Cream Of The Crop
Combine one of the UK’s top guitar makers with a pickup maker who has an enviable address book and what do we get? A very fine electric guitar
This Oz Cream T is the very first guitar produced in a three-way tie-up between Patrick James Eggle, Norwegian pickup maker Thomas Nilsen and Sound Affects’ owner, Tim Lobley, who’s not only given Thomas the space to build his pickups in the UK but is the motivating force behind this new direction. “A nice little meeting of English minds… with a Norwegian thrown in,” he quips.
“This is the first instrument I’ve used Cream T pickups on,” adds Patrick, “so this is very much the beginning. I’m quite excited about it: to have pickups that have that added value and pedigree.”
Concept aside, you don’t need us to tell you that the biggest trend, or direction, for guitar makers large and small is the ‘inspired-by’ design. Many have taken the Telecaster, off-set its body, changed its pickups, even mixed it up a bit with elements of other designs. But Eggle’s Oz simply pays homage, albeit in a thoroughly modern fashion. As you’d expect, it’s exceeding well done, retaining the original simplicity and modular design, while giving virtually every facet a contemporary artisan-quality makeover. But even though it’s not reliced in any bashed-up fashion, its artfully aged patina looks and feels old.
The beautifully light weight and neck feel hit you right away. The deeply flamed quarter-sawn roasted maple neck has a gloriously smooth feel to its ‘worn-through’ finish – achieved with Tung oil and wax. The darker burnished colouration, as we’ve said before in reviews on Patrick’s craft, apes an old Italian master violin or cello. It feels like it’s already been played for years.
The body finish, however, is relatively new for Patrick. Coined ‘58 formula’, it’s a nitro finish that “we get from a real oldschool company who told me it really hasn’t changed since the late 50s”, says Patrick. “They told me that it doesn’t use modern plasticisers, and it smells different, too, like peardrops. It’s completely different; it behaves differently. And one thing you can
“It’s a new instrument, but it’s not all squeaky and perfect so you’re scared to leave fingerprints on it” Patrick James Eggle
do is to age it with extreme cold. Basically, we let the finish cure for around 10 days, polish it then give it some gentle heat and pop it into a chest freezer for about four hours. When you take it out it looks like one of those frosted beer glasses, but when it dries out you’ve got the checking.
“It’s not a reliced guitar, but it is an aged finish,” reinforces Patrick. “It’s a new instrument, but it’s not all squeaky and perfect so you’re scared to leave fingerprints on it. We’re basically trying to create a nice new and desirable instrument but without that brand-new-ness. That’s all it is: along with our worn-through neck finish it, for me, makes the instrument seem more familiar.”
The resulting rich, deep translucent Butterscotch is cleanly crazed – not everyone is going to get that, but don’t forget you can choose you own uncracked nitro finish if you’d prefer. Us? We love it.
But it’s not just about the finish. There’s plenty of care seen here in the rounded heel with its inset neck plate, the slightly larger edge radius of the body, and the perfect invisible jointing of the body’s two pieces. Strap buttons are classic old-Gibson style, plus we get a rectangular metal jack socket plate. All the metal parts are aged, including the standard Kluson-style Gotoh split-post tuners and the Gotoh bridge, even though the bridge has modern flourishes like its partial sides and In-Tune compensated brass saddles. Great care is taken to ensure the saddles’ height adjustment screws sit within the rod material. Not a hair is out of place, and the cutting and shaping of the bone nut falls into the ‘is this art?’ category.
Feel & Sounds
The feel of this Oz is everything. Classed as having a ‘Soft-V’ profile, the ‘V’ itself is subtle, the trimmed shoulder disguising the heft. Though at 22.35mm at the 1st fret and 23mm at the 12th in depth, there’s not only less taper but less bulk in higher positions than a more vintage-spec guitar of this type. In short, it’s immensely playable, the fretwire choice considerably taller than
a more vintage-spec fret without feeling ‘jumbo’, helped by the Gibson-like 305mm (12-inch) radius: a very different feel from an early 50s guitar of this ilk. And despite the slab body, seated or strapped on, the light (3kg/6.6lb) guitar completely disappears.
There’s a noticeable, almost throaty acoustic ring that has a wonderful bloom to the sustain, but as we begin our plugged-in comparisons there’s no doubt what you’re playing. This one definitely veers on the steelier, brighter side at the bridge, with the neck pickup coming across as a fuller version of the Tele’s neck with a detailed high-end crispness that seems to sit between a more classic neck single coil and the smoother highs of a classic PAF-alike. It’s a very different sound to the
The combination of the weight and neck feel did it for us before we’d even plugged in
Shawbucker of a contemporary American Professional Tele Deluxe, for example. One obvious modernism, then, is that both the neck and mix positions are hum-cancelling, and while we’d wager that both pickups are very lightly potted, they are actually fully potted with Cream T’s special sauce.
We’d love to hear this pickup set up on a Tele Custom with a volume and tone for each pickup, for example. Not only is there considerable contrast here between the bridge and neck, but, obviously, the mix is preset. We also found a little tone roll-on on the bridge preferable, whereas fully open seems to enhance the almost acoustic-y clarity of the neck. With a dual volume/tone setup those subtle shades are easily catered for. Another option, of course, would be that early blend circuit.
Oh, and does it do a Keef? We’d say so: set up a clean Fender combo with a little crunch, and you’re there. Open G (fiveor six-string) is optional.
The neck is a very useful, clearly voiced ’buckermeets-single-coil that many could stay on all night
Verdict
Let’s face it, as we illustrate in The Rivals towards the start of this review, there’s no shortage of guitars based on the Telecaster. So why should we be so interested here?
Well, the combination of the weight and neck feel did it for us before we’d even plugged in. It’s not aiming to be a vintage clone and yet with its aged parts and that finish it doesn’t look or feel new. Along with the subtle modernisations, this Oz is quite possibly in the top five best guitars of this type – vintage or contemporary – that this writer has ever had his hands on. It’s guitar making at its finest level.
The Oz’s voice, too, while firmly rooted in the early years of its inspiration, covers considerable ground: the neck humbucker especially is a very useful, clearly voiced humbucker-meets-single-coil pickup that many could stay on all night. As we said, with a Tele Custom-like control setup the potential could be fully realised, but even in this classic setup it’s a guitar that is hugely inspirational, plays like butter and is beautifully in tune.