Fender Custom Shop Ron Thorn Masterbuilt El Mocambo Heavy Relic Guitar, Aged Natural Set

The El Mocambo and Fender itself both trace their founding to the post-WWII era (1948 and 1946, respectively), and the Fender Custom Shop is excited to introduce a very special Master Built paired instrument set—the Limited Edition El Mocambo Telecaster and El Mocambo Stratocaster, crafted by Master Builder Ron Thorn, himself a Toronto native. Limited to 25 paired sets, the instruments are fashioned from 300-year-old eastern white pine reclaimed from the rafters between floors one and two during the massive 2014 renovation of Canada’s most famous nightclub. Each board was examined with a metal detector to locate and extract nails, and the extremely tight-grained old-growth timbers are light and extremely resonant, making for amazing body wood for these guitars.

The first-fret inlay and engraved neckplate are inspired by the El Mocambo’s signature feature, the giant 22-foot sign on the front of the building since its 1948 opening—an enormous palm tree with “El Mocambo” spelt out in glowing neon letters beneath the cascading white lights of the tree’s moonlit leaves.

Other premium features include a quartersawn and roasted Canadian maple neck with a ’59-style “D” profile, 9.5” radius flat-laminated African blackwood fingerboard with 21 jumbos (6100) frets and bone nut, hand-wound Josefina Campos '69 Strat (neck), vintage '65 Strat (middle) and Texas Special™ (bridge) single-coil pickups, Fat '50s 1/2 blender wiring, Heavy Relic® lacquer finish with gold hardware, three-ply black pickguard, Custom Shop vintage synchronized tremolo, vintage-style tuners, and wing string tree. Includes custom El Mocambo hardshell case, strap, collectable case candy kit, and certificate of authenticity.