For any fans of a different take on a Telecaster, I just received this new Classic from my old friend Chuck Thornton, who I worked with at Pantheon Guitars about 5 years ago. What a wonderful guitar!
I've been a Tele fan since 1972, when I got my first decent electric guitar. I actually wanted a Strat just like the one on the back of the Layla album, but all the store had was a Telecaster, and the money was burning a hole in my pocket. Over the years guitars have come and gone, but Tele's have been my go to guitar. I was pretty excited when I found out Chuck was going to do his version of one.
When I opened the case ( a very nice tweed TKL with brown velour and large center pocket, and CP Thornton silkscreened on the outside), I recognized the familiar Tele shape, but I was surprised how different this guitar looks. Between the three on a side tuners, increased neck/body angle and the contours on the face of the guitar, it actually looked surprisingly un-Tele like, despite the familiar shape and color scheme. It actually looked a little like a set-neck Gibson, PRS whatever.
The finish is traditional butterscotch, but is satin rather than gloss. Chuck feels that is in keeping with this being a players guitar. The neck tint is surprisingly dark, also satin, and feels great to the hand. The tuners are mini Gotoh 510, 1:18 gear ratio, and feel very smooth. The bridge and saddles are Wilkinson, and the intonation showed perfect on my Petersen VS-1 strobe tuner. The three pickups are all Fralin, a P-92 in the neck, a strat middle and a tele bridge pickup. I don't know the specific winds on any of the pickups. Chuck gave me the option of five way switching with neck/bridge in position 3, or the middle pickup in position 3 with a push-pull switch to combine neck and bridge positions. I like the middle position on a Strat, so I elected the push-pull switch. With the switch up, I get all three pickups in positions 2 and 4.
This one weighs in at 7.7 lbs. The nut width is 1 11/16" and the scale length is 25.0". I understand that Chuck uses the same specs and neck feel on his archtops and Fusion (Strat style guitar), so it's very easy to switch back and forth. I'm not the best at describing neck profiles, but this feels like a C shape, .83" at the nut, and .89" at the twelfth fret per the website. Definitely not a Nocaster sized neck, which I like, but I found this neck very comfortable to play. The 16" neck radius is another departure from tradition, but I've had no problem adapting to the flatter neck. The neck/body angle also feels a bit different: combined with the body contours, the guitar seems to wrap itself around you, compared to the very board-like feel of a Telecaster. The neck itself extends almost to the bridge, and bolts onto the body under the pickguard. That allows for a streamlined neck heel that's easier to manouver.
Now for the important part: TONE. I'll start with the P-92 because that is the most unique part of this guitar. I've heard some great P-92 soundclips posted on TGP, so I expected to like it. I expected a brighter single coil like tone, but I actually found it to be very warm sounding. Adding the bridge pickup adds some bite to the tone. I think the P-92 is hotter than the others, but all three pickups actually sound fairly balanced. Positions 2 and 4 have nice cluck...not quite strat like, but close enough. If you listen to the clips on Chuck's site, Denny Breau plays a Classic with a middle pickup, and he sounds very Strat-like. Perhaps I just don't have the touch. The middle pickup alone has that strat middle pickup sound, which I like a lot. Finally, the money position on these guitars is the bridge...the guitar absolutely does not lack for twang despite the shorter scale length, flatter radius, and other departures from tradition. Played clean, I got great chicken pickin tone with plenty of twang, and with some distortion dialed in on my Genz Benz Black Pearl, I got a great ballsy tone. Surprisingly, all pickup positions were very quiet, even though only the P-92 is noiseless. I wish I had more of the gift of gab to describe the tone, but all I can really say is this pickup combination is extremely versatile, and I can cover a lot of tonal ground with this guitar. Mostly, I play blues, classic rock, and a little country, and this guitar does those roots based styles very well. A definite winner.
John