![An orange telecaster-style guitar sits on the workbench, with tools and string wrappers and other bits strewn around it.](/builds/phase-one/blues-deluxe/F865C7E6-B49A-4C66-B348-D9CA0D63455A_hue5a2057f54bf131f2bafd2a3b68c4d25_2623487_500x500_fit_q85_box.jpg)
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- Body: English Ash, stained orange
- Neck: Maple
- Fretboard: Wenge, with maple inlays
- Finish: Oil
- Scale length: 25.5"
- Neck Pickup: House of Tone House Special P90, Alnico 5, Formvar wiring
- Bridge Pickup: House of Tone House Special P90, Alnico 5
- Hardware: Gotoh tuners, custom 3D-printed hardtail bridge.
- Wiring: Les Paul style wiring with 500k pots.
The Blues Deluxe
The Blues Deluxe, based on a Telecaster Deluxe, is loud and distinctive in both tone and looks. Fitted with a pair of House of Tone P90s, wound to be voiced for 60s British blues crunch in the neck, and that delta blues sound in the bridge, it delivers a sonic experience that is as distinctive as its looks are.
The black and white and orange mix meaning this is a guitar that isn’t quite even when it’s not being played. The body is ash, stained orange and with an oil finish, which has the wonderful tiger-striping of this wood and finish combination, and the neck was originally a maple and spalted tamarind for the fretboard, and was the first neck I ever made, but switched out for a maple and wenge neck later on as my abilities improved.
Over the years this build has become my daily player, but also continues to be a guitar on which I’ll test out new ideas to check they really work. This was the first guitar to get a custom 3D-printed carbon-fibre embedded bridge.