Featuring measurements and components we hand-selected from across history, our “Chicago Special” Fender Custom Shop guitars highlight important years in the development of core models like the Stratocaster, Telecaster and more. We capture the energy and essence of their respective eras with iconic fingerboard radii and period-correct plastics, matched headstocks and slab fingerboards, classic finishes and not-so-classic colorways. But that’s just the beginning of what makes our Fender Custom Shop guitars so special. We take customization a step further with rift sawn necks for added resonance and expanded control sets for tonal versatility. Every “Chicago Special” Fender Custom Shop guitar features our own custom-wound Chicago Special pickups, which we had the great fortune to conceive and design in partnership with the late great Vice President of Product Development at Fender Custom Shop, Mike Lewis.

"Chicago Special" Tele® pickups

• Potted in shellac for open wide range frequency response
• 43 gauge enamel wire
• BRIDGE: Wide diameter AlNiCo 3 magnets combined with thinner 43 gauge enamel wire equals ‘hot juicy tone’

Deluxe Closet Classic
Deluxe Closet Classic is a house favorite here at CME. It shows its age like a fine wine, built for those who want to more clearly feel the life of the instrument, but without all those forced dings and dents. Maintaining many of the subtleties of a traditional Closet Classic such as less brilliance to the finish, slight discoloration of plastics, and mild oxidation of metal parts, this aging package adds notably more extensive and lush finish checking that you will see and feel throughout. 

*Note. Our photographs sometimes do not capture finish checking as well as we’d like, so please get in touch with us for an in-hand description and additional photographs.