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Two days ago, I would’ve sworn on all that’s holy that I’d never buy a Tele, never ever buy a relic’ed guitar (ugh!), never ever ever buy some shady partscaster of hastily thrown together imported pieces of kit, and that my hand issues would prevent me from ever playing comfortably on a 25.5” guitar. I’m a PRS guy through and through, with a GB10 thrown in because, well, how can you not have a GB10, and am not tempted by other brands. Other arms just didn’t hold a thrill.
Yesterday, all that went out the window. I spent some quality time at my fav guitar store, TFOA.eu, enjoying the coffee and the guitars (and amps, more on which later). I usually walk by the Strat and Tele corner without a second glance but was stopped in my tracks by some Suhr Tele-style guitars including their Asato signature model. I’d never tried those and they have some interesting specs such as stainless steel frets, noise cancelling pickups, saddles that intonate well, locking tuners, etc. So I gave them a spin but they weren’t for me, they felt somewhat lifeless to me. The reverse-headstock Asato is a wonderful instrument and several notches up compared to Suhr’s regular Classic T model (as it should be because it’s well over four grand). Well-made stuff but not for me.
I don’t know why I did it, probably just to have an excuse to scoff at it, but suddenly I found myself grabbing what appeared to be another dime-a-dozen relic’d Tele copy priced at just over two grand. It weighed nothing. Almost literally. It’s the lightest guitar I ever held in my life and clocks in at 2 kilograms. My 594 Hollowbody II feels like a ton of bricks compared to it. But no neck dive at all. That got my attention. Is this thing hollow? Is there weight relief? Nope, it’s a true solidbody. Then I hit an open E7 chord, unplugged, hard, expecting to hear 6 soft, thin, uninspiring, pingy, plinky notes. What I got was a round, full, pleasant and amazingly loud acoustic sound that I could’ve mic’d. From a solidbody, wait, what? It wasn’t thin, it wasn’t muddy, each note stood out and the whole thing sounded like a million bucks. So I plugged it into my fav amp, a Carr Sportsman, which they happen to carry at that store (but I never got myself to shell out well over three grand for an amp so never got one, more on that later). That’s when my jaw fell off. That guitar’s amped sound was exactly like the unplugged sound, just louder and more 3D. There’s not a shrill sound to be found on this Tele-style, it’s warm and fat and balanced but also articulate and transparent. It sustains forever, stays in tune and plays like butter. Also it’s my first store-bought guitar ever where I didn’t re-do the setup. Because the set-up was perfect: a mere hint of neck relief, almost ruler-straight, a perfectly cut nut, intonation spot-on, just the right action for an instrument like this, no sharp edges on the bridge or anywhere else, just perfect and ready to play. Playing this guitar is extremely satisfying. Makes me play better. It’s just so pure and visceral.
Is it good for jazz? To my ears, it’s wonderful for jazz. It’s woody and smokey, warm and articulate and never thin or shrill. I can’t stop playing it.
Hardware is all Gotoh, pickups appear to be made in-house. Workmanship very very good throughout.
Can’t post photos in here because for some reason Imgur doesn’t seem to allow it anymore, all I can do is link to Imgur: K 63T - Album on Imgur
About the brand: turns out they’re Dutch and have been around for a few years. They mostly do copies but some original models as well. I have no idea how they build their instruments. Perhaps they make everything themselves, perhaps they just order bodies and necks somewhere and assemble the guitars in-house. I don’t know. I do know this is one special guitar. For the first time ever I feel like: if the result is this good, then who cares?
Link to manufacturer’s website: Kauffmann Guitars
The Carr amp turned out to be a used one from 2023 and I got a really good price for it, so I got that as well. Traded in my mint Core PRS DGT and couldn’t be happier.
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12-13-2025 04:44 AM
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Read the specs; suspicion confirmed - paulownia body. I’m surprised this isn’t more common. For those that don’t know, paulownia is a wonder wood; light, strong, grows fast. I tried it for a guitar speaker cabinet and was pleasantly surprised.
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Nice-looking guitar - congrats!
[no prices on the web site - what are they new??]
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Well it’s just another relic’d Tele copy really. Thankfully, it doesn’t really bother me. I don’t think it’s ugly. But if it had been, I’d still have bought it. I’d have bought it no matter how it looks. It feels like an old, broken-in guitar, an old friend so to speak. I feel like I’ve had it for years but it’s only been two days. Mine retailed for €2249. Some are cheaper (no relic job), some more expensive but they seem to max out around €2500.
Originally Posted by marcwhy
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So no doubt these are very playable fine crafted copies of what everyone likes. My issue is how many copies does it take to change a light bulb at this point?
Apparently never enough,Lol!
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The guitar found you. I love it when that happens and it always results in a special bond that should last a lifetime. Enjoy!! Originally Posted by Oscar67
Two days ago, I would’ve sworn on all that’s holy that I’d never buy a Tele, never ever buy a relic’ed guitar (ugh!), never ever ever buy some shady partscaster of hastily thrown together imported pieces of kit, and that my hand issues would prevent me from ever playing comfortably on a 25.5” guitar. I’m a PRS guy through and through, with a GB10 thrown in because, well, how can you not have a GB10, and am not tempted by other brands. Other arms just didn’t hold a thrill.
Yesterday, all that went out the window. I spent some quality time at my fav guitar store, TFOA.eu, enjoying the coffee and the guitars (and amps, more on which later). I usually walk by the Strat and Tele corner without a second glance but was stopped in my tracks by some Suhr Tele-style guitars including their Asato signature model. I’d never tried those and they have some interesting specs such as stainless steel frets, noise cancelling pickups, saddles that intonate well, locking tuners, etc. So I gave them a spin but they weren’t for me, they felt somewhat lifeless to me. The reverse-headstock Asato is a wonderful instrument and several notches up compared to Suhr’s regular Classic T model (as it should be because it’s well over four grand). Well-made stuff but not for me.
I don’t know why I did it, probably just to have an excuse to scoff at it, but suddenly I found myself grabbing what appeared to be another dime-a-dozen relic’d Tele copy priced at just over two grand. It weighed nothing. Almost literally. It’s the lightest guitar I ever held in my life and clocks in at 2 kilograms. My 594 Hollowbody II feels like a ton of bricks compared to it. But no neck dive at all. That got my attention. Is this thing hollow? Is there weight relief? Nope, it’s a true solidbody. Then I hit an open E7 chord, unplugged, hard, expecting to hear 6 soft, thin, uninspiring, pingy, plinky notes. What I got was a round, full, pleasant and amazingly loud acoustic sound that I could’ve mic’d. From a solidbody, wait, what? It wasn’t thin, it wasn’t muddy, each note stood out and the whole thing sounded like a million bucks. So I plugged it into my fav amp, a Carr Sportsman, which they happen to carry at that store (but I never got myself to shell out well over three grand for an amp so never got one, more on that later). That’s when my jaw fell off. That guitar’s amped sound was exactly like the unplugged sound, just louder and more 3D. There’s not a shrill sound to be found on this Tele-style, it’s warm and fat and balanced but also articulate and transparent. It sustains forever, stays in tune and plays like butter. Also it’s my first store-bought guitar ever where I didn’t re-do the setup. Because the set-up was perfect: a mere hint of neck relief, almost ruler-straight, a perfectly cut nut, intonation spot-on, just the right action for an instrument like this, no sharp edges on the bridge or anywhere else, just perfect and ready to play. Playing this guitar is extremely satisfying. Makes me play better. It’s just so pure and visceral.
Is it good for jazz? To my ears, it’s wonderful for jazz. It’s woody and smokey, warm and articulate and never thin or shrill. I can’t stop playing it.
Hardware is all Gotoh, pickups appear to be made in-house. Workmanship very very good throughout.
Can’t post photos in here because for some reason Imgur doesn’t seem to allow it anymore, all I can do is link to Imgur: K 63T - Album on Imgur
About the brand: turns out they’re Dutch and have been around for a few years. They mostly do copies but some original models as well. I have no idea how they build their instruments. Perhaps they make everything themselves, perhaps they just order bodies and necks somewhere and assemble the guitars in-house. I don’t know. I do know this is one special guitar. For the first time ever I feel like: if the result is this good, then who cares?
Link to manufacturer’s website: Kauffmann Guitars
The Carr amp turned out to be a used one from 2023 and I got a really good price for it, so I got that as well. Traded in my mint Core PRS DGT and couldn’t be happier.
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Congrats and may this Tele copy inspire your playing for many years to come. Leo hit it out of the park with the Tele way back when and no doubt, they make a fine jazz guitar.
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That’s a nice way to put it and it does feel like that. This guitar is such a contrast to my PRS’s… it’s the bare essence of electric guitar and playing it is a pure experience to the point of being primal - but in a very very good way. I play some of my chord-melody arrangements noticeably better on this instrument. Originally Posted by Woodstove
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Congrats!
I have exactly the same experience with a Kaufmann tele! Except I didn’t have money to bring it home…
But even playing it a short time in a store was a mindboggling experience. And I have played only 24,75” scale guitars since I bought my first LP in 1991 so my fingers have a lot to adjust with fenders.
I have a reasonably good Warmoth conversion neck so I asked Kauffmann would they sell only a body for me. But they said no parts selling.
Good luck with the fine instrument!
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Thank you! Hopefully some day you’ll be able to get your hands on one! Thankfully they’re not astronomically expensive. Originally Posted by Herbie
I was listening to Julian Lage’s View With A Room album today and immediately noticed the similarity. Julian uses a Nachocaster with a P90 and the dry, woody character of his sound is quite similar to how my Kauffmann sounds (even though it doesn’t have a P90). Now if only I could play like that…
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Not without a sense of humour this Mr Kaufmann
KAUFFMANN COZY MODEL - Kauffmann Guitars
S
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Something I forgot to mention but should be mentioned: somehow this thing is quiet. There’s no hum to speak of, not even with lots of gain. It’s just as quiet as my humbucker guitars. (This is at home where there’s very little electronic interference so your mileage might vary.)
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Almost three weeks in. I’m playing this T-shaped object to bits. When I plug in a hollowbody now I really have to adjust. None of them sound as open, transparent and warm as this T-copy. That includes a GB10 and a PRS JA-15 and those guitars are no slouches. Only my 594 Hollowbody II can come close in terms of open-ness and woody-ness. If someone would’ve said that to me a month ago I’d have laughed and dismissed it as just another dime-a-dozen ripoff. Well, it sure is a ripoff but I just can’t ignore hoe good it is. YMMV, as always.
Playing it is such a pure experience, the essence if electric guitar but without the drawbacks: proper intonation, an effortless neck, barely any hum (if any at all), vibrates against me like a church organ would, light as a feather and what I hear acoustically is what’s coming out of the amp - just louder. And it’s really woody and airy too, more so than any solidbody I’ve ever heard before.
Figured out how to post Imgur photos again so can share a few pics now.
Last edited by Oscar67; 01-03-2026 at 05:06 AM.
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Having never owned a tele, I always wondered how those 3-pc saddles intonate.
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The original design by Fender isn’t compensated so you have to find middle ground between the two strings of each pair. To me that’s like nails on a blackboard. Some folks sound really in tune with it but not me. But my guitar has a Gotoh bridge with compensated saddles for each string and the guitar’s intonation is fine. Wouldn’t have bought it otherwise. Originally Posted by Woody Sound
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I got another (Baja 50's) Tele last week, and before it arrived I ordered the Callaham compensated saddles for it. Not perfect, but better than the stock ones by a good amount. Originally Posted by Woody Sound
Callaham Vintage Guitars and Parts (Callaham 3 Enhanced Vintage Compensated Tele Saddles)
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Recommandations for Hollowbodies for $600 and under?
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