James Burton has one of these…

2000 Fender Telecaster Resonator (Fred Stuart).

Fred Stuart built this beautiful 'set-neck' Telecaster Resonator in March of 2000. It weighs just 7.10 pounds and has a 13 7/8 inch wide double-bound 'flamed' maple hollow body which is just under 3 1/2 inches deep. One-piece fretted 'flamed' maple neck with a nut width of 1 11/16 inches inches and a wonderful medium-to-thick profile. Serial number "CNR 3 2000" in black on back of headstock together with gold Custom Shop decal with Fred Stuarts name. 'Flamed' maple fretboard with twenty-two original medium frets and abalone dot position markers. Headstock with "Fender" logo in silver with black trim and "Telecaster" in black below. Two "butterfly" string trees, both with metal spacers. Individual Fender 'Standard Stratocaster' tuners with pentagonal metal buttons. One Fred Stuart 'Telecaster' style single-coil neck pickup and one Piezoelectric Ceramic pickup. Ten inch single cone resonator with 11 1/4 inch resonator plate and two 2 1/2 inch diameter sound-holes with wire mesh. The jack socket is situated on the end-pin and there are no controls - the output has to be controlled from the amplifier. Fender 'Resonator' bridgeT and Fender 'trapeze' style 'Resonator' tailpiece. his fine guitar is in exceptionally fine (9.50) condition. Housed in its original Fender four-latch shaped cream hardshell case with black plush lining (9.25).

A resophonic guitar (also called resonator or Dobro) is an acoustic guitar with a resonating cone integrated into the body in order to produce more sound. These resonator cones are made of thin metal and take the place of the wooden top of a normal acoustic guitar in amplifying the sound of the strings. Resonators are designed to be much louder than standard acoustic guitars. They were invented in the early 20th century by John Dopyera, founder of the National String Instrument Corp. The Dobro, as he called it was designed to be able to compete with the horns and drums of the large dance and jazz bands of the period, something acoustic guitars were not loud enough to do. (Just Strings.com)

Complete with a letter from Fred Stuart which states "This instrument was built for a customer and had to be re-built for a minor cosmetic flaw, and I bought for my own use. I built about 5 or 6 resonator guitars. I also have a square neck, which I play all the time. This guitar was built with a Quarterman cone, and the internal design was a collaboration with John Quarterman. Fred Stuart" Also included is the original Fender Custom Shop certificate of authenticity which has been signed and dated by Fred Stuart.

Here is an excerpt from a Tone Quest Report interview with Fred Stuart: (TQR) "Which among the guitars you built at Fender are most memorable for you?" "One of my personal favorites (and I managed not by coincidence to have an extra left over) was a resonator-style Telecaster. We made a total of eight and I’ve got one of them. I had made a square neck version and a doctor in Louisiana wanted a round neck, and it turned out that this doctor was the personal physician for James Burton. We decided that in order to justify tooling up to build one, we ought to see if we couldn’t sell a few more, which we did. I sent one that was kind of a prototype to the doctor and we found out that it eventually made its way to James Burton. It hasn’t been seen since" (laughing). (Fred Stuart interview with Tone Quest Report (TQR) May 2006).

"You may recall our May 2006 cover story featuring the work of Fred Stuart – one of the very first master builders in the Fender Custom Shop established by John Page. In those days, the Custom Shop functioned as the name implies, taking one-off orders that often resurrected models from the past with creative design details limited only by the builder’s skill and creative vision. The Custom Shop also produced small numbers of entirely new designs, like the eight resonator Tele-style guitars built by Fred Stuart, one of which was destined for James Burton." (Jason Allen, Virtual Vintage Guitars).

See: Fender Custom Shop 'The Dream Factory' p. 90 and Fender Custom Shop Guitar Gallery pp. 98-99