Leaderboard

Gordon Smith, although better known for their Gibson types, also do a very nice Tele - https://www.gordonsmithguitars.com/shop/stock-guitars/blaggards/ TBH, though, I'm not sure that's how I would go. Clearly you're not looking for a more affordable alternative to Fender's US or CS ranges if you're thinking of spending that sort of custom money anyhow. Now, this is only a personal opinion, but.... for me it would depend a lot on what you want. A tele is such a utilitarian design that if what you want is the standard set-up Tele, it seems to me madness to spend custom-built money on it. If that's the only way - you want something really offbeat like the Jack White signature, or a Trussant Steelcaster, or you have an original 52 that you want to clone so you can leave the vintage piece at home and play a facsimilie out.... then, sure. But if what you want is "just" a Tele, it seems to be it's hard to justify spending vast sums on it.... I'd buy whatever MIM / Tokai / whatever you like and maybe rewired if you want, or track down a CIJ Fender that's good to go as is. (IMO, the top end Japanese Fenders are as good as anything form the US, typically wired the same with the same specs, and usually cheaper - nut much harder to find.) Unless you want something that's just not available otherwise, imo having a custom built Tele is a bit like having a Saville Row tailor copy a pair of 501s for you. They'll be an exquisite example, but....

They seem to be doing well enough to stay in production. They're not going to fly out the door as a cheap alternative - there's very little price difference. But I wouldn't be entirely surprised if they did start to catch on more broadly. It'll be interesting. I suspect there are a lot more ofc them out there being used on the road than we're aware of. You know the drill - established acts / operations who've had enough of the weight / hassle of a tube amp on tour, these look close enough the average punter isn't gonig to notice.... (on some scenes, the look is as important as the sound. I've seen acts get dismissed on certain scenes for not having the right look - can be especially so on the rockabilly scene where a lot of acts put out vinyl because some of their fanbase won't buy CDs). Younger kids now seem to have come up with a range of new bands that have gone beyond the "tube good, else bad" mindset, so we'll see what they go for. If that's amps at all, that is. We've speculated on this elsewhere on this site as well, but it's not unthinkable that amps as we know them could be out-evolved by alternatives. PAs now are better and cheaper than ever before. The old, macho idea of The Big Amp comes from the days hen you needed that be heard and PAS weren't great. That's no longer the case. I've seen a number of acts recently who used pedal format pre and power amps on footboards, and plugged right into the PA. In the West End musicals in London, a lot of the guitar players have been using stuff like Line 6 Pods for years (when Buddy was last in town, they had empty cabs out front for the look, and were all hooked up to Line 6 pods out of sight). Maybe if younger bands and their audiences get past certain visual expectations, we'll see bands arrive with pedalboards under their arms, and set-up / tear down becoming vastly quicker for everyone. If it still sounds great, I'm not at all opposed to it. My own next move no is, I think, gonig to be a small pedal board with pedals for reverb, gain, preamp, into an A/B box that leads to a headphone pedal amp and a Mooer Baby Bomb preamp. Thinking of tying one of those tweed JHS Vintage 1x12" cabs at about £100 with that, could end up being a solid rig for me as a home player. In the unlikely event I ever played out again, the cab could then go or not depending on availability of monitors. I could see that becoming a norm. The tech is already there - it just needs to convince guitar players who have a tendency to luddism.

Lovely job on that. You clearly had the patience to go gently with the clean-up, especially on the headstock, and it has paid dividends.

The 6xxx 'Professional' series are the dream, but they're also crazy money. If the big lotter win came in, of course, I'd tart with a White Falcon, a trad 6120 and maybe of the Brian Setzer Hot Rod types... More realistically, the 5xxx series are great guitars, and fully, imo, capture the spirit of the Gretsch sound. The 2xxx series are nice if, imo, a little more generic in sound. That of course will appeal to some folks if they want something that's a more mainstream sound. If you wanted something that you already new you'd be rewiring and changing pickups in, I'd go for a nice, used 2xxx.

Sounds like a real bargain. I had a quick look on Reverb and other Cox Classix electric guitars are selling from about £150 second hand. Obviously, they aren't covered in stickers with repainted headstocks, but your is now in the same condition after a little work. Well done.

Put it all back together, polished it up and it plays just fine. What a bargain

After a bit of work with fine wet and dry and a polish up with brasso, it transpires it's a Coxx Classix.

This looks to be a 335 copy, fitted with Artec 'filtertron-type' pick-ups. Probably a little more 'chimey' than standard humbuckers; not particularly outrageous as a choice. Your ears will judge. You may find some info inside the body, using a dentist's mirror or such; sometimes there are maker's marks or pencilled information. Worth a look..? To strip the paint from the headstock, the simplest way is to rub it down with sandpaper. You could, of course, merely paint over it, if it's the finish you want to change. There's unlikely to be any info beneath the paint; this was probably, originally, just a cheap copy from the Far East, or maybe bought as a kit. Worth spending some time on, but not worth spending too much money on. A nice project, and a Good Find.

As Kiwi says, if you’re going for a trad, bolt on Tele, any tech can put one together for you, in fact, you could do it yourself if you have any DIY skills and just have final set up done by a tech (fret levelling, etc), this is pretty much what I did with my Tele: Squier neck & tuners; bound body from a UK supplier; DiMarzio pickups with the voicing I was looking for (DiMarzio were brilliant with their recommendations); Hipshot bridge; various other spares I had laying around. Everyone who plays it is blown away by the playability and tone (I was very lucky with the Classic Vibe neck).

Thinking that I ought to have a hollow bodied guitar for jazz I bought a Streamliner and have indeed given that Bigsby a wobble from time to time despite it being considered inappropriate within the genre.