There are few periods in modern Fender history quite as fascinating as the 1990s. The Fender Custom Shop was still a relatively young operation, the company was rediscovering the appeal of its own vintage history, and a small group of builders were producing instruments that would go on to become highly sought after by players and collectors.
At the centre of one of the most important developments of the era was a name that, at first glance, might seem surprising: Vince Cunetto.
Cunetto was not a Fender employee. He was not one of the company's original Master Builders, nor did he work from the Custom Shop in Corona, California. Instead, he operated from a small workshop in Missouri, where he developed an extraordinarily convincing approach to ageing guitars and parts.
Between 1995 and 1999, Cunetto and Fender worked together to create the original Fender Relic guitars. Today, these instruments are commonly referred to as "Cunetto Relics", and they occupy a particularly interesting place in Fender history.
But to understand why these guitars matter, it is worth going back to the beginning of the Fender Custom Shop itself.
The Birth of the Fender Custom Shop
The Fender Custom Shop was established in 1987 under the direction of John Page, initially with a very different purpose from the production facility it would eventually become.
Rather than simply producing expensive versions of standard Fender models, the Custom Shop was intended to give Fender the ability to build unusual instruments, artist guitars, special orders, and highly customised versions of its existing designs.
The timing was significant.
By the late 1980s, interest in vintage Fender instruments was growing rapidly. Original Stratocasters and Telecasters from the 1950s and 1960s were becoming increasingly desirable, while Fender itself was beginning to recognise just how valuable its own history could be.
The Custom Shop became a place where Fender could explore that history without being constrained by the requirements of regular production.
Builders such as John Suhr, Michael Stevens, John Cruz, Mark Kendrick, Jay Black, and others became associated with this new generation of Fender craftsmanship. These builders were not simply assembling guitars from a catalogue. They were studying the construction methods, finishes, hardware, and details of vintage instruments and using that knowledge to create something new.
It was within this environment that Jay Black crossed paths with Vince Cunetto.
Who Was Vince Cunetto?
Cunetto came from outside the traditional guitar manufacturing world.
He had a background in advertising and graphic production, but he had also developed a deep interest in vintage guitars, particularly the construction and appearance of early Fender instruments.
He was fascinated by the details that made an old guitar look old.
The faded lacquer. The discoloured hardware. The scratches around the pickguard. The dulling of metal parts. The small imperfections created by decades of use.
Rather than simply trying to make a new guitar look damaged, Cunetto approached the process almost as a form of restoration in reverse.
He studied how original instruments aged and attempted to recreate those characteristics convincingly.
This was particularly useful to Fender because the company had already begun receiving requests for instruments that looked as though they had been played for decades.
One early example came through Fender Master Builder Jay Black, who had experience ageing instruments for individual customers and artists. Black had encountered Cunetto's work and recognised that his ability to reproduce the appearance of vintage Fender instruments could potentially be taken much further.
The idea was simple.
What if Fender could build brand new guitars that looked and felt like genuine vintage instruments?
The Relic Idea
The idea of artificially ageing guitars was not completely new. Builders and repairers had been ageing replacement parts and refinishing instruments for years, particularly when trying to make repairs to vintage guitars look consistent with the original instrument.
What was unusual was the idea of deliberately producing an entire new guitar with the appearance of decades of use.
Black and Cunetto began experimenting with the concept, eventually producing aged prototypes for Fender.
Two of the most important were an aged 1950s style Nocaster and an aged 1950s style Stratocaster. The instruments were presented at the 1995 Winter NAMM Show.
The response was strong enough for Fender to recognise that there was a genuine market for the idea.
There was, however, a problem.
The Custom Shop was not yet equipped to produce the ageing process at the scale required for a production line.
The solution was to send the work to Cunetto.
Cunetto Creative Resources
In 1995, Cunetto established Cunetto Creative Resources in Missouri.
Fender would send raw bodies, necks, and hardware to his workshop. Cunetto and his small team would then prepare, finish, and age the components before sending them back to California.
The process was remarkably involved.
Bodies and necks had to be prepared and finished appropriately before the ageing process could begin. Hardware, pickguards, and other components were also distressed.
Most importantly, the different components had to look as though they had aged together.
A heavily worn body paired with pristine hardware would immediately look wrong. Likewise, a neck with one type of wear pattern would not necessarily make sense alongside a body showing completely different signs of use.
Cunetto therefore developed a system of matching the various parts together before they were returned to Fender.
By the summer of 1995, the first batches were being shipped back to the Custom Shop. One of the earliest shipments consisted of enough aged components to build twenty Relic Nocasters.
The Custom Shop would then carry out final assembly, setup, and inspection.
The result was the beginning of something that would change the guitar industry.
The Original Fender Relics
The first Relic instruments were based heavily on Fender's most important vintage designs.
Telecaster and Stratocaster models were joined by instruments such as the Jazz Bass, with different finishes and levels of ageing appearing as the range developed.
The appeal was not simply cosmetic.
The guitars combined vintage inspired specifications with the consistency of a new instrument. Players could have the appearance of a decades old Fender without having to buy an original 1950s or 1960s instrument.
For Fender, it also represented an opportunity to explore its own history in a way that had previously been difficult to achieve.
The Custom Shop was no longer simply building highly customised guitars.
It was recreating the experience of owning a vintage Fender.
And Cunetto's contribution was central to making that possible.
What Made the Cunetto Era Different?
Today, the word "Relic" is familiar to almost every guitarist.
Fender offers multiple levels of ageing, from lightly worn instruments to heavily distressed recreations of well used vintage guitars. The technique has also become common throughout the boutique guitar industry.
In the mid 1990s, however, the idea was still unusual.
The original Cunetto instruments were also produced during a particularly interesting period in the development of the Custom Shop.
The operation was still relatively small compared with the modern Fender Custom Shop. Individual builders had a huge amount of influence, and there was a strong emphasis on traditional methods and vintage specifications.
As a result, the guitars from this period often feel distinctly different from later production.
The combination of carefully selected materials, vintage inspired construction, hand finishing, and Cunetto's ageing techniques created instruments that have developed a following of their own.
Collectors today often pay particular attention to the details of these guitars, including the model, finish, serial number, hardware, ageing pattern, and the particular year in which the instrument was produced.
The term "Cunetto Relic" has consequently become a useful way of identifying this particular chapter in Fender's history.
The Closet Classic
Cunetto's work was not limited to heavily distressed instruments.
During the late 1990s, the idea of producing guitars that looked old but had seen relatively little use was also developed.
This eventually became the Fender Closet Classic concept.
Instead of representing a guitar that had spent decades on the road, a Closet Classic was intended to resemble an instrument that had been bought in the 1950s or 1960s and then spent most of its life safely stored away.
The distinction is subtle, but it demonstrates how sophisticated the Custom Shop's approach to ageing had become.
The aim was no longer simply to make a guitar look worn.
It was to suggest a particular history.
A guitar could be made to look like a heavily gigged instrument, a well cared for vintage guitar, or something that had spent decades in a case.
That idea would become an important part of the Fender Custom Shop's identity.
The End of the Cunetto Era
The arrangement between Fender and Cunetto was never intended to last indefinitely.
As the Custom Shop developed, Fender became increasingly capable of carrying out the finishing and ageing work itself. The company also underwent significant organisational changes during the late 1990s.
By 1999, Fender had decided to bring the Relic production process back in house.
Cunetto completed the remaining work and the final Cunetto Relics were shipped in May 1999.
The partnership had lasted only around four years.
Its influence, however, was much greater than that relatively short period might suggest.
Fender continued developing its Time Machine series, incorporating different levels of ageing including Relic, Closet Classic, and NOS specifications. What had begun as an experimental idea had become a permanent part of Fender's product philosophy.
Why Are Cunetto Relics So Collectable?
Part of the attraction is undoubtedly rarity.
The Cunetto era represents a relatively small window in Fender's history, and production numbers were considerably lower than those associated with many modern Custom Shop instruments.
There is also the historical significance.
These guitars were effectively the first Fender production instruments to make artificial ageing a central part of the design.
They helped establish a concept that would become a major part of the modern boutique guitar market.
But there is another reason collectors are interested in them.
The mid to late 1990s Fender Custom Shop was a fascinating meeting point between traditional guitar making and the beginnings of modern high end production.
The builders were working with vintage Fender designs at a time when original examples were becoming increasingly valuable. They were learning directly from the instruments that had defined the company, while also developing techniques that would influence Fender for decades.
The Cunetto Relics are therefore more than simply old Custom Shop guitars.
They are documents of a particular moment in Fender's history.
The Legacy of Vince Cunetto
It is difficult to overstate the influence of the original Relic project.
Before 1995, a new guitar was generally expected to look new.
After the Fender Relic arrived, an entirely different philosophy became commercially viable.
A guitar could be brand new and still have the appearance of a treasured vintage instrument.
That idea spread rapidly.
Boutique builders began offering their own versions of aged instruments. Major manufacturers introduced relic and aged ranges. Vintage style specifications became increasingly important to the high end guitar market.
Fender itself continued refining the concept through the Time Machine series and eventually the Masterbuilt programme.
And yet, for many collectors, the original Cunetto instruments remain particularly interesting.
They represent the moment when Fender first figured out how to turn the concept of artificial ageing into a repeatable production process.
Perhaps the most fascinating part of the story is that the man responsible for much of that work was not a Fender employee at all.
Vince Cunetto was an outsider who brought a particular obsession with vintage Fender guitars into the Custom Shop at exactly the right moment.
Working alongside builders such as Jay Black and under the direction of John Page, he helped create a new chapter in Fender's history.
Four years later, the partnership was over.
The idea was only just beginning.
Today, the word "Relic" is firmly established in the vocabulary of guitar building. But for collectors looking at a genuine 1990s Fender Custom Shop Cunetto Relic, there is something rather special about knowing that the instrument comes from the period when the whole idea was being invented.
For a company built on the legacy of the 1950s and 1960s, it is fitting that one of Fender's most influential innovations of the modern era came from looking backwards.
And that is what makes the Cunetto era so fascinating.
