Go For Gold

When is a Telecaster not a Telecaster? When it comes with a pair of mini-humbuckers, a mahogany body and ebony fingerboard like this one!

- Dave Burrluck 

Continuing a long run of pickuppimped Telecasters, this 2023 release sees our favourite bolt-on in new dress and with a pair of Gold Foil pickups, which, says Fender, “combines the enduring charm of mid-century mail-order guitars with the style and playability of an authentic Fender”.

Technically, there’s no such thing as a single-recipe ‘gold foil’ pickup; the style is inspired by various pawnshop-prize brands such as Teisco, Guyatone, Harmony and Kay (as Huw Price discusses further on page 118). The pickup itself – anything with a bit of gold metallic ‘foil’ on the front with a partial metal cover – came in a variety of usually single-coil styles, some using rubberised ‘fridge’ magnets. But, hey, they’re trendy and have been for some years with many pickup makers offering their own versions, from Jason Lollar’s boutique style to Roswell’s mass-market take. Fender tells us these are mini-humbuckers, not single coils, but that’s about it.