Vintage Artist T For more information, contact Melancon Guitars at 504-447-4090; or visit the company web site at www.melancon.com
There are numerous Telecaster and Stratocaster copies out in the guitar world. Many are good; some of the cheap ones are terrible, and others are marginal. I recently discovered an exceptionally good one - the Melancon Vintage Artist T.
Based in Thibodaux, La., Gerard Melancon produces hand-built, premium versions of the tried and true Telecaster and Stratocaster. The guitars feature premium woods (Alder, light ash, mahogany, maple top) and high-grade parts. The hardware options include Sperzel locking tuners, and Wilkinson, Gotoh and Floyd Rose bridges. Pickup choices include Seymour Duncan, Rio Grande and EMG in humbucker, single coil and P-90 configurations.
Features
You can buy the traditional styles with the vintage single pickup and vintage bridge combination, or go for a hybrid approach that includes humbucker pickups. Twenty custom colors include transparent red, transparent blue, transparent green and blonde as well as sunburst. Binding also is available.
Owner Gerard Melancon sent me a nice-looking, transparent green finished, traditional Tele-shape, Vintage Artist T with a maple top. It was made from the lightest ash I had ever held - extraordinarily light. According to Melancon, the body was routed out with tone chambers to give an extra degree of resonance and even lighter weight. The 22-fret maple neck/fretboard felt good and was set up for low action and light strings. Hardware included the time saving and always stable Sperzel locking tuners and Seymour Duncan single coil pickups. The controls and bridge are traditional Tele designs. The price tag for this version is $1,999, which includes a nice tweed covered hardcase.
Audition
The Melancon Vintage Artist T is a single coil pickup guitar player's dream. The ash body combined with the Seymour Duncan pickups gives solo pickers a clean percussive attack that is smooth and sustaining. Rhythm is clean and full. The neck felt good - even with the extra low action - and was virtually buzzless. The secondary benefit of the light ash body is that playing the Vintage Artist T is not taxing. Many Tele-knockoffs (and the real thing) are made from heavier alder or poplar, and they feel bulky. The Vintage Artist T is effortless to handle.
Summary
Melancon Guitars, though not cheap as many of the mass-produced Tele versions widely available today, are designed for those players who want to step up to a top-quality, hand-constructed, bolt-on neck guitar.
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