Teles with Charlie Christian pickups in the neck position are a popular choice among jazz musicians, - a beautiful testament to the enduring legacy of Mr. Christian's pioneering of single note soloing on electric guitar in the late 30s and early 40s. Of course, Charlie Christian died of tuberculosis at the age of 25 in 1942 (nearly a decade before solid body guitars entered the mainstream) and the future of jazz guitar lost its greatest innovator.
At Secret Handshake Guitars, a very small outfit operated by M. Merrick and Laura Corsiglia, we made a T-style guitar to offer Charlie Christian, were he still here to play it - a guitar sophisticated enough to bring to the most elegant bandstand, and based on a guitar notorious for being unbreakable, able to endure the hard gigging life with ease.
The "Rose Room", in honor of the tune that CC played for Benny Goodman that earned him a spot in the famed clarinetist's sextet, features a pine body finished in a rosy burst, a vintage spec'd maple neck (Allparts - TMO-V, vintage specs) in a darkened hue - treated with several hand-rubbed coats of linseed oil and a topcoat of wax.
Unique details brought out of the tradition of CC and the grain of the wood are enhanced and created by the noted artist Laura Corsiglia () - colorful highlights accentuate the sinewy lines of the body and the electric that makes this instrument go, as well as a delicate engraving of CC's picking hand on the lower bout.
The guitar is not just an art guitar, however. + Pine Body + Allparts TMO-V neck
- 21 vintage frets (.079" x .043")
- Solid maple neck, VEE shaping,
- 7.25" radius
- Nut width 1-5/8"
- Heel width 2-3/16"
- Tuning Peg Hole Diameter .340"
- Truss Rod adjustment at heel
- Neck thickness .91" at first fret, .98" at twelfth fret
+ Performance Music notched bridge
+ Pickups: Lollar Special T in the bridge, TK Smith CCII in the neck spot
+ Gotoh vintage style tuners
+ CTS 250k pots, a 1.0 paper in oil cap, tusq nut
A very nice guitar, setup and ready to play!
Shipped with a tweed hardshell case.
