Love Billy Gibbons, Telecasters, rock n roll, and badass guitars? Read on, friend.

Why We Love This

This Half Nelson Standard, from the brilliant VA-based Thomas Rodriguez, has a late 70s / Southern CA / Billy Gibbons vibe, no doubt due to the faded Sunburst finish and zebra Fralin Pure PAF humbucker in a single pickup configuration. It's really the perfect melding of Fender and Gibson both looks, tone, and feel-wise.

The Half Nelson features a lightweight mahogany body, maple neck w/Indonesian Rosewood fingerboard, 24.9" scale, Callaham Half Tele bridge, and a Fralin Pure PAF.

The remaining specs fall under the Fender Tele umbrella - body shape, bolt-on construction, early style volume and tone control plate, and an early "snakehead" Telecaster style pickguard.

In hand, this Half Nelson feels solid, stout, responsive, alive....we immediately recognized that Thomas is one of the rare builders that simply has "it". Everything you love about vintage guitars and newer boutique instruments rolled into one - folks, that's not easy to do and not every builder has this ability. It's an intangible, but it's that extra % of vibe, soul, mojo, whatever you choose to call it, that some guitars have - his work has it, no question.

Tonally this guitar maintains a surprising amount of Tele twang, but the emphasis is on that classic Gibson midrange snarl. It's the kind of guitar that had us laughing out loud at how fun it was to demo, how well it plays, and how amazing it sounds.

Thomas is a builder to keep your eye on. From what we've seen and experienced with his work thus far, he is a true master builder that can quite literally build anything with exceptional results. Not to be missed - trust us!