This is my…. third telecaster. But I currently own one.

I’m a Gibson SG person… for me… it is the most comfortable guitar in the world. But… I always had a thing for teles… similar to an SG… it’s a “no bells or whistles” kind of guitar. The simplicity of its design and oh god, can they take a beating!

My first tele was an American Standard… back in 2003, which I loved… it was white ivory finish, stunning. I sold it to buy an SG… and 10 SGs later.. I bought the Tele Elite, this was a sweet guitar, the finish… the fretwork.. all stunning. But I never bonded with it, that bridge pickup… I struggle to like it.

I then found the Richie Kotzen model, I think as I was searching for “hum-bucker” type bridge pickup.. his model came up on google… then a few years later…. I went ahead and bought it.

Man…. this is an outstanding guitar! Made in Japan… comes in a box and a gig bag… but… is it full of goodies or what!

The fretwork… is immaculate, the maple neck and fretboard… are so easy to play… your hand just glides. The Frets! (Yes I already mentioned them…) but man.. the frets! The string just dances on top of them. The finish! Never been a sunburst person…. in fact the back of the guitar is nicer than the front… but still… sunburst with gold hardware… hard not to like.

The inlays! Holy moly, abalone inlays which have little variations of colours, it’s like looking into a beautiful sunset.

The pickups! Yup… two of them. the Chopper T bridge pickup… what an angry pickup! This is what a rocking tele has been missing! Full of balls and body, an amazing sound but still true to the tele twang.. (somewhere in the back of the sound) that adds to the spectrum of the sound wave which probably covers every single hertz out there.

The neck pickup! Always my favourite tele pickup, you kinda get straty sounds out of it, I love SRV but I can’t play Strats… i find them uncomfortable, this pickup delivers that tone! And it can get to the breaking up point where you get a bit of distortion going on.

The bridge and neck pickup combined… series or parallel switch… i haven’t really explored it much, but this option makes it much more useful than a regular combined position.

This is the Tele for you if you want to rock out! If you feel that the regular bridge tele pickup holds you back.. then this guitar is for you

Now.. the Neck! Everyone says it’s massive! And… it’s definitely not small… but coming from Gibsons SG.. i say it’s pretty decently sized neck… it is a baseball neck for sure. But i’m starting to believe that bigger necks are faster and more comfortable to play… they fill your hand better… more ergonomic for sure.

The Frets! (Yup… 3rd time mentioning them) jumbo frets… bending… is as easy as abc. The size of them makes this neck very easy to play….

The Tuners! You can tell this guitar was designed by someone that actually uses his signature guitar… the tuners are a pleasure to use, just the perfect amount of “stiffness”. And they look incredible.

If you are in the market for a Tele… please do try one of these… I feel that this is what a Tele should be, this has to be the new standard.

And… made in Japan. Which… is great! Japanese gear has always been very high quality and it always feels a bit more “exclusive”.