Fender Telecaster Bridge Cover

The cover looks great in a retro-ish style and for some of my playing styles it is almost essential to have this attached so that I can attack the strings with a bit more confidence. If you like your teles workmanlike, though, you can easily swap this back and forth because it clips onto the bridge of my 50s Classic Vibe tele with no problems at all. It does, however, come into contact with the body and may affect the finish there after a while.

It greatly reduces hum from the bridge pickup when it's in place, which is probably more of a problem in a studio setting if you're especially close to recording or outboard equipment, or a computer. It fixes that nicely.

I use a mix of bridge muting and neck muting in my normal playing, and this makes bridge muting impossible, so some things I play need a little adjustment since the bridge cover not only keeps you away from the bridge, but also a little way above the strings where they emerge. I can always remove the cover in those cases. I like it, and I'm glad I have it!

If you've got a vintage or vintage-reissue Fender and you need someplace to put your cigarettes, this is the piece! It's a little on the expensive side as it does nothing beneficial from a tonal standpoint, it's mainly cosmetic (if anything, some internet pundits claim it actually makes the tone worse, that's something I'm not too sure of though). That said, it's certainly 'authentic' and if you're going for that late-60s period correct look on your Telecaster then this is essential. I'm not 100% certain why this existed back then as it obviously was only "standard issue" for a few years - the 'ashtray' colloquialism caught on later, I think - but here you go. For the vintage completist in all of us.

The ashtray cover for both genuine Fender tele bridges and import telecasters with the sides sticking up. Will not fit modern style tele bridges without the sides.
As for the finish, it's nice and shiny, but I honestly I was disappointed with the thickness of the finish. If Fender was going to put their name on it, it should be top quality, since it might go onto the Elite model or some other really expensive guitar. You can see a bit of the grain of the steel, through the finish. That's why I docked it one star. If the finish was thicker, it would have gotten 5 stars, since the fit is so perfect.