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Post by golfnut on Jun 30, 2020 6:00:21 GMT -7
I've never owned a signature guitar and I've never really seen one that appealed to me. But there is this one kind of odd, in some ways, signature guitar that I tried out about a year and a half ago that completely impressed me for a number of reasons.
My wife wanted to do something special for my 60th birthday. Originally the plan was to visit the Martin Guitar factory for the 2 hour behind the scenes factory tour. I even joined the Martin owners club for the first time last January as it includes the 2 hour tour for free. Well, obviously everyone knows what derailed that plan.
So my wife thought the next best thing was to buy me a guitar. Really, whatever I wanted. Of course some awfully expensive custom shops bounced around inside my head but hey, its our money really and I've already spent over 10k on gear since March when this pandemic thing started.
So in keeping the expenditure more level headed I decided to go with a guitar I've been thinking about for a while. Its a fun guitar to play, pays homage to a guitar player I admire, even though after the first 6 or 7 albums he drifted in to a direction I don't prefer.
So as of July 24th when I turn 60 I'll be the proud owner of the Brad Paisley Silver Telecaster.
The neck on it is a nice chunky soft v to c. Varies from around .900 at the first fret to .990 to the 12th which is in the range I like.
As I've been obsessed with lighter tele's from about the age of 55, these guitars range anywhere from 5 pounds to 6.5.
The one I had plugged in to a vintage 65 deluxe reverb a while back sounded fantastic.
The 2 things I wasn't fond of was the weird arm wear relic and the cowboy hat on the headstock. But hey this will be a fun guitar to own and I'm not taking it all that serious. It sounds great and feels great and thats all that matters.
Since its a special gift from my wife, who has never personally bought me a guitar in the 35 years I've known her (33 married) I can never sell it. Being a low budget guitar the temptation will never be there like with a high dollar custom shop.
With its Paulownia sandwiched between spruce body, silver sparkle finish, soft v neck, 64 bridge pickup and twisted tele neck its about as different than my custom shop 52 tele as it gets.
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Post by Ridgeback on Jun 30, 2020 6:19:54 GMT -7
Congratulations. I've owned a number of signature guitars over the years but only one that I bought primarily because of the artist, a Gibson Lucille. BB was my guitar hero and the reason I picked up the guitar late in life. I'm a sucker for paisley teles and currently own two. Enjoy.
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Post by KeithA on Jun 30, 2020 7:36:03 GMT -7
I hate relic'd guitars. I vowed I'd never own one. When the Paisley guitar came out a few years back, my main contact at my dealer called me when one arrived. He figured I'd want to try it. I told him I'd drop by that day (Saturday) and give it a try but chances are i wouldn't buy it. As soon as I saw it the worn shoulder of the guitar irked me! However, as soon as i picked it up and strummed it I knew it likely wasn't going back on the wall, but I needed to convince myself. The light weight and the neck really sold me. I sat there for an hour holding and noodling on the guitar. I still wasn't sold on the relic'd thing and my other major pet peeve was the butt end truss rod adjustment. I swore I'd never buy a guitar with either of those things! However, in the end, I liked the feel and weight so much (plus it wasn't real expensive) that I bought it. It's a great guitar and I still get a kick when I hand it to someone to try and they are expecting a heavier guitar. Congrats on the guitar!
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Post by golfnut on Jun 30, 2020 8:11:49 GMT -7
I was never much for relic either. I did buy a Masterbuilt nocaster, heavily relic'd and loved the feel of it. Back in March during the pandemic I also picked up a custom shop 52 telecaster from Daves music and absolutely love it. Its got the journeyman relic which to me is the perfect amount of aging, although the best thing about the heavy relic is how nice the back of the neck feels. The CS 52 6.9 pounds and hard to believe it feels heavy next to the BP silver tele. Although its inexpensive it has the right features for me, with bigger chunky neck and the tone is fantastic. I'll have to learn to get along with that cowboy hat though
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Post by Ridgeback on Jun 30, 2020 8:17:03 GMT -7
I didn't remember that the paisley was only on the PG of the BP tele. Keith, is that Crook the Black and Pearl finish? Very cool. Mine is the Black & Gold sparkle paisley.
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Post by KeithA on Jun 30, 2020 8:27:47 GMT -7
I didn't remember that the paisley was only on the PG of the BP tele. Keith, is that Crook the Black and Pearl finish? Very cool. Mine is the Black & Gold sparkle paisley. Yeah, it's the Black & White Pearl finish. It's hard to photograph. I had Bill paint the back white pearl to match the white paper in the paisly. It looks great in person (like they all do, of course!).
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2020 10:03:58 GMT -7
Nice one Keith!
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Post by KeithA on Jun 30, 2020 10:26:17 GMT -7
Just to brings golfnut's thread back in line, the Paisley holds its own against the Crook. Sure, the Crook is a little more polished, but for weight, resonance, etc. both guitars are fantastic.
Funny, the best thing is I don't worry about nicking the BP guitar!
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Post by golfnut on Jun 30, 2020 10:43:12 GMT -7
Just to brings golfnut's thread back in line, the Paisley holds its own against the Crook. Sure, the Crook is a little more polished, but for weight, resonance, etc. both guitars are fantastic. Funny, the best thing is I don't worry about nicking the BP guitar! I'm actually excited to compare it next to my custom shop 52. It should be a much different sound as my CS 52 has Nocaster pups.
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Post by KeithA on Jun 30, 2020 11:01:12 GMT -7
Just to brings golfnut's thread back in line, the Paisley holds its own against the Crook. Sure, the Crook is a little more polished, but for weight, resonance, etc. both guitars are fantastic. Funny, the best thing is I don't worry about nicking the BP guitar! I'm actually excited to compare it next to my custom shop 52. It should be a much different sound as my CS 52 has Nocaster pups. Same difference here. My Crook has a Florence Nocaster pup in the bridge and the Adder in the neck.
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Post by helmi on Jun 30, 2020 14:26:19 GMT -7
I hate relic'd guitars. I vowed I'd never own one. When the Paisley guitar came out a few years back, my main contact at my dealer called me when one arrived. He figured I'd want to try it. I told him I'd drop by that day (Saturday) and give it a try but chances are i wouldn't buy it. As soon as I saw it the worn shoulder of the guitar irked me! However, as soon as i picked it up and strummed it I knew it likely wasn't going back on the wall, but I needed to convince myself. The light weight and the neck really sold me. I sat there for an hour holding and noodling on the guitar. I still wasn't sold on the relic'd thing and my other major pet peeve was the butt end truss rod adjustment. I swore I'd never buy a guitar with either of those things! However, in the end, I liked the feel and weight so much (plus it wasn't real expensive) that I bought it. It's a great guitar and I still get a kick when I hand it to someone to try and they are expecting a heavier guitar. Congrats on the guitar! We’re you sweating profusely trying to make that decision, feeling like you were betraying your inner beliefs! lol
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Post by steiner on Jun 30, 2020 18:33:10 GMT -7
I too never wanted the premium of a name on my guitar. I then noticed Martin provides the option of a personalized signature on the 14th fret. Rules were made to be broken... Congrats!
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Post by KeithA on Jun 30, 2020 20:50:07 GMT -7
I hate relic'd guitars. I vowed I'd never own one. When the Paisley guitar came out a few years back, my main contact at my dealer called me when one arrived. He figured I'd want to try it. I told him I'd drop by that day (Saturday) and give it a try but chances are i wouldn't buy it. As soon as I saw it the worn shoulder of the guitar irked me! However, as soon as i picked it up and strummed it I knew it likely wasn't going back on the wall, but I needed to convince myself. The light weight and the neck really sold me. I sat there for an hour holding and noodling on the guitar. I still wasn't sold on the relic'd thing and my other major pet peeve was the butt end truss rod adjustment. I swore I'd never buy a guitar with either of those things! However, in the end, I liked the feel and weight so much (plus it wasn't real expensive) that I bought it. It's a great guitar and I still get a kick when I hand it to someone to try and they are expecting a heavier guitar. Congrats on the guitar! We’re you sweating profusely trying to make that decision, feeling like you were betraying your inner beliefs! lol Lol, you have no idea! I'm one of the easiest going people you'd ever meet. But when it comes to the things I like/want for myself I can be really stubborn! After an hour I still couldn't pull the trigger so I had my buddy put in on layaway while I mulled it over some more! I eventually went back after a couple weeks once I convinced myself to buy it
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Post by helmi on Jul 1, 2020 2:05:13 GMT -7
^^^ LMFAO ^^^
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Post by zpilot on Jul 1, 2020 7:32:03 GMT -7
To me there is a difference between a relic and just plain normal playing wear. My first Fender was a 1964 Strat that I bought in 1968. Even though it was only 4 years old it still had a large area where the 1st owners forearm had rubbed through the lacquer. That is how thin the finish was on those guitars. So a light relic job does not bother me. I got my '51 Nocaster when I worked for Musicians Friend. It was returned TWICE because the customers said it was NOT RELICED ENOUGH. Never mind that everyone who plays it agrees it is a fantastic guitar. Go figure. I have been seriously looking at those Paisley Teles. I have liked sparkle Teles ever since I saw don Rich play one and it would be a different flavor than my Nocaster. I too like that only the pickguard is paisley. A little more subtle. Nice birthday present.
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Post by golfnut on Jul 1, 2020 12:22:01 GMT -7
I have to laugh when I read comments about how unnatural the relic job is (not necessarily here). What is a natural looking relic job? Since we as players are as different as different fingerprints, who decides what the standard is for natural wear. I bumped the top of my CS Nocaster in to the metal part of a guitar stand and it put an ugly gouge in the top. I guess you could consider that unnatural. But its natural relicing that I did.
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Post by golfnut on Jul 1, 2020 12:43:50 GMT -7
The wear on my only naturally relicd guitar (I bought it from a long time touring musician) is much less attractive than the "fake" relicing on most of the guitars I have seen or the few that I own. No dings and the body is pristine but the back and sides of the neck have patchy wear through the finish, I assume in the positions that were played most. I have never played a single guitar enough to put on any real wear and my playing style probably doesn't result in much impact to the finish of the body or neck. And if you own a poly finished guitar, well the only thing that will be left after a nuclear war are cockroaches and poly finished guitars. I like relicing for the feel. That nice worn in feel. I have a few 30 year old t-shirts hanging by threads that I'll never get rid of for the same reason. But thats real age.
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Jul 5, 2020 17:41:19 GMT -7
Cool! That's gonna be fun. I'm another 'relic' hater, but I caved in when I picked up my '64 Journeyman Custom Shop Strat last year. It's tastefully done, but the thing is that it just plays and sounds better than any Strat I've ever had in my hands. Let us know when you get it!
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Post by Chilly Gibbons (Todd T.) on Jul 6, 2020 9:25:53 GMT -7
The wear on my only naturally relicd guitar (I bought it from a long time touring musician) is much less attractive than the "fake" relicing on most of the guitars I have seen or the few that I own. No dings and the body is pristine but the back and sides of the neck have patchy wear through the finish, I assume in the positions that were played most. I have never played a single guitar enough to put on any real wear and my playing style probably doesn't result in much impact to the finish of the body or neck. And if you own a poly finished guitar, well the only thing that will be left after a nuclear war are cockroaches and poly finished guitars. I like relicing for the feel. That nice worn in feel. I have a few 30 year old t-shirts hanging by threads that I'll never get rid of for the same reason. But thats real age. Don’t forget Keith Richards, he’ll still be here laughing it off as just a hot day.
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Post by BradPaisleyFan (Pat) on Jul 15, 2020 12:59:00 GMT -7
I own one of these BP signature teles and they are awesome!!! I am hoping for a few other ones to be released too!
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Post by KeithA on Jul 15, 2020 13:07:24 GMT -7
I own one of these BP signature teles and they are awesome!!! I am hoping for a few other ones to be released too! Yeah, I’m wondering if that black one he’s been courting will be released? On another note, I reached out to Bill Crook yesterday to start the process a getting an Esquire-type build with a G bender 😎
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Post by purpletele on Jul 15, 2020 15:25:32 GMT -7
I own one of these BP signature teles and they are awesome!!! I am hoping for a few other ones to be released too! Yeah, I’m wondering if that black one he’s been courting will be released? On another note, I reached out to Bill Crook yesterday to start the process a getting an Esquire-type build with a G bender 😎 You haven't even started any remodeling yet?
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Post by KeithA on Jul 15, 2020 15:58:09 GMT -7
Yeah, I’m wondering if that black one he’s been courting will be released? On another note, I reached out to Bill Crook yesterday to start the process a getting an Esquire-type build with a G bender 😎 You haven't even started any remodeling yet? I’m doing everything in parallel! My wife’s tolerance level seems to be better that way !
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