Langcaster Dark Kauri Telecaster

Tenth Anniversary Edition Dark Kauri Strat. Special headstock and inlay for the anniversary model. 35,000 year old Kauri wood body (oldest workable wood on earth), custom lo-impedance pickups and electronics, built in overdrive with gain knob, satin maple neck with ebony fretboard. Schaller bridge and locking tuners. A completely unique and beautiful instrument.

The best of both worlds...strat tone with LP sustain. Langcaster builds their own pickup/preamp/overdrive set and it sounds amazing...especially when plugged into a vintage Fender tube amp. Loads of blues tone but with a bit more ring and harmonic overtone than a typical strat. Bell-like clean tones. Built in overdrive is a nice addition if you are going to a single channel amp. It provides a nice warm crunch at the low setting and rock solid overdrive at the high gain setting. Probably not dirty enough for metal but great for anything else.

The guitar is visually stunning! It was the photos and the uniqueness of the kauri wood that drew me to this model. The guitar traveled from New Zealand to Texas in just two days and arrived in excellent playing condition. String height was just a hair higher than my other guitars but it plays so well and so cleanly that I think I will leave it set up as is. The fit and finish is outstanding showing the care of a first class custom builder.

The guitar is absolutely solid and I have no qualms about playing anywhere with it. Bolt-on neck contains six bolts rather than the typical four (two under the plate and four on top). All switches, knobs and hardware are substantial and built to last. Guitar comes with Schaller 3D bridge, locking tuners, and strap locks which are all excellent quality. Please note that the body is quite dense and the guitar is comparable in weight to a traditional Les Paul.

10 +++ in this category. Joh Lang is what you wish all builders were like, a guitar player that builds guitars for the pure love of building a great instrument. Every e-mail was promptly answered. My request for a wiring and switch change was no problem at all. I spoke with three other Lancaster owners and they said the same thing: "Great guy to deal with and you will be thrilled with the guitar". They were right on both counts.

Most musicians pride themselves on their individuality. Yet in reality, most guitar players really tend to be a bunch of lemmings that buy the same guitars that everyone else has and copy the same licks everyone else plays. I was not planning to buy a guitar from New Zealand, but even the highest end custom shops in the U.S. are all fundamentally building the same guitars. After 35 years of playing, I wanted something different and special but also outstanding to play. The Langcaster fit the bill perfectly and I could not be more pleased with my purchase. Check the other reviews and talk to the owners about how much they love the instrument and how much they appreciate the builder. If you are looking to go your own way for the next guitar, you can't go wrong here. Finally, its worth noting that even though these are not inexpensive guitars, they cost considerably less than what most comparable high end custom guitars sell for so I would call it a great value as well.

This is the second Langcaster that I've bought from New Zealand luthier Joh Lang.I went with a more tradition tele setup.Schaller 3d bridge and locking tuners,2 Langcaster Ultimate Lo pup's with built in overdrive.The neck is AAA rock maple with ebony fingerboard,double action truss rod and 2 graphite reinforcement rods and the 35000 year old kauri wood body.Lots of case candy included as well.

This is a lil different sounding than my Langcaster strat;the pickups are wound a lil hotter and really likes to rock.The sound is similar to my Fender custom shop Clarence White tele.The White tele has a strat pup in the neck position and becomes humbucking when the 2 pup's are on.However the Langcaster has way more range than any tele I've heard.The Ultimate Lo pickups are high definition and are what single coils should sound like.The frequency response is incredible,rich and full without getting flabby,and it can also cut thru any mix.
Like the Langcaster strat I tried it with my Pritchard Sword of Satori amp and was blown away by the sound.Even with high gain there was no noise at all.Using a Behringer V-Amp,I tried a clean sound with a lil delay and chorus,the sound was spacious,even using the built overdrive with the V-Amp produced no noise.I even got the classic tele cluck with the bridge pup and a lil compression.
The built in overdrive is a plus,way better than most overdrive pedals.
I play mostly blues,but you can use this tele for any style,I even got Jimmy Page approved tones using a Fulltone Soul Bender,tube echo and a Dr Z Maz 38.

I asked Joh for a low setup without fretting out and that's exactly what I got.The workmanship on his instruments are as stunning as the 35,000 year kauri that the guitar is made of.No flaws what so ever.

These Langcasters are as reliable as they come,I'd gig without a backup with no worries.

Like I said in my Strat review,Joh is a great person to do business with.I wish all guitar companies would conduct business like Joh does.These guitars are so well made that I'm sure they're gonna outlast me,LOL!!!!!

All in all my 2 purchases from Langcaster have been a great experience,and I'm looking forward to my next purchase.
What I like about these guitars is they are visually stunning,but they even sound way better than they look.There is nothing in my guitar collection<and I have quite a few>that comes close to these Langcasters.

First of all apologies, I have one written up as a Telecaster but that was a Stratocaster!.
So here is the FIRST ever Dark Kaori Telecaster.
Joh makes a Cobra / Telecaster in light Kaori wood with a vicious Cobra inlay, but I didn't like that look as much so I asked him to do one for me without inlay in Dark Kaori.
Solid Dark Kaori swamp wood - 35,000 year old
Rock Maple neck
Two of his new Lo impedance no hum pick ups
Schaller bridge and straplocks and locking tuners
Very nicely inlaid headstock cut in Kaori art fashion.
Came with case and certificate some other info, a strap, fluid for wiping down the guitar and a cloth piece.
Electronics include 3 way switch, volume, tone, gain knob and overdrive on/off switch.

Well besides the way it looks the reason why I keep coming back to Joh for more of his guitars is the sound. Unsurpassed!
These have the best pure clean sound I've ever heard, great through my Holland amp (Brentwood 2x12).
Besides that these pick ups pack a real punch and if you crank it you get great rock and blues sounds.
Also the Pick Up on the Tele are set to be a little hotter then on the strat so better suited for blues rock grunge etc. vs. the strat which is set up a little less hot.
I actually also got a matching Strat with this new Tele and both sound incredible, best sounding Strat / Tele on earth!

Well these are completely hand made as well as completely brand new.
Some things will need to settle in, but the fit and finish looked pretty much flawless!

These guitars are rock rock solid, I'd gig with these and carry no back up. These lasted 35,000 and they will continue to last!.

Joh is the best!
I had mentioned that I didn't like part of the headstock being in the way of one of the tuners and for my new one he promptly adjusted the headstock a little.
Also the guy .. never sleeps, always open for an email and a word.

Langcasters are seriously the best guitars out there. Besides that they are the most gorgeous!
So check them out if you want at www.langcaster.com or if you want drop me an email I can show you mine.
Great to play, better sound, fabulous looks, amazing just amazing!
And yes they aren't cheap but worth every penny and then some