Indiana Guitar Company Tell City Standard

2005? model tele copy made in China. If you are looking for a good serviceable tele style guitar, look no further. For $100 they are great, and would easily compete with any $500+ tele out there. Apparantly a reverse-engineered guitar because all of the Fender parts I have fit this guitar. Solid heavy real wood body not plywood. Nicely done sunburst finish. I'm not a big sunburst fan and had intended to re-do this in a solid color or just plain wood - but this sunburst is a little different? so I'm leaving it alone.

6K+ pickups give this guitar the expected tele sounds. Heavy body and tight neck/body joint fit give this guitar some balls and sustain. No noise or annoying pickup hum. I installed a center pickup and a 5 position switch and I need nothing more on/from a guitar.

Great action upon delivery but some of us are never satified. I totally disassembled the guitar to do the added pickup mod, and crowned and levelled the frets. Fabulous action on a nice fitting neck for me.

Heavy duty everything!!!

Indiana Guitar Company has a big presence on Ebay and I see some of their guitars in the local guitar shop, so I guess they are around for awhile. I hope so, because their guitars offer great value.

I've been at this guitar playing over 40 years. I didn't use this guitar for the recordings, but check this stuff out anyways.
www.podsafeaudio.com search 'daveski' and 'hoserski'. I've got different songs at each band site. Also soundclick.com search 'daveski'. If I can do this with $125 guitars, then there ain't no excuses and you know what I'm talking about.

man, this is a great guitar, and at a good price. Mine was made in 2005, or this year. This is a great begginer guitar. It has 22 frets, and 2 pick ups. Mine has a solid top. It has a tone and 2 volumes. Get a gig bag or hard case.....you dont want to scratch this thing up! The neck is Maple and the body is Mahogany.. I think.
It has these sweet coil pick ups by spitfire! They are great. Tuning is easy too! The body is a tele, sunburst, mine came with a cable.

I play reggae and punk, like sublime. So I want a guitar that says PLAY ME! It looks great as it sounds. I was not expecting it. Seriousely, this is a sweet guitar with those pickups.

It had barely any problems, but the intanation did not feel good to me. But that is me now, I play a Gibson SG as well, with a small neck. So it was me! You, if you live in NEW YORK, and it has an issue, send it to HAMPTON MUSIC AND ARTS IN HAMPTONBAYS! Other than that it was good, I give it a 9.

I use a Peavy amp, so that and the guitar sounds loud. It is a little more heavy than your average Fender Strat, I did not like that part of it. It is still playable. And it is well built. Not like a piece of trash, this is a good guitar!!! I would bring one other guitar for a gig, if I just bought it, it might go out of tune, but the is the intanation. And your back might hurt, so bring a light guitar!!!!!!!

Ive played for about over 4 years, I can see a awsomne guitar when I see it. I wish it had a Whammy Bar. I compared this guitar to a fender Telecaster, if you want a eaisier playing guitar choose this, develope your chops!

Indiana Tell City (Sunburst finish) [Chinese Fender Telecaster Clone]

- Solid Maple Neck
- Polished Nickel Frets
- Plastic Nut
- Spitfire Pickups (a generic brand specifically manufactured for Indiana Guitars)
- Chrome Hardware
- Single Ply Pickguard
- Sealed Diecast Tuners
- Classic Style Bridge
- 10 Year Manufacturer Warranty (A company claim. Who knows what it is worth since I have not dealt with them and no intention of doing so in the future since I do most my own work or use a guitar tech)

This is always a subjective category for any guitar. It all comes down to personal preferences and the nature/quality of the hardware installed. I should point out that I had a specific reason for buying a this budget guitar. Namely, I fully intended to transform this Tele clone into a little "beast" of a guitar for "relatively" a small amount of money (i.e. versus buying an American Fender Telecaster).

Having said that I will discuss this guitar from 2 distinct points of view: 1) The quality and playability of the guitar as shipped from the factory 2) The quality of the guitar after being "transformed" via various hardware upgrades (with a strong eye towards the cost/benefit advantages)

1) Guitar As Shipped:

This is a budget guitar and anyone buying it strictly for it's cheap price needs to be aware that "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch." This guitar is affordable because the components used on it are cheap.

- The tuners are acceptable but hardly ideal for fine tuning and long term reliability.
-The bridge saddles are acceptable but hardly ideal for "perfect" intonation.
- The guitar nut is made of plastic and on my particular guitar was totally worthless since it was improperly cut from the factory.
- The neck and fretwork are excellent for this price range. No complaints here.
-The body is solid wood, but I don't have a clue what type since the company doesn't state but once again no complaints here.
-The electronics (i.e. pots, switch, pickups) are as good as can be expected on this price of guitar will probably hold up well over time)

Anyone buying this guitar will definitely want to have a new nut cut either out of bone or slip stone or whatever they like. Luckily this isn't an expensive repair, but the nut that ships is a joke.

The tuners and bridge saddles are fine, but if you plan on keeping for a while to learn on then I would definitely replace the Tuning machines and upgrade the bridge saddles.

The guitar as shipped has minor (but easily fixable flaws)and for the price that isn't to bad.

2) Guitar as Upgrade Project

I bought this guitar to wail on it. All that is left of the original guitar are the neck and the body. I replaced the tuners with Sperzel locking tuners, replaced the string trees with graphtech ones, had a new bone nut cut and installed, replaced the bridge saddles with Wilkinson compensated brass bridge saddles for fine tuning of intonation, replaced all electronics with premium component parts (OakGrigsby 3 Way Switch, 2 CTS 250K Pots, Hovland MusiCap Capacitor, etc.), Installed a set of seymour duncan pickups (neck: Alnico II Pro Rhythm bridge: Little 59 model ST59-1 mini humbucker). Replaced standard white pickguard with a cool black pearloid pickguard)

As you can see I completely overhauled this guitar and now it rocks! It will stand toe to toe with any American $900+ telecaster and not miss a beat/note ;) All for the low low price of $119 & $320 parts/labor. A $440 investment that truly plays like a $1000+ guitar.

So there is my review! If you want to hot rod a guitar and yet not dent your wallet then this little cheapy guitar isn't a bad way to go. If you are a beginner just trying to find a guitar to play on for a while as you find you feet as a musician then this guitar is fine (but I strongly suggest a new nut installation about $20-$30 in any honest guitar shop).

I have nothing but positive things to say about the potential of this model of guitar, but for neophytes they might want to spend more money and go with one of the bigger name budget guitars.

*My rating score is based on the guitar as shipped. with a new nut add 2 points

Good sunburst paint job, no fundamental flaws affecting playability (but see nut concerns above), woodwork decent and not a concern. All around good job. Action was functional, but who doesn't adjust the action on any new guitar anyways?

Live Playing?

As shipped I would gig live with this thing without installing a new nut at least. Toss on some new tuning machines and some new bridge saddles and then it with cut it live. But if you want to ensure a good live experience then you will definitely want to double check the electronics by looking "under the hood."

I don't know and I don't care because I doubt they either know shit about what you want in your guitar or give a shit what you want in your guitar. lol They produce a fundamentally sound guitar that suffers less from poor workmanship than it does from cheap parts. But this is a budget guitar after all so you have to be aware of that going in.

Been playing 6 years and never practice less than 3 hours a day unless I don't have a chance. I take my playing seriously. I have 2 guitars. 1) American Fender Stratocaster 2) Indiana Tell City (this one is substantially modified)

My final and overall assesment of this guitar is that it rules! I modified the hell out of it for "relatively" few dollars and now it will hold its own with guitars 2 & 3 times it's overall price. A $440 investment that was worth every dollar.

feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Year: 2005
Frets: 22
Body: Wood (Mine was glued in three Sections)
Controls: Volume and Tone - Knobs and 3 Way Switch
Pick Ups: 2
Pick Up Make: Spitfire Pickups (Assume their Brand)
Pick: Passive Electornics (?)
Body: Neck - Maple Neck, Body - Hardwood (Not sure type)
Finish: Sunburst
Bridge: String-Thru Body
Tuners: Non Locking - Sealed Diecast Tuners
Frets: Nickel Frets
Hardware: Chrome
Pickguard: Single Ply
Bridge: Classic Style Bridge
Warranty: 10 year
Guarantee: 7 Day money back Guarantee if not completely satisfied.
Accessories: Cable and Bag
Dots: Inked - on not In lays.
Standard Tele Features - No Extras
This Guitar is similar to the Deluxe except it has a "Plain" Maple neck ~ I think that is the only major difference.

Music Style: Has a Nice Sound with my little amp.
Effects: Don't use any.
Sound: Full/Darker than my Strat.
Dislikes: Had an issue with the 5th Fret upon Receiving the guitar and had to do some self repair to glue it in place.

SetUp: Good from Factory (Expect Fret Issue noted before)
Pickup Adjustment: Fine
Flaws: Controls knobs seem a little cheap (Plastic (?) - no set screw), There is a gap between the Body and Neck (Top side near pick guard), 5th Fret was sticking up had and to be glued down.

Withstand Live Playing: Yes
Will HW Last: Yes - Seems solid, but Knob are kind of cheap.
Finish: Looks solid.
Strap Buttons: Look solid.

Have you dealt with the company - Helpful/Friendly:
Well - Yes and No - Per the Warranty they stand by the Product for 10 years, but when I emailed them about the Fret issue they send me back to the seller - Saying all repairs/questions must go there first. Since I eBayed this it made it a little complicated (I'm in CA and the seller is in FL). I did get a nice email from someone else at the company telling me how I could fix it myself with Super Glue and Tape. I did not want the hassle so I fixed it myself. I contacted the Seller and he did help correct the problem and was welling to work with me ~ So I give them points for that.

Playing: For about 5 years.
Other Gear: Several Acoustic Guitars and one other electric strat Style.
Questions before buying: I Like buying things on the Internet, but maybe not best for a guitar - Touch and Feel of a guitar is so important, but it did work out for me this time.

If Lost: I would consider a different brand maybe Jonhson Del Sol, but I'm happy with the Tele City Standard.