The Telecaster Deluxe has a specific origin story. In the early 1970s, guitarists wanted the noise-free thickness of a humbucker in a Telecaster body — the twang and snap of the platform, but with more girth and less hum. Fender's original answer, introduced in 1973, was a Tele with a large headstock and a pair of humbuckers borrowed from the Stratocaster. The American Professional Telecaster Deluxe ShawBucker is the modern interpretation of that idea, and it improves on the original in every meaningful way.

Tim Shaw is a name familiar to anyone who followed the Gibson ES-335 Dot Reissue line of the early 1980s — he was the engineer Gibson tasked with recreating the original PAF humbucker, and the Shaw PAFs he produced became some of the most sought-after modern-era pickups Gibson ever installed in a production instrument. Fender brought Shaw in to design the ShawBucker humbuckers specifically for the American Professional series, voiced differently for each position. The Shawbucker 1T in the neck and Shawbucker 2T at the bridge are open-coil designs with an airy, almost single-coil clarity unusual for humbuckers — warm and round without muddiness, dynamic and responsive to pick attack, and genuinely capable of the clean Fender headroom that full-output humbuckers routinely destroy. The treble bleed circuit on both volume controls maintains high-end presence as you roll back — a practical solution to the classic problem of humbuckers going dark at anything below full volume.

The construction details: alder body in Candy Apple Red, maple neck with the modern Deep C profile at .82" at the first fret and .92" at the twelfth — more comfortable than the original 1970s Deluxe necks by a significant margin — rosewood fingerboard at 9.5" radius, narrow tall frets for fast, accurate bending with vintage feel, genuine bone nut, and Fender locking tuners. The 6-saddle strings-through-body Strat-style hardtail bridge with bent steel saddles delivers the sustain and intonation precision that the classic 3-saddle Tele bridge never fully provided. Action is set at 2/32" on both strings at the twelfth fret. At 8 lbs 2.5 oz this is a solid, resonant instrument that rings clearly unplugged — a good sign in any electric. The original hardshell case is included.

The guitar is in excellent, all-original condition.  There are a few dings here and there - see the pics.  There are no changes, repairs, or issues.  The frets show the lightest wear.  The neck is straight and there is room in the truss rod for future neck relief adjustments.  The original case is included.  

Mahar's Vintage Guitars is a brick-and-mortar and web-based retailer. We are happy to talk with you before you make a purchase.   Please reach out if you feel so inclined! We cross market our items here and on our own site, so items are subject to sale elsewhere at any time (however we will never cancel a sale if it happens here first). See our profile here, our Google reviews as well as our 100% positive Reverb feedback. Also, Reverb limits us to only 25 pictures of our items. There is a good chance we have more. Contact us if you’d like to see them.

No sales tax for direct sale customers outside California. Reverb sales are always taxed.

SPECS:

• Color: Candy Apple Red
• Weight: 8lbs 2.5oz
• Body: Alder 
• Neck: Maple
• Neck Profile: Modern "Deep C"
• Fretboard: Rosewood 
• Inlays: White Dot
• Frets: Original Narrow Tall
• Fret Count: 22
• Nut: Original Bone
• Nut width: 1-11/16"
• Radius: 9.5"
• Scale: 25.5"
• Neck thickness at 1st Fret: .82"
• Neck thickness at 12th Fret: .92"
• Action 1st String at 12th Fret: 2/32"
• Action 6th String at 12th Fret: 2/32"
• Overall length: 38 3/8"
• Lower bout: 12 5/8"
• Waist: 8 15/16"
• Upper bout: 10 7/8"
• Body depth/thickness outside edge: 1 3/4"
• String gauge: .010"-.046"
• Hardware Color: Chrome
• Pickguard: Original
• Bridge Pickup/Brand: Shawbucker 2T
• Pickup Reading: Yes
• Original?: 
• Neck Pickup/Brand: Shawbucker 1T
• Pickup Reading: 
• Original?: Yes
• Bridge: 6-Saddle Strings-Through-Body Strat Hardtail with Bent Steel Saddles
• Tuners: Fender Locking
• Knobs: Original
• Switch: 3 Way
• Pots/Codes: Original
• Case: OHSC
• Notes: 

Shipping policy:

There are multiple shipping cost options for purchases made on our site.  Select Ground, 3 Day, 2 Day, or Next Day Air Saver.  For Reverb purchases, there is one cost option for Eastern states - customers from any state that is more than a 3 day UPS ground shipment from our shop will get their shipment via UPS 3 day air.  Otherwise, ground shipping will be used.  Shipments will require signature on delivery, no exceptions.  If there is damage, the buyer must retain all packing materials intact and picture them immediately and send them to .  Less than 1% of our shipments are damaged in transit, and we are committed to making sure your item arrives safely, but we are taking these additional measures to make sure you are happy with your purchase.