super fast medium profile. Veneer rosewood  fretboard with 21 original medium frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. CBS 'black' headstock logo with "Fender" logo in black with gold trim, "Telecaster" in black beside it, and two patent numbers beneath. Individual Fender "F" tuners with octagonal metal buttons. Single "butterfly" string tree. Four-bolt neck plate with large Fender "F" logo and serial number "235630" between the top two screws. One plain metal-cover pickup (at neck) with an output of 6.89k and one light gray-bottom six-polepiece pickup with raised D & G polepieces (angled in bridgeplate) with an output of 6.04k. Three-layer white over black plastic pickguard with eight screws. Two controls (one volume, one tone) and one three-way selector switch** with black plastic "Top-Hat" tip, all on metal plate adjoining pickguard. Chrome knobs with lightly domed-tops and knurled sides. Fender combined bridge/tailpiece with original chrome "ashtray" bridge cover. The neck is stamped in black "3FEB 68B" and the pots are dated "304 6612" (Stackpole March 1966). The Firemist Gold finish is strong and fresh, there are a few small and insignificant marks on the top but no loss of finish. The back has very light belt buckle rash (nothing through the finish), a few small marks/indentations on the sides and some honest playing wear on the top edge of bass side waist. The original 'medium' frets show very little sign of wear as does the rosewood fretboard. This is a spectacular example in very strong exceptionally fine (9.00) condition and is one of the last Telecaster's with the Nitrocellulose finish and the original cloth wiring (which were changed to a Polyurethane finish and plastic wiring in mid '68). Complete with the original "ashtray" bridge-cover. Housed in the original Fender black hardshell case with red plush lining and no "tail" on Fender logo (9.00). This is the only 'sixties' Firemist Gold Telecaster that we have ever handled - most custom color Telecasters are very hard to find.

**The three-way switch is a factory variant of the the more common CRL 1452 - these switches were often used on 1967 & 1968 Telecaster's.

This guitar appears in Werner's List on p. 63 as "235630  Feb 68  Tele  Firemist Gold"

Firemist Gold Metallic was used by Fender from 1965-1971. It was originally used on Cadillac Cars from 1964-1965.

Of all the custom color options Fender offered in the 1960s, only three colors (Foam Green, Surf Green and Shell Pink) are more rare and sought after than Shoreline Gold. Starting in 1965 with the CBS-era marketing, the color was called Firemist Gold, but was still produced in relatively few numbers.