Fender teams up with Guitar Center for recreation of Joe Bonamassa’s Sunburst ’55 Telecaster
Ultra-rare early electric guitar now available as Custom Shop replica
Joe Bonamassa has one of the greatest guitar collections on Earth, and among his rarities is a Sunburst-finished 1955 Telecaster - a finish that was extremely hard to find at the time. Now, the Fender Custom Shop has teamed up with Guitar Center to put together a limited-edition replica of that very Telecaster.
Master Builder Yuriy Shiskov has built two versions of the guitar: the Vintage Collector Series 1955 Relic Telecaster with the 2-Tone Sunburst of Joe’s original, and the Vintage Collector Series Special Mod 1955 Relic Telecaster with a 3-Tone Sunburst finish, which was non-existent on Teles of the era.
Both models pack an ash body, soft 'V' neck shape with 7.25" radius maple fingerboard, 21 vintage frets, vintage bridge and a single-ply parchment pickguard, plus two hand-wound pickups.
Just 15 2-Tone Sunbursts will be produced, and 40 3-Tone Sunbursts - all models include a case, plus a Certificate Of Authenticity signed by Joe Bonamassa himself.
The Vintage Collector Series 1955 Relic Telecaster ($7,545) and Vintage Collector Series Special Mod 1955 Relic Telecaster ($4,650) are available now from Guitar Center - there's no word on international availability just yet.
Get the MusicRadar Newsletter
Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here.
Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism, and has spent the past decade writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as a decade-and-a-half performing in bands of variable genre (and quality). In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.
“The same hand soldered through-hole construction and super rare military spec germanium transistors that were used in the original”: EarthQuaker Devices celebrates two decades of stompbox design with the Hoof Fuzz 20th Anniversary Edition
“Perhaps it's not too surprising that it would be such a big hit”: Reverb reveals its top selling pedals of 2024 and a compact modeller is this year's big winner