Ryan's Gig Guide - November 2018

REVIEW: By Adam Roberts Fender 53 Tele Master Design Paul Waller 28 rgg Nov 2018 www.ryansgigguide.com What happens when you take the best craftsmen from each part of a workshop, put them all on one team and get them to put together a guitar designed by one of the top luthiers in the world? You get the limited run Master Design Custom Shop guitars. Completely exclusive to the EU and with only twenty of each de- sign being made, they will not be in shops for long. Very recently Paul Waller made a visit to Birmingham in association with Guitar Guitar to give a talk about his role as a Master Builder at Fender and to walk through his master design of a 53 Tele. So who is this guy and why is he so special? Having trained as an apprentice under every Masterbuilder in the workshop for seven years,Waller claims to have taken all the best advice from each person and has applied them to his own builds. The result is an amalgamation of knowledge from some of the most renowned luthiers worldwide. His work includes Tele’s for Bono and Keith Richard as well as Strats for Buddy Guy, Ronnie Wood and Nile Rodgers to name a few. So who better to design a guitar than himself? His design is a classic Tele on steroids. Sub- tlety hot rodded like a Reliant Robin with a V8.There is more to it than meets the eye. What lies beneath the hood of this tone machine is a bit of electronic wizardry. Its secret weapon comes in the form of an ac- tive mid boost controlled from the volume pot. Start rotating the volume knob and it responds how you would expect, until you hit the detent in the centre. Once you pass this point you are in mid boost territory.An active mid boost can be used in many ways. A great example of how to effectively use it is to set your amp to the edge of breakup and use the boost to push it into a more focused and saturated sound for a lead part. Having an on board mid boost opens up a whole new sonic realm to explore from your finger tips.The pickups that have been selected by Paul are both under wound to give a sweeter sound. So what else does behemoth spec have in store for us? The neck has a more modern radius of 9.5” which is intended to aid bends and playability.The neck has a fat ’53- era SoftV neck profile that sits deep in your hand. Great for those who like a nice chunk of wood to hang on to. Paul Waller