Gene Baker Founders Design “Stelecaster”

Gene Baker Founders Design “Stelecaster”, Maple Fingerboard, Wide-Fade Chocolate 2-Color Sunburst

More about Gene Baker Founders Design “Stelecaster”

Gene Bakers’ Fender Custom Shop 30th Anniversary “Stelecaster” was inspired by the early mashups of the Stratocaster® and Telecaster® from Mike Bump, his former apprentice and now-R&D guru at Fender. “I just always felt that it belongs at Fender,” he said. “When you look at the model, just about everything is the Strat and the Tele 50/50 right up the center line. Mirror images of each other when you look at it. It looks very vintage and very familiar and friendly, although it makes you take a second thinking, ‘Whoa, what is that?’”

The model follows Gene’s “modern vintage” style – taking the best of both models to maximize form, fit, function and flow. The Stratocaster/Telecaster body is lightweight ash with a Wide-Fade Chocolate 2-Color Sunburst color. The quartersawn maple neck features a multi-tier Telecaster-over-Stratocaster headstock, bone nut and Founders Design decal with Gene Baker’s signature on the back of the headstock. Gene opted for nickel/chrome hardware with vintage-style tuning machines and American Vintage Synchronized Tremolo, but chose modern Telecaster wiring.