Fender Gives the Brent Mason Telecaster a Gloss-Black Edition

Fender has added a limited-edition black finish to its Brent Mason Telecaster. The announcement brings a different look to an established signature design rather than introducing a wholly new guitar.

A familiar session-guitar platform

The new version combines an ash body with a maple neck and fingerboard. Fender specifies a late-1960s C neck profile and a 7.25-inch fingerboard radius. A deluxe hardshell case is included.

The electronics remain the important part of the story: Seymour Duncan mini-humbucker, Hot Stack and Vintage Stack pickups occupy the neck, middle and bridge positions. Alongside the main volume and tone controls, an independent middle-pickup volume makes this a different proposition from a conventional two-pickup Telecaster.

The bender stays

A Glaser Bender system is part of the package, along with locking tuners. For a player comparing this release with the existing Mason model, the useful starting point is the finish change, not an assumption that the signature concept has been reinvented.

The new black instrument should also be kept separate from Mason’s original modified guitar and the earlier Custom Shop recreation. A production signature model is not the artist’s own session instrument, even when it draws directly on that instrument’s design.

Want to dig deeper into the design behind this release? Read our full Brent Mason guitars and gear guide.

Image: GuitarGangsters original AI-generated editorial illustration of the black signature model, not a photograph of Brent Mason’s personal instrument.

Sources

• Fender: Limited Edition Brent Mason Telecaster, Black
• Music Industries Association: Fender announcement