Fender Custom Shop '51 Nocaster Deluxe Closet Classic Electric Guitar, Aged Nocaster Blonde

Fender Custom Shop '51 Nocaster Deluxe Closet Classic recreates the pivotal early Tele era with period-correct construction, hand-wound pickups, and the classic blend wiring that defined those first production years.

The body is a 2-piece ash build, off center joined and sorted for light weight to keep the instrument comfortable on long sets. A '51-'54 Telecaster bridge plate with brass barrel saddles anchors the strings in for this design and keeps the hardware language faithful to the source.

Neck specs lean historic and intentional. Rift-sawn maple is used for strength and stability, finished in a medium tint nitrocellulose lacquer. The 1951 "U" profile measures 0.920" at the first fret and 0.990" at the twelfth, which comfortably fills the palm without feeling unwieldy once you settle in. A maple fingerboard carries 21 Vintage Upgrade 45085 frets on a 7.25"-9.50" compound radius, so cowboy chords feel familiar and upper register bends sit a bit flatter. Black Micarta dots mark positions, with the twelfth fret dots set to the narrower vintage spacing. The bone nut is cut to 1.625". Vintage tuners with the Fender logo and slotted posts complete the headstock, making stringing quick and tidy.

Electronics are the Fender Custom Shop hand-wound '51 Nocaster bridge and neck set. Control layout follows the '51 Modified Nocaster scheme with a master volume, a blend control, and a 3-way selector. The blend pot allows a variable mix between the neck and bridge in the first position. Positions 2 and 3 give you neck pickup only with a preset bass response in position 3.

Aged Nocaster Blonde lacquer ties the look together with the Deluxe Closet Classic treatment. Expect subtle lacquer checking, light hardware aging, and the feel of a well kept original that has lived in a case for most of its life, not a guitar dragged behind a truck. It reads vintage at a glance, then gets out of the way when it is time to play.

Delivered in an FCS Strat Tele tweed case, this '51 Nocaster Deluxe Closet Classic is built for players who want early '50s Tele architecture executed with modern consistency, right down to the wiring that made those first blackguards such useful tools.

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