2012 Fender Empress Telecaster Blonde

Summary: This particular Tele, the Empress Tele, celebrates Americana while giving a nod to wordly lore. Its body is made from Empress tonewood, a particular wood that's been held in high regard since ancient times. Mythology holds that the fabled Phoenix bird would only land amid the branches of an Empress tree when a good ruler is in power. Indeed, lightweight Empress wood has been used for premium stringed instruments for ages, including the Japenese koto and Korean gayageum zithers. This prized tree eventually found its way to the Southeastern United States, where this particular example of Empress comes from. Still, as you rule the fingerboard and get used to this Tele's unique voice, you may just be beckoning the Phoenix to come sit on your cutaway. Just 500 of these guitars are being made, making this Empress Telecaster a find
for any Tele lover or collector.

Body: The body of this Telecaster is made of a very light weight wood from the Empress tree, finishes in vintage white.

Neck: This guitar has a maple neck with a modern “C” profile. The front fingerboard has the standard gloss finish but the back of the neck has a nice satin finish. It has 22 medium jumbo frets, width of 1.685”, 25.5” scale length, synthetic bone nut and 9.5” fretboard radius.

Pickups/Hardware: The pickups are Fender “Hot Tele Single-coils” with alnico 3 magnets. There is a master volume and master Greasebucket tone circuit. It also has standard/cast sealed tuners, one ply white pickguard, nickel control plate/knobs, nickel bridge and bridge cover.

Cosmetics: This Tele looks like new other than a ding in the finish (located on the backside of the lower bout) which is exposing the body wood and some light scratches on the pickguard.

Playability: This Telecaster plays extremely well and has a vibrant and resonant quality to it. The back of neck is satin which makes for a very comfortable surface while playing. Our in house luthier has restrung it with a new set of 10’s and set the action low.

Weight: 5lbs, 14oz.

Case: This Tele ships in a Fender gigbag.