The rosewood Telecaster prototype designed by Roger Rossmeisel and gifted to George Harrison in 1968 is one of the all-time cult classic electric guitars, and it was no surprise that a limited run in 2017 sold out in quick time and now fetch scary money secondhand.
But Fender has been paying attention. Its finger is on the pop-cultural pulse, and amidst the buzz around Peter Jackson’s Beatles documentary Get Back, with demand cresting for all things Fab Four, the Big F has decided to bring the George Harrison Rosewood Telecaster back, applying a host of carefully considered updates for the contemporary player’s tastes.
Harrison’s Tele returns with a lightweight body of chambered rosewood. The matching rosewood neck is finished in a Mid-‘60s C profile and topped with a – you guessed it – rosewood fingerboard which has been modernised with a 9.5” radius, and finished with dot inlays and 21 medium-jumbo frets.
We’ve got a pair of Pure Vintage ‘64 Telecaster single-coil pickups at the neck and bridge positions, a three-way pickup selector plus volume and tone pots.
The vintage-style hardware – complete with Fender-branded sealed tuners and a steel three-saddle '60s-style bridge – maintains the vibe of the original. A custom engraved “Om” neck plate marks it as a Harrison model.
The George Harrison Rosewood Telecaster ships in a hard case and is available now in a limited run, priced £2,749 / $2,899.
See Fender for more details.
