Callistocaster Guitars?

[mrsuspend]

I'm thinking of getting a telecasterish guitar for the IronGear pickups John forced on me (well, he showed them to me :lol: ).
I came across Callistocaster Guitars who seem to offer tremendous value for money: A handcrafted ash body in the colour of my choice, handcrafted maple neck (all nitro), all hardware but the pickups, built and set up ?272.
Anyone else heard about them? Seems to be the one bloke, Peter Martin.

http://www.callistocaster.moonfruit.com/

/Magnus

 

[Dave_Mc]

How does he do them so cheap? I'm interested in a tele-style guitar too (have been for a while), and at that price I'd be interested, except it's so cheap that it starts the warning bells ringing. Doesn't mean it'll definitely be a gip (i mean, it's not like they're ?50), but that's incredibly cheap. I wonder is he buying in the necks or something like that? EDIT: ah, it says he uses allparts necks. What are allparts necks like? EDIT #2: It's also a bit worrying that there are no contact details other than an email address. I don't mind dealing by email (actually i prefer it), but I'd like to know a real-world address just in case anything went wrong.

 

[JohnA]

Amazing find Magnus!! I'm really wanting a tele with some big frets, they look like very good value, I'll report back after I've made contact

 

[mrsuspend]

Pete offers either Allparts or his own Callistocaster necks which are cheaper.
I queried Pete about the necks, his response (I hope he doesn't mind!):

The Allparts necks (www.allparts.uk.com) are top quality and require little or no touching up on the fingerboard,but they are rather expensive. Callistocaster necks are either one piece or two piece necks (maple with various fingerboards) made by myself depending on what wood is in stock and how busy I am, as neck builds are time consuming and although these are cheaper,I try to maintain a good quality throughout.
My normal process is to require 50% up front and the balance to be paid prior to posting.Bodies and guitars are normally built over a two-three week period and the finishing...the painfull part for the client..(the waiting)...takes a month depending on weather conditions and temperature as the lacquer dries off.
You would get regular emails with pics on the progress of your build.Hope this all helps.
Regards
Pete.

 

[Dave_Mc]

hey, if you don't mind taking one for the team, john, that'd be great :lol:

EDIT: was just thinking- maybe it'd be worth asking on a couple of UK guitar forums? I don't know about you, but I'm registered on both the Bareknuckle forums and Music Radar, both of which are fairly UK-centric... I could make a thread to ask if you like? Will also take a quick check of the HC reviews. EDIT #2: I don't see anything on HC, unless he's previously traded under a different name or something.

 

[JohnA]

Magnus & Dave

I don't mind being the test-pilot (term preferred to taking one for the team) :wink: They look like good value. If you can find any other info from other forums that would be great too!

 

[mrsuspend]

There's a thread on the Telecaster forum about one of Pete's builds:

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/171313-callistocaster-mother-earth-tele-build.html

 

[DaveWW]

Good stuff guys. They look great! Can't wait to try Johns

 

[JohnA]

Good stuff guys. They look great! Can't wait to try Johns

?250 it's bound to be better than your Bacchus :wink:

 

[DaveWW]

You'd need some very special scaffolding to be sure of that :wink:

 

[JohnA]

You'd need some very special scaffolding to be sure of that :wink:

Going for gold scaffolding on mine, no expense spared

 

[Dave_Mc]

Magnus & Dave

I don't mind being the test-pilot (term preferred to taking one for the team) :wink: They look like good value. If you can find any other info from other forums that would be great too!

hehe, taking one for the team sounds funnier :lol:

i did a search at musicradar, bareknuckle, ultimate guitar and harmony central (both the reviews section and the forum). I didn't find anything. I'll take a look at that link to tdpri which mrsuspend posted, thanks! EDIT: is that thread by the guy who runs callistocaster?

 

[mrsuspend]

Sorry, I misread the quote... the total price is ?400, not 270?.

/Magnus

 

[JohnA]

Sorry, I misread the quote... the total price is ?400, not 270?.

/Magnus

I've had a quote too, and it's close to ?500, but I think thats pretty good considering the spec I've asked for.

If it was ?270 I would be worried, you get what you pay for

 

[Anonymous]

For 500 you could get a Breezy that will celebrate it's 30th birthday this year. And you could still sell it for 500 a year or two later if you change your mind about how much you love it. If you spend 500 on a new bitsocaster, however good it is, you'll be lucky to get 250 for it a year later.

Why has my new keyboard not got a pound symbol on it? :evil:

 

[mrsuspend]

Very true, but I won't get a humbucker routed racing green Breezy.
And I refuse to reroute old guitars :evil:
Mine was ?400 though (hey, I've got a pound sign! :wink: )
I think John was after Jumbo frets...
/Magnus

 

[JohnA]

my spec was 2-piece centre joined figured lightweight ash body
V profile maple neck finished in nitro with Dunlop 6100 jumbo frets & 12" radius
mini-humbucker in neck std tele pickup in bridge
Blonde nitro finish
gold hardware

an allparts neck of that spec would cost me over ?200 unfinished, which I could bolt on to my Fernandes tele body, but wheres the fun in that Mike right though, it would be worth very little if ver it was sold-on.

Was also considering a Fender Japan Kotzen tele, but they are a lot of money! Nice though!

Mike go to control panel and regional & language settings and change your settings to English(United Kingdom) :wink:

 

[mrsuspend]

Mike right though, it would be worth very little if ver it was sold-on.

I'm a little better off in that respect as guitar prices in Sweden are so high.
I'd expect pretty much the money back. Close to it anyway!

/Magnus

 

[rdpickups]

I am very interested to hear how you get on with this as we will eventually have to get a strat and a tele for testing pickups.

No need to worry about resale values though as the unfortunate thing for the poor guitar is what we will do to them once we get them, .... it involves a router and a drill and would bring tears to your eyes

Declan

 

[JohnA]

I am very interested to hear how you get on with this as we will eventually have to get a strat and a tele for testing pickups.

No need to worry about resale values though as the unfortunate thing for the poor guitar is what we will do to them once we get them, .... it involves a router and a drill and would bring tears to your eyes

Declan

What's the timeline on strat & tele pickups Declan? If they are as good as my P1's I'll have a set of each!!