The #23 (Teye Electric Gypsy Content)

[Drowned Rabbit]

OK, I've had my La India for a few weeks now and it's time for a review. First off, I want to say how great Teye was throughout the whole build process. He really excels at the communication aspect of the builder/customer relationship. His descriptions of each step, from the engraving of the headstock, pickup rings, and the front plate, to the hand-rubbed finish, to his explanations of why and how he came to settle on any one particular technique was both informative and entertaining. Teye's a great storyteller, our phone conversations were a lot of fun and email exchange was extremely prompt on his part. I was surprised and really pleased to learn that he had played with Joe Ely, a musician I had loved since I first stumbled across that Flatlanders' album back in the 80's, and had been integral to his sound during the "Letter To Laredo" period. Very cool.



Now a few words about the look of the guitar. This is A Series La India #23. For those less familiar with Teye guitars, the main difference between the A Series and the S Series is that the A's are built exclusively by Teye himself while the S's are built by Teye with help from his small team of skilled builders. I also requested the Custom Plus option. Upon opening the case for the first time, I was stunned as you can imagine. These are incredibly beautiful instruments. Photos don't do them justice, and I know that phrase is cliche so let me expand on it for a moment. The La India might be the most difficult guitar I've ever tried to photograph. There's a depth and subtleness to the turquoise mosaic outline when viewed in person that I can't seem to capture with my digital camera. It's not near as "Bling" as one might assume. Which is good because the Electric Gypsy's are made to be played, not just admired with the eyes. The hand-engraving is intricate throughout. This was the main reason I chose to go with the A Series, as the A's and S's have identical PuPs and electronics. Essentially, they all sound like Electric Gypsies, but the amount of detail on the A's aluminum faceplate and backplate is unsurpassed by any Zemaitis or Trussart I have ever seen. It's just unreal, the number of hours that went into this must have been back-breaking. The hand-rubbed finish is so old-school and it's look/smell/feel is really cool. I guess if there's a single, best way to describe the look of this La India, it's "handmade". Look at this details here! For instance, the diamond-shaped turquoise inlay in the mahogany back of the guitar isn't just a machine made, cookie-cutter design, it has personality. Not sure how clear I'm being, but that's the best way I can describe it. Regarding the skull w/ guitar beneath the tailpiece, I've always had a fascination for the the Day Of The Dead celebrations which take place in Mexico, so I wanted a symbol of this phenomena engraved on the guitar as a way to make my #23 more unique and recognizable from other La India's. And Teye nailed it! It's perfect.











One of the most exciting things about this guitar is it's feel. Some might describe the Electric Gypsy as a Lap-Paul: a Les Paul made to be played in your lap. This is not a Les Paul. While it does share some characteristics with the iconic Gibson Custom; it is a single-cut with three humbuckers, a mahogany back and ebony board, there are many more differences that truly make the Electric Gypsy entirely it's own beast. The cutaway is Florentine-like, for one. And the 24 frets and the flatter radius of the board makes for a totally different playing experience. There is soooo much room and this fret board, the main result being that notes, whether individual leads or within the combination of chords, ring out nice and clear. But more on that later, this paragraph is about the feel of the guitar and not it's tone. #23's neck is big and extremely comfortable, perfect for my hands. I guess I would say it's close to a PRS CU24 style board with an R8 carve. That's not a truly accurate description, but only me trying to describe it using commonly known paradigms. The narrow waist of the Electric Gypsy is another way in which it departs from the LP model. This design does facilitate a smoother ride while playing sitting down, but it also lends itself to playing while standing. Complex rhythms can be strummed with gusto and leads fly along with ease. This is a fast guitar. I'm fast on this guitar. And that is very, very cool. The tailpiece is made to rest your palm upon. This is an ingenious design and makes different styles, from fingerpicking to palm-muting, easy to pull off naturally. Excellent string separation and an expertly cut nut makes going from folky open chord slides up and down the neck to Stones-style flat finger riffing to full on power chords a breeze. The Electric Gypsy is extremely resonant and a very nice weight and this adds to it's comfortability as well. These traits are most likely due to a combination of good wood and an acoustically tuned body. Well done, Teye! In truth, it is when attempting to describe an instrument's feel that words most often fail. I'll close this paragraph by saying that the Electric Gypsy is a successful amalgamation of the familiar with the innovative.





And finally, tone. I saved the best for last. Much has been made of Teye's design of the Electric Gypsy's tone controls, and they are truly revolutionary. But I will get to that in a moment. First, a word about the Pickups. The three Lollar humbuckers are definitely voiced on the vintage side, but without the overt brightness of some PAF's (the originals, not the clones). With my Marshall-style amp (Fargen MiniPlex) in my standard setting, #23 is capable of a very wide spectrum of tones, from clean and chimy to a full roar. I was surprised at the overdriven tone of this guitar. It delineates both this and the clean side of things with equal aplomb, as well as straddling the classic electric blues styles with finesse, but I find the heavy rock sounds that I'm able to coax out of La India to be most welcome. Of course, this multitude of tonal options is made possible mostly by the Electric Gypsy's control design. The two volume knobs and the knob labeled "tone" are very sensitive, much more so than any LP, even one with a RS rewire kit. There simply is no comparison here. I have never played a guitar with more responsive in this area. This did make for a bit of a learning curve however. There's just so many options! That, and the fact that the selector switch and volume knobs are in reverse compared to a LP, made for some amusing "mistakes" at first. But with each of these so-called mistakes (turning the vol. knob too far and going into hard rock territory or rolling down the tone past the desired effect), a new sound of which the Electric Gypsy is capable was discovered. Very soon I found myself jotting down notes for settings that recreated classic tones of Fenders and Gibsons past, as well as many all new and original sounds, so that after two weeks with the guitar, I find myself navigating it's complexities and varieties with ease. I've found, after all, that Teye's design is more intuitive and that, coupled with the ease at which it's played, I'm getting my sounds by adjusting the guitar's controls and not the amp. The way it should be, lol. Now, the "Mood" knob. Ah, the famous mood knob. Well, you know what? I'm not even going to attempt to describe it (sorry guys). I will just say two things. First off, it's perfectly named. Secondly, it's somewhat akin to having spent your whole life walking around with horse-blinders on and then someone removes them and you suddenly have this brand new perspective of your surroundings. I'll leave it at that.







Well, that's my review. I want to thank Teye again for crafting this remarkable guitar for me. I love it so. It's really capable of being so many different types of instruments for me. Set the controls on full for a b*lls-out rock n' roll romp, brood over wooly Turkish Makams, stomp out 5 o'clock shadow blues riffs, hoist up some happy major scale melodies, and even do a very workable acoustic guitar tone! It does a lot, and every little bit helps.

[empty71]

Congrats on your new La India #23

Excellent review and pics

[edwarddavis]

great review, enjoy it , what a great looking guitar , I watched a bunch of clips with teye playing one and hopefully one day can get one .

[Shamus]

!!

[sickboy79]

Awesome review and photos! Congrats!

[shallbe]

Beautiful!

Nice review, but you really left me wanting with the lack of info on the MOOD knob. Really, waht does it do or how does it change the sound?

[Drowned Rabbit]

Originally Posted by empty71

Congrats on your new La India #23

Excellent review and pics

Originally Posted by edwarddavis

great review, enjoy it , what a great looking guitar , I watched a bunch of clips with teye playing one and hopefully one day can get one .

Originally Posted by Shamus

!!

Originally Posted by sickboy79

Awesome review and photos! Congrats!

[Drowned Rabbit]

Originally Posted by shallbe

Beautiful!

Nice review, but you really left me wanting with the lack of info on the MOOD knob. Really, waht does it do or how does it change the sound?

Hey Shallbe, it's difficult to describe accurately. It's a bit like a coil tap, but not. There's no real volume drop like there is when splitting a humbucker, nor does the tone become overly bright or brittle in any way. It's almost as if it takes the PuPs through a cycle or journey. Like the waxing and waning of the Moon, to stretch for a metaphor.

[carlescountry]

Excellent review and very nice pics. Congratulations, it's a amazing guitar!!!

[shallbe]

Originally Posted by Drowned Rabbit

Hey Shallbe, it's difficult to describe accurately. It's a bit like a coil tap, but not. There's no real volume drop like there is when splitting a humbucker, nor does the tone become overly bright or brittle in any way. It's almost as if it takes the PuPs through a cycle or journey. Like the waxing and waning of the Moon, to stretch for a metaphor.

Thanks! That sounds really interesting and innovative.

[elteye]

Originally Posted by shallbe

Thanks! That sounds really interesting and innovative.

Thank You! The Mood-knob, while certainly not being rocket science, is a bit of a departure from usual guitar wiring thinking. To me, it was the biggest revelation to find out that components do not react two-dimensionally like on paper, but actually do things together. Too often this is forgotten.

Actually, my Mood-knob interacts also with the volume knobs (that are also a departure from the usual wiring). It's all about what you are trying to achieve, and how much effort you are willing to put in there.

This is all talk behind the components. In talk of sound, I have set out to achieve the following:
With Mood-knob on 10, I want straight-up Gibson 1970 rock tones. Yet from the same guitar I want to be able to get a Telecaster bridge pick-up, both for Tele-rock and for country twang, and i want to have my favorite Strat-flavors in there too: neck pickup growl, and that famous Jimi 'out-of-phase' sound.
When I felt I had achieved that, there all of a sudden was so much more. Emulations of a Gretsch, an Ovation, and some fantastic new sounds that I'd never heard anywhere else before. Customers have commented how they achieved a 1971 Les Paul Deluxe mini-humbucker, a P-90, a Tele neck pickup, an old-style Tele bridge pickup, and more.

I simply look at the control panel now as two volume knobs, a high-cut Tone knob, and a thinning-out Mood knob, and blend from there: it's easier on-stage for me. But it started out as an emulation machine.

Hope this helps!

Teye (builder of these)

[elteye]

BTW Drowned Rabbit that is one of the best reviews anyone has ever written on my guitars. And also some of the kindest words anyone has ever directed towards my work, and my person.

Thank You!!!

Teye

[Drowned Rabbit]

Originally Posted by carlescountry

Excellent review and very nice pics. Congratulations, it's a amazing guitar!!!

Thanks, carlescountry, it is truly amazing.

[Realfi]

I generally don't like "fancy" guitars at all-I'm a total stripped back, just give me a tele sort of guy but some how these are just SO cool looking!

[Drowned Rabbit]

Originally Posted by elteye

BTW Drowned Rabbit that is one of the best reviews anyone has ever written on my guitars. And also some of the kindest words anyone has ever directed towards my work, and my person.

Thank You!!!

Teye

Hi, Teye! I'm so glad you approve of the review. I'm very flattered, especially since I've seen the many enthusiastic words your guitars have received. I really wanted to portray the guitar accurately and in language that was clear, and not cliche to the point of having lost all meaning. To me, this is a special guitar, with a bit of mystery around it, and it was important for me to get those impressions across.