Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition 70th Anniversary Broadcaster Faded Nocaster Blonde
This 70th Anniversary Broadcaster is part of a limited run celebrating the original 2 pickup solid body electric guitar that launched Fender into the electric guitar history books in 1950. This recreation of the iconic Broadcaster sports the details and features that made it instantly famous, AND got Fender into hot water with the Fred Gretsch Company. As it turned out, Gretsch already had a trademark on the name “Broadkaster”, which forced Leo Fender to remove the name from the instrument the following year. These 70th Anniversary limited release instruments boast the original “Broadcaster” logo, a 2 piece ash body (sorted for light weight, of course), flash coat/no buff nitro lacquer in Nocaster Blonde, single ply black pickguard, and a rift sawn maple neck with the 1950 Blackguard profile.
The Fender Custom Shop added some excellent features to increase playability as well. That rift sawn maple neck gets a compound radius, starting with the traditional 7.25″ for your cowboy chords, but flattening to a more modern 9.5″ as you travel up. This allows for the rounded fingerboard comfort in first position, but you can still set the action at a reasonable height and bend away in the upper registers without fretting out. Think of your fingerboard as a cone, instead of a cylinder. That’s a compound radius.
Pickups are Handwound ’50-’51 Blackguard’s with the ’51 modded “Nocaster” wiring tying them together. This upgrade includes a blender pot and a brighter rhythm pickup setting. In the case is a Fender “Fat 50’s” control assembly should you prefer to modernize those controls.
The Fender Custom Shop 70th Anniversary Broadcaster Series is available in 4 finishes, each one progressively more worn in. This instrument is NOS Time Capsule, which simulates that birthday gift Junior never touched, and left under the bed in 1950 until he waltzed into antiques roadshow in 2020. Clean as a whistle, with some mild aging on the metal parts, as would be the case in such an instance.
