Joe Bonamassa knows a thing or two about vintage Fender guitars. The legendary blues-rock guitarist is a prolific collector and has an epic stockpile of 260 vintage guitars (‘50s and ‘60s Fenders and Gibsons make up a bulk of it). Each item is a grail instrument in its own right — Bonamassa is unflinching in his focus on tone. So when Fender’s Custom Shop set out to build an instrument inspired by the guitarist’s much-loved 1955 Telecaster, they had their work cut out for them.
The Custom Shop Joe Bonamassa Vintage Collector Series Special Mod 1955 Relic Telecaster has an ash body, 21-fret quartersawn maple neck with a ’57 soft-V profile, a vintage bridge and a single-ply parchment pickguard. The guitar has two hand-wound Tele pickups — a ’55 Tele pickup in the neck and a ’51 Nocaster pickup in the bridge — and a 3-way pickup switch. Also notable: the Tele has a heavily-worn 3-tone sunburst finish that was virtually non-existent on models from the mid-‘50s.
Limited to just 40 instruments which are exclusively carried at Guitar Center, this model is geared towards serious players or avid collectors. And while normal Custom Shop prices can be hard for some to swallow, this guitar is now 25 percent off. That means you can save $1,151 on this ridiculously nice Tele and take it home for just under $3,500. For a person obsessed with the details, this is a deal worth acting on.
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