This friday, after several months of seriously wanting to try out the Jason Isbell Tele, but with no shops within driving distance carrying it, the guitar finally showed up on the danish version of Reverb/Craigslist, and only about 30 min. drive from where I live. I really really love Jason Isbell's music, but I'm also not at all into signature models. However, I've been thinking about getting a new Tele for quite some time, and have looked at everything from Squiers (classic vibe) to Vintera, the new Japanese JV mods, to Am. Vintage and Custom shop, the latter two being a bit too expensive for my "i-wanna-add-another-Tele"-budget. But I do like me some nitro, a 7.25 inch fretboard and vintage style paint job and hard ware, and the Jason Isbell sig. checked all these boxes, without going full blown Custom Shop on my credit card.
So I went to check it out, and I was pleasantly surprised. I had been reluctant about buying it new sight unseen, from Germany, with return postage being quite steep, and my main concerns were: 1. The weight of the guitar. 2. Would I like the neck? and finally: 3. How would the pieces of the body align? I have seen a few online, where I just didn't like how obvious it was that it was made from multiple pieces of wood. Like obvious difference in color and grain between the pieces. I have no problem with 2 or 3 piece bodies, but in a see-through lacquer I like it to not be too visible.
So now I had a chance to actually see and play the guitar in real life before buying, plus being 2nd hand and about 1.5 years old (if I remember correctly), the guitar sold for about 75% of the normal list price.
So how did I like it? Well, to start with number 3, the body, at least to me, looks amazing. A three piece body, that aligns very well. Other than that, as others have mentioned, the relic-job on the body, looks even better in person than in pictures online (and I still thought it looked fine online).
The weight is around 3,3 - 3,4 kg (7,2 - 7,4 lbs), which is perfect for me. My '73 Tele is 3,8 Kg (8,3 lbs), which is OK, but a bit on the heavy side for me, so I'm very pleased with the weight and balance of the Isbell Tele.
The neck is a different story for me. I'm very pleased with the fact that it has some more meat on it compared to me '73 Tele, as I have always found the difference between the skinny '73 and the beefy 10/56 neck on my CC '56 Strat to be too vast. I kinda always wished that my '73 had a beefier neck, and the Isbell Tele seems to have hit the sweet spot.
However, as someone mentioned in my "Isbell neck"-thread, I also feel like this neck might take some getting used to. First of all, the neck is more..."raw" than I expected. Yes, I did read the specs and watch a million youtube reviews, so I knew that it would have a worn feel, but I guess I thought it would be at bit more glossy, but still less sticky compared to new guitars, but it really is more of a wood-feel than I expected. But not in a bad way - just very far from the glossy necks of my '73 Tele and Squier Classic Vibe JM. Even my CC '56 Strat, which I have played for 20+ years have more gloss left (although by now it's much closer to the Isbell than it was 20 years ago). Last year I sold a Partscaster that I build 10 years ago. It had a Warmoth neck, which I ordered in satin finish, and if I recall correctly, that one still did not have as dry and raw a feel as my new Isbell Tele. But I'm sure I will love it. At the moment I've spent around 48hours with the thing, and it feels great.
Setup-wise, the guitar had action that was way too high for my liking. The seller let me try out one of his other Teles, that had equally high action, so it was clearly down to his personal preference. I knew that it would require a setup to match my personal preferences, so I did not let the action discourage me from buying the guitar.
Right away after bringing it home, I started to mess with the action, and realized, that when I lowered it to my taste, there was just too much buzz in the higher frets, and even dead notes if I was bending around the 14.-20. fret.
Being more or less a setup-noob, but at the same time desperate to make my new guitar play great and not hand it over to a luthier for a week or two, I decided to see if the truss rod might be the culprit. I spend hours on youtube, and with my Dan Erlewine Guitar Repair book (which oddly enough is in mint condition), and just as I had figured out, that it might be too big of a relief that was causing the issue, I realized that I did not have an Allen wrench that fit... But then again, I have really no way of knowing if I would have been able to fix the buzz.
So, even though I might end up talking it to the luthier, and spending almost the same amount as I saved by buying it used, I'm very pleased with my purchase. And that way I'm certain that I will end up with a killer Tele!
Oh, and how does it sound? It's a bit more spanky than my '73, which seems a bit more mellow (because, as I recently found out, the original 1meg pots have been swapped for 250k). The neck pickup is indeed very Strat-like, and overall I think this is a guitar that might sit very well in a band.
So I went to check it out, and I was pleasantly surprised. I had been reluctant about buying it new sight unseen, from Germany, with return postage being quite steep, and my main concerns were: 1. The weight of the guitar. 2. Would I like the neck? and finally: 3. How would the pieces of the body align? I have seen a few online, where I just didn't like how obvious it was that it was made from multiple pieces of wood. Like obvious difference in color and grain between the pieces. I have no problem with 2 or 3 piece bodies, but in a see-through lacquer I like it to not be too visible.
So now I had a chance to actually see and play the guitar in real life before buying, plus being 2nd hand and about 1.5 years old (if I remember correctly), the guitar sold for about 75% of the normal list price.
So how did I like it? Well, to start with number 3, the body, at least to me, looks amazing. A three piece body, that aligns very well. Other than that, as others have mentioned, the relic-job on the body, looks even better in person than in pictures online (and I still thought it looked fine online).
The weight is around 3,3 - 3,4 kg (7,2 - 7,4 lbs), which is perfect for me. My '73 Tele is 3,8 Kg (8,3 lbs), which is OK, but a bit on the heavy side for me, so I'm very pleased with the weight and balance of the Isbell Tele.
The neck is a different story for me. I'm very pleased with the fact that it has some more meat on it compared to me '73 Tele, as I have always found the difference between the skinny '73 and the beefy 10/56 neck on my CC '56 Strat to be too vast. I kinda always wished that my '73 had a beefier neck, and the Isbell Tele seems to have hit the sweet spot.
However, as someone mentioned in my "Isbell neck"-thread, I also feel like this neck might take some getting used to. First of all, the neck is more..."raw" than I expected. Yes, I did read the specs and watch a million youtube reviews, so I knew that it would have a worn feel, but I guess I thought it would be at bit more glossy, but still less sticky compared to new guitars, but it really is more of a wood-feel than I expected. But not in a bad way - just very far from the glossy necks of my '73 Tele and Squier Classic Vibe JM. Even my CC '56 Strat, which I have played for 20+ years have more gloss left (although by now it's much closer to the Isbell than it was 20 years ago). Last year I sold a Partscaster that I build 10 years ago. It had a Warmoth neck, which I ordered in satin finish, and if I recall correctly, that one still did not have as dry and raw a feel as my new Isbell Tele. But I'm sure I will love it. At the moment I've spent around 48hours with the thing, and it feels great.
Setup-wise, the guitar had action that was way too high for my liking. The seller let me try out one of his other Teles, that had equally high action, so it was clearly down to his personal preference. I knew that it would require a setup to match my personal preferences, so I did not let the action discourage me from buying the guitar.
Right away after bringing it home, I started to mess with the action, and realized, that when I lowered it to my taste, there was just too much buzz in the higher frets, and even dead notes if I was bending around the 14.-20. fret.
Being more or less a setup-noob, but at the same time desperate to make my new guitar play great and not hand it over to a luthier for a week or two, I decided to see if the truss rod might be the culprit. I spend hours on youtube, and with my Dan Erlewine Guitar Repair book (which oddly enough is in mint condition), and just as I had figured out, that it might be too big of a relief that was causing the issue, I realized that I did not have an Allen wrench that fit... But then again, I have really no way of knowing if I would have been able to fix the buzz.
So, even though I might end up talking it to the luthier, and spending almost the same amount as I saved by buying it used, I'm very pleased with my purchase. And that way I'm certain that I will end up with a killer Tele!
Oh, and how does it sound? It's a bit more spanky than my '73, which seems a bit more mellow (because, as I recently found out, the original 1meg pots have been swapped for 250k). The neck pickup is indeed very Strat-like, and overall I think this is a guitar that might sit very well in a band.
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