For Woodstock native Jim Weider, his beloved ’52 Fender Telecaster was one of the few stable things in his life – and it would carry him through his career with The Band, after he took on the unenviable task of replacing Robbie Robertson.
Weider had long been a fan of the Telecaster, playing the model since the ’60s. However, he was dead set on owning a ’52.
“I went across the country to do my California road trip in my Volkswagen, and along the way, I was looking for a Tele,” he recalls in the latest edition of Guitarist. “I found one from the late-’50s in Oklahoma, but it wasn’t quite right, so I sold it to Jim Messina [of Buffalo Springfield]. I think I paid $100 or $150.”
Fast forward a few years, and Weider was out of cash and paying the bills however he could, when he spotted a listing for the electric guitar of his dreams.
“I was broke and working in a car wash in Santa Barbara and saw an ad in the paper for a ’52 Telecaster,” remembers Weider.
“I went to the guy’s place – which turned out to be Norm from Norman’s Rare Guitars [one of the world’s most famous guitar shops]. He had a ’52 Tele and an old Bassman amp.”
Norm wanted $350, but agreed to $345, which was fortunate – as it was all Weider had.
“I took it and said, ‘Well, I’m gonna play this guitar for the rest of my life.’ And thank God, I’ve been playing it ever since. It’s my main instrument.”
When asked why he’s so partial to Telecaster – the guitar that essentially defined his career – he explains: “I don’t know what it is… the shape and the feel of the neck, the clarity of the pickups, all of it… You really have to play a Telecaster. It doesn’t come easy.”
“It kind of makes you your own man playing it,” he expands. ‘You gotta figure it out. Somebody will hear if you make a mistake or go out of pitch. I’ve always liked that, which is probably why I’ve played them my entire life.”
For more from Jim Weider, plus new interviews with Brian May and Joe Perry, pick up issue 517 of Guitarist at Magazines Direct.
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