Fred Stuart Blackhawk Guitar Review...

RoadRunner · March 25th, 2006, 08:27 AM

I posted, or tried to post , a review of my new guitar a couple of minutes ago. Unfortunately, the post went into thin air when I hit the "submit" button. So... I'll do this a different way... a series.

Long story short: After trying out some of Fred's Blackguard pickups last year. I contacted Jason Allen of Virtual Vintage Guitars (distributor of Fred's work). Jason and I had a long talk and I set about gathering specs for my new guitar. I wanted a re-creation of a '53 Tele, just like it would have been the day it left Fullerton. I'm familiar with all the Masterbuilders at Fender and as far as I was concerned... they all sniff the gravy while Fred chews the meat.

Here's the guitar, I'll post more about it in future posts. Long story short though... It's a Blackguard, it plays, feels and best of all... sounds like a real Blackguard from Fullerton in the early '50's.

More pics:
http://www.lilypix.com/photos/data/b...952_p55711.jpg

http://www.lilypix.com/photos/data/b...952_p55710.jpg

RoadRunner · March 25th, 2006, 08:39 AM

I've always wanted a time machine to go back to Fullerton and pick up a Tele in the early fifties. After talking with Jason, who's a total class act by the way, I figured the best was to do this would be to have Fred make me a guitar. I took the neck dimentions from a real '53 that has my fave neck. I specified larger frets... Dunlop 6105's that were dressed down a little so they wouldn't be too tall.

I wanted a medium weight guitar with the emphesis on tone and playability. I asked for Fred's regular "Blackguard" pickups, wired to a 3 position switch... neck/both/bridge. Nothing fancy.

I wanted the nitro to be thin. I told Jason that the guitar had to show wear within a couple years of playing... just like the old ones. We debated color choices for awhile and I considered sending pics of my basically NOS Nocaster (see Gruhn's book). In the end, I left it up to Fred and he nailed the color that I was thinking of.

I asked for the traditional headstock, which is an up-charge because Fred/Jason are trying to establish Fred's original design... which I think looks just fine and I'll have on subsequent guitars made by Fred.

I was told the wait time would be 2 to 3 months. The guitar came in 3 months and one week... right on schedule.

More to come...

RoadRunner · March 25th, 2006, 09:00 AM

When the guitar arrived, I opened the formfit case and was absolutely thrilled with the color... perfect. The guitar looked like my idea of what a new Tele would have looked like back in the day.

I took the guitar out of the case, strummed an "E" chord and was astonished... the guitar was PERFECTLY in tune. I glanced at the quartersawn neck and noticed little mineral streaks here and there... hard-rock Eastern maple... the neck's stable as a rock, I have to try to get it to go out of tune. Unplugged the guitar was incredibly resonant but I started to worry... "is it too light?"

Some lightweight guitars tend to sound all bottom/all top and no midrange. I plugged her into a Deluxe Reverb and there it was... Blackguard tone... in spades. It was there, no hunting for it, no tweaking amp settings. The "old" tone is in this guitar: Fat, twangy bottom end for days. Really fat, greasy midrange with an emphesis on the upper mids like the the old guitars... lots of midrange overtones; and the highs were airy, complex, laden with harmonics and just bloomed out of the amp. I couldn't believe how great this guitar sounded. I tried a few different amps: Tweed Bassman, Deluxe, my fave "Tele amp"... a mid '50's, 2x 6L6, tweed Silvertone with a 15" speaker... gorgeous tone!!!!

The neck, middle settings do the Muscle Shoals/Memphis thing... they sound like records we've all heard. Reggie Young would go nuts with this guitar.

I'm totally thrilled with the tone and playability of this guitar. I've had it a few months now and it never fails to deliver the goods. The neck's perfect, for me anyway, it plays like a dream. The intonation is better than any 3 pc. traditional bridge Tele I've ever had. The tone is downright inspirational. I can't imagine owning a better guitar.

Thanks Fred, thanks Jason... you've made my dream guitar come true!

GuitarJonz · March 25th, 2006, 09:20 AM

*

RoadRunner · March 25th, 2006, 09:29 AM

I'm not sure if Fred made the neck from scratch or he bought one from the above mentioned companies and reshaped it? Good question.

The guitar came WITHOUT a logo. Fred won't put a Fender decal on a guitar... I did that.

Like I mentioned before, Fred's own headstock is cool and he's trying to "discourage" making copies by having an up-charge for a trad. Tele headstock.

RoadRunner · March 26th, 2006, 09:23 AM

Here's a couple of clips to give you an idea what the guitar sounds like. Please excuse the playing, I was concentrating on just getting the exact sound of the guitar into the clip.

The pickups in this guitar are the standard "Blackguard" set that Fred makes... wired very basically: neck/both/bridge with a 3 pos. switch.

Both clips are thru a '68 Deluxe Reverb... plugged straight in, no effects, Volume around "6", treble on "7" and bass on "4". There's no "post production" eq or effects on these clips. The amp was close mic'd with a Sennheiser 409 on the grill and a Rode condenser about 4 feet away for a little depth and room sound... the reverb was off on the amp.

Bridge pickup:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...?bandID=515868

Like I said... try not to mind the playing! LOL!

Masterbuilt · March 26th, 2006, 09:40 AM

Lovely!How much?

Lostheart · March 26th, 2006, 10:35 AM

Eye Candy...that's all I can say...

lewis · March 26th, 2006, 11:07 AM

Congrats!
Thanks for all of the nitty gritty details.

nacho · March 26th, 2006, 02:19 PM

that guitar looks great, I love the color, congratulations!
nacho

RoadRunner · March 26th, 2006, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Masterbuilt

Lovely!How much?

Thanks for the comments everyone! I LOVE this guitar!

Here's Jason and Fred's website MB. Since every guitar is hand built, the price varies just a bit. Drop Jason an email and he'll be glad to fill you in on prices. The guitars Fred builds are very reasonable for what you get... incredibly reasonable for that matter!

http://www.virtualvintageguitars.com...itars0001.html

MasterKaster · March 28th, 2006, 12:29 PM

RoadRunner:

She looks awesome!

How much does she weigh?

Scotland · March 28th, 2006, 01:53 PM

A real 53 in 06 ! Great looks and great sound, enjoy.
Is it Philips or slot head screws on it ?

RoadRunner · March 28th, 2006, 11:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterKaster

RoadRunner:

She looks awesome!

How much does she weigh?

A friend weighed it in on his digital scale... 6lbs, 2oz.

Now you can see why I was so skeptical when I opened the case and picked up the guitar... I thought, "no way will this thing have any tone when I plug it in." It's nice to be wrong!

Scotland... all Philips, but you can have Fred put whatever you want on a guitar, ie... all slotted screws and Broadcaster knobs, etc. The guitar's custom made to whatever you want it to be.

I'll tell ya, after 30+ years of playing great old Teles and some fine Custom Shop stuff... this guitar KILLS 'em all. I've never had a better Tele.

0le FUZZY · March 29th, 2006, 12:12 AM

0le Fred dunn yew rite.

I loved the beginnin of the first mp3. I'd luv ta hear those first few licks with the reverb on about 5 or 6 HEE! HEE!

Good job and thanx fer the ear candy also that duz look like an original shade on that finish.

I like it and the way it sounds and yer pickin onna first part.

0le FUZZY

RoadRunner · March 29th, 2006, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 0le FUZZY

<li>0le Fred dunn yew rite.
<li>I loved the beginnin of the first mp3. I'd luv ta hear those first few licks with the reverb on about 5 or 6 HEE! HEE!
<li>Good job and thanx fer the ear candy also that duz look like an original shade on that finish.
<li>I like it and the way it sounds and yer pickin onna first part.

0le FUZZY

Hey Fuzz...

Thanks for the kind words! I'll do ya a little "country/Muscle Shoals" with the reverb dialed in to your specs... might be a little surfy but it should be interesting??!

Fred is absolutely "da man"!

bender72 · March 29th, 2006, 04:06 PM

A new Blackgaurd Tele, and after hearing it, it definately has an "Old Soul". Congratulations on a very nice guitar. 8)

Telemarkman · March 29th, 2006, 05:06 PM

I love my 52RI, I love my 52RI, I love my 52RI - but boy
could I learn to love that Fred Stuart "Blackguard" !

March 25th, 2006, 08:27 AM	#1 (permalink)
RoadRunner Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: TN Posts: 104	Fred Stuart Blackhawk Guitar Review... I posted, or tried to post , a review of my new guitar a couple of minutes ago. Unfortunately, the post went into thin air when I hit the "submit" button. So... I'll do this a different way... a series. Long story short: After trying out some of Fred's Blackguard pickups last year. I contacted Jason Allen of Virtual Vintage Guitars (distributor of Fred's work). Jason and I had a long talk and I set about gathering specs for my new guitar. I wanted a re-creation of a '53 Tele, just like it would have been the day it left Fullerton. I'm familiar with all the Masterbuilders at Fender and as far as I was concerned... they all sniff the gravy while Fred chews the meat. Here's the guitar, I'll post more about it in future posts. Long story short though... It's a Blackguard, it plays, feels and best of all... sounds like a real Blackguard from Fullerton in the early '50's. More pics: http://www.lilypix.com/photos/data/b...952_p55711.jpg http://www.lilypix.com/photos/data/b...952_p55710.jpg __________________ "Telecaster... never leave home without one!"

March 25th, 2006, 08:39 AM	#2 (permalink)
RoadRunner Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: TN Posts: 104	The idea... I've always wanted a time machine to go back to Fullerton and pick up a Tele in the early fifties. After talking with Jason, who's a total class act by the way, I figured the best was to do this would be to have Fred make me a guitar. I took the neck dimentions from a real '53 that has my fave neck. I specified larger frets... Dunlop 6105's that were dressed down a little so they wouldn't be too tall. I wanted a medium weight guitar with the emphesis on tone and playability. I asked for Fred's regular "Blackguard" pickups, wired to a 3 position switch... neck/both/bridge. Nothing fancy. I wanted the nitro to be thin. I told Jason that the guitar had to show wear within a couple years of playing... just like the old ones. We debated color choices for awhile and I considered sending pics of my basically NOS Nocaster (see Gruhn's book). In the end, I left it up to Fred and he nailed the color that I was thinking of. I asked for the traditional headstock, which is an up-charge because Fred/Jason are trying to establish Fred's original design... which I think looks just fine and I'll have on subsequent guitars made by Fred. I was told the wait time would be 2 to 3 months. The guitar came in 3 months and one week... right on schedule. More to come... __________________ "Telecaster... never leave home without one!"

March 25th, 2006, 09:00 AM	#3 (permalink)
RoadRunner Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: TN Posts: 104	The guitar... When the guitar arrived, I opened the formfit case and was absolutely thrilled with the color... perfect. The guitar looked like my idea of what a new Tele would have looked like back in the day. I took the guitar out of the case, strummed an "E" chord and was astonished... the guitar was PERFECTLY in tune. I glanced at the quartersawn neck and noticed little mineral streaks here and there... hard-rock Eastern maple... the neck's stable as a rock, I have to try to get it to go out of tune. Unplugged the guitar was incredibly resonant but I started to worry... "is it too light?" Some lightweight guitars tend to sound all bottom/all top and no midrange. I plugged her into a Deluxe Reverb and there it was... Blackguard tone... in spades. It was there, no hunting for it, no tweaking amp settings. The "old" tone is in this guitar: Fat, twangy bottom end for days. Really fat, greasy midrange with an emphesis on the upper mids like the the old guitars... lots of midrange overtones; and the highs were airy, complex, laden with harmonics and just bloomed out of the amp. I couldn't believe how great this guitar sounded. I tried a few different amps: Tweed Bassman, Deluxe, my fave "Tele amp"... a mid '50's, 2x 6L6, tweed Silvertone with a 15" speaker... gorgeous tone!!!! The neck, middle settings do the Muscle Shoals/Memphis thing... they sound like records we've all heard. Reggie Young would go nuts with this guitar. I'm totally thrilled with the tone and playability of this guitar. I've had it a few months now and it never fails to deliver the goods. The neck's perfect, for me anyway, it plays like a dream. The intonation is better than any 3 pc. traditional bridge Tele I've ever had. The tone is downright inspirational. I can't imagine owning a better guitar. Thanks Fred, thanks Jason... you've made my dream guitar come true! __________________ "Telecaster... never leave home without one!"

March 25th, 2006, 09:20 AM	#4 (permalink)
GuitarJonz Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Central Mass. Posts: 2,777 7 Photos	eom *

March 25th, 2006, 09:29 AM	#5 (permalink)
RoadRunner Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: TN Posts: 104	Headstock... I'm not sure if Fred made the neck from scratch or he bought one from the above mentioned companies and reshaped it? Good question. The guitar came WITHOUT a logo. Fred won't put a Fender decal on a guitar... I did that. Like I mentioned before, Fred's own headstock is cool and he's trying to "discourage" making copies by having an up-charge for a trad. Tele headstock. __________________ "Telecaster... never leave home without one!"

March 26th, 2006, 09:23 AM	#6 (permalink)
RoadRunner Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: TN Posts: 104	A couple of Clips... Here's a couple of clips to give you an idea what the guitar sounds like. Please excuse the playing, I was concentrating on just getting the exact sound of the guitar into the clip. The pickups in this guitar are the standard "Blackguard" set that Fred makes... wired very basically: neck/both/bridge with a 3 pos. switch. Both clips are thru a '68 Deluxe Reverb... plugged straight in, no effects, Volume around "6", treble on "7" and bass on "4". There's no "post production" eq or effects on these clips. The amp was close mic'd with a Sennheiser 409 on the grill and a Rode condenser about 4 feet away for a little depth and room sound... the reverb was off on the amp. Bridge pickup: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...?bandID=515868 Like I said... try not to mind the playing! LOL! __________________ "Telecaster... never leave home without one!"

March 26th, 2006, 09:40 AM	#7 (permalink)
Masterbuilt Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: London,UK Posts: 317	Lovely!How much? __________________ Did Leo make another guitar?

March 26th, 2006, 10:35 AM	#8 (permalink)
Lostheart Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Germany Posts: 1,408	Eye Candy...that's all I can say... __________________ Casper: "Mmmmm. Butterscotch, yo. That's the best!" From the movie Kids

March 26th, 2006, 11:07 AM	#9 (permalink)
lewis Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Colorado Posts: 1,881 28 Photos	Congrats! Thanks for all of the nitty gritty details. __________________ "I'm a maestro, I'm a maestro," Taj Mahal, 8/20/05.

March 26th, 2006, 02:19 PM	#10 (permalink)
nacho Tele-Meister Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 379	that guitar looks great, I love the color, congratulations! nacho

March 28th, 2006, 12:29 PM	#12 (permalink)
MasterKaster NEW MEMBER! Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 2	RoadRunner: She looks awesome! How much does she weigh?

March 28th, 2006, 01:53 PM	#13 (permalink)
Scotland Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Aberdeen, Scotland, Yewrup Age: 54 Posts: 6,514 3 Photos	Congratulations A real 53 in 06 ! Great looks and great sound, enjoy. Is it Philips or slot head screws on it ? __________________ All those who believe in psycho-kinesis, raise my hand !

March 29th, 2006, 12:12 AM	#15 (permalink)
0le FUZZY Doctor of Teleocity Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Kolly-forn-knee-ya Posts: 10,001 6 Photos	0le Fred dunn yew rite. I loved the beginnin of the first mp3. I'd luv ta hear those first few licks with the reverb on about 5 or 6 HEE! HEE! Good job and thanx fer the ear candy also that duz look like an original shade on that finish. I like it and the way it sounds and yer pickin onna first part. 0le FUZZY

March 29th, 2006, 04:06 PM	#17 (permalink)
bender72 Tele-Holic Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: ND, USA Posts: 547 1 Photos	A new Blackgaurd Tele, and after hearing it, it definately has an "Old Soul". Congratulations on a very nice guitar. 8) __________________ "Don't sweat the pety things, pet the sweaty things."

March 29th, 2006, 05:06 PM	#18 (permalink)
Telemarkman Friend of Leo's Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Norway Age: 61 Posts: 4,729	I love my 52RI, I love my 52RI, I love my 52RI - but boy could I learn to love that Fred Stuart "Blackguard" !