Fender Custom Shop Russo Music '60 Telecaster Custom Heavy Relic Electric Guitar, Eden Green, Dennis Galuszka Masterbuilt

As we push past 2025 and turn the page on Russo Music's sixty-fifth anniversary as a company, we have this Fender Custom Shop '60 Telecaster Custom Heavy Relic built by Fender Master Builder Dennis Galuszka. When we cover the Fender Custom Shop, we normally talk about the incredibly high echelon of quality and artistry at which the workshop functions. Sorry everyone, but today's no different.

A Master's Hand

For sixty-five years as a family-owned company, we called upon the Fender Custom Shop and Dennis Galuszka to craft a one-of-a-kind example of a Telecaster that encapsulates just about everything of what we love about the classic model and maybe a dash of East Coast flavor for the fun of it. With Galuszka's masterful craftsmanship and artistic frame, our vision of a classic Telecaster came to fruition. We've all got a dream Tele, right?

In Fender Custom Shop production, you're allowed the option of having your guitar built on the "Masterbuilt" track. What this entails is a hands-on, one-on-one build process driven by one Fender Custom Shop Master Builder. Dennis Galuszka, a Fender Master Builder since 1999, personally went about bringing our Custom Shop dream to life with his own artistic touch every step of the way. For Masterbuilt guitars, the sky is the limit, according to Galuszka. We're certain that sentiment translates through this Tele, but that's just us, after all.

By the Book

This whole project kicks off with a roasted pine body taking the iconic single-cutaway Telecaster form. Pine, a Fender tonewood with origins dating back to the early '50s, carries similarly to alder with resonance and clarity and prominent characteristics. This cut of pine is then heat-treated for an aesthetic enhancement and added tonal balance. In Custom Shop lingo, this pine body is also "sorted for weight," where, when selecting a body out of a lot, a Custom Shop builder will choose the one that weighs the least. Lightweight and roasted, this pick of pine serves the guitar as a marvelous base from which the rest of the Masterbuilt experience blossoms.

As is all but certain, this Fender Custom Shop Telecaster Custom welcomes a maple neck. Like so many Fenders to come before it, this maple neck connects with a smooth and comfortable touch primed for playing. This maple neck is roasted for an added bit of definition in its tighter, quartersawn grain and a darker tint. For its profile, we elected for a classic, if we could say so ourselves, the 60 Style Oval "C". Measuring from .790" at the first fret to .930" at the twelfth fret, the 60 Style Oval "C" plays seamlessly at every position. Satin lacquer wraps up this quartersawn maple a smooth, distinct, highly playable touch.

Nine millimeter flat lam AAA rosewood appears for a lush and robust fingerboard. This Telecaster Custom brings on a dark and rich cut of rosewood punctuated with Medium Jumbo (6150) fret wire. 6150 Medium Jumbo fret wire is among the most common picks for fret size as it matches space and precision from its highest registers to its lowest. Measuring to 9.5", this fingerboard offers effortless fretting and an easy middle ground between a flatter, modern radius and a rounded, vintage one.

Under the Boardwalk

All this talk of woods is great and all, but how about some Tele twang? At the center of this Masterbuilt Tele, your classic two-single-coil setup lands. Two hand-wound Telecaster single-coils constitute this sonic engine – a Loaded 51 Nocaster in the neck and a 50-51 Blackguard in the bridge. These two Teles together play with all the classic twang and snap you've come to love with some added heat and nuance from their hand-wound design. An onboard Tone Saver treble bleed circuit means that these Teles play with great clarity no matter where on the volume and tone controls you land.

We haven't forgotten about this Tele Custom's hardware, rest assured. A bone nut and Vintage-Style tuning machines meet up at the headstock. Matching a classic 51-54 Tele bridge at the scale's opposite end, strings are easily threaded, stably secured, and effortlessly played no matter how you approach the instrument. Across the entire guitar, you'll find the Fender Custom Shop's Relic hardware finish treatment that simulates classy age and wear.

Of course, there's a couple of aesthetic choices we made that simply can't go unrecognized. The first is Galuszka's signature-stamped neck plate. The second is the Fender Custom Shop Heavy Relic lacquer finish treatment. When we set out to get this Telecaster Custom made, we did call on a particular coast-side muse when deciding on the inspiration for the color of its lacquer finish. Asbury Park locals might even recognize what it was before we mention it: the Wonder Bar's seafoam-colored "Tillie" mural. Recognizing our Jersey Shore DNA, could there be a better color to make you feel the salty sea breeze in your hair? Not that we could imagine. Top and back binding additionally wraps this Faded Aged Eden Green finish for an added bit of accent.

Galuszka's personal Heavy Relic finish treatment sought to capture the aesthetic of the Asbury icon with some tasteful wear that allows for some of the roasted pine to shine through alongside a matching headcap. This Masterbuilt Telecaster Custom travels with an included Fender Custom Shop Strat/Tele Brown hardshell case.

You can imagine all the Fenders that can come through a shop in sixty-five years. For this anniversary, we're proud to call this one our own.