Text Box: 2003 Fender Custom Classic Telecaster, 3-Tone Sunburst, Lacquer Finish I’ve played many a Tele over the years, and this one always ranks at the top. Nominally, it’s the Custom Shop’s answer to the American Series Tele, but the Custom Shop upgrades make it several grades above, in my opinion. At the heart of my love for this guitar is the neck profile. It is THE most comfortable C profile I’ve ever played - full but very playable with a satin finish and rounded edges. It also happens to be one of the lightest Teles I’ve played. It’s an exquisite lacquer-finished ash body with a birdseye maple neck. When you need a good all-around rock guitar, the bridge pickup is hard to beat. The Custom Shop makes a custom “Twisted Tele” set of pickups for this guitar which seem a bit hotter than your standard Tele set, but with great bite. And, of course, you still get that great Tele twang on the bridge. Plus, it has all the modern features of the American Series - 9.5” fretboard radius, modern bridge, and 6 brass saddles (special for this series). To top it all off, the pickup switch is a 4-way, allowing you to put the two pickups in a series. Further, the control plate has been reversed from the standard Tele configuration, ostensibly to make volume swells easier. Who knows . . . Text Box: FENDER TELE