The
Fender Telecaster
The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele (), is an electric guitar produced by Fender (company), Fender. Together with its sister model the Fender Esquire, Esquire, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successfulLes ...
Custom is a model of
electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...
made by
Fender.
The Custom debuted at the 1959
NAMM Convention as a more ornate alternative to the standard Telecaster, with binding, a sunburst finish, and a rosewood fretboard option.
Following the introduction of Fender's
Wide Range humbucker, the Custom was redesigned, replacing the neck single-coil with the brand's new pickup (mimicking a popular modification), while adding tone and volume controls for each pickup and removing the binding. This new version launched alongside the similar
Telecaster Deluxe in 1972, and while the Custom found fans in notable players like
Keith Richards
Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...
and
Peter Buck
Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M.; he played the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his caree ...
, neither guitar proved popular and both were discontinued in 1981. Fender has since reissued the two models multiple times to take advantage of renewed interest in them that began in the 1990s.
History
Original model (1959-1972)
In 1958, Fender sought to add a more ornate version of the Telecaster to its lineup. The brand added binding to the body and offered a sunburst finish and rosewood fretboard as options, but otherwise maintained the original's core design. Fender debuted their new guitar model as the "Telecaster Custom" at the 1959
NAMM Convention.
By the late 1960s, however, the popularity of single-coil pickups began to wane as rock music became heavier and guitarists increasingly favored
humbucker
A humbucker, humbucking pickup, or double coil, is a guitar pickup that uses two wire coils to cancel out noisy interference from Single coil guitar pickup, coil pickups. Humbucking coils are also used in Microphone, dynamic microphones to can ...
pickups popularized by
Gibson's guitars. Fender responded by hiring
P.A.F. creator and former Gibson employee
Seth Lover to design what would become Fender's
Wide Range humbucker, which first appeared in the brand's semi-hollowbody
Thinline model in 1971.
Redesign (1972-1981)
A popular modification of the Telecaster, especially among rock guitarists, was to route the body and alter the pickguard to accept a Gibson humbucker in the neck position, something popularized by Keith Richards with his own Telecaster, Micawber. Fender chose to replicate this mod with a revised Telecaster Custom model, using a Wide Range in the neck position and adding separate volume and tone controls for each pickup, along with a three-position toggle for pickup selection on the guitar's upper bout. This brought the Telecaster design closer to that of Gibson's popular
Les Paul
Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz guitarist, jazz, country guitarist, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid body ...
model.
Fender launched their new Telecaster Custom in 1972 alongside the similar
Telecaster Deluxe, which sported Wide Range humbuckers in both positions—making it even more similar to the Les Paul—and had a larger, CBS-era Stratocaster-style headstock. Few well-known players of the time picked up on the Custom, although
Keith Richards
Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...
(who used one as his main guitar from 1975 until 1983) and
Peter Buck
Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M.; he played the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his caree ...
in the early years of
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the fir ...
were fans.
Reissues
Like the Deluxe, the Custom was subject to renewed interest among guitarists beginning in the 1990s. Fender Japan was the first to release a reissue of the Custom. Following the Japanese re-issue, Fender moved production to its
Ensenada facility in
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
. The higher-end Factory Special Run (FSR) editions of the guitar are made at the U.S.-based
Fender Custom Shop
The Fender Custom Shop is a division of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, housed within its headquarters complex in Corona, California, Corona, Riverside County, California, Riverside County, California. The Fender Custom Shop produces spe ...
. Both the Mexican and the Japanese versions featured a reissued version of the Fender Wide Range humbucking pickup, each of which differs fundamentally in construction from the original and results in a darker-sounding reissue pickup.
In 2010, the Fender Custom Shop released a limited issue of thirty '72 Telecaster Custom relics models, although substantial differences from the original remained. Fender released the American Vintage reissue '72 Telecaster Custom the following year, replicating the original '72 design features such as the three-bolt neck and the classic look, with improved construction and quality.
Squier
Squier is an American brand of electric guitars owned by Fender. The former manufacturing company, established as "V. C. Squier Company" was founded in 1890 by Victor Carroll Squier in Battle Creek, Michigan, producing strings for violins, ban ...
also has a Telecaster Custom model as part of their Vintage Modified series. It is essentially an affordable hybrid design that takes features from both the Telecaster Custom and Telecaster Deluxe. The Squier Telecaster Custom II uses two
Seymour Duncan
Seymour Duncan is an American company best known for manufacturing guitar and Bass (guitar), bass Pickup (music technology), pickups. They also manufacture effects pedals which are designed and assembled in United States. Guitarist and luthier ...
-designed
P-90 pickups instead of humbuckers.
Notes
References
*
{{Fender Telecaster submodels
Fender Telecasters