Pricing and availability
We compare 600+ stores and found this item at 3 stores. Prices updated .
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Price
Average Price: $3,626
High-end/Boutique
$400
$1001+
Price Tier
Budget
Standard
High-end
Price History
Based on price data from 1 merchant for "Fender Custom Shop Telecaster". Prices shown reflect NEW condition. Tracking began Apr 2, 2026.
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Description
Get ready to experience the iconic sound and craftsmanship of the Fender Custom Shop Telecaster. This electric guitar is a modern masterpiece, combining the classic Tele twang with player-centric enhancements that cater to today’s discerning musicians. Crafted from a 2-piece select ash body, it offers a resonant base for your sonic adventures. The contoured neck heel ensures comfortable access to higher frets, making it perfect for those intricate solos.
The guitar boasts a stunning 3A bird's-eye maple neck and fingerboard, featuring a 9.5"–12" compound-radius for that perfect blend of comfort and precision. Whether you're strumming chords or bending notes, the 22 medium-jumbo frets provide a smooth playing experience. The hand-wound Loaded Nocaster pickups are at the heart of this Telecaster, delivering a rich, vintage sound that’s both powerful and transparent. The addition of Fat '50s wiring ensures a tone that blooms naturally, with a clarity that will make your music shine.
Wrapped in a nitrocellulose lacquer finish, this Telecaster not only sounds great but is built to age beautifully, adding character over time. With a deluxe hardshell case, strap locks, and a certificate of authenticity included, every detail of the Fender Custom Shop Telecaster speaks to its premium quality and attention to detail.
Key Features:
- 2-piece select ash body with contoured neck heel
- 3A bird's-eye maple neck and fingerboard
- 22 medium-jumbo frets, with abalone dot inlays
- Hand-wound Loaded Nocaster neck and bridge pickups
- Fat '50s wiring for powerful, transparent tone
- Bi-flex truss rod and nitrocellulose lacquer finish
Videos
Fender
Limited Edition 1963 Heavy Relic® Telecaster® | Fender Custom Shop | Fender
Reviews
Owner Insights
We analyzed real musician discussions from forums and Reddit to find what players love, question, and tweak about Fender Custom Shop Telecaster.
Features and functionality
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Fender Custom Shop's maple fretboards simulate wear with sanded spots, though this aesthetic choice is divisive among owners.
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Fender Custom Shop guitars are likened to luxury vehicles, with hand-selected woods, hand-carved necks, and other meticulous detailing that distinguish them from mass-produced models.
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Custom Shop guitars often utilize a maximum of two-piece bodies and hand-wound pickups, which are claimed to contribute to their superior stability and craftsmanship.
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User experience
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Owners frequently mention checking neck specs, as many Custom Shop Teles are made with vintage specifications that may not suit every player’s preferences.
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Owners report that boutique guitars like Xotic and Nash sometimes rival or surpass Custom Shop models in terms of neck comfort and overall playability.
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Custom Shop guitars are noted for feeling like an "old friend" and playing effortlessly, with vibrant sound even unplugged.
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Value and pricing
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Purchasing used Custom Shop models is recommended for those seeking to minimize financial risk, as they tend to retain a significant portion of their value.
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The resale value of Fender Custom Shop guitars is generally higher than boutique brands, making them a safer investment for future liquidation.
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Custom Shop guitars are not easily recommended due to high cost; better value may lie in less expensive, modifiable guitars.
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Mods and upgrades
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It's suggested to replace stock pickups in American models with Fralin Blues Specials for enhanced tonal quality, coupled with a professional setup to maximize playability.
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Owners have replaced CS Nocaster pickups with Cavalier Nashville Lion (bridge) and Lion King (neck) for improved sound.
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A 4-way switch for series/parallel options is considered for those seeking versatility in pickup configurations on a Custom Shop Telecaster.
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Comparisons
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G&L guitars are noted for providing Custom Shop quality at a more affordable price, though the poly shell finish differs significantly from Fender's custom finishes.
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Some owners find Nash guitars to have comparable playability to Fender Custom Shop models but suggest avoiding heavy relic finishes due to inconsistent quality.
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Xotic guitars are noted for having a slightly darker and warmer tone compared to Fender Custom Shop models, attributed to pickup differences and exceptional wood quality.
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Some users find Nash guitars to offer similar playability and aesthetics to Fender Custom Shop models but at a significantly lower price point.
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American Professional II series is favored by some over Custom Shop for feel, despite less impressive V-Mod pickups.
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Build quality
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Some players criticize Fender Custom Shop's neck relicing process as it involves only sanding down the back, lacking the authentic feel of a vintage neck.
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5.0 out of 5
Based on 0 Reviews and 4 Ratings
Artist usage
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Auctioned via Julien's in 2013.
Ronnie Montrose's 1992 Telecaster known as "Trigger" with a Parsons B Bender in sunburst, serial number RDM 1013, with a maple cap fingerboard. The guitar was modified by Gene Baker. This guitar was used any time Montrose needed a B Bender in the studio and onstage. Comes with a hardshell case.
PROVENANCE From the Collection of Ronnie Montrose
Featured in this October 27, 2019 Instagram post by Black Pumas.
We’re loving these @fender custom shop telecasters! Thanks to the amazing @javirelics @leediaz24 and the whole fender team.
You can see Paco using this awesome custom shop telecaster with a bridge tele pickuyp, a mid strat pickup and a neck humbucker. Great sounding guitar :)
In this video at 5:35 Kevin talks about his Custom Shop Telecaster which he uses on tour. Kevin first shared this guitar in this instagram post from 2019 https://www.instagram.com/p/BucjsYAA3Ta/ with a chrome covered pickup which has since been replaced. He also uses this guitar in the video for the cover of 'Get Down Moses'
The guitar has one humbucking bridge pickup and seems to have 1 volume knob, 1 tone knob and an on/off switch (unsure if this can be used for coil splitting as well).
In this profile from Premier Guitar magazine, the sidebar lists a Custom Shop Tele among Erikson's gear.
Listening to tons of #dannygatton #jimmybryant and #speedywest makes you seek out new toys. Loosing sleep over this one. #fender #customshop #telecaster @fenderguitar #illcastashadow #blacktoothgrin #thankful
In this post, McQueary posts a photo of his Fender Custom Shop Sparkle Telecaster, which has B-bender.
Ronnie Dunn is consistently seen with what looks like a Fender Custom Shop Telecaster based off the Nashville model. 3 pickups with white binding in a tuxedo finish. Could also be the “Buckaroo” Tele made in the ‘90s.
Per a June 2016 interview in Vintage Guitar, this is his main guitar. It is a custom shop guitar which Larry quotes Matt Umanov as saying was originally made for Bob Dylan. Larry toured and recorded with Dylan for several years so it fulfilled its mission in a way.
"My main guitar. I got it at Umanov’s in the ’90s. Matt said that the Custom Shop had made it for Dylan, and if you take the neck off, it says 'Dylan' in there. It came with a B-bender, which I use sparingly; I try to emulate that stuff with my fingers instead. I found that once I started using it, I was using it too much."
The guitar was featured in 2021 Premier Guitar rig rundown.
Ray Benson’s big body Texas Telecaster from the Fender Nashville Custom Shop features an ebony fretboard and a push-push coil tap for neck pickup in the tone control. The volume control is a stacked control with a 500k pot in the neck humbucker and a 250k pot for Tele pickup. About this Tele one-off, famed Fender guru Tim Shaw says: “To accommodate Ray’s wish for a larger guitar without totally changing the Tele’s geometry, Josh Hurst drew up a body that’s the same in the neck joint/cutaway area but is larger in the lower bout. The body is ash, and it’s not chambered. This body shape was the basis for the Acoustasonic Tele. “Ray wanted an ebony fingerboard, so we had our colleagues in the Corona R&D model shop make him a custom neck,” Shaw continues. “He also wanted a neck humbucking pickup but didn’t want to overwind the bridge pickup to match the higher output of the humbucker. I wound a set matching a mid-’60s spec Tele bridge pickup with a custom neck pickup (that also has a coil split on an S-1 switch.)” Like all of Benson’s electrics, this Tele is strung with John Pearse Strings (.012, .014, .017, .036, .040, .052).
Album Usage
The Fender Custom Shop Telecaster has been featured on the following albums:
Genre Usage
Based on how artists on Equipboard use this gear, it is most commonly found in the following genres.
Used With
Based on how musicians on Equipboard use Fender Custom Shop Telecaster, it is most commonly used with the following gear.
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