Fender Custom Shop 1951 Telecaster Heavy Relic Faded Aged Nocaster Blonde

The Custom Shop is well known for taking vintage style Telecasters, adding the modifications that became popular over the decades, and putting out a fully hashed out "players Tele".  This 1951 Tele is a perfect example of that.  It has all of the vintage vibe and appearance of a heavily used guitar built 70 years ago - but one that a player in today's world will feel comfortable with. The end result is captivating.  One of the most iconic and popular models in Fender history, the "Blackguard" Telecaster has earned its place as an unmistakable tonal force on countless recordings. It's pretty cool to be able to offer this historic guitar with all the customized modifications made famous by players and technicians throughout its storied history. 

The two-piece ash body in Faded Aged Nocaster Blonde wears a Heavy Relic lacquer finish that imparts the look and feel of a well-loved instrument that's seen its share of action.  What we especially love about this one is the heavy checking......perhaps better said as super heavy checking!  It's probably more than we've seen on any other Custom Shop guitar.  Check out the photos to see what we're talking about.

The rock solid Quartersawn Maple neck is a force to be reckoned with - it's a Nocaster "U" profile, which is thick, but still comfortable.  If you're into skinny necks this isn't the one for you, but if you like the feel of a vintage Tele with a lot to grip, this simply can't be beat.  The modern tweak is that it has a 9.5" radius with medium jumbo frets.  This is one of the most popular customizations, for good reason - it makes the guitar easier to play, especially for leads and expressive bending.

 

Of course it sounds like a truly classic Telecaster - with just a bid of extra ability to stretch further.  That's in thanks to the Custom Shop Handwound Loaded 51 Nocaster pickups.  They provide vintage inspired tone with extra burn, thanks to the bridge pickup's alnico 3 magnets and the neck pickup's alnico 5 magnets. Extra winds of the # 43 gauge enamel wire give them a fat, juicy tone, perfect for driving a preamp into gritty overdrive, but also well-suited for super smooth, crystal clear clean tones.  That makes this one more versatile than your average Tele.

As another customized feature, we went with Fat ’50s Tele wiring, which creates stronger tone with a transparent bloom and minimizes treble loss that typically occurs when rolling back the volume.  It's a nice tweak, and one that we've started doing on a lot of Custom Shop builds.

Other features include a classic Tele bridge brass saddles, single-ply black pickguard, vintage-style tuning machines, bone nut, and disk string tree.  And, it's really lightweight - just 6.9 lbs.  If you need a lightweight Tele, this is perfect.