Historic Blackguard Specs Supercharged with HS Heat
This Fender Special Edition CuNiFe Blackguard Telecaster pays homage to history’s modded-out workhorse guitars, emulating an early 1950s Tele that was tweaked, altered, and adapted throughout the decades. The core of this Custom Shop guitar replicates the formula of a traditional “blackguard” Tele, comprising a lively ash body and a quarter-sawn maple neck in a stout ’57 soft V profile. Apart from these era-accurate building blocks, just about every other feature on this Tele breaks the ’50s mold, starting with a Wide Range pickup in the neck position. Full, glassy, and powerful, this 1970s-style humbucker balances beautifully against the grit and growl of the bridge-position ’50/’51 Blackguard single-coil. What’s more, Sweetwater’s techs appreciate how Dual Stack wiring solves an age-old HS issue by using a stacked pot to supply each pickup with an optimized value. Even the hardware takes a massive detour from the standard blackguard recipe, featuring a late-1960s Bigsby tremolo and Jazzmaster bridge setup for wavy bends and lonesome pedal-steel licks. Finally, a battered Heavy Relic nitrocellulose lacquer finish simulates the worn-in aura of a true vintage artifact, ensuring that the Fender Special Edition CuNiFe Blackguard Telecaster will feel like a treasured old friend right out of the box.
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Wide Range depth paired with single-coil cut
Inspired by the classic Telecaster Specials of the 1970s, this CuNiFe Blackguard Telecaster wields a Wide Range humbucker in the neck with a twangy single-coil in the bridge. First up, the Wide Range ’bucker dishes out a bass-rich, glassy, and hi-fi tone distinct from any other dual-coil — a byproduct of its idiosyncratic CuNiFe (copper, nickel, and iron) magnets. It’s undoubtedly the fullest-sounding pickup in Fender’s vintage repertoire, making it an ideal foil to the ’50/’51 Blackguard single-coil’s snarl and bite. To top it all off, the Fender Special Edition CuNiFe Blackguard Telecaster boasts “Dual Stack” wiring — a system that utilizes stacked potentiometers to provide both the single-coil bridge pickup and the neck-position humbucker with the proper value to ensure your guitar sings with optimal tone in every position.
Vintage-correct ’57 soft V neck
What makes a “V” neck? In essence, a V neck features a V-shaped peak right across the center of the neck’s otherwise rounded ridge. And while Leo Fender never quite fully committed to the almost angular V profile found on scores of jazz-age archtops, this guitar’s ’57 soft V profile features an ever-so-slightly elevated center that forms a perfect point for your thumb to rest on. Moreover, the CuNiFe Blackguard Telecaster’s neck comprises a stout 1-piece quarter-sawn maple construction that’s highly resistant to warping and bowing. Top it all off with a set of 21 narrow-tall frets and a 9.5-inch fingerboard radius, and the CuNiFe Blackguard Telecaster's neck strikes a seamless center point between vintage feel and modern performance.
A brand-new, broken-in classic
There’s a lot to be said about Fender’s intensive relicing process. And for a guitar like this, the relic’d finish gives your axe the travel-worn, broken-in feel you’ve always wanted. The master luthiers in the Fender Custom Shop expertly aged this guitar’s finish to accurately simulate decades of regular use onstage and in the studio. When you take the CuNiFe Blackguard Telecaster out of the case for the first time, you’ll feel right at home — almost as if you were the original owner more than seven decades ago.
Fender Custom Shop Special Edition CuNiFe Blackguard Telecaster Features:
- A modded-out Tele packing sought-after specs pulled from throughout Fender history
- 1950s-style ash body, wrapped up in a battle-scarred Heavy Relic nitro lacquer finish
- Quarter-sawn maple neck shaped into a positively chunky ’57 soft V profile
- 9.5-in. radius and narrow-tall frets impart a touch of modern performance
- CuNiFe-powered Wide Range humbucker provides a full, rich, and glassy spin on classic humbucking heft
- Bridge-position Hand-wound ’50/’51 Blackguard single-coil Telecaster pickup barks with iconic twang and a treble-forward bite
- Dual Stack wiring provides each pickup with the proper pot value
- Late-1960s-style Bigsby and Jazzmaster bridge setup allows for dynamic pitch-bending expression
- Vintage-style slot-in tuning machines make for speedy string changes
