Leo Fender shook the world in 1950 with his company's release of the Broadcaster. A fresh take on the solid-body Spanish style guitar, Fender's new design - rebranded as the Telecaster in 1951- quickly changed the landscape of the music industry. The Fender Telecaster has become one of the most iconic and influential instruments of all time, having graced countless recordings and stages over the last seven decades.

Built relatively early on in the "White-guard" era, this transitional Telecaster bears near-identical features to a Blackguard Tele from a year earlier, including the flat-pole bridge pickup responsible for the revered tone of Telecasters produced prior to 1956. The original gold Fender headstock decal is positioned below the round string tree, another early '50s feature. All in all, this Telecaster is essentially the same guitar as a Blackguard with the exception of its white pickguard and serial number positioning.

Used but not abused, this '55 Tele has matured beautifully over the past 70 years. The honestly-earned playwear presents particularly well on this guitar's original Blond finish and it stands as a testament to how much this guitar has been appreciated throughout its life.

Boasting an incredible-sounding pair of original pickups, this Tele offers a full-bodied and mid-forward voice in the bridge position with excellent power, bite, and an airy decay. The neck pickup offers warm and creamy tones with excellent clarity and note separation.  While retaining its original pots and switch, the "dark cap" has been removed from the circuit, and the guitar rewired to allow for modern Tele switching.

The neck features a remarkably comfortable full mid-'50s carve with a soft-V that rounds out past the 5th fret. With a first fret depth of 0.910" and a soft taper to 0.980" at the twelfth, this neck fills the hand beautifully. A professional refret with vintage-sized wire was somewhat recently done, allowing for great playability across the fingerboard.

This Telecaster is nearly all original and has relatively few excuses. A nine-hole guard was previously installed on this guitar, evidenced by four plugged holes hiding underneath the period-correct mid 1950s pickguard that’s currently installed. The pickups have been expertly rewound by Toronto's Alastair Miller. We have replaced the shrunken original rubber tubing around the bridge pickup height adjustment screws for improved adjustability and left the originals in the case pocket. The Patent Applied For "no-line" Kluson tuners are original issue, though other tuners that were at one time installed left filled screw holes that are visible on the back of the headstock.

There is very old, light overspray on the neck that is quite hard to detect and quite worn through. it is likely that the work was done early on in the guitar's life and only a trained eye will pick it out.

Neck and body dates of August of 1954 (9-54). Pot codes dated to the 15th week of 1955 (304515). Weight of 7lbs 13oz. Pickup DC values of 6.9K (B) and 7.9K (N).

With original hardshell case and ashtray bridge cover.