Cole Clark Offender

This guitar is an early (serial no 59) Cole Clark Tele prototype, before they changed the name to Culprit. It's much the same as on their website, but with a slightly more Fenderish headstock. Mine's black with a pearloid pickguard and standard Tele pickups and controls. The neck is slightly flamed maple with a rosewood cap. Tuners are Grover kluson-alikes (but much more solid feeling than the Klusons I have on another Tele) and it came with two roller string trees to keep things in tune. Another bonus was the straplocks it came fitted with - I usually have to buy a whole set everytime I buy a guitar just so I can get the strap pins, so this was a nice surprise. All in all it's got all the features you'd expect on a Tele (ie, not much) with a few extras to add to the appeal.

I've alwas wanted a Tele, but never thought it would be versatile enough to match my music - the bad I'm in plays everything from country to reggae to rock to blues to grunge. When this guitar came up it was too cheap to pass up, so I bought it figuring that at least I'd have it for the quiet sets and could whip out one of my other guitars for the heavier stuff. So I bought it that morning, had the tech set it up with some new strings, and played a gig with it that night.

This thing sounds awesome - the bright, cutting tone worked really well for cutting through the band mix where my strat would jsut blend in. And this carried over to it's distorted tone, with clarity and chunkiness that works great for everything from Green Day to Johnny Cash.

Whether or not it's sue to this being a prototype I don't know, but it feels like a custom shop instrument. They've obviously spent a good deal of time getting the neck shaping and finishing right, as well as all the small details like setting up the tuners and nut slots. The finish is flawless, and there's no gaps anywhere for me to stick my picks during gigs :)

The tech gave the guitar a look over before he gave it to me, including checking the setup and electronics - everything was excellent, with only some minor adjustments needed to get the guitar perfect.

It's a Tele, so I imagine it'll be around long after I'm dead. It held up fine to a full band practise and gig the day I bought it, only requiring tuning as the new strings wore in.

I also own one of Cole Clarks excellent acoustics, and had a minor concern about the soundboard which I e-mailed to the company. They got back to me within minutes and seemed genuinely happy to talk to their customers and hear what they have to say about their product.

Great guitar, glad I bought it.