anyone ever heard of EVAN KEITH handmade guitars??? (TELE!!)

[adelphi710]

this guitar is beautiful:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2384&item=7304366406&rd=1

recently i've been looking at rick kelly telecasters but this one has caught my eye. does anyone have any experience with them?

[OldSchool]

Linkie no work. :(

[adelphi710]

sorry, link fixed!!!!

[pugsfly]

Looks nice.. The specs pretty good though, up to date..

[OldSchool]

Looks like a good deal............I'd be really intrested in a review.........:cool:

[telest]

Looks good. Is that a big honkin' capacitor or what? :eek:

Steve

[adelphi710]

yeah for real, what is the purpose of that?

[John Bell]

He buys parts from e-bay and throws them together.Mostly junk,just like that tele.If you can't tell it's junk,you need to learn to be more savy before buying.Seriously.........

[tonedaddy]

John, I was just researching this as you posted, and you took the words right out of my mouth.

If you simply click down through the seller/builder's feedback, you'll see they're buying every single part, bodies, mighty mite necks, saddles, pickguards, control plates, string trees, everything, off of random Ebay parts auctions.

I would guess that explains why they take no orders, and every guitar they've sold is a "Custom Handcrafted Tele" (their words, not mine). They're not even building a guitar until they can get the parts they want at the auction prices they want. Good/interesting way to hold down costs.

Hey, Nash Guitars buys their parts from the big suppliers and sells them for nearly twice what these guitars sell for, so I'm not knocking someone's business. Evan Keith is obviously meeting some need and selling a "nice looking" guitar to some buyers.

But as John said, just know what you're actually getting, and know you can buy the same parts off Ebay and assemble them yourself or get a local luthier to do it for you for less.

If you want a cheap Tele, there are tons of mint used Warmoth/USACG guitars that come up all the time for half the price of the Evan Keith Guitars.

For $800, you can buy a fine used Hamer or G&L, hand built by luthiers in the USA.

[adelphi710]

i definitely realized that evan keith isn't the way to go between when i posted this thread and the last reply i just read. i noticed everywhere i went searching for evan keith it had b.s. written all over it....

[Tone_Terrific]

So.....what exactly would be wrong with that guitar? If it matches your criteria for parts quality, guitar assembly is pretty far from rocket science.

BTW, picking up ebay parts and expecting to produce a guitar on which everything fits well did not work for me. Having someone else pull together the appropriate bits seems like a good idea.

[KRosser]

I went through a period of about two years where I played guitars I assembled myself from parts. It was actually pretty fruitful - I learned an awful lot about guitars, what makes them work, and mostly what I specifically like and don't like. But, at a certain point I washed my hands of the whole ordeal and sold off all the various parts and guitars (they were all Teles - with the money I made I bought a G&L ASAT, which made me say, "Hmmm...so THAT'S how you do it").

What I ultimately learned is that I should let guitar makers build and guitar players play, and me presumably being a player, I should hang up the soldering iron and get on with it....

[Tone_Terrific]

Originally posted by KRosser

What I ultimately learned is that I should let guitar makers build and guitar players play, and me presumably being a player, I should hang up the soldering iron and get on with it....

Well, actually I tend to agree, but not having invested in one of those presumably magic guitars, and, judging by comments in other threads that beauty and expense is still no guarantee that you will get one, how can anyone judge an ebay partsocaster as junk when the specs look good and you cannot even test it? (not that buying an untried guitar is a good idea!)

[KRosser]

Originally posted by Tone_Terrific
Well, actually I tend to agree, but not having invested in one of those presumably magic guitars, and, judging by comments in other threads that beauty and expense is still no guarantee that you will get one, how can anyone judge an ebay partsocaster as junk when the specs look good and you cannot even test it? (not that buying an untried guitar is a good idea!)

Well, I hear what you're sayin'...But...

... let me put it this way: I've played enough Teles, Fender and otherwise, that played and sounded so poor (for me....) that I'd never buy one without trying it. Unless, it was a G&L ASAT Classic, which I would take a chance on since I've never played one that felt/sounded bad (for me....)

YMMV and all the standard disclaimers.....

[tonedaddy]

Originally posted by Tone_Terrific
Well, actually I tend to agree, but not having invested in one of those presumably magic guitars, and, judging by comments in other threads that beauty and expense is still no guarantee that you will get one, how can anyone judge an ebay partsocaster as junk when the specs look good and you cannot even test it? (not that buying an untried guitar is a good idea!) You can't judge it fairly, but at least you know what your getting.

At least now you know you're getting a Tele built from parts accumulated one at a time off Ebay, purchased as cheaply as possible, by a builder who's not doing this full-time, and you're getting whatever FrankenTele can be parted together when the buying stops.

In and of itself, none of those actions guarantees a bad Tele. As I mentioned, Nash Guitars parts their bodies and necks from USACG, etc. But they do a high level of inspection of those parts before they buy them, to insure they meet their standard.

With the EvanKeith, you might hit it lucky and get the Tele of a lifetime. What you have to consider is your odds of doing that on that single Tele that he's selling at that time.

A trained luthier hopefully brings more to the table. They should be doing the things they're trained to do to get excellent, consistent results from their work. They're trained to do that by:

- careful wood selection, by grade, tap tones, etc, not whatever the Ebay Tele body guy is selling that week.
- careful matching of an appropriate body to an appropriate neck, again by grade, tap tones, etc.
- testing pickups carefully to get optimum, consistent tone results within the deviation of bodies/necks/parts.
- careful bridge selection (particularly on a Tele) to optimize tone.
- and certainly dozens of additional things they've learned over the course of their training and career.

The two guys at Evan Keith may have some of those skills, but considering how they're operating, it doesn't give me a high degree of confidence that they will provide consistent, excellent results.

In comparison, at the same price range of $800 carefully check out 10 used Hamers or G&L's, and tell me what you find in terms of quality and consistency. If you can't do that, then search the threads here and find 10-20 posts about what others have found out testing those brands.

[Unburst]

Originally posted by tonedaddy

For $800, you can buy a fine used Hamer or G&L, hand built by luthiers in the USA.

For $800 you could buy a used Fender USA RI.

[KRosser]

Originally posted by tonedaddy

A trained luthier hopefully brings more to the table. They should be doing the things they're trained to do to get excellent, consistent results from their work. They're trained to do that by:

- careful wood selection, by grade, tap tones, etc, not whatever the Ebay Tele body guy is selling that week.
- careful matching of an appropriate body to an appropriate neck, again by grade, tap tones, etc.
- testing pickups carefully to get optimum, consistent tone results within the deviation of bodies/necks/parts.
- careful bridge selection (particularly on a Tele) to optimize tone.
- and certainly dozens of additional things they've learned over the course of their training and career.



here's another thing my 'guitar-assembling days' taught me: the best collection of parts money can buy does not necessarily a good guitar make

[KRosser]

Originally posted by splatt
..... kinda like the potential gap beween learning to play scales and learning to make music, eh?
dt / spltrcl

Exactly...for me, learning scales was not all that difficult...making music? I'll be happily wrestling with that for a long time....

[Tone_Terrific]

Originally posted by tonedaddy

A trained luthier hopefully brings more to the table. They should be doing the things they're trained to do to get excellent, consistent results from their work.


I guess we're talking about a different level of craftsmanship since I think most off-the-shelf guitars reflect the design of the luthier but represent more closely the work of a manufacturing/production engineer and an assembly staff.

What is the price point at which one can get assurance of best available wood matching and flawless assembly and great tonal quality?

[KRosser]

Originally posted by Tone_Terrific
I guess we're talking about a different level of craftsmanship since I think most off-the-shelf guitars reflect the design of the luthier but represent more closely the work of a manufacturing/production engineer and an assembly staff.

What is the price point at which one can get assurance of best available wood matching and flawless assembly and great tonal quality?

There are very high quality, very affordable instruments being made by G&L, Jerry Jones & Reverend (just to name three that I've had experience with) that reflect not only excellent design but excellent quality control and workmanship. Without naming names, I've owned several very expensive boutique guitars that couldn't measure up to any of these.

Not that I have anything against anyone spending lots of money on boutique guitars - but let's not kid ourselves that this is the only way you can sound good, if not great, or that purchasing one instantly makes you a better (or even better-sounding) player.....

Someone else here mentioned Hamer - while I have no experience with them personally, many folks whose opinions I respect love them and sound great on them, so I'd say they could fall in that category as well

[tonedaddy]

Originally posted by Unburst
For $800 you could buy a used Fender USA RI.
You are so right, Unburst.
There are some fine USA RI Fenders out there for that price, too.

Originally posted by KRosser
here's another thing my 'guitar-assembling days' taught me: the best collection of parts money can buy does not necessarily a good guitar make Absolutely true.
I'd say that's why I trust the judgment of a luthier in combining the right parts to get the best outcome.

I hope I've made it clear, it's quite possible you could by an Evan Keith and get the best guitar you've ever played.

I just think you have to ask yourself, is this guitar LIKELY to be as good as the average US Fender RI (!!), Hamer, or G&L. I bought a Warmoth clone out of a pawn shop with an ash body and a birdseye maple neck. As many horror stories as you can find about birdseye maple necks, this neck was right on the money at the pawn shop, and hasn't needed an adjustment yet! And except for a thick body finish, the guitar suits me very well, nearly enough to consider a refin to get it "dead right".

So I'm certainly NOT saying you won't get a good or great guitar at Evan Keith. I DO say you should at least know what you're getting, and make sure you also know you're options in the same price range that you can perhaps test out at your local guitar stores.

[tonedaddy]

Originally posted by Tone_Terrific
What is the price point at which one can get assurance of best available wood matching and flawless assembly and great tonal quality? It depends on how hard you shop, and I would buy used almost exclusively in these kinds of guitars for the best value.

For me, the magic point of consistency for a used U.S. made guitar is around $750 (give or take a hundred) right now. Yes, I can find good-great guitars for less, but I have to shop harder.

As a comparison, many of these kinds of guitars you could have bought in the $4-600 range 3-5 years ago. Now that range is $650-850. You have to go up to $1200 or so to get in the next range of Grosh, Melancon, etc.

But look how much the price difference is in just these auction examples. In G&L alone, there's a $250-300 price difference for very similar guitars. That's why hard shopping pays off, as when you can score a US G&L ASAT Tele for just over $500:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33039&item=7303566865&rd=1


I've included US Fender RIs, Hamers, and G&L for this comparison, as those are the brands I own (but I'm sure there are others):

I think this was one of the best buys on Ebay this week in this category:
1994 Hamer T-51
$690
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33042&item=7304276600&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW


Here's some more of these kinds of guitars:

No $800 US Tele RI's this week, but pretty close:

Fender 72 US Tele RI:
$900
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38083&item=7306734091&rd=1

Fender 62 US Tele Custom RI
$925
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38083&item=7303996682&rd=1

Fender American Vintage 62 Tele RI
$900
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38083&item=7304786627&rd=1


Hamers:
$850
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33042&item=7306509330&rd=1

$750
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33042&item=7305303227&rd=1

$760
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33042&item=7304192134&rd=1

$760
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33042&item=7301477341&rd=1

$490
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33042&item=7301660012&rd=1

$560
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33042&item=7302575247&rd=1

$750
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33042&item=7301379959&rd=1



G&L:
$750
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38083&item=7305387274&rd=1

$645
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38083&item=7303975456&rd=1

$700
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2384&item=7302731233&rd=1

$575
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2384&item=7303120955&rd=1

$765
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2384&item=7302613279&rd=1

$740
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2384&item=7302521926&rd=1

$650
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2384&item=7303057949&rd=1

$665
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2384&item=7301390498&rd=1

[Garygtr]

I just want to put in my comments here if I may. I have an Evan Keith tele-style and I am extremely happy with it. I paid a bit less than the one being discussed here went for, but I would not hesitate to buy again even at the current price. I have a review over on that "other" forum:
http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data4/Evan-Keith/Custom-Tele-Style-01.html
I'm not trying to b.s. anyone with the usual honeymoon review here, I am very happy with the guitar and the deal I got, I can't compare my guitar with any they have made in the past or will make in the future. I was looking for a used Am Std tele or similiar, took a chance on this and am glad I did. I don't have the budget at the moment for a Callaham, Lentz, Suhr, etc...that's just the way it is. You may think that I'm just not a very discriminating buyer and perhaps I'm not, but I know what works for me. I can't comment on their business practices or methods of assembly or source of parts-I just don't know. I think they were great guys to deal with and I have no regrets. Flame me if you will, but that's my experience/opinion.
Thanks... :)

[tonedaddy]

Garygtr,
Welcome to the Gear Page!

Glad you jumped in with your experience, so no flames coming from my direction. In the absence of anyone's personal experience, we have to judge things from a distance, and you're personal experience adds a lot.

And again, I hope your experience simply makes more information to a potential buyer so they can make an informed decision. If Even Keith guitars are consistently great guitars and provide great service, then I sure would like to know that, and I'm glad you posted. Hopefully, other buyers will make their way to this forum over time and post their experiences, too.

[Garygtr]

Thanks TD, nice to be here. I've been a Top Hat forum member for awhile, thought I'd share my asinine observations, stupid questions and useless opinions over here :D
As I said, I paid significantly less for my guitar, I got a year end blowout price. I knew that they obviously were not carving out their own necks and bodies from scratch (and they don't claim to), to me it was a question of "are they slapping this thing together correctly? Is the neck/body a good match tonally?" And yes, that was a gamble but for me it paid off. I can set up a guitar (worked at Epiphone from '94-'98 doing just that all day long) but building one from scratch is not something I have the time or the skills for, so considering the cost of the parts and a fair price for the labor, it was more than a good deal for me. IMHO, their current prices are still a good deal based on my experience. Someday when I have the time and patience, I'd love to try putting together a parts tele on my own, but for now I'm resigned to paying someone to do it for me.
Thanks again for the welcome!

[gretsch63]

hello forum readers,
let me offer my heartfelt apoligies to one and all.when I read all the negative comments about our guitars a red flag went up.we do insert alot of pride and sweat into our guitars,always trying to push the limits of what you can do to a tele style guitar.
I ran off at the mouth trying to defend ourselves.the music is what matters and a heck of alot of great music was played and written on guitars with broken strings and 3 watt 6 inch oval speakers.(beatles in hamburg for instance).I am sorry if I offended anyone and I mean anyone...peace, gretsch63:)

[Shovelhead]

Originally posted by gretsch63
hello forum readers,
let me offer my heartfelt apoligies to one and all.when I read all the negative comments about our guitars a red flag went up.we do insert alot of pride and sweat into our guitars,always trying to push the limits of what you can do to a tele style guitar.
I ran off at the mouth trying to defend ourselves.the music is what matters and a heck of alot of great music was played and written on guitars with broken strings and 3 watt 6 inch oval speakers.(beatles in hamburg for instance).I am sorry if I offended anyone and I mean anyone...peace, gretsch63:)

Excellent.

I deleted my other post.

:)

[tonedaddy]

Originally posted by gretsch63
hello forum readers,
let me offer my heartfelt apoligies to one and all.when I read all the negative comments about our guitars a red flag went up.we do insert alot of pride and sweat into our guitars,always trying to push the limits of what you can do to a tele style guitar.
I ran off at the mouth trying to defend ourselves.the music is what matters and a heck of alot of great music was played and written on guitars with broken strings and 3 watt 6 inch oval speakers.(beatles in hamburg for instance).I am sorry if I offended anyone and I mean anyone...peace, gretsch63:) Kevin,
Let me offer a sincere welcome to TGP!

And thank you for your last email, which was very kind. I have deleted my thread from today, and will make my comments here.

I appreciate you taking the time to post here, and I'll repeat a few things I said earlier in this thread replying to Garygtr:

"In the absence of anyone's personal experience, we have to judge things from a distance, and you're personal experience adds a lot."

Your presence here means a lot. Your input here will help everyone evaluate EvanKeith guitars more effectively. If you're building great guitars, we want to know about it. I trust you'll share your experience with all of us.


"If Even Keith guitars are consistently great guitars and provide great service, then I sure would like to know that, and I'm glad you posted. Hopefully, other buyers will make their way to this forum over time and post their experiences, too."

I do want to know more about your guitars, and the experiences of your customers.

If my earlier posts about your guitars in this thread came across as negative, I apologize. I made value judgments with the information I had.

I've learned from this thread to contact builders directly to get their input before making final value judgments. And I should have contacted you directly to invite you to comment on your guitars on this thread. Because I failed to do that, my comments were unfair, and for that I apologize.

You and other builders deserve better, and I failed in that regard. I'll try my best to make sure I don't do that again.

I hope you'll continue to join us here on the Gear Page, and I hope your customers will also give their input on your guitars.

I look forward to seeing you around here, and learning more from you.

[1radicalron]

Evan Keith Telecaster. Unfortunatly I own one of these Guitars. I Purchased it new Directly Through Evan/Keith about 2 years ago. Judging from the Pic's these Guitars Look Incredible!!! Unfortunatly It does not Play Incredible. For Starters The Neck Pocket is among the worst I have ever seen on any Guitar! There are seriously Pieces of wood missing and the lines are very Crooked. The Bridge Pickup Route is Off kilter. and you can stick your Finger inside the Pickup Cavity on the Top of the Bridge. The frets were completly Un-Dressed. Basically Hamered on and then Strings were put on. Also the Frets are Very Small and this makes the Guitar more difficult to play. The Neck is Unshimmed and the Fingerboard is so High off the Body that the Brass Saddles are set as High as they can go. This Makes Adjusting Intonation very difficult. The Nitro Finish looks Pretty good, But all the Other Problems really make this a Useless guitar.
I own about 15 telecasters and Unfortuntly This is One of the Worst Ones. I tried to contact Evan/Keith and Never recieved a Reply.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y209/1radicalron/AshTele1.jpg http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y209/1radicalron/36c321ec.jpg

[gretsch63]

Hello Sir,
We never recieved ANY kind of email from you at anytime!
Please feel free to contact us at gretsch1963nj@aol.com or visit our website at www.evankeithguitars.com (http://www.evankeithguitars.com)
We are sorry to say we never sold you this guitar directly because at that time we only used ebay...also, two years before you complain about false defects?...really sir, in our defense this is quite laughable.Please print a retraction and delete photo's that were used in a ebay listing from 2 years ago as they are copyrighted to evankeithguitars....Your cooperation will be most welcomed.....regards,evankeithguitars

[gretsch63]

We have learned alot in the three years we have been in business.
Just thought you forum readers would like to see some of our current guitar models....you decide... All Our Best,kevin,evan@evankeith
www.evankeithguitars.com (http://www.evankeithguitars.com)

[gretsch63]

Hello everyone,well it's been about 3 years since we started evankeithguitars and we have come along way,as I'm sure all the other independant custom builders did...We now have ALL our bodies built for us by our luthier in CA.We no longer use the telecaster body shape.It's close but not quite the same.It's called the AFA or all fret access style..We have set up a network of people who we purchase all our parts and supplies from.We only use genuine fender necks,no aftermarket junk..
Our electronics are about the best that is out there,hovland,cts,mallory,orange drop,crl,Wbt silver solder,full body copper foil cavity shielding,push/pull tone midrange scoop control,vitamn Q oil and paper caps,fender custom shop,fralin,lollar and seymour duncan pickups...Our bodies are made from select alder and tops range from,flame,curly or quilted maple,rosewood,koa, belly cuts,forearm cuts,four types of binding and more... all bookmatched with our own 3/4 or 1/2 koa stripe down the back and the front or one or the other.As far as finishes we now only use furniture grade hand-rubbed tung-oil to let the wood breathe.Thanks for your time and here are a few samples of some of our 2006 guitars....kevin,steve and evan @evankeith
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b247/gretsch63/KT-21LE3.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b247/gretsch63/9d926e97.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b247/gretsch63/1aultimate1.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b247/gretsch63/DCP_0028.jpg

[r9player]

I remember seeing your stuff on Ebay long time ago, sure have come a long way!
I like the looks of these two.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b247/gretsch63/9d926e97.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b247/gretsch63/1aultimate1.jpg

[gkoelling]

I haven't read the entire thread and don't think I need to.

I've looked at your web site and to me it looks as if you're building some sweet guitars.

Good luck to you

......gk

[pfflam]

I remember seeing your stuff on Ebay long time ago, sure have come a long way!
I like the looks of these two.Yep . . those caught my eye too . . . looking good!

[gretsch63]

Hello all! We would like to thank you for your kind words..This has been real lift to our morale.We got off to a rocky start on the gear page in our first year getting it altogether.Like all small custom builders we learned the ropes in order to survive.We love what we do! We only put maybe 3 or 4 guitars up on ebay a year,the rest are all custom one of a kind models.We are going to continue to push the limits on what our guitars can do in the coming year....
Again,Thanks so much!! kevin,steve and evan @ evankeithguitars:)

[ironmace7]

I own the Koa guitar pictured on the top of this page. I'm working on a review for HC. It is my favorite of the ten guitars I own. Sweet guitar.

[gretsch63]

Hello Everyone! We would like to show you what we have been up to lately...We have just introduced our "MasterCraft" series of guitars..here are a couple photo's....Thanks so much for your support! Evan @evankeith
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b247/gretsch63/soapster1.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b247/gretsch63/3.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b247/gretsch63/1.jpg

www.evankeithguitars.com (http://www.evankeithguitars.com)