Arrived! Richie Kotzen Signature Tele

[King Guitar]

I wonder why Richie doesn't have a US model? He's seemed to have earned one.

Really? I think Kotzen is the shit, but I bet if you ask 1000 people on the street maybe 5 will know who that is.

There are several guys with signature models in the US that are basically unknown by the general public. Tell me that ANYONE you would run into at the grocery store or mall would know Danny Gatton or John Jorgenson. Most people don't even know who Jimmy Vaughan is.

Kotzen is HIGHLY regarded amongst guitarists in the US, and I think he's earned the right to have a Fender sig model. Who's with me!???!!

I agree nobody would know who he is on the street and everyone would know who Myley Cyrus is so what does that say about the John Q Public and their musical taste. I am with you Mike, Richie IMO is one of the most talented dudes around. Hell Gibson gave an endorsement to Johnny A, who knows who he is??

 

[Code001]

I absolutely adore the Kotzen Teles and Strats. Congrats.

 

[tekbow]

I wonder why Richie doesn't have a US model? He's seemed to have earned one.

Really? I think Kotzen is the shit, but I bet if you ask 1000 people on the street maybe 5 will know who that is.

There are several guys with signature models in the US that are basically unknown by the general public. Tell me that ANYONE you would run into at the grocery store or mall would know Danny Gatton or John Jorgenson. Most people don't even know who Jimmy Vaughan is.

Kotzen is HIGHLY regarded amongst guitarists in the US, and I think he's earned the right to have a Fender sig model. Who's with me!???!!

He already has 2 sigs, a tele (the one the thread is about) and a strat. why would a U.S. one be any better? i get really quite annoyed with this sometimes..

look i've said it before and i'll say it again, i love U.S. guitars, owned more than a few, but as far as jap fenders, i tried both of mine out against multiple equivalent and higher end u.s. guitars and they pwned them. straight up, sounded better and played better. and i played multiple jap guitars and each was as good as the next they all sounded better than the equivalent american ones. the 2 i own were the really exceptional ones, i'd put them up against u.s. vintage reissues or lower end custom shop guitars anytime.

Edit: maybe a little unfair, in terms of U.S. production guitars, fender at their best can be just stunning, but more often than not they're average. the japanese strength is consistency, generally excellent, occasionally awesome.

 

[EWSEthan]

Tekbow sorry man I havent been on RT the last couple days. By all means post pics!!! Lets see that beauty! How is it?!?

Mine is coming today. CANT WAIT.

And I agree that no one knows who Kotzen is on the street, but I doubt most people know who Petrucci or Vai are either.

 

[EWSEthan]

I wonder why Richie doesn't have a US model? He's seemed to have earned one.

He has a brazilian model, made by Zaganin. He had sent his tele neck and Zaganin made a copy.
Five guitars have been made, 4 with rosewood and marfim neck and 1 with marfin only.(You can see it at the picture).
http://www.nzaganin.com.br/novidades/ultimas.asp?id=210
http://www.customguitars.com.br/
He took with marfim neck, so 4 has left, Zaganin gave one to a friend of mine and one was sold, so 2 remains.

WOW. NICE Top. Looks killer. I had no idea this existed. Thanks for posting.

 

[tekbow]

Tekbow sorry man I havent been on RT the last couple days. By all means post pics!!! Lets see that beauty! How is it?!?

Mine is coming today. CANT WAIT.

And I agree that no one knows who Kotzen is on the street, but I doubt most people know who Petrucci or Vai are either.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=71039

this thread,

she's abeauty mate sounds absolutely stunning, you're going to love it, i'm still getting over how pretty she is..

sounds better than she looks too

 

[EWSEthan]

Tekbow, your pics look great. Mine is definitely showing its age and wear.

http://gallery.me.com/mlitkey#100201

Man is she a beauty!

Played it quick through my Badger 18. Chopper T sounds bad ass and the Twang King is killer in the neck. Clean up real nice too. Will give her the full treatment tonight through the PT-100 at band practice!

 

[tekbow]

plugged her in yet? tell all man

edit: didn't read properly lol yes you did, hows that neck for you?

 

[EWSEthan]

Didnt have alot of time plugged in just about 10 mins with the gain cranked on my Badger 18. Sounded really awesome. Strings are a little dead and dingy so it will sound even better after my tech gets a hold of it and does a proper setup. Get, raw high gain and jangly tele tones all in one.

The neck is a baseball bat, its true, but im warming to it.

 

[tekbow]

yeah, i found that too, the chopper still manages to ssound like a telly, and the twang king is just screaming on high gain.

checked the pics out, she looks minty, nice top on her as well, mine's a little less flamed

 

[Devin]

Very cool, congrats man!

It is my opinion that the Dimarzio Twang King pickup in the neck of those axes is possibly the sweetest sounding single coil out there.

 

[EWSEthan]

Some knucklehead put a plastic strat switch tip in mine. need to replace that with the tele button pronto!

How do you like the neck? Man is it beefy. Also, quite a clear coat on the back Im going to have that stripped down and have a more satin finish put on.

 

[tekbow]

Some knucklehead put a plastic strat switch tip in mine. need to replace that with the tele button pronto!

How do you like the neck? Man is it beefy. Also, quite a clear coat on the back Im going to have that stripped down and have a more satin finish put on.

clear coat, really? these are supposed to be satin, mine was and all the others i tried in the store were, but yours is an older model so maybe thats a production thing that's been changed. it's much nicer as a satin.

How you finding the in out phase switch?

I like the neck, but i've been moving upwards neck size wise since i started playing again anyways. can really dig in and bend with it. and i got girl hands

 

[EWSEthan]

honestly didnt try the phase switch yet. whats it for exactly?

 

[tekbow]

the tone pot is replace by a 2 position pot, it only works in the middle position and makes the pickups in or out of phase. to my ears what it equates to is a louder fuller fatter sound, like a TS on clean boost

 

[reverymike]

I wonder why Richie doesn't have a US model? He's seemed to have earned one.

Really? I think Kotzen is the shit, but I bet if you ask 1000 people on the street maybe 5 will know who that is.

There are several guys with signature models in the US that are basically unknown by the general public. Tell me that ANYONE you would run into at the grocery store or mall would know Danny Gatton or John Jorgenson. Most people don't even know who Jimmy Vaughan is.

Kotzen is HIGHLY regarded amongst guitarists in the US, and I think he's earned the right to have a Fender sig model. Who's with me!???!!

He already has 2 sigs, a tele (the one the thread is about) and a strat. why would a U.S. one be any better? i get really quite annoyed with this sometimes..

look i've said it before and i'll say it again, i love U.S. guitars, owned more than a few, but as far as jap fenders, i tried both of mine out against multiple equivalent and higher end u.s. guitars and they pwned them. straight up, sounded better and played better. and i played multiple jap guitars and each was as good as the next they all sounded better than the equivalent american ones. the 2 i own were the really exceptional ones, i'd put them up against u.s. vintage reissues or lower end custom shop guitars anytime.

Edit: maybe a little unfair, in terms of U.S. production guitars, fender at their best can be just stunning, but more often than not they're average. the japanese strength is consistency, generally excellent, occasionally awesome.

Well, the main thing is that if he had a US model, it would likely be available here in the States.

 

[tekbow]

no reason it shouldn't have been, it was imported to europe for a while as were all jap fenders. i think they did to the states as well, as long as it didn't compete with a current U.S. guitar

the issue came when people started buying japanese fenders over american fenders. parent fender didn't like this so stopped japanese guitars being exported outside of japan. they are cheaper by about a third and as stated (by me, at length, apologies) by many sources the construction and build is up there with equivalent american ones.

this should have been available to america but wasn't because fender didn't want guitars that were less money being bought over the home production ones. fair enough in a way because fender is an american company and it's protecting its home market, but sucky for people that lose out one a bunch of unique and well built guitars because fender can't produce that quality in the states for an equivalent price. hence why there are MIM guitars, which don't even approach the Jap ones to my mind

 

[jmgman69]

Bad Ass guitar Matt!!! I'm kinda fond of the Japanese guitars man!!!

 

[EWSEthan]

Thanks J-Man!

Well the honeymoon has officially started alright. Used this baby tonight at band practice and let me tell you...WOW. This guitar and the PT-100 get along. Absolutely gorgeous cleans. middle position is jangly funk city. The neck pickup is warn but not at all muddy. The bridge pickup flat out rips. It gets nasty and cleans up incredibly. My band mates absolutely loved my tone tonight maybe even more than usual...and Im usually using Suhrs so thats saying something!

This guitar is built SOLID too. Expert craftsmanship. I had read that people thought it was up there with US custom shop guitars but I didnt believe it until now.

This is an absolute keeper and a serious tone powerhouse in my current stable. I was on the fence but so glad I jumped on this one. Anyone who is contemplating it, you can stop. This guitar is THAT good. It can easily hang with $3000 guitars built by the best. Im frankly shocked.

 

[tekbow]

Matt

awesome, i'm so stoked you're loving it a much as i love mine, it's great when 2 people get something like this and are able to bounce of each other

so was it worth the money then?

Edit: and now the bad stuff.. lol or not. one thing about japanese guitars can be the switches apparently, they start to sound crap pretty quickly, however I've had my strat a year now, played the ass off of it and am having no problems.

Simon