The American Vintage II '63 Telecaster captures the early 60s Tele, alder body, slab rosewood board, and that unmistakable twang.
11 mods reviewed: 6 drop-in, 2 need verification, 3 not compatible.
Places we know sell the Fender American Vintage II '63 Telecaster.
Andertons
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The American Vintage II '63 Telecaster captures the early 60s Tele, alder body, slab rosewood board, and that unmistakable twang. It uses a vintage-style 3-saddle bridge with barrel saddles, string-through-body only. This is the classic Tele bridge most 3-saddle aftermarket compensated saddle sets are designed around, but it's a different footprint to the modern 6-saddle Tele bridges used on Player and Performer series guitars, so bridge swaps should stay within the vintage 3-saddle family unless you're prepared to redrill.
Tailpiece
None (bridge-integrated, string-through)
String spacing
56.4mm (2-7/32")
Scale length
25.5" (648mm)
Tuner hole size
8.8mm (11/32")
Nut width
41.9mm (1.650")
Not published by Fender: bridge mounting spacing. Measure this before buying a bridge.
A genuine Fender part built for exactly this bridge style. Swaps just the saddles for better intonation, keeps your existing bridge plate.
Genuine Fender saddle-only part explicitly sold for vintage-style three-saddle Telecaster bridges, matching this guitar's stock bridge exactly.
See also
A premium replacement for exactly this style of bridge, using better steel and compensated saddles for more accurate intonation.
Callaham's Vintage T Model bridge is built as a direct replacement for the classic vintage 3-saddle Tele bridge design, matching this guitar's confirmed 56.4mm string-through bridge.
See also
Fender's own reissue of the pickups from this guitar's era. Fits the standard Tele route directly. Needs soldering.
Fender's own reissue of the early-to-mid 1960s Telecaster pickup set, built to the standard Tele route and matching this guitar's own vintage-correct era.
Fits the standard Tele pickup route. A vintage-voiced, Tele-specific alternative to the stock pickups. Needs soldering.
A genuine Telecaster-shaped vintage reproduction set, standard route and mounting for this guitar's own genuine Tele pickups, a more direct match than adapting a Stratocaster-shaped set.
See current price at Reverb
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Commonly reported to fit this guitar's pickup mounting, though not officially confirmed. Worth checking before ordering.
A widely used player guide reports Stratocaster-style staggered single-coils fit physically into Telecaster covers and mounting, though not manufacturer-confirmed as an exact mounting match for this guitar's specific neck pickup.
Help confirm this fit
£104.99 at Andertons
View at AndertonsThis set is built for Stratocaster pickups, which are shaped differently from this guitar's genuine Telecaster pickups. Fit is not guaranteed, worth checking before buying.
The Tex-Mex set is designed for the Stratocaster single-coil route. This guitar uses genuine Telecaster-shaped neck and bridge pickups instead, which differ in shape and mounting from a Strat pickup, so fit is not guaranteed the way it would be on a Strat.
Help confirm this fit
Vintage-style six-in-line tuners with press-in bushings, built for the smaller vintage tuner holes this guitar already has. Should swap straight in.
Kluson Deluxe 6-in-line tuners are made for Fender-style 6-in-line headstocks with vintage press-fit bushing holes of about 8.7mm. This guitar has a 6-in-line headstock and vintage-style tuners in vintage-size holes, so both the layout and the hole size match.
See current price at Amazon
View at AmazonBuilt for this guitar's vintage-spec tuner posts, and adds string locking that this guitar's stock non-locking tuners don't have.
Manufacturer-specified for 8.5mm vintage press-in bushing holes, matching this guitar's confirmed 8.8mm vintage-spec tuner holes closely, while adding a locking mechanism the stock tuners don't have.
See current price at Reverb
View at ReverbIf you have fitted any of these to this Fender American Vintage II '63 Telecaster, tell us what you found and we'll update the data.
