Astounding, remarkable, stupendous or incredible are 4 adjectives that quickly spring to mind when for the first time we played this Fender Custom Shop '52' Heavy Relic Limited Edition Tele - I already know that the customers who dislike 'aged' guitars have already moved onto another page - Yes, just like Marmite, you either love or hate a Fender with the beaten up vibe - Yet this guitars greatest assets are the way it feels and plays, along with the tone it delivers but unfortunately a web site can not portray that information to the same level as actually getting your left hand wrapped around the maple neck and letting rip into a few chords and licks

Released as a limited edition model for the 2011 Frankfurt show, with only 6 allocated to the UK - Without buying a Master Built Tele, with a £3600 price tag, this is the highest spec'd vintage based Tele you can buy

Full details as follows :-
Hand selected premium grade light weight swamp ash body
One piece maple neck
52 Fender Telecaster headstock logo
9.5" fingerboard radius
21 Dunlop 6105
medium jumbo frets
Vintage hardware with single slot neck plate screws
3 Compensating brass barrel bridge saddles
Hand wound Abby Hot Nocaster bridge pick-up
Custom Shop Twisted Tele neck pick-up
Round tip toggle switch knob
Dome control knobs
Centre pocket tweed case
Custom Shop certificate
Free strap, lead and goodies
Set-up with 10's

The thin nitro butterscotch blonde finish has been thoroughly aged as has the maple neck and again the vintage spec'd hardware and I think this just adds to the guitars magical appeal - The maple neck feels so comfortable - Yes it retains some girth to it, which will enhance the tone, but it ain't as chunky or fat as the Nocaster models - It is surprising how much different it feels when you trim the depth of the neck by just a mere fraction of a millimeter - It becomes so much more user friendly - A slick playing action awaits any prospective buyer, coupled with effortless string bending

This friendly playing performance translates into a tone that is about as good as it gets - From soft jazz blues tones from the neck pick-up that are so chilled out, to ballsy lead tones that snarl and bite, whilst everything in between is achievable from this Tele - Many Teles have a bridge pick-up that has plenty of bite, but some how it sounds thin and shrill like with no body - That is not the case here, as it has balls, depth and body - Add some overdrive or keep it clean, but with all controls on 10 it has plenty of attack and bite with a good attitude, yet for a softer voicing, just roll off the pots until you hit that magical sweet spot - This is very useful on overdriven amp settings, allowing you to get more 'aggressive' tones that kick dirt, or a softer and dark lead tone that purrrrs - The Twisted Tele in the neck position is a modern tweak on a classic pick-up - Essentially you still get the vintage based tone, but now with a touch more sparkling highs - Play gently and this pick-up is soft and smooth, yet for more of a Strat based snap, then attack the strings a touch more - Overall, this Tele will respond to the different emotions that you require at the time - Good Teles don't come much better than this, yet there are many inferior models out there