Nash Guitars Telecaster Relic

Telecaster T-63 Model. Ice Blue, Heavy relic'd and absolutely gorgeous. Basic Tele setup with Lollar pickups that are the best, most natural sounding pickups I've heard. Neck is maple with rosewood and the back is sanded down just perfect, satin feel, avoiding that heavy gloss on Fender stock Teles. Jumbo frets are perfectly fitted, smooth and not a bump on any.

I play mostly retro country and alt.country styles with good helpings of western swing and honky tonk. The Nash is the best to capture that classic twang and 50's swing that only a Telecaster can give. I've play it straight to my Fender Deluxe Reverb (customized with RCA NOS tubes, Jensen Neo 12") or Fender HRD (Celestion 30 and AT7 JJ Telsas). I usually play with some TS9s (Keely modded) and Maxon compressor, but the Nash don't need 'em. No noise from what I can tell. The Lollars are absolutely beautiful, clear, crisp, full, with a great air-y-ness that I've been craving. Each selector position is very distinct, natural, so you get great classic Tele tones as you would expect. I'm blown away by these pickups.

I knew I was going to buy the Nash as soon as I picked it up. I fit my hand like... well, guitar players know what I'm talking about. When you find the right guitar, you just know it. Set is perfect, though there is a slight intonation problem with the D-string above the 12th fret. But I don't mind that much, adds character (just move my fingers up a bit)! The finish is awesome as well. Heavy relic'd so maybe a bit more "damage" than I would have preferred, but it plays so perfect and sounded so good (even through a Mesa Boogie amp - yikes), that it doesn't matter. Action is low, perfect.

I just bought today, so don't know how it will perform in live situations, but don't doubt it will hold it's own. Don't anticipate any issues.

No issues yet. Nash's website is very cool, funny as sh#!. There's a list of songs you can't play on a Nash. Warranty is 2 years so if there's any weirdness, don't doubt I can get it addressed.

Pro player, 30+ years playing all types of music, mostly blues, country, jazz and some classic rock. I've known about Nash guitars for a couple of years now, but they were priced a bit high for me. I always thought I could find a great Tele at a great price and tried out a ton. I made the mistake of trying a Nash two years ago and then not buying it and regretted it ever since. Nash's don't stay long in the store, so if you find one, you've got to grab it. If this were lost or stolen, I would cry, cry, cry. Nash's are one of a kind, hand-built, custom guitars and worth every penny. Save your money, don't by the crud out there posing as "road worn" Telecasters. I wish I would have bought that one two years ago, but with my Nash T-63 in Ice Blue, the wait was worth it.

I have one in Blue, one in Pink, and one in Black... also another in Sonic Blue on Order. Lollar pickups, also the Rio Grand pickups sound great. Nice fret dressing too and set up.

This guitar is great for Blues, Rock and Roll, Rockabilly... you name it. The current Picasso of guitar makers. I use this with a Marshall Valvestate Amp and Boss GT-6 effects box. It sounds great with all pickup selections (yes, it does). Lollar pickups sound bright and bluesy, and you can even get some Strat Sounds from them.

Guitar is set up by the man who puts every one together (still)... apparently with only one assistant... don't know how long he can keep this up... without more employees. He apparently puts pieces together to suit how he feels the individual guitar wants to be assembled... I believe this, playing his guitars (I own 4). No flaws...

Guitar is set up fof 50 years of playing in any venues (in my oppinion)... hand-aged hardware. Jack plug on one (out of 6 I have owned now) was a little tight to insert plug (probably due to his ageing process)... but still worked fine. Otherwise, no faults at all. Finish on all his various Tele Colors VERY authentic... can be used as your only guitar any day.

This guy responds to EMails within a couple days, and offers to make things right in ways no bigger Manufacturer has for me (to date... not to say they wouldn't.. just haven't asked yet). He stands behind his products 100 percent with me.

I have owned authentic Blackguard Teles... been playing since late 1980's... if this was lost/ stolen would replace with same. Love the finish, set up and also above all the sound. Only down side is his inexpensive gig bags... but considering he charges half what these should cost, who can fault the man?

So, a number of months back I found myself shopping for a tele style guitar and after having passed literally dozens of Fenders through my hands and finding nothing that felt like it was a crap I nearly gave up. Then a buddy back east says I have this guitar for sale, you should try it. My Nash T-Series has become the workhorse on the road, in the studio and in session work. It simply is my favorite guitar to play. I like fat necks and I cannot lie, and this guitar is meaty as it gets. A set of Lollar pickups, brass saddles, and 11's make a virtual tele tone machine from hell.

The sound is classic twang-banger tele but with an added punch. No milky swoosh tele/strat washout here, this is classic sock-you-in-da-mouth crystal clear. The middle position is so full and rich, almost as if it were EQ'ed to death somewhere down the wire chain. Just perfect. The bridge pickup screams great leads without being too bright to take. Roll off the tone knob just a hair and and all of the sudden your living Zeppelin I all over again.

Great! Fret work was excellent, and the guitar played itself. Hardly a tweak since I got it, and it's been through at least 6 States, dozens of shows and string changes. Tele's have always been very comfortable for me, and this Nash body is rounded over just a bit more than other tele's so never any forearm rash.

Structurally solid as a brick, this thing can take anything that's thrown at it....and so far has. The finish is uber-thin in an effort to really create the look and feel of a 50 year old guitar, so it won't take much effort at all to work more relic into it as time goes by. Fine with me cause I like the beat look, but those who intend to minimize wear may be turned off a bit to the finish's fragility.

Nash is the coolest. Not only has he responded promtly to inquires, but we damn near converse by e-mail on occasion, I can hardly shut him up. Great guy, great builder of fine player guitars!

These guitars are fantastic player guitars. Get past the whole relic hype and often what remains is a substandard guitar. Not nash, these are finely dialed vintage instruments that are crafted, assembled and set-up to be performance machines, and they look friggen' kick-ass to boot! Step-up...you never know, this guy could burn out on fret-jobs and open a bookstore in Yakima. You won't want to ever say...I wish I had bought a Nash when I had the chance.

I sent a reveiw of this guitar a couple days ago, and since then I have decided to send the neck back to Nash in order to get it shaved into a soft "V" all the way up the neck - right now it ends at about the 9th fret, and after that it's the unshaved "U" shaped fat-back neck with the finish still on it. I also want him to check-out the nut, and fix it if it isn't "supposed" to be that way (it could be part of the "relic" look, and if that's the case, I don't want to tell an "artist" how to do his work. The nut was shimmed, and the shim doesn't come to the ends of the nut, so a gap is visible on either side of the neck. It doesn't seem to effect playability, but it is a little bothersome cosmetically. No biggie, but I would prefer a bone nut anyways, and he uses tusq. He actually has a valid reason for liking tusq because of it's "slippery" quality, but since this isn't a strat with a whammy bar, that isn't as much of a concern for me. I just prefer bone, or 10,000 year old fossil ivory. ANYways, if you go ahead and publish my review it's okay, but I would like to re-do it after I get the neck and nut back, plus I haven't actually taken it apart yet, so I don't really know what's on the inside yet, as far as shielding etc. Just let me know in an email if it's okay to re-do my review after I get the neck back from Mr. Nash. Thanks for a great resource!!!

Dave Currie curriedavid@yahoo.com

My Nash Telecaster (or "Broadcaster") relic was made in 2004 in Olympia, Washington by Mr. Bill Nash. I purchased it from Phil Emerson of "Phil's Guitars", who is honest, knowledgable, and a GREAT guitarist himself. This particular instrument features a feather-light one-piece slab-cut swamp-ash body married to a one-piece slab-cut maple neck. The neck is a fat-back "U" shaped neck which has been shaved-down to a soft "V" shape up to about the 10th fret. The frets are jumbo sized, and they were carefully dressed by Mr. Nash for the best feel and playability. The body was finished using the same techniques Fender used in the early 1950's, including the fullerplast coat under the nitro laquer. The color of the body is simular to the butterscotch Fender used, but it got a HEAVY relic treatment by Bill Nash, so it looks very old. Some people might think it's stupid to pay someone to ding-up your new guitar, but it adds character to the guitar, and now I don't have to worry about adding any dings to it myself. The relic process also improves the tone and playability, as you can read about in the Tonequest article about Bill Nash. The neck fits VERY snugly into the body, and the feather-light one-piece body married to the large neck (Phil said it weighs about 6 pounds) are VERY resonant. I even like to play it unplugged it sounds so good. This guitar is significantly louder acoustically than other Telecasters I have played, and I think the large neck which is tightly fitted to the feather-light one-piece body contributes to that wonderful resonance. The pickups are "aged Dimarzio's" according to Phil, and the neck pickup has staggered magnets, which I hadn't expected. The pickups are more "trebly" than other telecasters I have played, without being "harsh" sounding. That gives this guitar more of that sound which defines the telecaster and sets that design apart from other solid body electric guitars. The neck pickup is wonderful sounding too - with the tone rolled-off it has a wonderful "woody", "jazzy" sound to it - almost like a hollow body guitar. The tone pot has an amazing range to it - much more than other telecasters I have played. I really like the sound of these pickups, just as Phil predicted I would, and I don't plan to change them.

I mostly play along to the blues, but I also enjoy playing along with many other types of music too. Besides most of the old classic blues, some of my favorites are Jimi Hendrix (of course), Bob Marley, Greatful Dead, Little Feat. We are blessed with a great blues scene here in Portland, and there are many local musicians who are the best! I also love hot telecaster players like Gatton, Vince Gill, Arlene Roth, etc. I am learning how to play with a slide, because I just love that sound. This guitar gives me everything from a very mellow jazzy sound up to a piercing, screaming, biting, trebly sound - it has an enormous range. The pickups do have the usual single-coil noise, but I've heard worse. It will become quieter after I thoroughly shield the body cavities, which all single-coil guitars should have done, then they become quiet. I just love the sounds this guitar can make - it is a classic sounding telecaster. I had some Barden pickups in one of my telecasters once, and while I sort of liked the hot, over-driven sounding neck Barden pickup, I found the bridge Barden pup to be too "sterile" sounding - not harsh sounding, just not "musical", in my opinion. I just add that to demonstrate that I don't automatically like every pickup, but the pickups in this guitar sound great to me.

I raised the action a bit, but other than that it was setup just about right the way it arrived. The strings it came with were the .10-.46 gauges that I generally use. I did try a set of .09's and a set of .11's, but the .10's seemed to sound the best, and that's what I usually use. The pickups and intonation were setup correctly, so I didn't have to tweak them much. I did experiment a bit, but in the end I ended-up right where it had started. While some people don't like the intonation capability of "uncompensated" three-saddle telecaster bridges, to my ears it seems to be intonated just about perfectly. Guitars can't be intonated perfectly anyways, and I think the three-saddle telecaster bridges get close enough even without the slanted compensated saddles that are available for them further. The three-saddle bridges definetly seem to sound significantly better to me than the six-saddle telecaster bridges, in my opinion, which is why I'm ordering a three-saddle Callaham bridge for my other Fender American Telecaster. I may eventually upgrade my Nash Broadcaster to a Callaham bridge (which has compensated saddles) and/or three titanium saddles in the future, but I tend to want to leave it the way it came because it looks so cool. When I play it hard acoustically I can really hear the bridge's sound, so a more solid Callaham bridge might sound better, but then again maybe not? If I like the Callaham bridge and/or titanium saddles on my American Telecaster, then I may try them on this Nash Broadcaster too, but I tend to want to leave this Hash guitar the way it came. The only flaw I saw in it, was that the nut seems to be shimmed, and since the shim material doesn't come all the way to the edges it appears there is a gap under the nut on both sides of the neck. That is mainly a cosmetic problem though, because it seems to play fine, and the nust seems to be seated solidly. The nut is probably made out of "Tusq", which Bill favors (he talks about that in the Tonequest article too), but I may get a bone nut cut for it in the future. It seems a shame to have something like a poorly shimmed nut take away from an otherwise flawless guitar, so I will probably have it replaced with a properly cut bone nut in the future, mainly for cosmetic reasons. The guitar came with a high quality Gotoh "vintage-style" tuning machines, and they seem to work fine. Bill feels that the tuning machines contribute significantly to the sound, and as I play it acoustically I can hear why - if you put your ears near the tunning machines while playing you can really hear those tunning machines ring. I can also hear the sound of the neck, which is not nearly as noticable on my thin-necked telecaster. I consider the "relic" process Bill uses to be an art, and he is a master of this art. It really looks and plays like a guitar which has been played every day for 50+ years! Phil added a Fender Broadcaster logo to the peg-head before shipping it to me, plus the bridge has a #1465 stamped on it, which adds to the early 1950's vibe. It's obviously not a "real" Fender for several reasons though, and I would never try to sell it as such, although Bill could surely fool the experts if he really wanted too. He makes a "relic" as good or better than the Fender Custom Shop is producing, and he sells them for less than half the price of a Fender relic. I am very satisfied with this guitar, and I plan to order a "60's" Telecaster (alder body/rosewood neck) from Mr. Nash next year, and perhaps even a "thin-line" telecaster too. I may not get those guitars with as much of a relic treatment as this Broadcaster has though - it has a real junkyard-dog look to it. Probably most people would think it is an "ugly" guitar to look at, but it's beautiful to me!!!

This guitar is solid, and all the hardware is top quality. The strap buttons are the larger old-style buttons, and you really don't need strap-locks with those. I don't think anything will ever stop working on this guitar, because it's a very simple, time-tested design utilizing high-quality components, and built by an expert who really knows what he is doing. This is a guitar I can depend on the rest of my life - it will probably last for hundreds of years for that matter!

I sent Bill Nash an email with a couple questions, and he responded with a prompt, friendly reply. I'm not sure if he has a formal warranty, but if anything was to go wrong I am confident both Phil Emerson and/or Bill Nash would fix it if it was a manufacturing defect (frets popping out, etc.). They are a couple of honest as can be just plain nice guys - there are too few of those types left in the world it seems. It is always a joy dealing with Phil, who I have bought several guitars from in the past.

I have been playing off and on (mostly off) for about 35 years. I love guitars and have a few, both acoustic and electric. I usually play through a 1961 Ampeg Reverberocket (the first combo amp with onboard reverb) with 6V6 power tubes and an alnico 12" Jensen speaker, or a 1964 Ampeg reverberocket with 7591 power tubes and a Ceramic 12" Jensen speaker. I also have a 1955 Fender Champ, a 1970 Princeton Reverb, a 1959 Gibson GA-5, and I plan to get a silverface Fender Duluxe Reverb to put a JBL speaker in, in order to bring out the best of my Nash "Broadcaster" I would definetly buy another Nash guitar, and I plan to order another in the future. If anyone is thinking of getting a Fender "relic" telecaster (or any other Fender model), I would highly recommend Bill Nash, both for value and quality. You can also specify the kind of features you want (neck shape, pickups, color, etc.), to get a special "personal" instrument made for yourself. I just lucked-out with this guitar, because Phil is selling Nash guitars as soon as he gets them, but he had just gotten this one in when I inquired about them. It has the features I wanted, and it even has pickups that I didn't know I wanted! I had expected some kind of "flat-pole" pickups since that is what Fender used in the early 1950's, but it came with staggered magnet pickups, which give it a more "biting" quality than the flat-pole Fralin "Broadcaster" pickups I have in another guitar. While the bridge pickup is more "trebly" and "biting" than the Fralin's, I find the neck pickup it has is more "woody" and "jazzy" sounding than the Fralin flat-pole neck pickup. It turned-out that the staggered magnet pickups I probably wouldn't have ordered are a feature I really do life, so that was serendipity. Phil Emerson really knows his stuff, and he told me this was the best telecaster Bill had sent him yet, and verily I love it. I wanted a very light guitar because of my bad back, and Phil said this is the lightes one he has gotten from Bill so far (just a tad over 6 pounds), which probably contributes to its resonance too. One piece bodies were very rare at Fender, and it is generally agreed by luthiers that one-piece bodies sound better, so that contributes to its great sound, along with the big neck that is tightly married to it. This guitar is like an old friend that just begs to be played, and if I get a ding it's no biggie, so I feel very comfortable playing it. If it gets stolen I can always order another one, but each guitar Bill makes is totally unique, especially when he relics them, so I would hate to lose this guitar. I would rate this a fantastic value, and encourage others to check out Mr. Nash's guitars - he is an artist. I like to experiment with my guitars and I do some repair work, so I could probably put together a guitar myself and save a few hundred dollars, but I would rather have an expert like Mr.Nash do it for me because he does great work and uses great materials. Phil Emerson at Phil's Guitars is Nash's USA distributer, and you couldn't find a more honest, knowledgable and honest guy to deal with than Phil. I encourage anyone interested in this guitar to read the article about Bill Nash in Tonequest, and to also read the reviews of his guitars in harmony central etc. This Nash Broadcaster I just got is always going to be one of my main guitars. I have only had it for a couple of weeks, but I've been playing it more than any of my other guitars because it is fun to play. It already feels like an old friend! It is very comfortable to play, sounds wonderful, and looks as funky as can be - what more could you ask for?!

Well, I found Bill Nash on the web, read a bunch of his reviews, saved up and eventually had him build me an amazing 55' strat (I reviewed it on this site too). Truely an incredible guitar. Never did I imagine that I would be lucky enough to get a second Nash guitar!

My 63' "T" was given to me as a wedding gift...and what a gift!

Gorgeous fire engine red with a meaty rosewood and maple neck. Simple, classic and built like a tank. Duncan Hot pickups (2 of course) and vintage hardware.

My tele has been reliced beautifully. More on that later...

Rating? Its a straight-forward tele. Simple as you can get.

Loud and bell-like. Guitar sounds are tough to describe in words. Despite its amazing volume (even unplugged) it has a clear and even responce. I've played plenty of loud guitars, but very few have been as even as this guitar. This says a lot about how well it was put together...more on that later too.

Bill excels in this area. No joke, I have never played a "bolt-on" guitar that feels so solid. The action is low, yet not buzzing...the joints are air-tight (note that I am not putting that in quotes...this thing would stay together without the bolts!)....and the finish?

The finish has been aged.

Bill is, quite simply, creating the world's best aged guitars. As I said in my other review, this is not some guy beating up a guitar to make it look old from a distance. Bill's guitars look authentic right down to tiny details. My tele is what I would call a "lightly aged beauty." Minor dings, scratches and rub marks and, my favorite, a worn neck that feels like a million bucks. The metal parts are amazingly aged...I honestly can't believe how real Bill's work looks. I've had this guitar for months now and I still stare at it in disbelief.

Vintage look, but built like a tank...more on the build now....

Teles are built like tanks. Bill builds tanks too. My guitar is, thusly, built like...you guessed it...a tank.

No really folks, this guitar was built very very well. No signs of "corner-cutting". Joints are super-tight, tuners hold perfectly and the entire instrument vibrates wonderfully as a result.

Positively no concern over the reliability or durability of this guitar.

Well, this was a gift...but in the spirit of informing you, the potential NashGuitar owner, I will give you my experience when Bill built my strat.

Perfect.

Bill is a truely dedicated guy. Calls and emails were answered quickly. Answers were honest and in my best interest (not always his). Always polite. Just the way it should be.

Congratulations...you have found one the custom guitar world's best kept secrets.

This is not a weekend-warrior building guitars with no vision.
These are not pretty guitars with no soul.

This is the best aged tele you can get without spending five thousand bucks (or a lot more). The sound, the finish, the reliability....all of them are leaps and bounds past what other manufacturers are creating...and Bill Nash does it for less than what the big guys are charging for mass-produced guitars.

Ok, I'll put it to you in one more way. I am luck enough to own two NashGuitars. I've played for a long time and played zillions of guitars...even been lucky enough to get my hands on several very-sought-after vintage guitars. Bill's guitars are EASILY the best guitars I have ever played. They are built by someone who truely cares about his craft and each instrument he produces.

You have found an incredible guitar maker. I am lucky enough to have two examples of this fact.

1963 style Telecaster relic (heavily reliced) from Bill Nash at Nash Guitars. This guitar was actually purchased from Phil's guitars, one of Bill's dealers in Washington. Olympic white body with maple neck and fretboard, kluson vintage style tuners, 3 barrel compensated saddles, and three ply mint green pickguard. The neck is a soft vintage "V", it feels killer. The pickups are Fralin Blues, they have a great spank and punch. The bridge is twangy and snarling, the middle position is total Gatton, the neck is smooth! Typical features of a vintage style Tele.

Perfect for the music that I play- blues, rock, classic rock, indie rock, blues/funk, rockabilly, roots music stuff in general.

I have recently been using a 5E3 tweed Deluxe clone by Burrissamps.com. It's a fantastic amp and the Tele is a perfect match. In the bright input of the Deluxe the Tele can get a great natural growl/overdrive, plugging into the normal input on the Deluxe will yield a cleaner sound for more versatilty. Other amps I play through are usually Burriss custom amps of all shapes and sizes...

The Fralin pickups are not noisy and sound fantastic, it's no surprise to see that they are some of the most popular aftermarket pickups. They absolutely smoke the pickups that Fender currently uses in their American Standard series. I hate to give 10s, but this is the best Tele that I've played in my 12 years as a player. This guitar plays and sounds as good or better than the 1963 Fender Custom Shop "NOS" Telecaster that I previously owned (and sent back$). Needless to say is destroys the American Standard Telecaster that I usually play.

TONE!

The guitar arrived immediately ready to rock, just needed to be tuned (string were loosened to relieve tension while shipping). The intonation was perfect and the action felt great. The neck and body are very tight- the guitar feels like a rock because it's so solid (killer sustain). It's a nice wieght also. The Fralin pickups are very sensative and I might lower them a little later on, but that's a personal preference and has nothing to do with the true "set up" of the rest of the guitar. I've never played a more comfortable Tele.

I've ran over it with my car fifteen times and it's still in tune!

Bill is really cool, I talked to him on the phone several times. He'll change anything on the guitar if you don't like it.

My next guitar will be a Nash Strat... I will NEVER buy another Fender unless it's strictly a vintage collectable piece. I will buy many Nash Guitars in the future, stolen or not.

I've been in several bands around town, play a lot in bars, I've owned tons of amps and guitars.

The price was the first thing that got my attention, the relicing was the second, all of the reviews are glowing so he must be doing something right!

The guitar feels and sounds great, I haven't found one thing that I dislike about it! The funny thing is this guitar was not even custom made for me.

1 piece swamp ash body (4 lbs), compound (7.25 to 9.25" radius) maple neck (USA Custom Guitars), 21 jumbo (6100) frets, standard Telecaster controls, standard Telecaster hardware (3 saddle bridge). Seymour Duncan '54 Telecaster pickups.
Simple straightforward Telecaster all the way. The neck is USACG's "the '54" with 1 11/16" nut. It's a chunkier "V" that tapers to a fat "C", sort of. Very comfortable. Great for larger hands. Solid. Moderate "relic" finish.

Rich, full neck pickup sound; bright, twangy from the bridge pickup. Very nice overdriven. Played through a Marshall TSL 100, with various Fulltone and Analogman effects. I was surprised to find that it was not noisy (am used to "noiseless" Dimarzio virtual vintage pickups on another guitar). The full range of quintessential Telecaster sounds right there at your fingertips.

I have to say "WOW" in this category. Action was as close to perfect for me as I've encountered. Fret work was wonderful. This is one solidly built guitar that has extremely high playability. The relic finish is INCREDIBLE. I can't stop looking at it. It looks to me like it's actually a '52 Tele, from 1952, that's been lovingly played on a regular basis. Very convincing!!!

This feels solid and well built, more so than a 1999 Fender American Telecaster that I used to have.

AWESOME! Mr. Nash is with you every step of the way, posting progress pics on his website. I was able to select the body I wanted first from many different choices, and was able to view pics beforehand. He posts pics as he goes, allowing for your input and approval as he proceeds. My communication with Mr. Nash was solely via email and was excellent. The whole process was really quite fun.

Been playing on and off for 15 yrs. Was going to purchase a Fender '52 reissue, but the neck profile and frets were too small for my liking, and I didn't like the thick finish on the body. For less $$, I was able to buy a completely "custom" guitar with every feature/option chosen by me. I am so glad I decided on that course of action! I am totally satisfied with the end result, and thoroughly impressed with Mr. Nash's customer service and guitar building abilities. I will be ordering a relic Stratocaster model soon.

I bought a custom made Tele from Bill Nash in 2002. It was a great guitar but when I saw his reliced guitars on the Web I asked him to relic it and change the neck. So now I have a perfectally reliced sunburst Tele with a fat maple boat-shaped neck and a pair of Fralin Blues Specials pickups. The body is made from swamp ash. This is by far the lightest and most resonnant guitar I have ever played. The hardware are all old Fender style (rust and all). It came with a tweed case. There are no multiple features with this guitar. It was made exactly like I wanted it - simple.

I play rock, blues and twang. This guitar sounds like an old Tele with Balls. You can get that squealing pick harmonics with ease. I play through a Bruno Cowtipper 22 or a 1972 Fender Princeton. The Bruno brings out the incredble sustained lows. Throw that neck pickup on and you can even play Jazz with this guitar through the Bruno. The Princeton and this guitar are a match made in heaven. This combo is a blues/twang player's dream. The guitar feels and plays like an old Nocaster but the sound is more blusey.

The guitar came with a low action (no buzzing) set-up. The pickups needed experimenting and adjustment to taste (Fralin pickups are sensitive so I'm still playing with the height). The frets were medium but dressed lower just like I requested. The relicing was fantastic (and researched by Bill. Eg., sunburst was introduced in '54 so the guitar was made to look like that). The only flaw was he forgot the cigarette burn behind the nut under the low E string. I'm working on that myself.

I also on a PRS SE and a Fender Custom Shop Strat but this is my main guitar now. The nice thing about a reliced guitar is that if you nick it, it looks better. Also, the relicing made the guitar lighter than it was originally (which was light).

Bill is fantastic to work with... he answers your calls promptly and answers emails the same day. I bugged him constantly about the details of this guitar and he was always polite and professional.

I've been playing for over 30 years and this is one of the best guitars I have owned and it is the rawest/most basic guitar also. It is a light, easey playing, sweet sounding guitar. It is by far the best Tele I have ever played except for a $15,000 vintage (which I will never own). If it was lost or stolen I would call Bill immediately for another. In fact , I'm thinking about ordering another guitar from him. He also does custom finishing and makes a prototype which just came out.

I recently purchased a heavily reliced Telecaster style from Bill Nash and Mark O'hara from Nash Custom Guitars. This incredible guitar featured a Boat sized early 50's neck, a light wieght ash body, aged two and a half tone burst (to die for) , lindy fralin pick-ups, and a Gator Case. This guitar with it's perfect fretted maple neck has the best aged finish I have ever seen.

I am a working musician. I play raw blues throughout the entire chicagoland area. I play the real thing (not yuppie blues clubs). This guitar was taken out of the case and just about ready to play. I Play through a 1964 Fender Twin Reverb and a Victorilux Amp (Victoria Amp. Co). I play with no outside effects. This guitar has the only effect I need-TONE TONE TONE. I had me choice of any pickups I wanted. I chose Lindy Fralin. The guitars obtains the most lushious twang I have ever heard, and the tone rolls off perfectly to creat soft and tearful R&B and sultry jazz

From the vintage heavily aged correct tuners, and hardware to the wood weight and balance, this guitar plays better than my original 1958 telecaster.

A well made telecaster will last forever. This is a great telecaster. It is completely reliable. This guitar, God willing, will be my primary guitar for all of my live gigs.

This is the first guitar I have purchased from Bill Nash and Mark O'hara. I have bought three others since (1959 telecaster relic, 1962 Stratocaster relic, and a Keith Richards inspired Telecaster relic). These guys are thr most knowledgable and down to earh professionals I have had the privilage to work with.

I have played for thirty years. I play a Hertitage Eagle & 575, 1967 ES 335, 1964 Twin Reverb, Victoilux amp, 1965 Deluxe Reverb, and an Orange AD30-R. If lost or stolen I would by Nash Custom Guitars again, and again.
I love the feel and tone of a guitar. To me they are an extention of the body ,mind, and soul. A guitar either has it, or it does not. I have played them all; good and bad vintage guitars, and other custom shop replicas. Bill Nash is an artist, he will always build my guitars. I dont care for the Gator cases he uses, but so what I never put down anyway.