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About This Listing
Up for sale, a 1992 Fender Custom Edition 40th Anniversary '52 Telecaster model TL52-40TH in exceptional, 100% original condition and in perfect working order, complete with a poodle-style hardshell case. Produced in limited quantities to celebrate 40 years of Telecaster production, this top-tier “Made in Japan” Tele was a rare limited run model offered under the short-lived Custom Edition banner (which itself was an extension of the ExTrad branding). It's an exacting recreation of a 1952 Tele, complete with USA-made pickups, CTS pots, and a nitro lacquer Butterscotch Blonde gloss finish.
Featuring the tonewood complement of an ash body and a one-piece figured birdseye maple neck, this Telecaster has a lively, vital acoustic response with good midrange presence and sustain. The USA-made single coil pickups are identical to those used in early American Vintage series models, featuring black fiber bobbins and cloth covered-leads. The bridge pickup has a chewy and sweet percussive cut, while the neck has a fuller, bell-like roundness while remaining articulate. This Tele weighs 9lbs 6oz, professionally setup here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar with 10-46 strings, low action, and accurate intonation.
The one-piece birdseye maple neck has a medium depth V-shaped profile carve with lightly rolled fretboard edges, measuring .850” deep at the 1st fret and .950” at the 12th. The gloss-finished fretboard has a vintage-spec 7 1/4“ radius, and the slender fretwire is practically perfect, playing cleanly up the 25 1/2“ scale with a straight neck and a responsive, optimally-adjusted truss rod. The bone nut measures 1.650” (42mm) in width. The headstock sports a spaghetti logo, round string tree, and Kluson-style tuning machines. The back of the headstock retains the “Custom Edition” logo, and the “Made in Japan” text is present above the four-bolt neck plate, engraved “1952-1992 40th Anniversary." The neck heel and pocket have matching model stamps.
All of the electronics function as intended, with the pickups wired to the stock harness with cloth-covered leads and 250K CTS pots that date to the 49th week of ‘90. The chrome-plated control plate and dome-topped knurled knobs shine like new, and there’s a light dusting of surface patina across the “Pat. Pend” bridge base and trio of brass barrel saddles. The bridge base is also engraved with the serial, just like a genuine ‘50s Tele. Plastics comprise the round switch tip and five-screw matte black pickguard, which exhibits some light buckling (as is extremely common with these guards), and flathead screws are used throughout.
The gloss Butterscotch Blonde nitro lacquer finish exhibits only very minor rack rash on the lower bout perimeter and a handful of faint scratches in the clear coat on the back. The smooth ambered gloss on the neck profile is immaculate and highlights the birdseye maple figuring.
A mid-1950s-style “poodle” hardshell case is included.
The first era of Fender Japan began in 1982, when domestic market Japanese Fenders started rolling out of factories. While Fender Japan is popularly known for some of their more extravagant aesthetics, the bulk of domestic Japanese production was focused on reissues of historic American Fender models. These reissue models were labeled by a two letter/two number model code for the model and reissue year, followed by a suffix that indicated the price in Yen, and any unique specifications the model had. While a given model might come in a variety of price points during a given model year, from entry level to the near Custom Shop quality of Fender Japan's ExTrad series, all the models would broadly follow the aesthetic and technical specifications of the original American models. Reissue models would follow this naming convention until 2015, when Fender Japan revamped their product line to more closely mirror the organizational structure of the Mexican and American made Fender lines. Models on this page represent the 1982 - 2015 era of Fender Japan production, and typically feature the old style Fender Japan serial number at the base of the neck, as opposed to the contemporary "JD-" serial number format found on the back of the headstock. The original model codes (and frequently the value suffix) can usually be found in the neck pocket of the body, and at the base of the neck where the mounting holes are.
Up for sale, a 1992 Fender Custom Edition 40th Anniversary '52 Telecaster model TL52-40TH in exceptional, 100% original condition and in perfect working order, complete with a poodle-style hardshell case. Produced in limited quantities to celebrate 40 years of Telecaster production, this top-tier “Made in Japan” Tele was a rare limited run model offered under the short-lived Custom Edition banner (which itself was an extension of the ExTrad branding). It's an exacting recreation of a 1952 Tele, complete with USA-made pickups, CTS pots, and a nitro lacquer Butterscotch Blonde gloss finish.
Featuring the tonewood complement of an ash body and a one-piece figured birdseye maple neck, this Telecaster has a lively, vital acoustic response with good midrange presence and sustain. The USA-made single coil pickups are identical to those used in early American Vintage series models, featuring black fiber bobbins and cloth covered-leads. The bridge pickup has a chewy and sweet percussive cut, while the neck has a fuller, bell-like roundness while remaining articulate. This Tele weighs 9lbs 6oz, professionally setup here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar with 10-46 strings, low action, and accurate intonation.
The one-piece birdseye maple neck has a medium depth V-shaped profile carve with lightly rolled fretboard edges, measuring .850” deep at the 1st fret and .950” at the 12th. The gloss-finished fretboard has a vintage-spec 7 1/4“ radius, and the slender fretwire is practically perfect, playing cleanly up the 25 1/2“ scale with a straight neck and a responsive, optimally-adjusted truss rod. The bone nut measures 1.650” (42mm) in width. The headstock sports a spaghetti logo, round string tree, and Kluson-style tuning machines. The back of the headstock retains the “Custom Edition” logo, and the “Made in Japan” text is present above the four-bolt neck plate, engraved “1952-1992 40th Anniversary." The neck heel and pocket have matching model stamps.
All of the electronics function as intended, with the pickups wired to the stock harness with cloth-covered leads and 250K CTS pots that date to the 49th week of ‘90. The chrome-plated control plate and dome-topped knurled knobs shine like new, and there’s a light dusting of surface patina across the “Pat. Pend” bridge base and trio of brass barrel saddles. The bridge base is also engraved with the serial, just like a genuine ‘50s Tele. Plastics comprise the round switch tip and five-screw matte black pickguard, which exhibits some light buckling (as is extremely common with these guards), and flathead screws are used throughout.
The gloss Butterscotch Blonde nitro lacquer finish exhibits only very minor rack rash on the lower bout perimeter and a handful of faint scratches in the clear coat on the back. The smooth ambered gloss on the neck profile is immaculate and highlights the birdseye maple figuring.
A mid-1950s-style “poodle” hardshell case is included.
The first era of Fender Japan began in 1982, when domestic market Japanese Fenders started rolling out of factories. While Fender Japan is popularly known for some of their more extravagant aesthetics, the bulk of domestic Japanese production was focused on reissues of historic American Fender models. These reissue models were labeled by a two letter/two number model code for the model and reissue year, followed by a suffix that indicated the price in Yen, and any unique specifications the model had. While a given model might come in a variety of price points during a given model year, from entry level to the near Custom Shop quality of Fender Japan's ExTrad series, all the models would broadly follow the aesthetic and technical specifications of the original American models. Reissue models would follow this naming convention until 2015, when Fender Japan revamped their product line to more closely mirror the organizational structure of the Mexican and American made Fender lines. Models on this page represent the 1982 - 2015 era of Fender Japan production, and typically feature the old style Fender Japan serial number at the base of the neck, as opposed to the contemporary "JD-" serial number format found on the back of the headstock. The original model codes (and frequently the value suffix) can usually be found in the neck pocket of the body, and at the base of the neck where the mounting holes are.
