STOAKES’ GEAR TALK – MAYBACH TELEMAN T61 MIAMI GREEN AGED

I have been a fan of the humble Telecaster for years now. In fact, it was back at my first ever rock gig, seeing Status Quo when I was 14, that I first discovered this wonderful guitar. There was just something about the sound and the look of Rick Parfitt’s white tele that just captivated me. In fact, that gig has a lot to answer for, it was what first ignited the fire inside me that I have for live music, plus it was one of the contributing factors to me wanting to learn guitar.

Although over the years I have played and owned lots of different guitars, the Tele has always been high up on my wish list. I have never actually owned one and unlike other guitars, I’ve only played one or two over the years as well, but I remember the first time I picked one up. I was playing a gig, my guitar died mid way through the set and the band that was on after me leant me their telecaster, well, what a feeling. The same feeling that I got when I first saw Rick’s white tele and the same feeling I got when I first strummed the Maybach Teleman T61.

Boasting an impressive set of specs, I was instantly impressed as I opened the box and that’s even before I got the guitar out. It arrived in a Maybach hard case, that was lined with dark green felt. A typical tele style pick up configuration with a three-way switch, Neck, Mid and Bridge, complete with a volume and tone dial. The neck pick up is the famous lipstick style pickup and the bridge is the ashtray style bridge with the pickup placed diagonally inside, as you would expect and both pickups are Van Zandt True Vintage single coils. The guitar boasts quite a chunky maple neck, with a rosewood finger board and vintage style Gotah tuners.

Maybach have a number of different colours available across the teleman range. Being frank, the Miami Green will divide people’s opinion, some love it, some will hate it. I personally love the retro aesthetic, it’s a 60’s feeling colour, perhaps more so than the other more popular traditional colours in the range. I must mention, that despite the guitar being advertised as ‘aged’, this is not a hugely relic’d guitar. The pick guard is made to look like it has endured years of playing with lots of ‘pick scratches’, there are little cracks in the paintwork and the shine has been taken off the metal dials to age them slightly. But, there is no heavy relicking, which I like. I’m told the cracks in the paintwork have been added in order to add to the tone. The logic states that through the numerous cracks, the guitar will resonate at slightly different frequencies, giving it a better sound than a ‘perfect’ new guitar. This is also one of the contributing facts as to why old guitars just sound better.

Anyway, it looks like an old guitar and it feels like an old guitar, especially with the chunkier neck, but the all-important question is… How does it sound? Well, I plugged it in and it absolutely blew me away, I tried it on the bridge pick up first (I had to), volume and tone all the way up and it just had that tele sound. That real twangy bite that you would expect and let me tell you, the bridge pickup packs a real punch. I must have spent the majority of the first day with just the bridge pick up. I was in love!

I had to try the neck pick up too, so I eventually tore myself away from the bridge and the neck pick up feels really smooth. I was quite surprised actually at the huge difference in the two pick ups. The neck is a really warm tone that almost feels velvety in comparison to the bridge. Sonically, the two pick ups couldn’t be further apart, they are the complete opposite, which enables you to achieve a huge range of tones. Add a bit of distortion and overdrive and you have a different beast entirely. The neck pick up is tighter than the bridge, so works well for punk and the bridge is all out Status Quo, Springsteen and Keef!

Something magical happens in the middle position too, it retains the bite of the bridge, but incorporates some of the silkiness from the neck. It’s a really well balanced tone. In fact, some say you can’t play metal on a tele, because single coils aren’t ‘high gain’ or ‘hot’ enough. I would disagree, using the middle position, in my opinion you could easily go toe to toe with a Les Paul or even a flying V and you can achieve that classic heavy metal sound. Perhaps you won’t get the right tone to play the likes of Napalm Death, but you can easily get a Priest or Maiden tone and the guitar will quite happily perform to that end.

One of the big stand out problems that I have to address in this review, is why you would buy the Maybach over a real Fender Telecaster. Price wise, it’s in in the same ballpark as an American standard Tele. I would argue however that the Maybach is far more than that, I would place the Maybach up in the Fender Custom Shop territory. So with that being said, quality wise at least, buying the Maybach, you’re bagging yourself a real bargain. If you’re the kind of person that wants the ‘name’ and looks down on anything that isn’t the brand, go buy a Fender, but, if you want a quality, high end, custom shop guitar for half the price that is an absolute dream to play, then get yourself a Maybach Teleman. The other thing to consider is everyone plays fender tele’s, be different and stand out from the crowd. And the Maybach Teleman will enable you to do that.

I have had an absolute ball playing this guitar for the last few weeks and if I had the money, I would buy one straight away. In fact, I am absolutely devastated to be sending it back this week!! It’s a guitar that can handle whatever you throw at it, rock, heavy metal, country, blues, even jazz using the neck pick up. I would say this is possibly one of the nicest guitars that I have ever played. It might even be my all time favourite. It is quite simply stunning. If you like T style guitars and want an absolutely top quality guitar, that you’ll play for life, the Maybach Teleman is for you.

Specs:

• Manufacturer: Maybach Guitars
• Model: Maybach Teleman
• Construction: T-Style, Single Cutaway
• Origin: Czech Republic
• Type: Right-handed
• Body: Pine
• Colour: Miami Green
• Finish: aged/aged
• Lacquer: Nitrocellulose lacquer  
• Neck: Solid maple, Big C
• Neck joint: screwed
• Fingerboard: rosewood
• Frets: 21, Wagner 9662 medium jumbo
• Inlays: dots/dots
• Headstock: Maybach T-Style Headstock
• Pickup: 2x Single Coil Amber Twangtone 50
• Electronics: 3-way switch, 1x volume, 1x tone
• Machine heads: Gotoh SDS-510
• Saddle: Bone
• Knobs: Gotoh Dome, nickel
• Bridge: Wilkinson
• Strings: D’Addario EXL110   
• Scale length: 648 mm
• nut width: 42,8 mm
• Fingerboard radius: 7.25″.
• Neck thickness: 1st fret: approx. 24mm + 12th fret: approx. 25,5mm
• Accessories: neck adjuster, case, certificate

RRP:  £1,609