Half-Strat/Half-Tele: Inside the Founders Design Gene Baker 'Stelecaster'

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Fender Custom Shop, eight of the original men who started what would come to be known as the "Dream Factory" got together to turn their imaginations loose and design their ultimate instrument.

For one of those men, Gene Baker, the answer was a combination of two of Fender's most revered instruments — the Stratocaster and the Telecaster.

Yes, you read that right, Baker combined both into what he is calling the "Stelecaster."

Inspired by the early mashups of the Strat and Tele from Mike Bump, his former apprentice and now-R&D guru at Fender," this guitar takes the best of both models to maximize form, fit, function and flow.

"I just always felt that it belongs at Fender," Baker said. "When you look at the model, just about everything is the Strat and the Tele 50/50 right up the center line. Mirror images of each other when you look at it. It looks very vintage and very familiar and friendly, although it makes you take a second thinking, ‘Whoa, what is that?’"

The Stratocaster/Telecaster body is lightweight ash with a wide-fade Chocolate 3-Tone Sunburst color. The quartersawn maple neck features a multi-tier Telecaster-over-Stratocaster headstock, bone nut and Founders Design decal with Baker’s signature on the back of the headstock.

Gene opted for nickel/chrome hardware with vintage-style tuning machines and American Vintage Synchronized Tremolo, but chose modern Telecaster wiring.

Take a closer look at this amazing guitar in the video above and learn more about Baker's Founder's Design Stelecaster here.