Description

The Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition Seymour Duncan 50th Anniversary Telecaster®

More than fifty years ago, Seymour W. Duncan reshaped what a Telecaster® could be. While working in London in the early 1970’s, he created the first “Tele-Gib” for Jeff Beck, blending Telecaster simplicity with humbucker power and sustain. Shortly after, Seymour refined the concept further for his own personal guitar, starting with a 1950’s Fender body and neck, but addressing intonation, string spacing, and ergonomics in ways that suited his own preferences. That instrument became Seymour’s lifelong workhorse. Now, to celebrate five decades as one of the world’s most influential pickup makers, Seymour Duncan and the Fender Custom Shop are collaborating to recreate Seymour’s “Tele-Gib” in a special limited run.

Every detail of Seymour’s personal instrument has been meticulously studied and faithfully reproduced by the Fender Custom Shop. The Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition Seymour Duncan 50th Anniversary Telecaster® features a one-piece select ash body with Seymour’s custom arm and belly contours, all finished in a beautifully aged nitrocellulose lacquer. The neck is a comfortable C shape, precisely matching the taper and feel of the original. To ensure the authentic Tele-Gib experience, the guitar features an aged gold Gibson Tune-o-matic® bridge and stopbar tailpiece, providing the feel and tuning stability that Seymour demanded for his studio and stage use.

At the heart of the Tele-Gib is a unique, pre-production variation of the JB/Jazz pickup set, replicating the pickups Seymour built for his own guitar. Wound by Maricela “MJ” Juarez in the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop, lightly aged, and exclusive to this guitar, this set features slightly different coil wire than a production JB/Jazz set, along with carefully de-gaussed magnets tuned to Seymour’s personal preference. The 500k Bourns volume potentiometer and 250k CTS tone potentiometer were selected to match the exact setup in Seymour’s guitar. The result is a familiar voice with a more nuanced response, matching the pickups that powered Seymour’s original Tele-Gib.

Each limited-edition instrument includes a certificate of authenticity signed by Seymour W. Duncan and the Fender Custom Shop, representing the connection between two icons. The “Tele-Gib” 50th Anniversary Telecaster is more than a collector’s piece. It is a direct link to the origins of modern electric guitar tone, built for players who want to hold history in their hands and own a guitar that embodies the innovation and craftsmanship of Seymour Duncan and Fender.