NGD Tele Gib from Xotic, Jeff Beck tribute

[shallbe]

I'd been watching this guitar on Reverb for a while. I'm a huge Jeff Beck fan and remember first seeing the original Tele-Gib Seymour Duncan put together for Jeff back when he played it live with Eric Clapton. I also knew it was the "Cause We've Ended as Lovers" guitar from Blow By Blow---which is my favorite electric instrumental, still to this day.

I've admired the Xotic guitars, never played one, heard good things, and I love roasted maple necks with oil finish. This was a very limited run, and the seller did not know or reference the Beck connection. But everything about these Xotic specs and appearance were spot on the the guitar Duncan made in the 70's----ash body, maple neck, wide nut, uncovered PAF's (one zebra, one cream), pickup rings, chopped bridge, 12" radius, big 6100 frets, and 2 string trees. Even the wear on the front. Not the typical Xotic specs at all.

JB passed on, it was still available, and well below the market for a regular used Xotic. Seemed like destiny. Plus I'm a sucker for all configurations of Tele types, and i had nothing like this. Made an offer and it was accepted. The guitar is 3 years old but unplayed. The frets were hazed over and needed a polish, and it needed a setup with new strings. Got it Friday, finished setup yesterday.









Riftsawn flamed maple cap neck. This is a VERY loud guitar acoustically. Really resonant. The humbuckers are clear and well balanced. The guitar is under 7 lbs. It plays fantastic and I'm really impressed at the fretwork and attention to detail from Xotic. Sounds really nice thru my little practice amp. I will use it in rehearsal Wednesday night and if it passes will be gigging it this weekend.

 

[gtrwrks]

Holy Jumping Hey-Sus....

Killer...

 

[badscrew_projects]

Oh wow, this neck...

 

[brookdalebill]

Cool!

 

[telekaster1999]

Nice! That neck is really something!

 

[shallbe]

Videos of Jeff Beck playing the Tele-Gib when Clapton coaxed him out of working on his cars.

 

[shallbe]

Here is the story from Seymour Duncan himself. The photos ARE NOT the actual guitar.

The Story of the Tele-Gib - Guitar Pickups, Bass Pickups, Pedals

Back in 1974 I was working in London at the Fender Soundhouse where I was doing guitar repair and modifications. One of the benefits of working at Fender was that I had a chance to meet so many great guitarists that rehearsed on the third floor sound studio. Nearby was CBS Studios where Jeff was...

www.seymourduncan.com

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

What are the humbuckers, OP???

Awesome looking guitar.

 

[shallbe]

What are the humbuckers, OP???

Awesome looking guitar.

They are the Raw Vintage hand wound PAFs, made by Xotic. These are great sounding pickups. Versatile, not low or high output, nice cleans, no mud or spikyness. Dirty sounds have nice chime and the right amount of mids without being mid heavy at all. They sound like a clear humbucker with a bit of underwound P90 mixed in.

Don’t know what kind of magnets but they are in the 7.5K range.

 

[shallbe]

As a huge Beck fan, the other iconic guitar from the Blow By Blow era is the Oxblood 54 wraptail. Back in 1998, I was able to snag the 1997 NAMM guitar, one of the first. I've played it so much it's been refretted with 6100s (by Roger Fritz), with no nibs. Here they are together. (I used to have one of the purple Beck lace sensor Strats, but sold it. I'm just not comfortable on a Strat).

 

[shallbe]

The Xotic Tele-Gib really passed last night's rehearsal with flying colors. Still in the honeymoon phase, but I love this guitar. I didn't want to play anything else last night, and it was a long practice for a big Mardi Gras party gig Saturday.

We will be playing a lot of 60's thru 80's uptempo music, and the pickups/tone and dynamics from the guitar was everything I needed. I was using a small pedalboard into the clean channel of a Demeter TGA3---an amp I sold our lead singer years ago that sits in the practice room.

Most of the songs we had to work on needed clean tones, and that gave me a chance to tweak pickup height between songs as vocal harmonies and arrangements were worked on. Just wanted the right mix between the neck and bridge.

Didn't get to use it a lot with dirty tones, but when I did, it was a lot of fun. OD and fuzz sounds were singing and fat, with great treble and harmonic content. These Raw Vintage pickups are damn good. Looking forward to Saturday night.

I'll probably bring my green K-Line Truxton as well. My favorite tones are when a guitar can get "in-between" humbucker and single coil sounds------just a great/versatile guitar sound and not overwhelmingly one or the other. Because the K-line with the P90 neck PU does that it has not missed a gig since August when I received it.

 

[Killing Floor]

Gorgeous neck!!!

 

[shallbe]

Here is Jeff talking about the Tele-Gib:

 

[shallbe]

Quick update. This guitar is a keeper!!!! I never plan on selling it. It did fantastic at the big Mardi Gras gig on Saturday.

I used my old Suhr for the first set. It's a wonderful sounding Tele-type and noiseless due to the SSC. I've had it for about 14 years and wanted to start the night with something predictable. Big stage, big room, but a very "live" room. I wanted to bring my Matchless or Jamison, but the Gries 12/Princeton was plenty and sounded great as usual. We didn't even mic the snare. Mix was clear and punchy at sound check.





Second and third sets were all the Xotic JB Tele. The guitar does everything well, from sweet cleans to funky rhythm to nasty leads. Sounds and behaves like a 50/50 split between a Tele and Les Paul. The roasted oil neck is a joy to play. Love it! Super versatile. More Mardi Gras gigs this weekend and it will definitely be going along with my K-Line.



This little pedalboard has not changed in a long while and is just killer for any type gig. MJM Mavis Wah, Clay Jones Overdrive, Bob Burt clean boost, Clusterfuzz, DMB Lunar Echo, Tortuga Martini Chorus, Boss TU3 tuner.

 

[effzee]

Man I hope you can post some video footage of your gigs!

 

[shallbe]

Man I hope you can post some video footage of your gigs!

Maybe from this weekend. As long as there is no conflict, we will be playing right off the parade route and it will be wild.

 

[tele_pathic]

Congrats! The figuring on that neck is unbelievable!

 

[shallbe]

Another great weekend with this Xotic Tele-Gib. This is simply a fantastic guitar. Can cover anything. Mardi Gras in Mobile is always a party! Here was my rig for the first 2 sets.



For the last sets, I used the K-Line, which I have had since August and has been my main gigging guitar. Stage was so cramped I could only have one up there at a time.



Comparing the two: The K-Line feels more like home because I have had it longer and played it a lot---very broken in. I also like both pickups on sound more on the K-Line, just perfect for rhythm stuff. The Xotic really kicks and sings on the bridge pickup, and is an overall louder guitar, but not by much. Overall, they are both equally enjoyable, with the roasted necks and great finish on the back.

A pro photographer was downtown shooting the parade and took some shots of us playing.

 

[CodeBlue]

Congrats, looks very sweet, enjoy!

 

[CV Jee Beez]

Wow! What a cool guitar. Congrats.