Teye Guitars La India 018

[AlanB]

Since there have been a few threads lately and a lot of recent interest about Teye Guitars I thought I would go ahead and add my #018 which was delivered to me a couple of weeks ago by Teye. It was built alongside Davo's La Perla pearl front that he has posted on a recent thread which BTW is a incredibly stunning guitar. #018 is the first La India with the Custom Plus option which basically means Teye engraves just about every part of the aluminum both front and back including the bridge and the saddles. This guitar as with all his instruments is very exotic looking with its own very definite unique vibe. You won't be missed in a crowd playing this guitar. His engraving work is superb plus the designs are always intriguing and unlike any of the others that I have seen. It also has a big thick neck akin to my "95 Historic Goldtop. The clean sound through a 65 Amps London head is very fat and chunky, with lots of ringing bell-like chime coupled with great sustain. When overdriven the Lollar pickups can send amps into a thick distortion. I find myself having to back down all the settings on the pedals I use because the guitar has more output than some of the others I use. Teye has recently tweaked his mood knob resulting in a wider array of sounds that can be pulled out of this guitar. Fat humbucker sounds, tele bridge pup sounds, and quacky single coil tones can be had through a few tweaks of the mood knob and the volume controls. Brighter than a Les Paul the guitar cuts through warmly with clarity and I would like to emphasize with a very nice and appreciated evenness of volume across all the strings. There are also no dead notes on this guitar and notes sustain nicely with similar volume all the way up the neck. The guitar has the same characteristic ease of playing as my #007 and has wonderful fret work with a great setup. The guitar can cut through the mix well when played in a band context. And as usual the guitar generates great interest from all who see it and looks stunning from the audience.

Teye is wonderful to work with and does not mind me dropping in unannounced from time to time. (I live about 15 minutes away). He does a great job at keeping me informed as to the progress of the build and greatly exceeded my expectations. Being an excellent guitarist himself everything is done with tone and playability in mind. I received my first Gypsy last summer (007) and along the way Teye has made numerous updates to 007 as new ideas were developed. Now that I have used 018 in numerous live situations I find it to be a comfortable guitar to play and a also very satisfying guitar to play. Besides that it is fun to be playing a guitar that can take whatever you throw at it. The wide variety of sounds that can be had means I don't have to bring several guitars with me. It sounds great and like with all great instruments everytime I look down at it I still remain amazed at playing something so beautiful yet functional.

Here are several photos.



The unique one piece pup ring engraved and scalloped.


The five way pup selector switch. This is interesting because there are some unique sounds to be had between positions 2 and 3 and 3 and 4 that utilize all three pups at once.


A closeup of the engraving around input jack.


The Custom Plus carved bridge.


The engraving around the control knobs.


An overall of the back of 018 on the left showing the enlarged control cavity plate he is doing now. 007 is on the right showing what he was doing last year.


A detail shot of 018's back


Here is one of the headstock.


Here is a pic of 018 on the left and 007 on the right illustrating some of the differences between the two.


Lastly, a pic from the second Gypsyfest jam last weekend. I'm on the left, Bruce Krekow is on the Dan Armstrong bass, Teye is on the right, and Rick Dart is on drums.


Teye will be doing the Gypsyfest once a month and at this one there were 4 of the guitars available for folks to try out. Thanks to all for taking the time to go through this long post and enjoy!

AlanB

[Davo]

Wow. Thanks for sharing the pics of #18 Alan. Truly the most beautiful La India I have seen. Kind of amazing that he continues to improve the design, tone and art of every guitar. This is no exception...congratulations Alan.

[George Johnson]

These Teye guitars are amazing. :BEER

[edwarddavis]

Get me a plane to Texas , ohh, lets wait a bit , then get me a plane to texas

[zenfreud]

Thanks for sharing pictures of your guitar, it's an example of beautiful craftsmanship and is very unique. I'm not familiar with the builder; is the metalwork typically a feature in all his builds? Did you have any input on the etchings? To me, the metal face evokes some Zemaitis guitars I've seen pics of. And at first glance I assumed the blue turquoise was a dyed wood finish, but looking again it appears to be turquoise tiles, wow. Is the body smaller than a Les Paul? How much does it weigh?

[Peppy]

He builds a beautiful guitar...not usually my style but it's done tastefully. Unfortunately it appears he only builds three humbucking-pickup versions...not that conducive to efficient fingerpicking for some and possibly just a little too much tonal variation for others, depending on wiring configuration.

[AlanB]

Hi Zenfreud, the metalwork is one of the characteristics in Teye's guitars. You might check out his website www.teye-guitars.com to see the full array of materials. And he has recently finished the first pearl front guitar named La Perla. See this recent thread by La Perla's owner Davo for more details.

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/sho...d.php?t=439633

Here is a pic of Davo's La Perla. A stunning instrument! You are a lucky man Davo!



On the A-series guitars what you see on the aluminum plates are actual hand engravings done by Teye himself versus etchings. Each guitar is different. I photograph all the guitars he builds and I have them posted at web.me.com/alanbarley/ if you would like to see the variety of the engravings. On his S-series I believe he utilizes a etching process but feel free to call him for more a more specific answer. I would also suggest the same for the full story on the type of turquoise Teye uses for the front.

The body is not as thick as a Paul and has much tighter waist with a bit wider lower bout. As for the weight I don't have a scale to weigh the guitar but I own a '95 Historic Goldtop and a beautifully made Carolina by talented luthier Terry McInturff and this one is very comparable in weight.

Hope this answers your questions and anyone feel free to post or pm me for any others.

Thanks,

AlanB

[michael.e]

Oh my lard, those guitars make me want to cry..

I need one...

Where can I get one..

NOW...

Emee

[wsaraceni]

i just love these guitars. hope to try one out some day.

[elteye]

Hello this is Teye, maker of these Electric Gypsy guitars. Interesting questions have come up on this great forum, so please let me clarify some things:

Originally Posted by zenfreud

I'm not familiar with the builder; is the metalwork typically a feature in all his builds? Did you have any input on the etchings? To me, the metal face evokes some Zemaitis guitars I've seen pics of. And at first glance I assumed the blue turquoise was a dyed wood finish, but looking again it appears to be turquoise tiles, wow. Is the body smaller than a Les Paul? How much does it weigh?

Metal: I like what the aluminum does to the Tone of the guitars, but have recently built a Pearl Top, using ALL my tricks to make up for the absence of the aluminum front, and she sounds ...fantastic...

Personal engravings: half the orders for my A guitars have involved special request engravings. The S-Series etching is as it comes.

Tony Zemaitis IMHO was a genius! I have two of his guitars. I am tremendously inspired by him, but also by Les Paul, by Leo Fender's Tele and Strat, and by flamenco builders Manuel Reyes and Lester Devoe. All these elements of inspiration are to be found in my guitars.

The Turquoise is what is called Stabilized or Mexican Turquoise. A LOT cheaper than big plaques of natural turquoise! (Raw material in natural turquoise would set you back an extra $ 15,000, give or take)

The body is smaller than a Les Paul, much narrower waist, but longer neck. She balances beautifully. I have back problems and a Les Paul is simply too heavy and cumbersome for me (great guitar though!). The Electric Gypsy weighs about eight pounds.

Originally Posted by Peppy

He builds a beautiful guitar...not usually my style but it's done tastefully. Unfortunately it appears he only builds three humbucking-pickup versions...not that conducive to efficient fingerpicking for some and possibly just a little too much tonal variation for others, depending on wiring configuration.

I view my three humbucking pick-ups as six coils to play with...
I'm a flamenco guitar player and have NO difficulty fingerpicking on the Electric Gypsy. The middle pick-up is lowered for reasons of Tonal balance, but it helps in getting your picking fingers in there. All finger-pickers have told me it took them about 15 minutes to get used to the Electric Gypsy.

The Tonal variations are arranged behind a simple and intuitive interface of two volume knobs, one Tone knob, one Mood-knob, and a five-way switch. Doesn't get hardly any simpler. Like adding sugar and cream to coffee: more or less brilliance: turn Tone knob; more or less body: turn Mood knob, to taste.
And if you wish to get all technical, there 's the reference charts in the manual.

I take great pride to have designed a guitar that is very user-friendly, very versatile, very resonant, and very beautiful. Please give her a swirl!

Thank you all for the beautiful compliments! And please give me a call, I'd LOVE to talk guitars with you (I really love to talk guitars you know). teye.com has all the info.

Sincerely,

Teye

[Kalalau Hiker]

absolutely exquisite, Teye.

Congrats on keeping a legacy alive and living your dreams to help others put some musical beauty in their lives!

[CharAznable]

Teye, remember my name, for one day I shall come to you with a bag of money!