Bravewood Guitars B'Caster

After searching for a 52 re-issue Telecaster that met my criteria I happend across the Bravewood Guitars web site by accident.
After a 30 minute chat to John Elliott who owns Bravewood Guitars I found myself talking to a like minded vintage guitar nut who new what he was talking about & so I decided to take the plunge & get him to build me a 1950's Broadcaster/Telecaster type replica.

During my search for a telecaster I had tried many Fender Custom Shop relic No Casters & did quite like the idea of owning a new relic guitar but to be honest the Fender Custom shops idea of natural relic ware & tare to me looked far from realistic & so I was quite warey of having a new guitar reliced + I had also seen some real disasters offerd by certain other companies on ebay & the net which quite frankly to me looked like Relicdisasters & far, Very far from real looking.

I told John that if i was going to have him build me a relic replica that the relic work would have to look & feel as real as possible.
In my experience most people who order or own a new relic guitar have never actaully seen let alone handled a real vintage guitar & so probably wouldn't know what real years of ware a tare actually looks & feels like.
I am lucky enough to have 1st hand experience of what to look for in a relic replica guitar as I do allready own 2 original pre CBS Fender guitars, A 61 Strat & a 64 Strat that do have the REAL natural relic look, I also am lucky enough to have access to a fair amount of other real vintage guitars that are in private collections, Namely pre CBS Fenders.
John informed me that if I did not like or rate his relic work that I could send the guitar back for a full refund, With commitment like that I felt that I couldn't go wrong & so orderd a full on relic.

The appointments of the guitar I orderd were for an early 50's Broadcaster/Telecater with which I suspect if you are reading this every one is more or less familiar with.
My only specific requests were for a Swamp Ash body that was no heavier than 4.2 lbs in weight, Very Thin Niro Cellulose finish (Bravewood only use Nitro, Nothing else),Very thinly Nitro finished neck that in no way would appear gloss but satin (In my experience no pre CBS Fender has neck laquer that appears totally gloss like we see on all the re-issues), Seymour Duncan Antiquity pickups, Original 50's Sprague capacitors, Post 67 Telecaster wireing schematic as I personally find this more useable than what you would actually find in early 50's B & T type guitars.
John informed me that he allready uses real bakelite hand cut pickguards, CTS pots, CRL Switches & vintage cloth wire throughout & so I did not have to specify this as it came as standard on all Bravewood guitars where applicable.

All my requests were met by Bravewood & so this category gets a 10

The sound of the guitar is amazing, To me the success of a good electric guitar happens way before you plug it in & this one does not dissapoint, It is really light & super resonant with plenty of life & sustain.
Plugging it in all the above combined with the Seymour Duncan Antiquities give this guitar a real vintage vibe & it almost has a personality all of its own which suprised me as this feature only tends to come across with real vintage instruments, This is not something you often get with new guitars & is a feature that I have never found in any re-issue regardless of price & I should know, I have owned quite a few.
Certain guitars work better with certain amps, Forget your PODS & Modelling systems if you want to tell what a guitar really sounds like plug it into a real amp, After all you can't exactley crank a micro processor chip can you.
Amps I have tested this guitar with are: An original Marshall Plexi 50 head, A Marshall JTM45 Re-issue head, 2 original Fender Bassman heads silver & black face, A Vox AC15 & AC30, A Mesa Boogie dual Rectifier head & finally an ADA MP1 Pre Amp coupled to a Marshall valve stereo power amp.

The guitar did not dissapoint through any of the above, From low bedroom volume through to fully cranked the guitar never failed to please, It has given me all the sounds that I expected to get from a Telecaster type guitar + some, This guitar really does have balls.

The guitar came very well set up with 10 guage strings which I had asked for.
It was set up much better than the average guitar you would buy from a music shop but not quite to my taste.
I had to tighten the truss rod a little & slightly higher the action as it was a bit to low & buzy for my taste, I also had to slighty alter the pickup hights as the bridge pick up was giving me the wolf howl.
This is all really my personal prefrence bar the truss rod adjustment which is probably due the neck being new & unsettled.

The aged relic finish is unbeleivably real looking & very convincing, I really did not think that it was going to look & feel this good, All the checking looks very convincing & it is just as real looking as my on my original 61 Strat, Unlike Fender Custom Shop relics that look like spider web crackel finished guitars.
The worn rear neck finish is to die for & feels like silk, Just like an original worn neck should feel like, No tell tale sand marks or lines at all, How Bravewood perfected this feel is beyond me, I have only ever known this real worn silky feel on original vintage guitars.

Attention to original 50's spec. build detail is as close as I think anyone could get.
All the hardware is nicely aged, Worn & dull just like you would find on an original well played 50 year old guitar, Nothing is over done or over rusted like some of the over blown relics you find produced today.
The only fault I can find with the relic aged finish is that there is no fade/contrast under the pickguard from new to old but as this is not going to show so maybe I am being a little to picky, Also underneath the real nitro sprayed bakelite pickguard Bravewood have added the 5 inch overspary ring that is found on original black guard guitars, Allthough not something that is going to be seen it is a nice touch & adds to how authentic a vintage replica John at Bravewood has strived to produce.

This guitar is more than a repro relic replica, It is almost bordering on a frogery.
Given a few years to settle & be played in it can only get better.

I will definately gig this guitar, In fact I can't wait to.

Customer support has to be the best I have ever known, John is very helpful/friendly (well he put up with me phoneing him 3 times a week to discuss guitars) & is dedicated to what he does.
His relicing ageing processes are slightly secret but I know that he always conducting on going experiments to produce more authetic ageing to his guitars but if the one he has just built for me is anything to go by I think that he has all but cracked it.

I have been playing guitar for 20 years & besides all the amps I listed above I also own an original Pre CBS 61 Strat, An original pre CBS 64 Strat (refinished), A U.S.A. 62 reissue Strat & a Gibson Custom Shop Historic 54 reissue Les paul Gold Top.
Before ordering this guitar I was seriously considering buying a Fender Custom Shop 51 No Caster relic.
Now that I own this replica from Bravewood I am so glad that I didn't buy the Custom Shop guitar not only due to price but the fact is the Bravewood guitar is better than any of the Custom Shop No Casters that I have tried.

If it was lost or stolen I would definately order another one & just prey that it would turn out as good as this one did.

With the money that I have saved on not buying the Custom Shop No Caster I have such faith in Bravewoods guitars that I have recently orderd a relic Fiesta Red 62 Strat replica & a 57 Fiesta Red Strat replica non relic.
I am also considering Bravewoods Nitro paint services to refinish the body on my original 64 Strat.