Fender Custom Shop 60's Rosewood Telecaster Closet Classic Natural
Fender Custom Shop Rosewood Telecaster
In the late 60's, Fender built several instruments made completely of rosewood - the body, neck and fretboard. These were in production only very briefly and are now highly collectable on the vintage market. Jimi Hendrix reportedly had one of the first Rosewood Stratocaster guitars, and George Harrison of the Beatles used one of the original Rosewood Telecaster guitars on Let It Be and for the famous Apple Records rooftop concert in January 1969. Over the years, these became legendary and often imitated, but it was very difficult to find an original.
Fast forward a few decades, and the Fender Custom Shop started building recreations, which became highly sought after in their own regard. For years, a Rosewood Tele has only been available as a Masterbuilt guitar, or part of a signature model (like the Limited Edition George Harrison model). Now, we have the ability to do do it as a regular Custom Shop (often known as Teambuilt).
We here at Truetone Music have always kept a run of Rosewood Teles on order with the Custom Shop at all times, by three Masterbuilders (Jason Smith, Dennis Galuszka and Greg Fessler). This is the first time we've been able to get a Rosewood Tele as a non-Masterbuilt guitar, so this comes in at a significantly lower price.
For this one, we went with a Closet Classic finish package - it's a satin finish, so there's no gloss or shininess, and it has the appearance of a brand new guitar that sat unplayed in a closet for generation or two. While the photos look great, in person it's even better. It has a smooth satin finish on the neck, making it extremely comfortable to play, with the 60's C neck shape, 9.5" radius and 6105 (narrow tall) frets.
For this Rosewood Tele, we chose Custom Shop Twisted Tele pickups - one of the most popular sets for custom builds - to give it a bit of a modern twist. These are higher output pickups, and while they retain the classic Tele tone, they also add a bit of Strat sparkle. We felt that this is a great compliment to the darker tone of the rosewood body.
The guitar comes with the Custom Shop hardshell case and Certificate of Authenticity. Also, it's rather light for a Rosewood Tele. In fact, it might be one of the lightest Rosewood Tele's we've had, and we've had a lot!
Only available now - come to Truetone Music to see it yourself, or order it right here right now.
Specs:
- Part # 9233002093
- Serial # R138682
- Weight: 7.9 lbs
- Closet Classic Finish
- Body: Satin with WLS Undercoat
- Neck: Satin Polyurethane
- Hand-selected Indian Rosewood body (with Maple Insert); chambered
- All Rosewood Neck with Rosewood fretboard
- 60's Oval C neck profile
- 1st fret depth: .850"
- 12th fret depth: .920
- Nut Width: 1.650"
- Radius: 9.50"
- Frets: 6105 (Narrow Tall)
- Dots: Mother of Pearl
- Tuners: Vintage Style Schaller"F" Tuners
- Decal: Silver Spaghetti Logo
- Bridge: 60's Tele
- Pickups: Custom Shop Twisted Tele
- Pickguard: 3-Ply Black
- 3-way Switch
- Master Volume control
- Master Tone control
- Knobs: Knurled Chrome
- Custom Shop Hardshell case with Certificate of Authenticity and Strap