1997 Fender® Custom Shop LEFTY Masterbuilt Tele® Blonde, Excellent, Original Hard, $2,995.00

The original owner had Fender build him a Tele like the one he put together
in the early 80s, which included a righty 54 Strat neck(later swapped out for
a righty 66 Tele neck). The 80s Tele was signed by President Reagan,
and is known as the The Gipper Guitar (there was an article about this guitar written by Willie Moseley
in the February 2005 Vintage Guitar Magazine).

The owner wanted the new Custom Shop guitar to be like the Gipper Guitar.
The owner met with Fred Stuart, Fender’s Master of the Telecaster, at a
gig with Chris Hillman(The Byrds/Flying Burrito Brothers) and that’s where this guitar’s production was set in motion.

Description:

The Tele consists of a Honey Blonde finish over a very light-weight 2 piece ash body(you notice the guitar is very
light as soon as you pick it up at around 7 lbs), right-hand nickel bridge with right-hand bridge body route,
volume & tone controls wired backward(righty, as vintage lefty Fenders are wired), control plate reversed/popular Bill Kirchen Tele mod,
black Bakelite 1-ply pickguard, right hand 1 piece maple neck with dots on left side, vintage frets, 7.25 radius neck, nickel vintage keys,
spaghetti logo(upside down), newer Fred Stuart pickups(includes box signed by Fred Stuart), OHSC(Fender tweed case), bridge cover.

Paperwork:

Includes the original COA(signed by John Page/founder of the Fender Custom Shop), copy of the Fender Custom Shop Order Form dated 7/15/96
from Heck Music in Ventura, California(now known as Instrumental Music), letter to Jim Duncan of Southpaw Guitars dated 12/5/13
describing the guitar and its story, copy of the February 2005 Vintage Guitar Magazine article by Willie Mosely about the Gipper Guitar.

Additional Specs:

Neck Depth: 1st Fret – .98”; 12th Fret – 1.03” (a nice beefy neck like the vintage Blackguards)
Neck PUP: 6.67K; Bridge PUP: 7.21K(screaming bridge PUP!)

You can also see the Tele being played in this live performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT3LXmGrdrc

This is truly a one-of-a-kind Tele built by the finest Tele builder on the planet-Fred Stuart. I had one of the earliest
Fender Custom Shop Strats from 1987, also built by Fred Stuart, and I can tell you the build quality was outstanding.
This Tele is from 1997, the heart of the Fender Cunetto Era when the Custom Shop was making its best instruments IMO.

I’ve owned many Teles over the years, from vintage 1950s to the Custom Shop, so it takes something really different to impress me
anymore about these guitars. This is one of those guitars! If you’re a Tele player or collector, this is truly an exceptional opportunity
to acquire a very unique and outstanding Tele built by the legendary Fred Stuart!