“This Axe is on fire!”
“The execution is wonderfully achieved”
The Telecaster from Burntaxe.com is a lovely instrument. Not only lovely to behold but it is set up as well as any Tele I have played. Once they had played it the band insisted on using it at the Albert Hall show, it just felt right. It looks extraordinary close-up, but the level of detail is still visible from the audience. The surface is a laser etched pattern, quite easy on the arms, and feels hard wearing.
The Guitar is a blonde Tele with a maple neck, the etching pattern is a mandala around the theme of the British Drum Company logo. The concept compliments the shape of the guitar, and Telecasters lend themselves well to decoration. The ridges and curves look musical somehow, the overall effect is of ripples in the surface of the guitar.
The guitar's setup is excellent, Telecasters can be difficult with the three-way saddle, but this one, set with 9's plays beautifully. The electrics have been set for modern indie, rather than country; it growls well and the stock pickups compliment each other really nicely. The bridge is set harsh-but-musical and cuts well. The neck pickup is set warm and strong. The combination of the two is really useable, acoustic sounding and twangy.
In use the Tele sounded great, sat in the mix perfectly, and played across a spectrum of genres from Heavy Metal through 60s psychedelia to Indie and even a Queen cover. The vintage machine heads look great and were easy to use, the guitar kept perfect tune all night.
Overall the idea is a very strong one, the execution is wonderfully achieved and huge amounts of care have been taken with the look, feel and musical setup of the guitar. As far as this Tele goes, this axe is on fire!
Al is currently on tour as the Pub Landlord until 26th November this year, and then on the road again from 6th February 2017 to 10th June 2017
Al is also Director of the British Drum Company
Artwork by deprivedanxiety
