Squier Classic Vibe 50s Telecaster Custom Relic

Telecaster Custom Relic Squier Classic Vibe

The Squier Classic Vibe 50s Telecaster Custom Relic is a one-of-a-kind Telecaster hand-relic’d, upgraded and setup by NYC-Guitars.com. This guitar was purchased locally with some minor cosmetic damage. Instead of simply repairing the paint, we decided to upgrade and relic this Tele to hone in that classic 1952 Telecaster look and feel. This guitar is a fantastic instrument on its own dead stock. We just wanted a bit more of that classic Tele Twang and that broken-in vintage feel. The pickups have been upgraded to Fender’s Original Vintage Telecaster Pickups which are very close reproductions of the pickups found in Leo Fender’s original 1952 telecaster design. The body has been hand-relic’d by adding dents, dings, forearm wear, buckle rash, belly rub, pick marks, dulling, and yellowing the finish, adding lacquer checking lines plus a full neck relic including hand rolling the fingerboard and dressing the fret ends, adding “fretwear” to the wood NOT the wire, removing the finish from the back for faster playing and less drag, and darkening with amber nitro lacquer. We’ve also aged the metal hardware and plastics.

The question we’re often asked is how we achieved such awesome results working on the thick polyester paint that covers both the body and neck of the Classic Vibe Telecaster. When approaching a relic job, the only difference between nitro and poly finishes is the poly is so thick we can get through the color layer to see the wood, but there is still thick clear poly over the wood. so it’s actually not down to the grain. For example, if you want “divots” in the fingerboard (as seen below) they would be in the poly and not the wood. Because of this, they can’t absorb the stain so they look slightly different than divots found on relic’d nitrocellulose finished necks. We also did not remove the poly from the back of the neck on this particular model again because it’s too thick; But, we did de-gloss it and color the headstock.

Below you will find before and after shots followed by detailed tech specs.

Before – click to enlarge