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 Guitar
#050
Stereo Tele Electric / Acoustic
Completed Nov 26, 1014
 What
do you get when you mix Magnetic and Pesio pickups? Shimmering tone
throughout the entire band width is what. I am talking about stunning
presence while playing those high notes, and thick bottom without sounding
muddy! All the snap of a Tele and the fullness of an acoustic.
 You’re
looking at three pickups but four switches. That fourth switch is for the
Fishman Powerbridge. What that means is that the Tele style bridge has built in
Pesio sensors that read the physical vibration of the strings and wood, unlike
the magnetic pickups that read the vibrating strings through a magnetic field.
As a result, this guitar has four sound sources, a Fender Tele style neck
pickup, a Gibson style P-90 pickup placed in the middle, a Fender Tele style
bridge pickup, all made by GFS (Wenge pickup ring and cover made by me), and a
Fishman Powerbridge for acoustic sound. Further, by using ON/OFF rocker switches
with three pickups, you can get 7 different combinations of tone, while the more
standard five-way switch for three pickup short changes two of these tone
combinations. Add to that, the Powerbridge, and you now get “times two” for
fourteen tone combinations that can further be controlled with a separate volume
allowing you to blend in any amount of acoustic tone to the magnetic, or do the
opposite bleeding away almost all of the magnetic. Or – just shut off the
magnetic altogether, and sound like a plugged-in acoustic.
Still with me? Not done. Through the use of a stereo Y cable, this guitar can be
routed to two amps (one standard and one acoustic) while the amount of signal to
each amp is controlled by the volume pots. Done.
Now to talk about the actual guitar. It’s chambered – actually radically
chambered so the guitar is very light weight, but more importantly, it opens up
the sound for a more airy presence going towards an Archtop guitar (which is
appropriate considering the acoustic bridge). The outline design is a modified
Tele shape but with a narrower upper bout, and a narrower horn such that the
space in the cut-a-way is still about the same size so you can get your hand in
there. Getting your hand “in-there” is also a lot easier since the neck is
NOT a bolt-on but, set, carved, and feathered into the body. The body end shape
is slanted while a Tele is square, and the body also has a Strat style arm-rest
and “fat-guy” concave belly.
 I
know you guys know I love to talk about woods, so here goes. The neck is a
fantastic quarter sawn section of AAA Flame Hard Maple. You could lay a a
ruler along that grain. The fret board is Wenge, closely related to
Rosewood but much harder with a deep dark chocolate
colour with back accents. The back of the body is made of Black
Cherry. The drop top is made of triangles of various woods, Wenge, Black
Walnut, Butternut, Cherry, Mahogany, Black Locust, Limba, Swamp Ash, all
outlined by a veneer of black died boxwood.
  
Showing
the chambers during construction.
Specs
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