480-299-3790
1959 Fender Telecaster Masterbuilt by Todd Krause
BRW Playability and Fender’s Soul
This 1959 Fender Telecaster Masterbuilt Relic by Todd Krause nails it. It has SOUL. Finished in faded Iced Blue Metallic, it has a vibe like none other. The Telecaster along with the Stratocaster, the Gibson Les Paul, and the Gibson Es-335 have been at the heart of many genres of music including country, rock, pop, blues, and jazz.
Fender introduced the Telecaster as the single pickup Squire in 1950. Later that year, the double pickup model named the Broadcaster was introduced. After a legal issue with Gretsch, and the advent of the TV, the model was renamed the Telecaster.
The Telecaster has had several changes to the circuitry of the guitar. From early 1950 to late 1952 was the Broadcaster wiring. From 1952 until 1967 was the 50’s era wiring. In late 1967, Fender removed the Broadcaster’s “dark circuit” from the first position resulting in the classic Telecaster wiring.
This guitar, known as the ‘59 Tele REL MBTK’ for 1959 Telecaster Relic’d Masterbuilt Todd Krause has an ash body, 1952 body style with a plain grain maple neck and Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard (first an option in 1959). It has 2 hand-wired twisted Tele relic’d pickups. It is finished with a thin-nitro faded Ice Blue Metallic finish. The controls and wiring are ‘51 Nocaster. Neck specs include 21 narro tall 6105 frets with a 10” radius, 1.650 nut width and 60 style oval “C” contour.
After completing a perfect setup, it plays great and sounds wonderful. The Broadcaster / NoCaster blend control works well and gets some useful sounds. The dark circuit gives that Ted Greene sound, but is enhanced nicely with pedals. A 2nd wiring harness with the classical wiring configuration will be added and experimented with, without affecting the existing Broadcaster wiring as implemented by Todd.