This is one of the early ones. #102 out of the shop after Lance and Lisa opened up out of their garage in 2008. Built by hand by Lance S. Lerman himself. I’ve had a few later LsL models and they don’t have anywhere near the mojo of these early ones. The neck back finish and fretboard on this feel closer to an actual vintage 50’s blackguard Tele than anything else I’ve owned.

I bought this guitar 7 years ago and it’s the one I’ve held onto the longest by a wide margin. There have been hundreds of guitars through here and maybe even 100 Teles. My typical ownership window is about 3 months. Two years is a wild phenomenon. Seven years is something else entirely. I’ve toyed with listing it before and always got cold feet. I recently finished a Mario T that I built the body for and snuck the same pickup configuration into, and I’ve been playing that one a lot lately. If some other stuff sells I’ll pull this listing.

The neck is a baseball-bat-thick Nocaster-style U. It feels amazing and I honestly forget how thick it is because it plays so nice. It just feels right for a butterscotch 50’s style Tele. The whole thing plays insanely well. It’s light, incredibly resonant, and full of soul.

Pickups are a custom Cavalier set I spent a ton of time dialing in with Rob Cavalier (my favorite pickup maker by far). The bridge has three switch positions activated by an on-on-on toggle - low, medium, and high gain - each a separate lead coming off the pickup at roughly 7k, 10k, and 13k wraps. More of a vintage-to-high-gain switch, it goes from Nocaster to Twisted Tele in a hurry. The neck has the same idea with a two-position push/pull on the tone pot (low wind and higher). The selector is a 4-way: the first three positions are your typical Tele positions, and the fourth (pointed toward the neck) is the middle position but in series instead of parallel. Series gives it more of a low-wind PAF voice. It’s truly a Swiss Army knife of a guitar and I'm confident in literally any genre with this guy. Whether you want modern or vintage Tele tones, they’re all in here. Cavalier pickups are expensive and this wiring is a pain in the ass, but the result is perfect. I’ve done the same mod on my other Tele, otherwise I’d harvest these and put them in something else before selling.

Hardware is upgraded throughout. Stainless steel bridge with Glendale brass barrel saddles on the high four strings and titanium on the low E and A. High-grade titanium neck plate. Lucky Dog dragonback knobs and switch tip - super heavy, high quality, and they feel great. Authentic Bakelite pickguard with honest wear that looks incredible.

Condition-wise the nitro wear has grown during my 7 years with it, the forearm wear particularly which I aided along at one point with some hand-burnishing. There’s a light bit of fret wear, but surprisingly little for how many hours I’ve put into it (I play with a light touch). It does not need a leveling or crowning for a long, long time. The tops of the frets are similar to a Black Beauty Les Paul - flat tops that give it that "Fretless Wonder" feel, albeit a bit taller than on an LPC.

I clean and condition at every string change and this one’s had quite a few baths because it was my main pickup-swapping Tele for years. It came to me without original pickups and became the template for checking out new sets. For the last 3 or 4 years I haven’t had the urge to swap because I found the Cavalier-concoction that works better than anything else I could imagine for a vintage T-style guitar. As far as BSB 50's Teles go, this is the benchmark.

It’s light, resonant, and full of the kind of vintage mojo you usually only get from the real thing - at a price you can’t ignore. Early, hand-built by Lance, and the one I’ve kept the longest.

This did not come with a case, but I can ship it in a new Gator TSA hard case or Access soft shell gig bag, or give me a shout if interested and we can discuss options.

Feel free to reach out with any questions!