Fender probably saved me a bunch of money today. That's a good thing, I guess.
Here's why: A couple of years ago, Fender had a "design your own guitar" contest through the Mod Shop. I never expected to win (I didn't), but it was fun going through the different options to see what I could come up with. This was my favorite
One of the features I liked about it was the gold hardware. Maybe I'm just a sucker for Teles with gold hardware (you've seen photos of my Magnificent Seven White Ash Tele), but I was on the site today just playing around, and found that I could not apply gold hardware to any Tele combination. I know that Ash is gone, so only Alder and Mahogany bodies remain, and even the neck woods are limited, but why no gold hardware? To my knowledge, there isn't a shortage of gold-colored metal.
Of course, if I'd been able to duplicate the guitar above, I might have been tempted to order it. GAS problem solved!