FrankenFretter
October 23rd, 2010, 01:52 PM
Through another forum (yes, I've been seeing other forums. It's nothing serious, it's just for variety. You're still my favorite forum) I found a great deal on a Telecaster copy, but it was a brand/store I'd never heard of, White Bridge Music. I put out some feelers, and heard nothing but good things about both. They were blowing these things out at $136 with free shipping, and I'd been gassing for a Tele for a while now. I just happened to get THE VERY LAST ONE! I got a confirmation email from Phil of White Bridge, which has turned into an ongoing email exchange about guitars and modding. Phil is a fantastic guy to deal with, and love to talk about guitars. I should point out that I have absolutely no affiliation with White Bridge, other than being a very happy customer.
The guitar was packed in a single box, but very well packed. There was zero shipping damage, even the box was in great shape. It was shipped FedEx Ground, which may have something to do with that, although I've had no bad luck with UPS to date. Out of the box, the guitar was slightly detuned, and had horrible Chinese strings on it. That was expected, since Phil had given me a heads up on that aspect. The only gripe I had was that the neck and fretboard had some rough spots on the treble side. At first I was terribly disappointed, but at that price point, it's hardly worth worrying about. I took some sandpaper and steel wool to the neck and fretboard and cleaned up the rough spots and polished the frets. After that and a string change to Fender Bullets (10-46), it was a different guitar altogether. Acoustically it's fairly loud, and feels lively. The action need to be lowered a bit, but it's not bad. The real joy happened when I plugged her in: Bridge pickup sounds nice and spanky/twangy, but not so bright it gives you a headache. The neck pup has lots of warmth, and sounds fairly thick for a single coil. The middle position gives you the best of both worlds, and the balance seems to be a perfect 50/50 mix of the neck and bridge. Playing clean on the Black Panel model on my Cube 60, the guitar sounded like the stereotypical Tele, and I would bet that if blindfolded, most of us couldn't tell the difference between a US made Tele and the White Bridge. I cannot express how surprised I was at the tone. It sounds very good. I'm used to playing LPs lately, so it took a little getting used to for me to be comfortable with that neck, but once I'd been playing a while, the smile never left my face. This was an unbelievable score at under $150. I would put this up against a CV Tele any day.
Of course, since any NGD thread is worthless without pics, here they are-
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_NPlyZiLy0Pw/TMHCzIS0fHI/AAAAAAAAAnI/IyFxVlZENVY/s800/100_2118.JPGhttp://lh6.ggpht.com/_NPlyZiLy0Pw/TMHCzcx_DeI/AAAAAAAAAnM/rcoN18N3JXI/s800/100_2114.JPGhttp://lh6.ggpht.com/_NPlyZiLy0Pw/TMHD7dHXZLI/AAAAAAAAAoA/0fJAwBWLoyY/s800/100_2116.JPG
Although it doesn't show well in the pic, the grain on the fretboard is very nice, as is the grain on the neck. I may have had to do some minor sanding, but it was worth it for the beautiful neck.
By the way, Janie sounds great when played through the Rectifier model as well. Surprisingly nice, in fact.
I will be modifying Janie eventually, adding a black pickguard with a humbucker sized P90, but for now I'm quite content with her the way she is. :-)
The guitar was packed in a single box, but very well packed. There was zero shipping damage, even the box was in great shape. It was shipped FedEx Ground, which may have something to do with that, although I've had no bad luck with UPS to date. Out of the box, the guitar was slightly detuned, and had horrible Chinese strings on it. That was expected, since Phil had given me a heads up on that aspect. The only gripe I had was that the neck and fretboard had some rough spots on the treble side. At first I was terribly disappointed, but at that price point, it's hardly worth worrying about. I took some sandpaper and steel wool to the neck and fretboard and cleaned up the rough spots and polished the frets. After that and a string change to Fender Bullets (10-46), it was a different guitar altogether. Acoustically it's fairly loud, and feels lively. The action need to be lowered a bit, but it's not bad. The real joy happened when I plugged her in: Bridge pickup sounds nice and spanky/twangy, but not so bright it gives you a headache. The neck pup has lots of warmth, and sounds fairly thick for a single coil. The middle position gives you the best of both worlds, and the balance seems to be a perfect 50/50 mix of the neck and bridge. Playing clean on the Black Panel model on my Cube 60, the guitar sounded like the stereotypical Tele, and I would bet that if blindfolded, most of us couldn't tell the difference between a US made Tele and the White Bridge. I cannot express how surprised I was at the tone. It sounds very good. I'm used to playing LPs lately, so it took a little getting used to for me to be comfortable with that neck, but once I'd been playing a while, the smile never left my face. This was an unbelievable score at under $150. I would put this up against a CV Tele any day.
Of course, since any NGD thread is worthless without pics, here they are-
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_NPlyZiLy0Pw/TMHCzIS0fHI/AAAAAAAAAnI/IyFxVlZENVY/s800/100_2118.JPGhttp://lh6.ggpht.com/_NPlyZiLy0Pw/TMHCzcx_DeI/AAAAAAAAAnM/rcoN18N3JXI/s800/100_2114.JPGhttp://lh6.ggpht.com/_NPlyZiLy0Pw/TMHD7dHXZLI/AAAAAAAAAoA/0fJAwBWLoyY/s800/100_2116.JPG
Although it doesn't show well in the pic, the grain on the fretboard is very nice, as is the grain on the neck. I may have had to do some minor sanding, but it was worth it for the beautiful neck.
By the way, Janie sounds great when played through the Rectifier model as well. Surprisingly nice, in fact.
I will be modifying Janie eventually, adding a black pickguard with a humbucker sized P90, but for now I'm quite content with her the way she is. :-)