1952 Fender Telecaster "Butterscotch"
Maker
Fender
(American, founded 1946)
Date1952
ClassificationsMusic
Description1952 Fender Telecaster, serial number 619, in butterscotch finish. The guitar has a body date of "7-25-52" with neck dated "Tadeo 10-30-52." Tadeo Gomez more commonly signed the necks with his initials, "TG," but has written out his first name in this instance. In a reissue tweed case.Fender introduced their first electric guitar, the Broadcaster, in 1950. The name was short-lived, as guitar manufacturer Gretsch had previously trademarked “BroadKaster” and challenged Fender’s use of the name. Fender responded by removing the name altogether, manufacturing their electric guitars without a label into early 1951, which later was referred to as the “Nocaster” era. By mid-1951, Fender settled on a new name for its dual-pickup electric guitar: Telecaster.
The Telecaster’s popularity quickly took off, propelling the solid-body guitar from a novelty instrument to one of the defining instruments of popular music. The twangy Telecaster sound made these instruments popular in both rock and country music with early adopters such as James Burton, Roy Nichols, and Roy Buchanan.
Early Telecasters earned the “Butterscotch” nickname from their distinctive blond wooden bodies.
