Fender has announced a limited production run of their new Custom Shop Rosewood Telecaster––a re-creation of one of Fender’s now extremely rare vintage 1960s guitars built entirely of hand-selected rosewood… yep, that’s a rosewood body, neck, and fingerboard.
The original instrument is perhaps most famous for showing up in the hands of George Harrison during the Beatles’ legendary concert on the roof of Apple Records in 1969 (see the original here,) though Jimi Hendrix is said to have owned a prototype of one of the early Rosewood guitars as well––a Stratocaster of course.
Among other things the new Rosewood Telecaster will feature a unique rosewood body, neck & fretboard, a pair of Fender’s Vintage Tele singlecoil pickups (‘63 at the neck, ‘67 at the bridge,) original vintage-style Tele bridge (with three threaded steel saddles,) 3-way pickup switching with “top hat” switch tip, and a traditional ‘63 Fender logo on the headstock.
The guitar will also include a blonde hard case and a Custom Shop Limited Release certificate, and will be in production through Dec. 31st, 2007. No word on pricing.
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March 15th, 2007 at 8:33 am
I played one of these at Guitar Center the other day. I liked that it was a bit lighter than the alder or ash models, but on the flip side the neck is very lacquered and the pickups were fairly weaker than even some of the Mexican models. Cool look, but not worth the $1200+ price tag in my opinion.
March 19th, 2007 at 7:05 am
I really don’t think you were playing the same model that this article is referring to. First off, these guitars a solid rosewood… neck and body. My 85 MIJ of this guitar is almost 10 lbs! Secondly, they are going for $4,200 so I am completely convinced you were playing another guitar entirely.
March 27th, 2007 at 9:01 am
Perhaps it was not this guitar, but the tag at the San Diego Guitar Center said it was a Rosewood Telecaster….and it looked just like this model… Although, it did not have any “custom shop” markings….it did cost more than an American Standard so there must have been something special about it…. I definitely remember it being remarkably light.
April 6th, 2007 at 5:48 am
CORRECTION…. The guitar that looks very similar to this is the Chambered American Telecaster with the rosewood neck and finish. I played it again yesterday. The only benefit of the chambered tele was the weight. The pickups are “standard” and it seems a bit dull to my ears.
May 16th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
here’s an original for sale:
http://www.dipintoguitars.com/vintage/solid%20electrics/RosewoodTele.htm
May 16th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
the originals were also chambered, apparently.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:17 am
The very first solid rosewood Fender Telecaster ever made (with a “zero” written in yellow crayon on the inside of the base of the neck and numbered 241177 on the plate) was built around 1968 for Elvis Presley. Elvis kept it for a few months and then returned it to Eddie Miller who was Fender’s “Artist Rep” (and writer of the song “Please Release Me, Let Me Go”), saying it was too heavy and that he preferred Gibson and Martin guitars. This first rosewood Tele was bought from Eddie by Scotty Turner (if you don’t know who he is, Google it up) after it came back from Elvis and he still owns it. There were six of these original rosewood Teles made back then and one of them went to Steve Cropper and another went, as we know, to George Harrison. I don’t know if Jimi Hendrix got one or not and I don’t know where the rest of the six went. This first rosewood Tele is not chambered and is very heavy. I suspect that the other original six were also not chambered, but perhaps after Elvis rejected his because of its weight, Fender may have lightened up subsequent models — I don’t know about that, though. The above info is fully documented with letters from well-know persons in the industry including Eddie Miller, Hal Blaine and Harold Bradley as well as Scotty himself. This guitar can be heard on a very few recordings being played by the famous Jimmy Bryant, including “Tabasco Road” and “Guitar Polka” if you can find copies of those tunes.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:46 am
p.s. It is often said that Harrison’s Tele was the first solid rosewood model and this story was used for the auction, however, Fender was not about to admit that Elvis rejected the one they gave him because of its weight. This is just a case of good marketing practice, because, after all, the reason Fender gave away guitars to famous musicians was for the publicity of their brand and the endorsements.