NGD: Fender Custom Shop LTD '60 HS Custom Tele Relic, Aged Ocean Turquoise over 3 Tone Sunburst

RandallFlagg · June 2020

Been looking for a hopefully, 'lifer', Tele for a little while, I wanted something a little different from the regular and this caught my eyes and ears. The latest GAK videos are exceptionally well produced and very GAS inducing and I mulled this over for a few days and finally caved in. It ticks a lot of boxes for me; Custom Shop, 6105 frets, bone nut, relic finish, chunky-ish neck with worn finish and a little different to the regular models in that it's an HS with the colour over colour finish. I know relic's are a bit Marmite and many don't like them but nothing compares to that feel of worn in nitro of a good Custom Shop for me.

This one is brand new and the COA date is 19th April 2020 made as a 2020 NAMM Ltd Edition I believe.

I've not played a Tele with a neck humbucker before but the tone is as I expected and perhaps is the most instantly gratifying tone I've had from a guitar with my set up on first plug in. Plugged in to Mesa Boogie Mark V 35 the thing that surprised me is how fat and beefy the guitar sounds on the drive channel. Set on the MKIIC+ mode it's a throaty, grind of overdrive on the Texas Special bridge pickup with the tone rolled back a touch. Mid-rangey and grizzly. Switching to the neck on the same amp settings and the Seth Lover neck pickup is thick but articulate and flutey with that nice hollowness that a PAF type humbucker can deliver.

On the clean channel it can spank like a Tele should but perhaps a bit thicker and warmer but not in the same honky clangy way as a Broadcaster pickup can sound sometimes, a bit more jazzy, especially with the tone rolled back a bit. The neck pickup really does sound warm and jazzy as you would expect or if you add a bit of treble from the amp it's a bluesy delight, good for indie/rock as well.

The neck is a 59 Large C, not a profile I recall playing before and I didn't think about it or notice it when I first picked it up, it just feels right. I don't like thin necks and this one is quite similar to the 10/56 V on my Strat but with a little more shoulder and is just a tad fuller in the hand. All good.

2 little niggles out the box, as I have perfectionist OCD, there is a slight volume difference between the neck and bridge pickups with the neck humbucker louder (obviously). It's not noticeable on the gain channel with the natural tube amp compression but is noticeable played clean. I have no doubt that this can be balanced with some tweaking of the pickup heights.

Also, the outer strings very, very slightly don't quite line up quite the same over the edge of the end of the neck, with more gap on the first string to the neck edge compared to the 6th string. This is the typical 3 saddle Tele bridge anomaly and I an sure this just needs a bit of fiddling with the saddles sideways movement and string path over them - no biggie, perfectly normal in my experience of some 3 saddle bridges. Failing that if that is the natural path of the strings then a sideways push on the neck when retightening the neck screws will fix it.

Weight is 7.5lbs, and feels good, I like light guitars so 7lbs or under would have been ideal but for an alder body 7.5lbs is fine and it feels right.

All in all I like it, and I want to play it when I look at it and it sounds good when I do. I like the tort guard against the turquoise.(previously I've been a tort hater!)

Here's the specs:

Double Bound Aged Ocean Turquoise over 3 Tone Sunburst; Flat Lam Rosewood Fingerboard; 5/4 Qtr Sawn '59 Large "C" Back-Shape; Back of Neck is Heavy Relic; 9.5" Radius; 21 Narrow Tall/6105 Frets; Seymour Duncan Seth Lover Humbucker (Neck); Hand-Wound Texas Special (Bridge) Pickups; 3-Way Switch; Dual-Stack HS Tele Wiring; 4-Ply Brown Shell Pickguard; '58-'63 Tele Bridge with RSD Saddles; Vintage Style Tuning Machines; Bone Nut; Wing String Tree.

Pics and the GAK video below:

Video from GAK:

tony99 · June 2020

I like your guitar. It is very nice.

RandallFlagg · June 2020

Cheers @tony99 ;

RandallFlagg · June 2020

Just loosened the neck plate and retightened the bolts with just the slightest pressure on the neck towards the high E and string alignment over the end of the neck is now perfect. If only you could do that on a Gibson!

stonevibe · June 2020

Nice colour

RaymondLin · June 2020

RandallFlagg said:

Just loosened the neck plate and retightened the bolts with just the slightest pressure on the neck towards the high E and string alignment over the end of the neck is now perfect. If only you could do that on a Gibson!

Randall Flagg - Masterbuilder

drofluf · June 2020

Very nice!

Hattigol · June 2020

Wow is an understatement. What a gorgeous guitar you have there....

I can honestly say that is the only Tele I have ever seen that I would swap my own CS for. Please let me know if you ever tire of its beauty!

Enjoy....

captainbeeffart · June 2020

Looks gorgeous, and nice to see a dark rosewood fretboard, one thing i always look for. So many Gibson and Fender custom shops now have, that pale anemic rosewood. Enjoy in good health

richardhomer · June 2020

RaymondLin said:
Randall Flagg - Masterbuilder

Is that a typo?

Whitecat · June 2020

Just amazing. Wish I could give more than one “wow”. Congrats!

RandallFlagg · June 2020

richardhomer said:

RaymondLin said:
Randall Flagg - Masterbuilder

Is that a typo?

I have been caught masterbuilding before you know. (reference to thread in BCD)

RandallFlagg · June 2020

RaymondLin said:

RandallFlagg said:

Just loosened the neck plate and retightened the bolts with just the slightest pressure on the neck towards the high E and string alignment over the end of the neck is now perfect. If only you could do that on a Gibson!

Randall Flagg - Masterbuilder

That’s probably about as much of the personal touch the Master Builders expend for the extra £3K

markblack · June 2020

very nice - enjoy, when I was looking for a keeper as a treat on my 40th I went they same way. Only a bit more trad tele and shell pink over sunburst, (sorry relic haters).