Incoming NGD TK Smith Custom

omphalopsychos

Electromatic
Feb 6, 2021
12
California
This guitar is something that came out of various with discussions with TK Smith about early telecasters, NY era Epiphones, and Paul bigsby. After a lot of phone calls, texts, and emails we came up with a design that combines a lot of elements from different builds from the golden era. The guitar is constructed like Paul Bigsby's guitars: It's a hollow/chambered maple body, with maple neck-thru construction.
I wanted a guitar that had the same construction but I wanted it to borrow elements from other classic builders I love. In particular, I'm into a Telecaster shape, with the early Broadcaster prototype pickguard shape.
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Additionally, I wanted to borrow other elements from the 40s-50s era made-in-New York Epiphone Deluxe. Especially the inlays and pickguard. We went with a beautiful bound celluloid pickguard as a hat tip to the kind of pickguard you would see on a 40s archtop.
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As for the pickups, these are something TK smith makes from scratch. If you haven't heard of his pickups, you need to explore it. There's a wonderfully unique tone that I've only ever heard from his pickups. To my ear they sound like a cross between a p90 and the vintage Dearmond floating pickups of the 50s. They have a bit of compression that make such a soft feel in your hands.



That’s all I’ll say for now. I’m going to TK’s in a couple weeks to pick it up and I’ll do a full NGD post including video and more pics after that. All I can say is I’m insanely stoked for this guitar. Here are some pics of the actual guitar. The top and back are made of the most beautiful cuts of Maple I've ever seen.

 

Viper

Gretschie
Feb 1, 2009
110
Iowa City, Iowa
Few builders have made such an impression on me as TK Smith. We share the Bigsby and early Fender aesthetic that defines solid body electric instruments. TK’s dedication to making sure the details are perfect assures that you will have a guitar that will always do what you need it to. Congratulations on the gorgeous new axe. When you take possession we’ll need plenty of photos and a full report!
 

Lucky Jim

Gretschie
Oct 16, 2020
413
Kent, England
I love thé look of that guitar. I’ve enjoyed hearing the TKS guitars of Matt Codina and Pat Capocci among others and of course TK himself is a fabulous player of his superbly crafted instruments.

Really looking forward to your review and video.
 

omphalopsychos

Electromatic
Feb 6, 2021
12
California
Thanks everyone. 🥰 I'm a massive fan of TK's stuff. Been putting his pickups on all my guitars and I recently also picked up his previous Epiphone Deluxe that he modded and owned for a couple years.



Here's another deluxe that I had modded, not by him but he made me a custom pickguard for it. Both of these deluxes obviously inspired the fretboard and pickguard for the custom build.

 

omphalopsychos

Electromatic
Feb 6, 2021
12
California
I finally got it lat week and got to spend the afternoon hanging out.

What can I say? It's perfect! The tone is thick like an archtop, the body is extremely comfortable to play. The neck is INCREDIBLE (I measured my favorite neck and TK replicated it exactly). I've never had such an instant bond with an instrument, except maybe my D'Angelico.

 

blueruins

Friend of Fred
May 28, 2013
5,249
Savannah, GA
You sure make it sound sweet! More pics please!

I was just over at TK’s website this morning…good stuff coming out of that kitchen!
I finally got it lat week and got to spend the afternoon hanging out.

What can I say? It's perfect! The tone is thick like an archtop, the body is extremely comfortable to play. The neck is INCREDIBLE (I measured my favorite neck and TK replicated it exactly). I've never had such an instant bond with an instrument, except maybe my D'Angelico.

 
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