Fender Custom Shop 1951 Nocaster Journeyman Relic Butterscotch Blonde

This Fender Custom Shop 1951 Nocaster in Butterscotch Blonde captures the guitar that started it all for Fender's solidbody legacy. With its two piece ash body, rift sawn maple neck and a pair of hand wound 51 Nocaster pickups, it delivers the raw, honest twang of the early fifties, and the Journeyman Relic treatment makes it look and feel like a guitar that has already shared many years on stage with its owner.

The Nocaster has one of the most intriguing stories in Fender history. When Fender's first two pickup solidbody was launched as the Broadcaster, Gretsch already used a similar name for its drums, so Fender had to drop it. For a short period in 1951 the guitars left the factory with only the Fender logo on the headstock, until the new Telecaster name was ready. Collectors later nicknamed these guitars Nocasters, and today they are among the most sought after Fenders ever made.

Built by hand in the Fender Custom Shop in Corona, California, this guitar comes with its own shop floor traveler, which documents exactly how it was specified and built. The Journeyman Relic treatment sits nicely between a lightly aged and a heavily worn guitar, adding subtle signs of play to the lacquer finish and hardware so it feels comfortable and familiar from the moment you pick it up.

The ash body gives the guitar a bright, snappy attack with a tight, focused low end, while the hand wound 51 Nocaster pickups deliver that classic, cutting twang with plenty of warmth underneath. The rift sawn maple neck adds stiffness and stability, which helps every note ring out clearly. Its large C profile fills the hand nicely, and the compound radius feels rounded and vintage near the nut while flattening out further up, so chords feel natural and bends stay smooth all the way up the neck. It comes with a Fender Custom Shop tweed case, a certificate of authenticity, the shop floor traveler and a TFOA Passport.

This guitar has been carefully inspected for condition and playability, then set up to our Gold Standard by a luthier. We make sure it arrives in your hands exactly as it should: sounding its best, playing effortlessly and ready to be enjoyed from the very first note.