Fender Telecaster Owned and Used by Mike Bloomfield Model Solid Body Electric Guitar (1963), made in Fullerton, California, serial # L11155, Blonde lacquer finish, ash body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, brown tolex hard shell case.
"You would not think to look at me, but I was famous long ago"
Vintage Guitar Magazine's October 2015 cover story billed this 1963 Telecaster as "The guitar that killed folk" referring to the Newport Folk Festival on July 25, 1965 where Bob Dylan's brief amplified set re-directed popular music in the 1960s. Dylan's take-no-prisoners plugged-in performance with Michael Bloomfield loudly ripping away at his side on THIS Telecaster was a seminal moment in pop culture, cited in countless histories and recently portrayed in "A Major Motion Picture". If this guitar had only ever been used for this one performance, that would be historic enough, but that is only one of its tales.
And this well-worn, cut up and scarred guitar Fender sure has stories. Looking at the curving second cutaway on the guitar's upper bout most immediately say WHO would do THAT to a Telecaster?? The answer is a player named John Nuese, who unsurprisingly strummed southpaw. Nuese was the left-handed right-hand man of a young singer named Gram Parsons, together traveling a road of almost fame from Boston to LA. He and Parsons recorded one LP as The International Submarine Band in 1967 before Gram joined the Byrds, credited with inventing country-rock along the way. Nuese held onto the guitar for the rest of his life, but he --and it --soon faded from the spotlight.
Then Boston-based Neuse got the guitar in late 1965 by trading a gold-top '54 Les Paul to Bloomfield, in town with the Butterfield Blues Band. Bloomfield was notoriously casual about his instruments; he had been using the Tele for about a year but wanted a then out-of-production Les Paul like he'd seen with older Blues players. Nuese was looking to play more Bakersfield-style country, so the trade was a win for both. At the time, the amazing amount of history this guitar had already been part of was likely of no concern to either.
This Fender Telecaster was assembled around the end of 1963 or early '64; the neck stamp is August 1963 and body is hand dated to October. The young emerging Chicago blues phenom Mike Bloomfield acquired it (his first "good" electric guitar) in Chicago in late '64 or early '65, plugging back in after a stint as an acoustic bluesman. He bought it without a case, saving himself almost $60. The caseless Telecaster first went to New York with Bloomfield for March 1965 demo session with Columbia producer John Hammond Sr. as well as jams with his son John Hammond Jr. at the Cafe Au Go-Go.
After returning to Chicago Bloomfield was contacted by Columbia artist Bob Dylan, looking for an electric guitarist. He rode a bus to New York in and used this Telecaster on Dylan's June 15-16 "Like A Rolling Stone" sessions. Al Kooper recalled Bloomfield walking in to the studio with the caseless Telecaster, his obvious skill quickly convincing Kooper to switch from guitar to organ. The track that resulted is roundly considered one of the most important recordings in rock history, still in the top 5 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs" list.
The 1965 Newport Folk Festival (the weekend of July 23-25) saw Bloomfield play this Telecaster several times with the Butterfield Blues Band then as lead guitarist for Dylan's truly legendary if brief 3-song electric set which divided the crowd and horrified the folk establishment, due in no small part to Michael's very loud and pyrotechnic playing.
More tracks for Dylan's epic LP "Highway 61 Revisited" were laid down in NY from July 29 through August 2, including Blomfield's searing showcase "Tombstone Blues". Dylan asked Bloomfield to tour with him but Michael instead opted to join Butterfield's band full time, staying true to his blues roots.
This Telecaster was used in September 1965 to record the Butterfield Blues Band's epochal first self-titled LP and gig with the band until late in the year. In the liner notes for "The Butterfield Blues Band" (Elektra EK-7294, released October 1965) Bloomfield is described as "an extraordinarily agile and inventive blues guitarist" which if anything is an understatement. His playing rips across the album's tracks with a combination of abandon, ferocity and finesse that left all competitors in the dust. Based on this LP and the Butterfield Band's extensive live work in 1965-6 Bloomfield became America's first "modern" guitar hero, influencing thousands of electric players to move beyond simple rock and blues. Many active the time credit Bloomfield with irrevocably changing the landscape of the electric guitar. This Telecaster was front and center, but its role in music history was not yet complete.
Bloomfield himself confirmed trading it to John Nuese for a '54 Goldtop in late 1965 when the Butterfield Band was in Boston. Nuese played it extensively with another future legend, Gram Parsons. He later claimed "I was the one with experience playing and listening to a lot of country music. Gram was doing commercial folk. I turned him on to country music." Parsons and Nuese formed "The International Submarine Band", moving to New York then LA in search of fame. The band (with this guitar) can be seen briefly in Roger Corman's psychedelic exploitation film, "The Trip". In an almost unbelievable irony, The ISB's song was replaced with trippier music by The Electric Flag, featuring Michael Bloomfield.
The ISB's lone album "Safe at Home" was recorded in 1967 but not released until the spring of '68, by which time Parsons had left to join The Byrds. Virtually all photos of the International Submarine Band show Nuese playing this Telecaster, upside down but still in its original single-cutaway form. He continued to play around California after the split from Parsons but further success eluded him; along the way he modified the guitar extensively, but never sold it during his lifetime. After his death it was featured in VINTAGE GUITAR magazine's October 2015 issue and was sold at auction the same month.
Several detailed videos of this instrument by repair guru/lifelong Bloomfield fan/friend Dan Erlewine can be seen on YouTube, as well as a lovely video of G.E. Smith playing it and reminiscing about Bloomfield's influence. There are few if any electric guitars on the planet with more history played into them than this one, and 60+ years along it still sings.
Overall length is 38 3/4 in. (98.4 cm.), 12 7/8 in. (32.7 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 25 1/2 in. (648 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
The provenance of this Telecaster is straightforward: original owner Mike Bloomfield played the heck out of it making history for about a year. Second owner John Nuese missed the brass ring but kept it the rest of his life, with modification along the way. Sometime in the late '60s Nuese swapped out the pickups and entire electronics rig for modern ('68/69 era) Fender parts and had the second cutaway added. Upon his death the guitar was left to a friend who had it auctioned off in 2015; the current owner has had it the last 10 years and did some work to improve playability and return the instrument to its original sonic character.
Here is a detailed breakdown: The body is original with the exception of the added second cutaway; there is no other finish alteration. Considerable play wear is evident from both Bloomfield and Nuese. The pickguard is the original single layer white plastic, with the section cut down above the fingerboard and notches clipped out on either side of the neck pickup enabling easy height adjustment. The neckplate (carrying the serial number) and neck screws are original. The bridge plate appears original, with the correct patent markings for 1963-4. The saddles are modern serrated compensated pieces by Glendale replacing 1968-era notched saddles fitted by Nuese. All screws in the body appear original.
Both pickups are recent hand-wound 1963 style from the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop, and the entire control assembly/wiring rig is a modern reproduction with correct 250k pots replacing 1968-era pickups and wiring with 1966 dated 1 Meg pots fitted by Nuese. All of those 1968-era parts are included; the original 1963 pickups and wiring are long gone. The strap button on the tail end is original; a period Gibson strap button is fitted to the body under the neck heel. The treble side horn shows several old holes from alternate strap button locations.
The neck is original, with small position dots added on the treble side. There is a very thin lacquer overspray over the back incidentally preserving Bloomfield's original wear to the neck as if in amber. The bass side of the heel has two tiny (apparently) staple holes, origin unknown. The guitar is on its third set of frets, expertly done with a new nut. The headstock, tuners and decal remain original, with a small screw hole from an extra string tree.
This guitar in its current state is a superb playing instrument, closer in sonic character to its original 1963 state than the later configuration as altered by Nuese. It can easily be restored to that state if desired. All vintage guitars have a history; this scarred and battered Telecaster has a more exalted one than most. As Bloomfield's tool in 1965 it made an indelible, some might say incomparable mark on American musical history in a very brief time. In Nuese's hands it was played alongside another pivotal musical influence of the last 75 years. It is still ready to play, in a repro brown Fender HSC with copies of the October 2015 VG magazine featuring it on the cover, the auction catalog with it on the back cover and some related paperwork, all the 1968 parts later removed and more sheer Mojo than most of us will feel in a lifetime. Overall Very Good Condition.