rockabilly69
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2001
- Messages
- 2,875
Lately I've been on a roll finding cool guitars, but this one seems to take the cake so to say...
Lately I've been on a roll finding and build some cool guitars, but this one seems to take the cake so to say. Some people will definitely HATE the over the top styling, but....
Most people that know me, know that I am a hardcore Zemaitis fan, well I just got this today, a 2012 Teye Le Perla, a guitar HEAVILY inspired by Zemaitis, and I would bet it's all the guitar an original Zemaitis is. This is no exaggeration. It is a monster player, and the tone is killer. Teye the builder of this guitar owned an original Zemaitis pearl top guitar and was close friends with Tony Zemaitis so he knows the originals inside and out.
I love my Zemaitis reissue guitars, which are immaculately built, but I had to totally rewire all of them to do what I want. Not this guitar. This guitar seems like it was made for me. Aesthetically (I've always loved Rod Woods Pearl Top Zemaitis), ergonomically (this one screams "play me" and is 8.5lbs), and most importantly tonally (the the tones in this guitar are ridiculously good).
The pickups are "Spec'd For Teye" Lollar Imperials, and the electronics are totally proprietary and quite innovative, with a 5-way switch, bridge vol, neck vol, master tone, and mood. After a long period of not liking Lollars, I had some great luck with them in a recent acquisition of a Heritage P90'd H535, and now this one! And the mood knob acts like a High Pass Filter and rolls the low end out of every pickup selection. Basically it turns humbuckers into more single coil like pickups. And when used in conjunction with the 5 way switch, the array of USEABLE tones is incredible. But even without the special wiring, the pickups would kill in this guitar. When I plugged it in, set it to the bridge pickup position, and hit the first chord, I couldn't believe what jumped out of the speakers! It was total rock with attitude. An undefinable rawness. And as I dialed through the 5 way switch the party was on! I was lost for hours.
And you could feel the handbuilt nature of this guitar. I love the hand-rubbed finish which is probably very similar to the original Zemaitis finish. There is no stickiness to the neck. And it features perfectly cut nut and saddles, and stellar fretwork.
For me, a serial modder, I find it particularly impressive when a guitar needs no mods for me to be happy.
The intonation was perfect (or as close as a guitar gets). And it tuned up effortlessly! The tuners are Grover Imperial Rotomatics.
I will post a demo very soon, as soon as I get off of my current run of gigs.
I'm lucky that I found this guitar used, as I wouldn't have bought it new, it would have WAY out of my price range. But I found it on listed ebay from a pawnshop seller and I made a low offer which they accepted. I was very skeptical that it would show up without a problem or two, but it was perfect.
The pack job from the seller was one of the best I've seen.
As for the overall condition, there's a little belt buckling on the back, but hell it's 11 years old and it was played, so totally expected. Surprisingly there's very little fret wear.
Lately I've been on a roll finding and build some cool guitars, but this one seems to take the cake so to say. Some people will definitely HATE the over the top styling, but....
Most people that know me, know that I am a hardcore Zemaitis fan, well I just got this today, a 2012 Teye Le Perla, a guitar HEAVILY inspired by Zemaitis, and I would bet it's all the guitar an original Zemaitis is. This is no exaggeration. It is a monster player, and the tone is killer. Teye the builder of this guitar owned an original Zemaitis pearl top guitar and was close friends with Tony Zemaitis so he knows the originals inside and out.
I love my Zemaitis reissue guitars, which are immaculately built, but I had to totally rewire all of them to do what I want. Not this guitar. This guitar seems like it was made for me. Aesthetically (I've always loved Rod Woods Pearl Top Zemaitis), ergonomically (this one screams "play me" and is 8.5lbs), and most importantly tonally (the the tones in this guitar are ridiculously good).
The pickups are "Spec'd For Teye" Lollar Imperials, and the electronics are totally proprietary and quite innovative, with a 5-way switch, bridge vol, neck vol, master tone, and mood. After a long period of not liking Lollars, I had some great luck with them in a recent acquisition of a Heritage P90'd H535, and now this one! And the mood knob acts like a High Pass Filter and rolls the low end out of every pickup selection. Basically it turns humbuckers into more single coil like pickups. And when used in conjunction with the 5 way switch, the array of USEABLE tones is incredible. But even without the special wiring, the pickups would kill in this guitar. When I plugged it in, set it to the bridge pickup position, and hit the first chord, I couldn't believe what jumped out of the speakers! It was total rock with attitude. An undefinable rawness. And as I dialed through the 5 way switch the party was on! I was lost for hours.
And you could feel the handbuilt nature of this guitar. I love the hand-rubbed finish which is probably very similar to the original Zemaitis finish. There is no stickiness to the neck. And it features perfectly cut nut and saddles, and stellar fretwork.
For me, a serial modder, I find it particularly impressive when a guitar needs no mods for me to be happy.
The intonation was perfect (or as close as a guitar gets). And it tuned up effortlessly! The tuners are Grover Imperial Rotomatics.
I will post a demo very soon, as soon as I get off of my current run of gigs.
I'm lucky that I found this guitar used, as I wouldn't have bought it new, it would have WAY out of my price range. But I found it on listed ebay from a pawnshop seller and I made a low offer which they accepted. I was very skeptical that it would show up without a problem or two, but it was perfect.
The pack job from the seller was one of the best I've seen.
As for the overall condition, there's a little belt buckling on the back, but hell it's 11 years old and it was played, so totally expected. Surprisingly there's very little fret wear.
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