Hahn Guitars Goldtop

2 piece alder body
maple neck with rosewood fretboard - boatneck contour
6105 frets
duncan handwound alnico 5/2 pickup in the bridge, and a stock alnico 5/2 in the neck
fender bridge and control plate
brass compensated saddles
stainless steel neck plate
nitrocellulose lacquer finish

My style of playing has influences from blues , country ,jazz ,rock and world music . The guitar is very sensitive to dynamics and the way you play . It is an open sounding responsive instrument. It sounds like a tele but has an added character that gives it an individual sound
I have mostly been using bridge pickup thru either my Mesa Boogie Dual Caliber DC-3 or 60' Airline amp. I usually also play thru a fultone Drive 2 Pedal and Boss DM2 .
I have also played thru a fender twin with a 15" speaker and I felt the neck pickup and the middle selections really sounded great with a larger speaker . I am still experimenting .

Extra Thin nitro lacquer finish . I believe that is why the guitar sounds so good . Its not suffocated under heavy lacquer but watch out it can be easily scratched

Great Setup . I was at his shop and spoke with him so he was aware of how I like my guitars setup and I was very happy

I have played it on a number of gigs and its been great . I can depend on it .


I always try to take a backup because you never know but I wouldn't be too worried if this was my only instrument for the night.

Chihoe Hahn seems dedicated to making great guitars and is easy to do business with . He always returns calls or emails

He was always friendly and helpful with any questions I had

I have been playing 15 years . I gig regularly ,do some recording and teach privately .

I own a American Strat , Gretsch hollow body , Emmons Pedal Steel , Asher Lap , Beard Dobro , other assorted lap and dobros.

I wished I had asked for a bigsby on the guitar. I have talked to ChiHoe and he is going to put one on in the near future .

I would definitely replace the guitar if it got stolen

Boutique Telecaster, USA 2007.
Two-piece swamp ash body, one-piece quartersawn maple neck, boatneck contour (soft V-shaped).
Transparent paper thin nitrocellulose lacquer. Clear gold top, black bakelite pickguard, transparent body finish.
Classic Tele-style Hahn stainless steel bridge, 3 Hahn brass saddles. Bone nut. Vintage-style Kluson/Gotoh tuners. 25 1/2" scale, 21 frets, 6105 fretwire.
2 single Lollar Special pickups. Volume, tone, 3-way selector.
Accessories: Hardshell case.
If I'd just have to pick a "don't like" feature, I'd say the truss rod adjustment bolt placed on the heel side of the neck. However, that's a distinctive feature of early Teles, and from another angle I'd say I love it. Just not so practical to use.
A classic '50s Tele, but made in 2007. No fake vintage. No relic. No bullshit. Just a damn good, simple, well built, gorgeous looking guitar.

I play jazz in a contemporary, americana-flavoured style. Beside hollowbodies, I love Teles, and I'm into exploring their potential in a jazz context (which may be challenging at times).
Unplugged, the guitar exhibits a fat and rich acoustic tone. Knocking the beautifully grained body, the whole guitar rings loud and warm from body to headstock. Vibrations are nicely felt in your belly while playing.
Plugged in, the overall impression is of a deep, full resonance coming from every fiber in the wood. At a detailed listen, it sounds like whatever you'd expect from a Tele, but with some midrange punch added. Ringing, brilliant highs, never harsh. Tight, exciting low end. And a thick, round body, never getting in the way though. Plenty of twang and snap. Endless sustain.
This guitar has a strong, distinctive voice. It keeps the unmistakable Tele character, but with a blues vibe in the middle.
What I really find exciting is how the guitar responds to touch. An enormous tonal palette is available just using dynamics or changing picking style, attack or pick shape. The guitar will react to everything dramatically, adding sparkle and emphasizing dynamics at your fingers' command. That's what I call a real singing guitar.
Pickup output is rather high, never compressed. Despite single coils, the guitar is dead quiet (unless you're picking up noise from close magnetic sources). That results in huge overall dynamics, perfectly suiting the guitar???s responsiveness.
Two thirds of the time, I play this guitar clean, neck pickup. The rest is center position clean or distorted. Both pickups show perfect balance. The neck one especially captures the guitar's distinctive sound. The bridge one is brilliant and rich, without the dryness you get from most Teles in the bridge position. Combined, they make one of the best center positions I've ever heard. Guaranteed cut through the mix, but never annoying.
Setup used: 1) Fargen Blackbird 30 combo A+B-ed with a Koch Twintone, Diamond Memory Lane analog delay placed in front of the second amp. Depending on touch and picking style, that's perfect for tones ranging from jazz to country. 2) Menatone VOS overdrive pedal into the Blackbird fed in parallel with a Dr.Z Z-28 head + 2x10 cab. Superb bluesy tone, from creamy crunch to exciting growl just depending on how heavy the picking. I get so many overtones I'll hardly need any reverb.

The guitar is wonderfully finished with extra thin nitro lacquer. Top is satin, clear gold. Faux top binding on the sides. Transparent finish on the swamp ash body. A beautiful grain is visible. With the addition of the black bakelite pickguard, the resulting color combination is elegant and makes great impression.
Neck is comfortable and smooth. Thick, '50s style, and it nicely fills up your left hand.
Body and neck appear perfectly matched and coupled. The three handmade brass saddles give a genuine vintage flavor. Everything conjures up a nice handmade feel.
Action was maybe a little too low for my preferences. No rattles/buzzes anyway and, most of all, absolutely even on the whole fretboard. Intonation is perfect. Excellent playability, the smoothest Tele I've ever played.
Every note on the whole fingerboard rings like crazy. No dead spots.
Pickups are perfectly balanced in volume between strings, not so usual even in high class instruments. This guitar was visibly tweaked to perfection before putting it out.

All hardware is made in the luthier's shop, except the tuners. Knobs, neck plate, control plate, bridge plate are thick and rock solid and they look like they're going to last beyond me.
The finish is so thin it would easily be scratched, but this can't be avoided if you want the wood to breath and resonate properly.
The Tele is an intrinsically solid guitar, anyway this one looks and feels quite reliable even on the hardware and electronics side.
I always have a backup when I gig but if I should do without it, this guitar would be my first choice.

I got the guitar two months ago, so I've got no repair experience so far.
I dropped a couple of lines to Chihoe Hahn, and he is a friendly and truly dedicated person. He's always answered me quickly and he's as unpretentious as he's good at making guitars. He remembers the individual history of every single guitar he's made and he really loves them all. I'd bet anything he's going to give great support if needed.

I've been playing for 20 years, most semi-professionally.
I own a bunch of guitars, and a few good Teles and G&L ASAT's among them. Honestly, I hadn't planned to buy this guitar because I was satisfied with my own rig. I had gone to my usual shop to buy some strings and I was first struck by the guitar's look, and having heard good things about Mr. Hahn's work, I asked to give it a try. Within five seconds, I was literally unable to put it down. I just had to bring it home.
So long, I haven't been able to study or practice on this guitar. It's too much a blast. I pick it up, start playing a couple of notes and it begins taking me somewhere I hadn't thought of. I can only say it's inspiring. If I plan to practice and stay focused on something specific, I'?d better pick up another guitar.
If it were stolen or lost I'd cry for weeks and then I'd write Mr. Hahn begging him to make another one same as good.
I've played and owned some great guitars I've enjoyed a lot, but this one has got a soul.