“I wanted it to be a workhorse I could bash around, beat up, hit with metal pipes and get thrown into kegs without breaking in half”: The making of Jim Root’s Telecaster, the guitar that brought Fender into the modern age

Fender Telecasters aren’t generally associated with heavy metal, but that didn’t stop Slipknot’s Jim Root from slapping his name on one in 2010. The result was a guitar that enraged purists but was beloved by metalheads. Most importantly, Root loves it, too.

“It doesn’t matter what producer we’re with,” he says. “Every time we record, as soon as I play the white Tele, they’re like, ‘That’s the one.’ I don’t know what it is, but whoever selected the wood for that guitar did a great job. It’s not a Slipknot theme or a Jim Root theme. It’s just a classic workhorse that makes you want to play it.”

According to the GW gang, your signature Tele is one of the 50 most important pieces of gear of the last 25 years.

That’s wild. I still think of myself as a kid from Iowa trying to make it. In some way, it’s a level of validation that what we do matters. It’s a weird dream, because when you see iconic shapes of guitars, you automatically put them with an artist. I don’t know if I’m at that level, but I guess if somebody sees a black-and-white Tele, that’d probably automatically go to me.

How did your Fender collaboration happen?

I was endorsed by the Fender Custom Shop, and they wanted to push me toward Charvel. Their prototypes weren’t landing, so I talked to Alex Perez [from Fender's research and development team] – who, if it weren’t for him, I probably wouldn’t be a Fender artist – and I said, “Can we just come back to the Fender side of things?”

Why a Tele?

Just the juxtaposition of the Tele – and the purists will probably cringe – but just something you wouldn’t expect. If I walked on stage with a Jackson or B.C. Rich, that would be typical, so I wanted to take something classic and iconic and make it functional for what I do.

Was Fender immediately up for it?

I told that to Alex, and he was all about it. And I think Fender, at the time, needed something to, not erase the stigma of being an iconic, older company, but bring them into more modern times. It made sense, and Fender was down. I got lucky. The stars aligned!

What went into your Tele’s design?

I wanted to be minimalist with it. I almost thought about trying to see if we could lose the pickguard, but I wanted it to be traditional looking. I went with the modern string-through, hardtail bridge and the EMG pickups I was already using.

I wanted it to be a workhorse I could bash around, beat up, hit with metal pipes and get thrown into kegs without breaking in half. [Laughs] I wanted the fretboard radius as flat as possible, since I was fond of the Charvels and Jacksons I grew up playing.

Were you happy with it right away?

When I got the first two prototypes, I had the white and the black, and I’m still using them. They felt comfortable, hung just right off my shoulder, and the ease of playability was great for grinds, breakdowns and complicated chord movements, as well as some soloing.

What makes your Tele more than just a guitar with a name on the headstock?

I didn’t want to put out a guitar with a bunch of tribal S’s and my Slipknot number on it somewhere. One of the things we talked about was having my name on the back of the headstock, so if someone is in a country, hard rock, indie or pop band, they wouldn’t be scared off by the guitar.

Is that why your Tele has had longevity?

The classics never go out of style. That was my philosophy with the guitar. Trends come and go, but true things stay iconic forever. People gravitate toward it because it’s a classic shape that has inspired people. That rings true today.

• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.