Reverend Greg Koch Gristlemaster signature finally here

Voxman

Needles to say I like Greg Koch very much, both his incredible playing and whacky humour. I'm sure it's a very nice guitar. I like the blue and yellow, but the red is a bit much for my taste.

I don't see the point of the raised centre section, and for me spoils the simple Tele lines. I am surprised that Greg and Reverend didn't do something a bit more practical and add some curves to the back to make it more comfy to play. Locking tuners and brass saddles are all good.

The Fishman pickups sound interesting albeit a bit gimmicky, although 300 hrs playing time on a single charge seems pretty good, although eventually the lithium cell will run out of puff to hold its charge adequately, so hopefully it's easy enough to change in the control cavity.  I like the centre button idea. Just wondering how its tones compare to a Tele with S1 switching. 

Would I like one? Possibly, but not at £1299 especially as I'm not really keen on the raised centre block and as others have commented, the plastic neck pickup surround looks a bit cheap and I think should have been chrome. The thing is, at this price point there is a huge choice of Teles, both new and used, to choose from.  And GK name, pickups and marketing aside, its just another Tele variant. I suspect the used prices are likely to be less than robust and in a year or so these will probably be seen used for around £700. 

A query though, and please educate me here guys. Whats the Black guard v White guard thing? What are the Tele construction and tonal differences this reference is alluding to? Is this eg a black guard, ash body maple neck v a white guard alder body with rosewood board? Or something else? 

EricTheWeary

Black guard is early 50s, white guard is late 50s; alnico 3 vs alnico 5. 

I think the centre block was from Greg liking Firebirds, there’s an early prototype of his sig model which is more like a tele-bird hybrid. It’s also a big guitar, slightly bigger than a standard tele, so I think having the wings slimmed down will reduce overall bulk/ weight. 

fields5069

I think Reverend have lost me with the £1299 signature guitars that don't come with a case - first this and now a Gil Parris. I'd still consider a PA-1, and would buy one of their £800 guitars without hesitation.

Voxman

fields5069 said:

I think Reverend have lost me with the £1299 signature guitars that don't come with a case - first this and now a Gil Parris. I'd still consider a PA-1, and would buy one of their £800 guitars without hesitation.

I'm inclined to agree...a £1299 guitar with no case is not going to help its sales. Even a cheap hard case will typically be another £40-50.  

EricTheWeary said:

Black guard is early 50s, white guard is late 50s; alnico 3 vs alnico 5. 

I think the centre block was from Greg liking Firebirds, there’s an early prototype of his sig model which is more like a tele-bird hybrid. It’s also a big guitar, slightly bigger than a standard tele, so I think having the wings slimmed down will reduce overall bulk/ weight. 

Ah, got you. Thanks for the clarification.  So what are the differences between Alnico 3 and Alnico 5? 

're the Firebird thing, the more I look at it the more I dislike it and think it's just 'wrong'.  If I was going to by another Tele I think it would be a deluxe, a custom, or a thinline with double humbuckers. 

EricTheWeary

Voxman said:

fields5069 said:

I think Reverend have lost me with the £1299 signature guitars that don't come with a case - first this and now a Gil Parris. I'd still consider a PA-1, and would buy one of their £800 guitars without hesitation.

I'm inclined to agree...a £1299 guitar with no case is not going to help its sales. Even a cheap hard case will typically be another £40-50.  

EricTheWeary said:

Black guard is early 50s, white guard is late 50s; alnico 3 vs alnico 5. 

I think the centre block was from Greg liking Firebirds, there’s an early prototype of his sig model which is more like a tele-bird hybrid. It’s also a big guitar, slightly bigger than a standard tele, so I think having the wings slimmed down will reduce overall bulk/ weight. 

Ah, got you. Thanks for the clarification.  So what are the differences between Alnico 3 and Alnico 5? 

I can only say what I can Google and from a vague memory of watching Greg demoing the pickups. The 3 will be weaker, bit clearer. Effectively it's as much like a small boost as a tone changer going between the pickup models. It's a relatively subtle thing.
The other aspect of the Fishman pickups is that as they aren't of a traditional build there is no treble loss as you turn down. This is either a good thing or a bad thing dependent on your preference but it is different to traditional Tele pickups. 

axisus

It's a no from me. I find the styling weird.

PC_Dave

Voxman said:

the plastic neck pickup surround looks a bit cheap and I think should have been chrome.

They tried chrome/metal pickup covers, but apparently it caused issues with the pickups, so they went with plastic. Shame really.

This is a good video which goes through some of the styling decisions.

https://youtu.be/iV0uIVhF2KY