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Fender Richie Kotzen Telecaster - 2-Tone Sunburst with Maple Fingerboard

Solidbody Electric Guitar with Ash Body, Maple Top, Maple, Neck, Maple Fingerboard, 1 Single-coil Pickup, and 1 Humbucking Pickup - Brown Sunburst
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Fender Richie Kotzen Telecaster - 2-Tone Sunburst with Maple Fingerboard
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Fender's Richie Kotzen Tele

The Fender Richie Kotzen Telecaster solidbody electric guitar flirts with perfection. Richie's signature Tele is incredibly playable, outrageously toneful, and easy on your eyes. Pick it up, and the contoured ash body is graced with a gorgeous flame maple top and fits you like a glove. Wrap your hand around the large C-profile maple neck and let your fingers dance on the shredtastic jumbo frets. Strum a chord or let fly with a single-note run — DiMarzio Chopper and Twang King pickups deliver a staggering range of tones. The Fender Richie Kotzen Telecaster will inspire you!

The perfect Tele?

In addition to his smokin' solo career and fronting the power trio Winery Dogs with Mike Portnoy and Billy Sheehan, Richie Kotzen has lent his considerable chops to Poison, Mr. Big, and his fusiony Vertu outing with Stanley Clark and Lenny White. Richie deploys a unique fingerpicking technique on his weapon of choice: the Fender Telecaster — but not just any Telecaster. Richie's signature axe is what many of us Tele fanatics here at Sweetwater think of when we conjure our perfect Telecaster. If you appreciate ash bodies with belly and forearm contours, eye-popping flamed maple tops, gold hardware, abalone inlays, buttery playability, and a huge range of tones — bookended by traditional Tele twang and modern high-gain — then the Fender Richie Kotzen Telecaster is for you.

Amazing vintage Tele sounds

When DiMarzio set out to design a neck pickup that delivers amazing vintage Tele sound, they knew they had to go beyond merely copying a 40-year-old design. Sporting controlled-tension coil winding, special wire, and hand-calibrated magnets, from ppp to fff, the Twang King delivers pick attack response like you've never experienced in a single-coil. Of course, the Twang King is wax-potted twice for squeal-free performance.

Killer lead sounds

With less DC resistance than a standard Tele single-coil and twin-blade poles for less string-pull than standard rod magnets, DiMarzio's Chopper T Bridge pickup is much hotter and punchier than single-coil Tele bridge pickups - and its has way more twang and snap than a typical humbucker. The Chopper T concentrates its energy in the lows and mids for a huge sound with lots of crunch - not to mention perfect lead tones for everything from country to rock to fusion (and everything in between). And of course, being a humbucking design, there's no noise.

Fender Richie Kotzen Telecaster Solidbody Electric Guitar Features:

  • Contoured, bound ash body with flame maple top
  • Large "C"-profile maple neck/fingerboard; 12-inch radius; 22 jumbo frets
  • DiMarzio Chopper T (bridge) and Twang King (neck) pickups
  • Rotary series/parallel switch
  • 6-saddle string-through-body Tele bridge
  • Gold hardware; abalone dot markers

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Tech Specs

  • General
  • Number of Strings 6
  • Left-/Right-handed Right-handed
  • Body
  • Body Type Solidbody
  • Body Shape Richie Kotzen Telecaster
  • Body Material Ash
  • Top Material Flamed Maple
  • Body Finish Gloss Polyurethane
  • Color 2-tone Sunburst
  • Neck
  • Neck Material Maple
  • Neck Shape Large C
  • Neck Joint Bolt-on
  • Radius 12"
  • Fingerboard Material Maple
  • Fingerboard Inlay Abalone Dots
  • Number of Frets 22, Jumbo
  • Scale Length 25.5"
  • Nut Width 1.650"
  • Nut Material Synthetic Bone
  • Hardware
  • Bridge/Tailpiece 6-Saddle String-through Body Tele Bridge with Block Steel Saddles
  • Tuners Gotoh Die-cast Sealed
  • Electronics
  • Neck Pickup DiMarzio Twang King single-coil
  • Bridge Pickup DiMarzio Chopper T humbucker
  • Controls 1 x master volume, rotary series/parallel rotary switch
  • Switching 3-way blade pickup switch
  • Miscellaneous
  • Strings Fender, .009-.042
  • Case/Gig Bag Sold Separately
  • Manufacturer Part Number: 0255202532

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Customer Reviews

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Rated 5/5

RK Signature Series Super Tele

Absolutely best Telecaster I've ever played built to Richie's specifications.The neck on this thing is a monster the sustain and Scream Factory is level 10 love the Abalone fret markers I took the twin King out of the neck replaced it with a Demarzio Area T a true Double Stack that was meant to go with the Chopper T I put American pots in 3D flame top swamp Ash bear claw figuring on the back I got Richie to autograph my pickguard this Telecaster is like no other I promise
Music background: YES
Rated 5/5

Wow

So this is my first review for Sweetwater after buying quite a few things over the years. This guitar is really really great. I've played US strats, PRS CE's, PRS McCarty's, Ibanez JS/Jem, ESP Horizons, Les Paul studios, standards, etc., and I like this better than all of them. Sure, it has a thick neck like everyone says but I can't even tell. The neck is very well made and plays like butter. The tones are super versatile, I love having the parallel/series thing in the middle position, it works great for my use.

My ONLY complaint, which is more on Sweetwater than Fender is that I knew I was not getting a case or a gig bag from what read from many other reviews. However, in the photos that Sweetwater sent me they did include a picture of a Fender gigbag. So I thought "oh hey nice, going to get a gigbag after all. Nope. No gigbag. So, Sweetwater...if you are reading this please don't get our hopes up with photos of our new guitars or gear and include something that's not actually going to be included.
Rated 5/5

Fantastic Guitar!

I'm embarrassed to say that I've never heard of Richie Kotzen until I researched this guitar. I'm not sure if I'm more impressed by him or this awesome signature tele. I have really big hands for my size and my fingers are pretty meaty, therefore I never found a guitar that felt comfortable to play until this one. I've owned lots of guitars and this bad boy is the ticket for me. I wasn't sure if I'd like the gold hardware cuz Im not a fan of blingy stuff but I gotta say it looks good. I was also a little concerned about the weight but unlike my Les Paul traditional which is heavy in the behind, this guitar is much better balanced and is easy to play sitting down. I can't put this guitar down and I'm being totally honest when I say that I'm considering trading my Les Paul and a custom shop Strat in to order a custom tele from the custom shop based on this guitar.
If you are thinking of buying one, I can't recommend it enough. And when you do, make sure ya ask for Josh……he's awesome!
Rated 5/5

Beautiful guitar!

So I bought this guitar based on reviews only. I never played one and had only heard it on YouTube videos. I was looking for a tele, and from what I'd read this sounded like the one. I was a little hesitant just because many reviews mentioned the big neck and I have smaller hands. I gave it a shot just because the reviews were so good. I'm glad I did because it's a beautiful guitar. I own a strat, a les paul and a prs custom 24, and this one might be my overall favorite. The neck is big, but not uncomfortable. The shape of it just feels nice. The setup and craftsmanship of this guitar was spot on. The variation of tones you can get with the different pickups and the parallel/series switch is amazing. Really versatile. For lovers of the classic tele twang, this might not quite be what you want. You can get a good telecaster sound, but really it suits rock more than country or rockabilly which is more of what I play. If you're looking for a versatile telecaster, this is what you need
Rated 5/5

Best Sounding Telecaster Ever

I have been eyeing this Guitar for 10 years.
I couldn't wait any longer.So I pulled the trigger last week and it arrived 2 days ago.
Played it all day yesterday. Flawless.
There is no cons on this Guitar that I can say.
Everything is Top Notch on this beauty.
From the neck to the electronics and the stunning look of the Guitar.
The sound is extremely beefy and Rocking and bluesy and clean up extremely well.
Worth every penny.
The bridge DiMarzio Chopper T is hot enough to give you the right bite you need for rock tones and clean up beautifully.
The Twang King in the neck is bluesy and perfect.
The additional series parallel switch is a added bonus and combo of both pickup together.
Giving you a mid range boost and different tonality.

If you are wanting a Telecaster.
Give this one a chance.
Music background: Rock,Jazz

It’s impossible to imagine a world without Fender guitars, and if you’re like many of the guitarists at Sweetwater, then Fender not only made the first guitar you ever bought " they made the last one too! From building the first mass-produced solidbody electric guitars and basses in the 1950s to creating some of the most influential amplifier designs in history, it’s no wonder why Fender is one of the biggest names in the business. As one of the world’s largest Fender dealers, we have countless guitars, basses, amps, effects pedals, and accessories in stock and ready to ship, whenever you need them. We’re always getting our hands on their latest creations, and there’s nothing we love more than to tell our customers all about them! So, whether you’re looking for your first axe or a Custom Shop creation, make sure to give your Sweetwater Sales Engineer a call at (800) 222-4700.

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