USA Custom Guitars Carved Top T

This is to my knowledge the first Carved Top Hollow Tele made by USA Custom, I matched up the woodgrain patterns with the pic of the one on the website back in late '02.
I found it on eBay in March of '03, I also got a matching neck...both pieces for just $400. Lucky me!!!
I did a Reranch Goldtop finish myself on this guitar, and some thin layers of Nitrocellulose clear. It's not a perfect finish, it is my first attempt at a "real" finish...and I feel pretty good about how it looks.
I put a Tom Anderson H-1 in the neck, and a TD3- in the bridge, both have amazing tone, but the combination of the two is magically shimmering.
It's got Schaller locking tuners, a bone nut, a Maple neck w/Bocote fingerboard.
I used a Joe Barden Danny Gatton model tele bridge, fits the guitar just perfectly.

The Anderson's are completely quiet, no buzz or hum.
I play totally clean, a Carr Imperial 4x10 is my main amp, this guitar really sings through my rig...I also use a Fender '63 reissue reverb and a Fulltone Tube Tape Echo.

I had this guitar set-up by John Wescott, and it's really a sweet piece of gear!!! I have been a fan of Warmoth parts for years, and now i'm thrilled to find parts of comparable quality. I now have one Warmoth and one USA Custom tele, the game is on!

I hope this guitar handles the road well, i'm going to be out for the next two years. This guitar was built to be my backup, we'll see if it makes the grade.
It feels tough, I play hard...I have high hopes.

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I've been playing for about 19 years, and this is my 39th guitar...if this guitar was lost or stolen I would make another just like it! That's the great thing about makers like Warmoth or USA Custom, they make what you want to fit your needs.

I'll just explain my setup.

Mahogany/Eastern Rock Maple hollow carved top tele body. Finished by ROXY with a Trans Honeyburst with Natrual binding and a black back.
25" Rock Maple/Pao Ferro Neck with a 7.5-9.5 Compound Radius and an Ernie Ball Axis Contour, tung oiled.
Ibanez Super 70 in bridge, BL 290 SM in middle, Duncan JB jr. in neck.
LR Baggs T-Bridge with Ctrl-X preamp, wired in Mono.

Everything I wanted.

Sounds like a chimey, full PRS meets the clarity of a great strat when strummed. Palm muting yields some serious low end chunk (Lester on 'roids). Single note runs can be made to sound like anything I want thanks to fat strings (11-52) and the virsitle electronics. Seriously, I can get close to Clapton, Carlos, Trey, even Slash with this thing. Won't do Knopfler though.

The Super 70 doesn't have enough mids for me, so it's gonna be a Alnico Pro II (love that pickup) soon. The BL 290 is a Bill Lawrence strat-sized single coil designed to sound like a tele/p90, but with some EQ tweaking it will do a hotter strat. The JB Jr needs to be tamed by the piezo to do the mellow stuff, but it's a kicker.

8 for the Super 70, but that's my doing.

This guitar rings and sings. One of the nicest acoustic tones I've ever heard.

Set up by Emerald City Guitars in Pioneer Square, Seattle. Eric did a spectacular job, no complaints.

The body is flawless, Roxy does a beautiful job and the sanding is superb (noticably better than Warmoth).

Brett (the fret man at USACG) is awesome. These things are incredible.

Totally solid. Enough said.

Tommy and the guys are the best. You owe it to yourself to give them a call (or drop in if you're within driving distance) and say "hi." They can do almost anything and will shoot you straight and try to help you get what you want. No fancy crap here, just the finest tonewoods selected by guys who really know their stuff. The best I've ever dealt with.

Through a Univalve and a Dr. Z ZBest I have the most glorious (and versitle) tone. Live I need a second amp to do clean (the Uni doesn't have the headroom), but that's not a concern.