NGD - Daniels Guitars Tele Special (customguitarkits)

earwighoney · November 2016

NGD - Well not really a NGD, I've had a prototype Tele/LP Special style guitar on loan for a few weeks from @customguitarkits and here are some of my thoughts regarding it.

I'll go through the specs first

All Korina/Limba body and neck

Bound Madagascar RW fretboard

Medium Frets

Nut Width - 44mm, End of Board - 58mm

String Height at 12th fret Bass - 1.5mm

String set - 11-48

Scale - 25.5"

Neck Shape - Vintage V profile

Pickups - Mojo P90's

Bridge - Schaller Signum

Tuners - Schaller Grandtune 1:18 w/Rosewood buttons

Some pictures

In terms of it's acoustic unplugged sound, a really balanced acoustic sound across the tonal spectrum, I had a chance to try the Strat @customguitarkits made which is also all Korina, with a Rosewood fretboard and I found the Tele was definitely warmer acoustically whilst the Strat was slightly brighter.

It was the first Korina guitar I have tried as well, and for those who believe wood matters, I found it to very close to Mahogany, with a slightly sweeter treble. With the tonal balance, I found the instrument's was incredibly well balanced and even up and down the neck, with the tonality being perfect. The action was on the low side of things with a very minimal amount of relief, but there was no buzz and I found the guitar was really easy to play. As the guitar is a prototype, I was aware something will change for future models, including the headstock being a bit wider to allow both E's strings to have a slightly straighter taper.

The slightly wider neck/wider nut width took a bit of a time to get used to but I found it great for playing chords and fingerpicking. In terms of the hardware, I really liked the Schaller Grand Tunes, and the Signum Bridge seemed to be very effective.

I tried the Tele Special into a few amps, a JMP clone, a Ibanez TSA-5 (champ style amp), and a Fender Blues Deluxe. Always a personal thing, but I found the Tele Special really shone with the Fender Blues Deluxe played clean with the neck pickup. The bridge pickup had a fair amount of bite, and in practise I found it not to be a million miles away from sounding like my single P90 1969 Gibson SG Junior. I spent most of time with the guitar into the clean channel Fender Blues Deluxe with a fairly flat EQ playing Mick Turner/Dirty Three style clean progressions and some fingerpicking and found the depth and rich tone of the set up to be really nuanced with the acoustic character of the guitar coming through perfectly.

When I returned the guitar, aside from playing the Korina S type which seemed to be a cracking guitar, I played a in the making 56 style Goldtop (pictures of the guitar are on here on Facebook) which just seemed to be an absolute cracker and I am planning to head back to see/try that guitar when it has been completed and I can't wait to get my hands on that guitar again!

I had a chance to record a few bits and pieces with the Tele Special and if my playing skills aren't too horrific, I will post them up soon.

Thanks for reading.