The "Outlaw Country" pioneer was rarely seen without a Fender guitar in hand—and more often than not, it was his prized, leather-clad 1954 Telecaster. FCS Masterbuilder Dave Brown worked closely with the Jennings family estate to replicate even the smallest details of Waylon's iconic guitar after deconstructing the original.
Throughout his career, Jennings consistently topped charts and received awards including induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Male Vocalist of the Year, both from the Country Music Association. Although the country legend passed away over 20 years ago at age 64, the impact he left on the genre is still felt today. Today, Waylon’s legacy lives on through his son, two-time Grammy winner Shooter Jennings, who’s released 11 studio albums and produced dozens of songs spanning across multiple genres and many different artists including Tanya Tucker and Brandi Carlile.
Waylon Jennings Telecaster
The limited-edition Waylon Jennings Telecaster is designed to replicate Jennings’s original model down to the smallest of details. The 2-piece ash body is finished in period-correct Butterscotch Blonde before being wrapped in the distinctive, hand-tooled leather cover and paired with a 10/56 “V”-shaped, one-piece quartersawn maple neck. Custom Shop Hand-Wound '50/'51 Blackguard pickups provide unmistakable early-‘50s Telecaster tones with clear, crisp highs with well-balanced midrange and low end. $25,000.00 USD.
The Limited Edition Waylon Jennings Telecaster | Dream Factory | Fender
“Waylon Jennings’ 1954 Telecaster is instantly recognizable, both in style and sound, and it was an honor to work with Shooter and the rest of the Jennings family to recreate an instrument that helped define Waylon’s career,” said Dave Brown, Masterbuilder, Fender Custom Shop. “The original Telecaster was gifted to Waylon back in the 60s which he eventually had wrapped in a hand-tooled leather. I was excited to feature its incredible specs, including the banjo tuner that allows players to detune the low E enabling them to drop to a low D. The Telecaster, the pedal and accessories from the capsule collection pay a beautiful tribute to Waylon’s musical legacy.”
Waylon Jennings Phaser
Building on Fender’s original four-stage phaser circuit developed in the 1970’s, the Waylon Jennings Phaser provides three distinct flavors of phasing by switching between two, four, or six phase stages. When combined with the Range and Feedback Controls, these three phase voices cover the gamut of phasing tones used by Jennings on stage and in studio.
$129.00 USD.
Fender Waylon Jennings Phaser Demo | First Look
More info at fender.com.
![Rig Rundown: Vince Gill & Paul Franklin [2023]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/rig-rundown-vince-gill-paul-franklin-2023.jpg?id=34797562&width=600&height=400&quality=85&coordinates=200%2C0%2C0%2C0)
![Rig Rundown: Brent Mason [2021]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/rig-rundown-brent-mason-2021.jpg?id=27278334&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
Mason's live gear—which he showed us before his recent gig at Nashville's 3rd & Lindsley—is simple and cool as hell, but it's not his guitars or amps that've made him a hero. It's his imagination, virtuosic chops, and pure musicality.
[Brought to you by D'Addario XS Strings: https://www.daddario.com/XSRR]
Honky Tonk Excalibur
Mason's battered and highly modified 1967 Telecaster has probably been on more hit country songs than any other guitar. The car-paint re-fin happened before he got it, but most of his mods were done by top Nashville luthier Joe Glaser. His pickups are a neck Seymour Duncan humbucker, a Duncan single-coil in the middle (for the famed Brent Mason pickup mod), and another Duncan single-coil in the bridge.
Top of the Whirl
The headstock on Mason's well-traveled Tele shows its years, and plenty of character accumulated over its storied history. His old paint features locking tuners and a Glaser B-bender.
Not Yer Average Tele
Here's a close-up of that extra pickup. Note the additional speed dial, too. The bridge and neck pickups are controlled by a standard 3-way switch, with a master volume and tone. The middle pickup has its own individual volume control that lets Mason feather in as much or little as he wants, to combine its output with one or both of the other pickups.
Meet the Mason Model
The only other guitar Brent brought to this gig was his new Fender Brent Mason Signature Telecaster. This alder-bodied Tele has basically the same ingredients of his original, but with a lot less wear and tear.
Bend It Like Brent
Here's a close-up of the arm of the Glaser B-bender. It has no screws, no slack, no wobble … but it does have a thumbscrew to fine-tune its destination pitch.
Perfect Strangers Side by Side
Here's the sensei and its student in a side-by-side comparison.
Four-Way Heat
Mason was switching between his 1964 Fender Twin Reverb and this early '70s Fender Super Reverb modded by Jeff Himes. The Super, with Mason's signal running into its no-frills Normal channel, did most of the heavy lifting on this gig.
Chairman of the Board
Mason's never been a big effects player, but his live pedalboard covers a lot of essential territory. It holds a Boss GE-7 Equalizer, a Wampler Ego Compressor, a Wampler Euphoria overdrive, an Xotic BB Preamp, Wampler's Hot Wired V2 distortion/overdrive, a Dunlop volume pedal with a Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner connected to its tuner out, a Fender Tre-Verb tremolo/reverb, a Fender Compugilist compressor/distortion, an Electro-Harmonix Memory Man 1100-TT, and a Live Wire ABY Box. It's all powered by a Truetone 1 Spot Pro CS12 with a Dunlop DC Brick for backup.