Matt300ZXT
Well-known member
A few days ago I posted totally bagging on this guitar. I liked it, but was a little critical of it, especially knowing roughly how much money was in the parts and what Guitar Center was asking for it used. I don't fault the guy for asking $702 for his new guitars when he builds them (this one's a little over 2 years old), but Guitar Center asking $500 for it when it was a no name brand, just a local guy, was a bit much I thought. When I worked there, we didn't buy no name stuff, only recognizable names people were familiar with.
After going back to buy the Kramer the other night, I played it some more and it was still in tune from where I had tuned it earlier on ooooold crusty strings. I go back today, 2 or 3 days later and it's still in tune just fine and plays well. I think a lot of the tarnish that was on the frets was mostly scrubbed off from me playing it and other people playing it; the frets looked much better on it today. Anyways, I was doing some mathematical gymnastics in my head and I came to the conclusion that even though the body and neck are probably just off the shelf premium parts from a China workshop (I'm not sure what the body and neck are, but he currently uses XGP bodies/necks), the quality of the parts won't be that much less than a Mexican made Tele which sells used for around the same price as this one, if not a little more. Plus, it has the Fender locking tuners, a brass nut, a Joe Barden bridge with compensated brass saddles, and Tone Rider pickups, along with CTS pots, and comes with a nice hard case. I would never be able to score a used Mexican made Tele with those upgrades for $500 with a hard case, not these days at least, so after playing it some more, I decided to go ahead and pull the trigger.
The evil, cold dead heart part of me takes a bit of joy in knowing that I'm pretty damn sure a young kid was coming in to the store today to play it and maybe even spend his Christmas money and allowance he had saved up on it. I was noodling on it, waiting on the 1 whole guitar guy running the show to get some time to help me, and this young boy and his sister kept checking me out from time to time, as if they were waiting on me to put it down so he could pick it up and see if he wanted to buy it. They did that multiple times; they'd look at me for a second, then go into the acoustic room, or somewhere else to kill time, then look at me again.
Since I had chatted with the guy who builds them before I went to see the guitar to get some info on the parts used, he told me what all he had on it and said he'd put his current waterslide logo on it for me since his old logos were dirt cheap and looked terrible. I messaged him while I was waiting in line and said he could do it anytime, so since he only lives like 35 minutes from Guitar Center, I drove down there afterwards and talked with him while he installed it. He remembered me from when I used to work there and we talked shop for a while. He's pretty damn cool for an early 70s vet who builds guitars during his free time.
After going back to buy the Kramer the other night, I played it some more and it was still in tune from where I had tuned it earlier on ooooold crusty strings. I go back today, 2 or 3 days later and it's still in tune just fine and plays well. I think a lot of the tarnish that was on the frets was mostly scrubbed off from me playing it and other people playing it; the frets looked much better on it today. Anyways, I was doing some mathematical gymnastics in my head and I came to the conclusion that even though the body and neck are probably just off the shelf premium parts from a China workshop (I'm not sure what the body and neck are, but he currently uses XGP bodies/necks), the quality of the parts won't be that much less than a Mexican made Tele which sells used for around the same price as this one, if not a little more. Plus, it has the Fender locking tuners, a brass nut, a Joe Barden bridge with compensated brass saddles, and Tone Rider pickups, along with CTS pots, and comes with a nice hard case. I would never be able to score a used Mexican made Tele with those upgrades for $500 with a hard case, not these days at least, so after playing it some more, I decided to go ahead and pull the trigger.
The evil, cold dead heart part of me takes a bit of joy in knowing that I'm pretty damn sure a young kid was coming in to the store today to play it and maybe even spend his Christmas money and allowance he had saved up on it. I was noodling on it, waiting on the 1 whole guitar guy running the show to get some time to help me, and this young boy and his sister kept checking me out from time to time, as if they were waiting on me to put it down so he could pick it up and see if he wanted to buy it. They did that multiple times; they'd look at me for a second, then go into the acoustic room, or somewhere else to kill time, then look at me again.
Since I had chatted with the guy who builds them before I went to see the guitar to get some info on the parts used, he told me what all he had on it and said he'd put his current waterslide logo on it for me since his old logos were dirt cheap and looked terrible. I messaged him while I was waiting in line and said he could do it anytime, so since he only lives like 35 minutes from Guitar Center, I drove down there afterwards and talked with him while he installed it. He remembered me from when I used to work there and we talked shop for a while. He's pretty damn cool for an early 70s vet who builds guitars during his free time.
..well, i heard good things about them, thats why i am asking