New for 2023, the Fender Custom Shop introduces the Limited Nocaster Thinline Relic, with a lighter select ash chambered body for a more open and expansive sound, paired in a substantial tonal combination with a one-piece quartersawn maple neck with a large “C” profile. Its beautifully battered Relic lacquer finish comes in Aged Nocaster® Blonde, Aged White Blonde, and Aged Two-Color Sunburst, imparting an authentically worn-in look in which spidery finish checking and each ding, dent and scar from bridge to headstock tell a story of years of action in clubs and bars.

Under the hood, special pickups and wiring deliver amazingly versatile tone. Both hand-wound “Loaded” Nocaster pickups are wound with thinner wire for more turns—and more turns means more richly sustaining Telecaster® tone. The neck pickup is “open” on the top for greater clearance that raises the pickups closer to the strings, and is also made with alnico 5 magnets that, combined with more windings, brings it into the output realm of the bridge pickup (which uses alnico 3 magnets). Fat ’50s Telecaster wiring delivers stronger overall tone with more transparent bloom, with volume and tone controls that react more smoothly and evenly, with less of the typical treble loss that occurs when rolling back on volume.

Other premium features include a ’51 Nocaster Bridge with Custom Shop RSD (Research Special Design) compensated brass saddles for perfect intonation without sacrificing vintage Tele tone, vintage compound-radius (7.25”-9.5”) maple fingerboard with 21 narrow tall (6105) frets and a bone nut, three-way pickup switch, single-ply black phenolic pickguard, vintage-style tuners, disc string tree, deluxe hardshell case, strap and certificate of authenticity.