Fender Rosewood Telecaster

The Fender Custom Shop is running a limited release of the 2007 Fender Rosewood Telecaster. This guitar is solid rosewood. A rosewood body and neck (not just the fretboard.) The '07 Rosewood Tele will only be offered until December 31st of this year.

This guitar is a reissue of the rosewood model that fender produced in the 1969. Only a handful of originals were made, and most of them ended up in famous hands. Fender of Japan also reissued this guitar in the 1980's with a really close reproduction, so don't break the bank thinking that you have found an original rosewood without doing your homework.

If you have the bucks, you can order a '07 Rosewood Tele from Sweetwater Sound. I have not played one of these (not sure that anyone has yet,) but I would imagine they would be very interesting. I would expect them to be quite heavy, with a more lively tone (possibly brighter on the treble side of the spectrum) than a standard ash or alder body, maple neck telecaster. The sustain has to be great, as rosewood is well-known for tone, and that accompanied by its fairly heavy weight should translate into sustain, at least in theory.

This is a very cool and very intriguing guitar. With a limited run, the reissue is bound to be a good investment, so long as it doesn't go into standard production later (as some Fender reissues have.)

At slightly over $4000, this is a cooler than average Custom Shop Tele for an average Custom Shop price. If you have that kind of expendable income, this would be a great way to unload it. I don't, so if you do, please let me know how it plays.