2012 Fender Custom Shop Merle Haggard "Tuff Dog" Set Neck Telecaster

Offered for sale is this 2012 Merle Haggard Signature Telecaster built at the Fender Custom Shop. Fender and Merle jointly-designed this model especially for him in the 1995-1997 period.

The “Tuff Dog” Tele name is said to have originated from references Merle made to his difficult upbringing and his later incarceration at a relatively young age. Merle was in serious financial shape at the time and he hoped this venture with Fender could generate needed liquidity. Whatever his original motivation, it seems that Merle was pleased with the end-product as he played this model for the remainder of his music career.

Merle had always played Telecasters – no surprise - it is the guitar of choice for many country pickers. The guitar he designed for himself, however, was something a bit different. Some folks refer to it as a “Thinline” because of its semi-hollow construction, but this model is built using a different design. The Fender Telecaster Thinline model is produced by essentially hollowing out a solid Tele body from the back. The back is then covered with a thin piece of wood and a maple neck is bolted on.

The “Tuff Dog” on the other hand, has a solid maple center block with chambered alder body wings, a quilted maple top and a glued-in (set) maple neck. The set neck construction, premium tone woods and the fancy trim stock on the Tuff Dog make it far more expensive to produce than most any other version of the Telecaster made.

This guitar weighs a total of just 7.2 pounds. The neck is made from highly flamed maple with a 60’s C-shape and depth measurement of .80” at the first fret and .96” at the twelfth fret. It has a 25.5” string scale, 1.650” width nut, 7.25” fingerboard radius and medium/jumbo fret wire. For electronics, you get two Fender Texas Special single coil pickups with master volume, master tone and a four-way blade switch. All the hardware is gold. The bridge has separate saddles for each string. The tuners are fancy Schaller units with pearloid buttons.

The set neck allows for a rock solid setup and amazing playability versus a bolt-on neck Tele. It still has the Tele twang, but the there are more tone options available, thanks in great part to the four-way switch. To my (old) ears it has a unique voice that is a mix of Tele and Strat with a touch of Gibson flavor on top. Please check out the brief sound sample included below.

As for condition, this one-owner instrument appears to have been purchased and then put away un-played for the next ten plus years. It shows no evidence of play save for a few tiny scratches on the bridge (see photo). These scratches are very hard to see and look perhaps like one of the accessories got loose in the case some point along the line. Other than this, it could pass for new. It comes in its original brown tolex case, also in mint condition, along with the certificate of authenticity and a few other accessories.

I believe you can still order one of these from Fender if you have around $8K and are patient. Instead, please consider this mint 2012 example for a cool $2K less. A very special Tele indeed. Make it yours!