TwangBuster

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MombasaFlash

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This is the TwangBuster.

What started out purely as a platform to install a unique mechanism that combines a tremelo with a B-Bender eventually grew into a 'Dream Guitar'. It is a Warmoth quilted maple topped Thinline Tele body with a Warmoth Pro Birdseye Maple/Brazilian Rosewood neck.

I have been playing a B-Bender Tele for the past fifteen years and recently got into vintage Gretsch. I bought three, two 6120 Chet Atkins (1957 & 1958) and a 6130 Round Up (1955). Two have been sold and I remain with the '57 6120. It has DeArmond pickups and they sound like nothing else on Earth. Huge and Ballsy.

So, this TwangBuster has a 1957 vintage DeArmond at the neck, a Kinman Avn59 Strat in the middle and a Kinman Avn48 Tele at the bridge. I honestly do not need another guitar. This one does it all. Together with the very resonant body this combination of pickups produces a truly huge and vibrant tone. Schaller StrapLocks, Sperzel Tuners and a Hipshot D-Tuner are further icing. My own custom wiring design using two Yamaha push-push pots keeps a very comprehensive array of available tones looking fairly simple.

But it doesn't stop there. John Berg in Buffalo NY built the custom Trem-Bender mechanism that combines a tremelo with a B-Bender and it is a work of art. Literally a Work of Art fashioned from aluminium and stainless steel. The only visible evidence from the front is the extra bit hanging off the Fender Tremelo bridge and the large strap button on the top bout but … look round the back and under a clear lexan cover like an exposed swiss watch is a truly impressive mechanism. I was prepared for a Les Paul weight but the guitar actually weighs less than my standard B-Bender Tele PLUS … it sounds about twenty times better. It sounds even better than my '57 Gretsch 6120. Certainly more versatile.

The body colouring and lacquering was done by DNG guitars in Paris and I made the pickguard and installed the custom wiring, electrics and hardware.

There is a full write-up and many photos at the following address: http://grazer.free.fr/html/GuitarGallery/twangbuster_a.htm

twangbuster.jpg
 
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