American Chestnut

I can't resist a special piece of wood, nor it seems can I resist making a Tele-style guitar from it. Sue me (oh, wait, no, please don't). 

Once the prominent hardwood tree in northeastern American forests, the American Chestnut tree died out from disease over a hundred years ago. Before that, it was a very commonly used hardwood. As it was prized for its structural integrity and bug resistance, a lot of it wound up in buildings. And sometimes those buildings get taken down (or salvaged) and one finds some old American Chestnut. Such was the case for a large beam tha came into our woodshop recently (from a barn in Pennsylvania). I was able to purchase a portion of it -- it was a happy day (for a wood nerd).

Not to repeat myself, but that top is American Chestnut and a piece that size should not exist (unless you get lucky). It wasn't quite thick enough to make a single piece body, so I resawed it to make two thick American Chestnut tops. The one on this guitar features the outward facing portion of the plank. The old nail holes and occasional bug tunnel and some damage have been repaired but are obvious. I used my most interesting piece of poplar for the back -- wildly colored and slightly spalted. A bit of joy to offset any "The American Chestnut tree is DEAD" sadness. It helps a little.

There's no messing around when you have a body this special. The pickups are a custom, handwound Tele-style set referred to as a "Five Two" set. To tame the Tele's legendary high end, recording players wanted to keep the Alnico 2 magnets under the plain strings, but to improve the low end responsiveness wanted Alnico 5 magnets under the wound strings. I wound this set so that the Tele Bridge was at the hot end of vintage but still retains that signature Tele sting. The Neck pickup was wound straight vintage with 43 gauge wire to make it a good match for the Bridge. You'll likey.

And that's just the beginning. The 4-way switch gives you all the available voices -- Neck only, Neck + Bridge in series, Neck + Bridge in parallel (standard mix), and Bridge only. Each a very distinct voicing of the hand-wound pickups. To further expand the tonal palette, the tone control is a Fender TBX that provides a "no load" position at center, a normal treble bleed turned couner clockwise and a kind of presence control when turned clockwise, clearing away any mud in the middle, humbucking position. Fender ash tray bridge with pre-compensated Wilkinsons brass saddles, quality electronics and a Fender licensed Mighty Mite neck with Gotoh tuning machines. String through body and a great setup and fret work. 

NOW AVAILABLE! $1400.  Shipping CAN be arranged for this item.