Burlington, Vermont's Creston Lea takes on the classic Telecaster and the results are stellar. Take the best bits of vintage and modern approaches and roll them into a really resonant, snappy, ultimately inspiring guitar...voila! This gorgeous Daphne Blue T-style.

As a nod to the more unique 1959 Tele, utilized by players like Jim Campilongo, this T sports a toploader bridge. This typically ups the raw/twang factor and also gives the guitar a slinky feel, though this guitar never gets unwieldy in the twang department (which we like).

More modern touches include a bridge plate that has the "pinky cut" (look south of the bridge pickup) and a TV Jones Magnatron neck pickup. A wider tonal range than a typical Tele and increased ease of volume swells via the pinky cut? It's a really cool setup that had us doing faux Campilongo tone knob/wah swells like we knew what we were doing. Very cool indeed.

Not a fan of huge necked Teles that seem to be everywhere these days? Don't get us wrong, we love fat necked guitars but there's also something cool about skinnier neck carves - where this Creston leans. It's similar in some ways to some early 70s Tele's we've played though it feels less cramped at the nut thanks to the wider 1 11/16" nut. It's a comfy neck to be sure. 

Plugged in we were greeted to chimey, twangy Tele tones in the bridge position, and fat, chimey tones via the neck Magnatron pickup. We can't quite put our finger on it, but there's something a touch more refined about this guitar's tones vs other Tele's we've played (a good thing in our book). 

It never ceases to amaze us how the classic Tele formula can feel so different from builder to builder. We absolutely love what Creston has done with his T-syle model! Priced with Creston/Levy embroidered gig bag.