I was told this made in Japan Fender Tele Custom has been in a closet since it was gifted to the previous owner back in 1996. A thorough tear down and review confirms just that in my opinion. It may have been strummed here and there, but it has no signs of play wear on the top, back, neck, fretboard or frets. A true time capsule.

Coming to the shop with 30 years of sitting around in its case, the bridge and control plate showed significant signs of patina development, so I replaced the bridge with a new Gotoh period and model-specific gold bridge, and I replaced the controls with a new gold loaded control plate from Atlantic Custom Guitars that was custom made with the following high-quality parts:

• 2 CTS Custom Premium Audio Taper 275k pots.
• Centralab 3-way Switch.
• Mallory Mustard Tone capacitor
• Treble Bleed Circuit
• Switchcraft input Jack
• Premium Gavitt push back wiring
• Kluson Control Plate (USA specs)
• 2 WD Music Telecaster flat top Barrel Knobs
• Black Switch Tip

And let me tell you, these updated parts make this guitar sound out of this world. The before and after is just stunning. I had no idea it would improve the tone this much. And this is the cleanest pre-wired control set I have ever seen. I placed a pic of the underside in the photo section. Real craftsmanship.

Speaking of tone, the bridge pickup is a Fender USA American Vintage Reissue (AVRI) '62 Telecaster Custom, and the neck is a Fender MIJ Vintage single-coil. Ooh la la does this neck sound sweet.

The rest of the guitar just needed a thorough cleaning and some good old hand-polishing (lots of that to get this Ebony black to truly shine) and the results are what you see in the pics. A stunningly gorgeous black beauty with gold hardware and tone you have just got to hear.

There is some kind of odd ding on the back side of the guitar below the ferrules. Not sure how they managed to do that. Otherwise, the guitar appears virtually new as can be seen in the photos. It's really that nice.

This beauty was originally sold with a Fender gig bag, but it deserves better than that, so it will come to you in a really nice Fender Chainsaw Hardshell Case. The case has a crack near one of the hinges, but it is otherwise fully functional and looks nearly as new as the guitar.

And there you go. This is the real deal. Can you believe they kept this beauty in the dark for 30 years? I feel almost like a crime has been committed!

Come on over and grab it and take it on a proper journey.

Cheers!

BTW: "the internet" says this specific model (double-bound Pearloid Tele Custom) is highly famous for being a mainstay in The Edge’s touring rig during U2's iconic late-90s era. I don't recall, but that would be pretty cool.