Crazy_About_Guitars

I hope all of you find the insight and information in this article that Teye himself (pictured above with two of his guitars)} took the time out to  write for us. I thank him personally for taking the time to write this.   teye-guitars.com 
Also keep in mind this is a handmade guitar and expensive. Teye himself is
well aware that the  "Average Joe" cannot afford his guitars. I have had several members remind me this site is for trying to survive our passion on the cheap.
I wanted to introduce you to the luthiers mind/experience/maybe a tweak trick
"AND" be able to look at some cool guitars. To a guy like Teye this is
advertiseing and a way to get his name out--On The Cheap. Teye went out
of his way to be helpful. As you have found out thru me trying to get one of these guys to do this is next to impossible. Now If I put a luthier on "The Showcase" that puts out hand made $200 guitars. You people would laugh me off the Internet.If you are going to buy a  $3000 guitar--I would take a serious look at these guitars. They will not drop in value after you buy one and probably will increase in value with time Unlike Gibson, PRS, Fender, Etc. You pay top dollar then try to resell it. You will lose several hundred to a thousand bucks or so!.

"Make Sure" you read the last paragraph.
Make You Proud!
Let's all be thankful and read on! 

                                                                                                                      
OK. Please allow me to tell you a litle bit where I come from, 
regarding the guitars I make.
    The first one was for ME. No intention in the world of doing this 
professionally and selling them. But after decades of professional 
playing and absolute discontent with all existing electric guitars 
(there is not a SINGLE guitar in my posession that I did not 
modify!), I decided on a whim to make one that would please me. I'd 
just finished my first home-made tube distortion, and my first home-
made all-tube combo amp, that both sounded way better than anything 
I'd ever bought in a store (makes you think) and I guess I got cocky, 
and bought some wood and parts and over the course of the next 9 
months, built my dream guitar (in between tours and performances you 
know, which were still my only income). I worked from a list of 
displeasures that I had with all my existing electrics. When she was 
finished, she was simply the very best guitar I had ever played. This 
was my own, honest observation, and I could not believe my eyes (or 
actually, ears). Not only that, but after much experimentation with a 
schematic of complex filtering that I'd toyed with, I was able to 
coax all kinds of different tones from her: Les Paul, SG, Strat, 
Tele, Gretsch, even an approximation of an Ovation... You see, I'd 
always wondered why I needed to bring four or five different guitars 
to electric gigs, but only ONE flamenco guitar to my flamenco shows, 
and also ONE classical guitar to my classical gigs. Was the electric 
guitar so sonically more superior and complex than the nylon string? 
Or were the electrics simply built rather limiting.
     With this guitar finished, I took her to friends, stores, guitar 
shows and got a lot of requests from people to sell her to them. At 
the same time my wife wanted to settle down from the road and the 
constant touring to have a baby. Then a good friend suggested I start 
selling my guitars, and the rest is to be expected.
     My guitars really caught on in a big manner. So many people are 
writing really well about them on the internet that I started to be 
back-ordered months, then a year. People's only complaint on my 
guitars was the price (my own complaint also, yet I hardly was making 
any money at all from this adventure: we were living off of my wife's 
income who had started a dog grooming business).
     People REALLY wanted the Feel, the Tone, and the Versatility that my 
guitars have, but at a much lower price. I then designed a second 
series that offered exactly that, with concessions in the LOOKS 
department. Still completely hand-made IN THE USA (so I actually have 
to pay my employees decently, something I wholeheartedly believe in) 
which gives me 100% hands-on quality control throughout the process, 
they still look very special and luxurious, but take much less time 
to make, and I offer them starting at roughly 1/3rd of the price of 
one of my luxury models. Altho I am STILL losing money on the 
secondary line, we are about to cross over the speed-bump and at 
least break even. Who knows where it may take us?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Now you know where I come from as a builder. And you also asked WHAT 
makes a really good guitar in my opinion.
Since you ask for my opinion, I will give it freely and without 
restraint!
    In short: what I am totally NOT interested in is the famous "coloring 
between the lines". I am anal about INSPIRATION, not about the 
flawless execution of a computer CNC machine. Some guitars like PRS and Collings (both good examples) are built so incredibly perfect, with a fit-and-finish that is out of this world, yet they have never inspired me like the much more crude creations of Tony Zemaitis did (this is of course my personal opinion, to which I am entitled). (S.C. here--Teye emailed me this to explain the next thought--
"When you do publish my email, please add the REASON why I think Gibsons
are 'shoddily made': the three breaks in 10 or so guitars that happened to me personally...")
Gibsons imho are mostly shoddily made (in construction, I am not 
talking about exterior now) and revolve around really old designs 
that have been 'streamlined' to give the corporation more profit.

     In 1970-something, I recorded my first release, using a borrowed 
Ampeg VT-22 and absolutely loving it. So I worked in the local 
factories until I had saved up the dough (very expensive they were, 
in Europe!) and bought one. This amp looked much 'neater', more 
sophisticated control panel, a removable grille... and I could never 
coax 'that' sound from it. Years later, I got my hands on an 
original, with the simple square graphics on the front panel. Boy was 
I pissed when I looked inside: completely different parts, even the 
PCB was totally different.
     I have vowed to never do that. It's the INTERIOR, the SOUND that 
matters. When I find a way to build my guitars cheaper, it'll be 
announced as a cheaper model, and cost less. In a way I am still that 
teenager saving up for his amp...
     Most guitars today are very nice shining things with almost perfect 
fit-and-finish, and zero inspiration. On the one hand the customer is 
educated that THAT is what a good instrument is; on the other hand 
people KNOW it's not, and pay the most ridiculous amounts for 
anything that is remotely old and beat up. I'm sure that Leo Fender 
would laugh his head off when he would find out that his original 
guitars fetch so much money. The absolute genius of Leo was of course 
that he made great sounding stuff that was basically modular. Oh, 
your frets have worn out? On a Gibson, you need to take them all off 
and replace them. On a Fender, you simply loosen four bolts and 
replace the neck! People completely pass by on this enormous wisdom.
     Have you ever seen or felt the original guitars of Tony Zemaitis? I 
have two: one I paid 6k for, the other 7. (I got them from Tony in 
the mid-nineties), The frets are cut thru the binding; the headstock 
veneer on both has been sanded thru, the neck joint has not been 
finished well on either of them. Yet they prompted me to sell my 1957 
Les Paul Gold-top 'cause they were so incredibly 'the real deal'. 
Really well and sturdily made: no ill-fitting neck joint, no bridges 
where parts fall out when you break a string. THAT is where I want my 
guitars to excel also. I dislike high gloss finishes; I dislike 
flimsy hard-ware; I dislike any stuff that does not look organic.
     To me, a high dollar guitar can justify its price in one way only: 
when you, the musician, holds it, does it send a shiver of 
inspiration down your spine? Can you not believe that you are 
actually PLAYING this? Then, the builder has fulfilled his job.
     Everybody understands that when you have a 100 necks come down an 
assembly line, and a 100 bodies, and random necks are glued onto 
random bodies and then the electronics go in in a hurry, that that 
guitar can be much much cheaper than an instrument where the maker 
actually lovingly selects pieces of wood that he thinks will fit well 
together, then shapes them until they resonate to his hands, and then 
fine-tunes the electronics that go inside. At least they should!
     And if the hand-made guitar carries the actual imprint of BEING hand-
made, then in MY opinion, that's actually more attractive than 
perfect shine and gloss.

Now you have it!
-----
Again, thanks for asking me to give my opinion, and I hope you will 
see my honesty.
Look forward to hearing from you,
good luck with your web site and the quest it stands for,

Sincerely,
Teye

{ teye-guitars.com/teye-guitars }

*****************************************************************

One Last Thing   --  A bit of Inspiration sent to me by Teye