We’ve been enjoying Jim Campilongo‘s no-cover gigs every Monday night in the Lower East Side’s Living Room for years, and have been awestruck by his playing and searing Telecaster tone. Jim often plays an original and well-worn ’50s Tele locally, and it’s a treat to hear a true master play the crap out of that thing right in front of you. It’s enough to make you forget about the warm, flat pint they charge $7 for there. (Sorry, Living Room, it’s true.)
In our opinion if there is any Telecaster player around who deserves a signature model, it’s Jim, and the Fender Custom Shop is about to deliver what we think will be an amazing instrument, and very limited edition. Jim’s Signature ’59 Telecaster is a top-loader, meaning the strings don’t go through the body; the ball ends are right there on the bridge. This setup provides huge sustain. The pickup is overwound, the neck carve is per Jim’s specification, and the body is extra lightweight ash finished in Aged Vintage Blonde. It’s a no-bullshit tone machine. We can’t wait to get our hands on one.
MAP price is $4500.00, and it’s very limited edition. Want to pre-order or leave a deposit? Let us know.
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Beautiful Guitar, but WAYYYYYYYYY over priced!! C’mon guys, how about something affordable?!?!?!?!?
Yeah…how about making something like this for the hard working musician!! You guys are killin people with these prices.
Campilongo probably didn’t even pay close to that for his original.
OK, very nice Tele I like the looks, and the top-load feature (hey, just change the bridge on a regular model) – but even if y’all discount it 35% – my gosh, that’s a LOT for a Tele – that we can find probably as good as in your store for a lot less….
When do you expect these beauties in?
That’s hugely expensive, but I guess he’s got a following of tone-hounds who will spend that much. Funny thing is, does being a “top-loader” really improve sustain? My Affinity Squier is a top-loader…
The writer is so lucky to see this guy live, and in NYC? Faggedaboudit.
Is it true the pickups are a stacked/hum-canceling?
Our literature doesn’t mention stacked or hum-canceling. Jim talks a bit about the pickups on his site.
I would never lean my guitar against the wall like that. Makes a cool pic though.
Are you nuts?!!? $4500 for a tele? I don’t see too many of these being sold. And by the way I’ve seen Jim in NYC several times and he is a great player.
That looks like a Mary Kaye-type finish. Real purty. Would match my ’57 Mary Kaye reissue very nicely…but ouch $$$.
Took some lessons from Jim back in SF, he’s a sweetheart. And that tone of his…oh my.
[...] it doesn’t get any better than having a guitar named after you—and in Jim Campilongo’s case, it’s a Fender ’59 Telecaster. Pretty smart. Check out the ax whiz tonight as he celebrates his Living Room residency’s [...]
Jim is a great guy and I am glad that Fender is doing this for him.
And yes, I am one of those hounds who would like to get his hands on one. I am selling off some of my guitars in order to order, if you know what I mean.
That’s cool he is getting some nods, much deserved. But $4500?
If you have played and searched, you know you can find something just as good or even better. Sorry, but a ‘top loader’ tele does not have the twang I want. And a folks, gassers respectively, it’s in the fingers no matter what axe you have.
At that price, a $7 dollar flat beer is a freakin’ bargain!. Kinda weird the writer would make a complaint like that about the Living Room and then charge $4500 for a Tele….? Also top loaded? I thought that would decrease sustain…?
Jim is a phenomenal player, great guy, and is certainly deserving of this distinction.
Okay, so let’s add this up… the wood is cheap, maybe 20 bucks for the body wood; the neck wood, maybe 10 bucks… it’s maple, right? The the frets, maybe ten bucks; pickups, knobs, tuners, another hundred bucks or so. Add this up and we got less than 200 bucks for the materials. With CNC machining on the body and probably the neck these days… that leaves hand assembly and fret work. But that will add maybe a grand at the outside. Total cost to make: 1200 bucks tops. So multiply this by 3.5 and you get 4500 MSRP? Yipes. That means street will be around, what… 2500? Still too steep for most. Jim’s a working man. How about a working man’s price?
Being a long time fan of Jim Campilongo’s tele magic, I’m glad to see him get some recognition. But…that list?…yeow! that hoits! Fender could still do okay for thmselves with a more affordable axe. Count me out.
Wow that much money………….for just a mediocre guitarist copy? My mom plays better than him.
I’ve been a Fender guy for a long time, but I just couldn’t justify spending that kind of coin for that Tele. It’s cool, but not that cool. I’d rather have a nice USA Strat over that any day of the week.
this is the only signature guitar i would think of buying, but at that price no thanks!
Jim is one of a kind they have broken the mold
Yes, Campilongo is a master of the telecaster, but I’ll echo the sentiments of 95% of the other posters: too expensive. Teles are the definition of bare bones guitars and $1,000 is way too much for one of them, let alone 4x that much. I’ve put teles together for less than $400 with every bit the hardware as this one.
The irony of complaining about an overpriced pint of ale in the first paragraph and then telling us how overpriced that guitar is in the last sentence? Priceless
I don’t get the “overpriced” comments.
It’s like saying a Van Gogh is just paint on canvas. It is not, it’s a Van Gogh.
My Campilongo Telecaster is arriving any day now!
It’s been almost a year since this was announced. Any chance they’ll actually make an appearance soon?
And by the way–it’s a Fender CUSTOM SHOP model, people! I appreciate that Teles are a ‘workingman’s’ guitar and that just about anybody can slap one together from mail-order parts for a few hundred bucks, but these are not made from average parts by average people. It is co-designed with one of the pre-eminent Tele players of our day and assembled from premium, hand-picked wood by seriously experienced craftsmen. I can do a paint-by-numbers Mona Lisa, but no one is going to pay a million dollars for it.
The irony of the “seven-dollar pint” complaint is very amusing, however!