2015 Whitfill T-Style Relic'd Electric Guitar

A customer of mine brought this Whitfill in the other day for consignment. After playing it, I couldn't really understand why he wanted to sell it. If you're into Telecasters, this thing basically embodies the soul of a '60s Telecaster "to a T" and then goes a little further via perfectly-balanced pickups. It's like playing the real thing without the (small) hurdles. He admitted, though, that his son called him out on it: "Dad, I think you're just not a Telecaster guy."

On the Whitfill website, the T-style guitar specs are described as having swamp ash or alder bodies (this looks like ash) at "no more than 7.5 pounds, ultralight guitars at 7 pounds and under are available at a premium." This is at that premium, then, because it weighs-in at 6 lbs 12 oz total. That feels great. The only Tele I've played recently that's in that range is the recent "Blue Floral" MIJ Fender Telecaster that's gracing the shop -- and that has a basswood body to get it that light.

Charles Whitfill's pickups are proprietary but I imagine there's some mix of Alnico magic going on in there. The finish is nitro blonde with a bit of see-through on the grain. The whole instrument is reclic'd but gently -- there are a few scuffs along the edges of the body and the body itself has lacquer cracking throughout, but it's not a dramatic relic job -- more like "added texture." The parts are all aged-nickel.

The neck profile is very '60s in its medium-C cut, though the radius on the board is a straight 9.5" or 10" (it can be hard to tell) rather than the curvier 7.25" I'm used to on a lot of '60s Fenders. The average player will find this a bit more conducive to ease-of-playability as there's none of that "uphill picking" slap you get when you dig-in to a tighter radius up the neck when you get excited.

So -- in short -- it's a beautifully-built guitar and handles and feels like the "real thing" or better. All I had to do was give it a few minor setup adjustments before hanging it in the shop.

Repairs included: setup.

Body wood: ash

Bridge: Gotoh aged nickel

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: maple

Pickups: 2x original Whitfill single-coil pickups

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast)
String gauges: 46w-10

Neck shape: medium C

Board radius: 9 1/2"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-narrow

Scale length: 25 1/2"

Nut width: 1 5/8"

Body width: 12 5/8"

Body depth: 1 3/4"

Weight: 6 lbs 12 oz

Condition notes: it's basically "as new" with very little play-time into it. Because of the aged finish, it's hard to tell if anything has changed, but aside from the lacquer cracking there are a few smalls scuffs here and there at the corners/edges of the body.

It comes with: a good hard case.