Before Kenny Gin joined forces with John Suhr at Suhr Guitars, he spent the bulk of the '90s as an esteemed builder in Fender's Corona factory. Some folks consider the Kenny Gin custom shop guitars to be something of a precursor to Fender's Masterbuilt line, and the build quality, materials, fit, and finish on this 1996 Telecaster are evidence in support of that claim. This guitar features a spectacularly flamed one-piece maple neck with tight parallel figuring from head to heel and a lightweight alder body finished in a nice light blue that lies somewhere in between sonic blue and daphne blue. Setup with action hovering around 4/64" from the 12th fret to the bottom of the outside strings, with .005" relief in the neck. The Texas Special pickups furnish a good measure of gritty twang and spanky chicken pickin' tones.
Cosmetic condition is excellent, especially considering its 30 years, with finish wear limited to a few shallow scrapes in the clearcoat on the back and a handful of finish dings and general edgewear along the bottom end near the strap button. Frets show some minor flattening beneath the plain strings in the first three positions only and are unworn elsewhere up and across the board. There is one circular finish chip in the back of the neck, about the size of a lentil, that most players won't notice while playing. Includes an especially attractive dark blue Fender hardcase along with the Custom Shop COA and original ashtray cover.
- Year: 1996
- Body wood: Alder
- Neck: One-piece flamed maple
- Inlays: Dot position markers
- Nut width: 1-11/16"
- Scale length: 25-1/2"
- Pickups: Texas Special
- Tuners: Kluson Deluxe
- Weight: 7lbs 7oz
