Srvwannab
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I recently had the opportunity to acquire an unbelievable John Bolin Telecaster. Here's the story behind the guitar. In the mid-90's Billy Gibbons commissioned John Bolin to build a tele for Pete Anderson. When the guitar recently became available it was set-up for Nashville tuning. I called John Bolin on the phone and he couldn't have been more generous with his time. He remembered the guitar and spoke of it fondly. He told me it was built in a time when he was using a lot more hand tools and fewer machines. Which isn't to say that John's new stuff isn't every bit as good as has stuff from 15 years ago- I just love knowing how much time John personally put into this guitar. In particular he mentioned that the inlay work done on the guitar would be incredibly expensive if ordered today.
After I received the guitar it was sent up to John to have the nut replaced and the guitar set up for traditional tuning. While waiting for the guitar I did some research on Pete Anderson. Having had no exposure to country music until a few years ago when I became a huge fan of Brad Paisley, I only knew Dwight Yoakum by name, and wasn't familiar with any of Pete's work. What an incredible journey it has been! Pete Anderson is a monster player (as most of you probably already knew) that oozes taste, tone and can play across genres effortlessly. Of course Pete has won as many accolades for his producing as he has for his playing.
I started with Dwight's greatest hits and was floored by an eclectic mix of roots style country, smoking rock-a-billy, and a production that was capable of taking all of those things and still managing to not only not step on one of the coolest singers I have ever heard, but to put that haunting voice in the front of the mix. Some of those songs are the best uses of three chords and a tele known to man. From there we've gone deeper into Dwight's catalog (incredible) and most recently into Pete's solo work. As somebody that loves Blues, Pete's tune, "Still in Love" from his recent album "Even Things Up" is in constant rotation on my Ipod. Pete can speak volumes with two or three notes, but also doesn't have a problem throwing in a few more notes for good measure. Again, he is an incredible play.
About a week ago I got the guitar back from John Bolin, who managed to out-do himself. The guitar plays fantastic! I'm sure I own more Tele's than I can count on fingers and toes and the only guitar I have that is its equal is my John Page P1- which is in its own right kind of a different animal.
Above all else in this wacky sometimes obsessive pursuit for gear, I have had an opportunity to meet some incredibly people. In particular, John Bolin is as good of a human being I have had the opportunity to interact with and he is both a luthier and artist in every sense of the word. A brief visit to bolinguitars.com would attest to that. I am not the least bit surprised that some of the biggest names in the world of guitars choose to have John build their guitars. While I am sure that this "tribal tele" will never be played as well as his guitars that are in the hands of Jimmy Page, Billy Gibbons, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, Steve Miller, etc. I love knowing that I am in such good company.
Here are a few pictures-
After I received the guitar it was sent up to John to have the nut replaced and the guitar set up for traditional tuning. While waiting for the guitar I did some research on Pete Anderson. Having had no exposure to country music until a few years ago when I became a huge fan of Brad Paisley, I only knew Dwight Yoakum by name, and wasn't familiar with any of Pete's work. What an incredible journey it has been! Pete Anderson is a monster player (as most of you probably already knew) that oozes taste, tone and can play across genres effortlessly. Of course Pete has won as many accolades for his producing as he has for his playing.
I started with Dwight's greatest hits and was floored by an eclectic mix of roots style country, smoking rock-a-billy, and a production that was capable of taking all of those things and still managing to not only not step on one of the coolest singers I have ever heard, but to put that haunting voice in the front of the mix. Some of those songs are the best uses of three chords and a tele known to man. From there we've gone deeper into Dwight's catalog (incredible) and most recently into Pete's solo work. As somebody that loves Blues, Pete's tune, "Still in Love" from his recent album "Even Things Up" is in constant rotation on my Ipod. Pete can speak volumes with two or three notes, but also doesn't have a problem throwing in a few more notes for good measure. Again, he is an incredible play.
About a week ago I got the guitar back from John Bolin, who managed to out-do himself. The guitar plays fantastic! I'm sure I own more Tele's than I can count on fingers and toes and the only guitar I have that is its equal is my John Page P1- which is in its own right kind of a different animal.
Above all else in this wacky sometimes obsessive pursuit for gear, I have had an opportunity to meet some incredibly people. In particular, John Bolin is as good of a human being I have had the opportunity to interact with and he is both a luthier and artist in every sense of the word. A brief visit to bolinguitars.com would attest to that. I am not the least bit surprised that some of the biggest names in the world of guitars choose to have John build their guitars. While I am sure that this "tribal tele" will never be played as well as his guitars that are in the hands of Jimmy Page, Billy Gibbons, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, Steve Miller, etc. I love knowing that I am in such good company.
Here are a few pictures-
