I'm The Rev. Tony Hughes, and I grew up in Detroit and I've have been playing for about 35 years.I come from a long line of jazz
musicians and, well, therefore fell in love with rock & roll, 'cause you just never want to be like your folks, ya' know!
For the past 12 years, I've lived in Portland, Oregon,and
have run a group called "Jesus Presley". This spring I'm relocating to Atlanta, GA.
My interest in building guitars stems from my grandfather. I
grew up sanding and helping him, starting in 1971. A while ago, I met a wonderful guitar builder named Marc Culbertson, who runs the instrument wood department at Gilmer Wood products in
Portland. I have a deep love for Teles and I started designing and building them with much help from Marc.
The following teles are the result of much thought and really
wanting to make Telecasters that are just plain different.
The first tele I built in 1972 had a one-piece swamp ash body, with a 1968 Jazzmaster neck, and stock 1957 tele pickups wired
in-phase, out-of-phase, in-series, and in-parallel. It's the first guitar I built and painted with my grandfather.
Next, is a one piece swamp ash body, with a Culbertson Custom Fatboy neck. The comments go something like this:
ever time someone picks it up to play it, they say "man, this neck is huge, it plays great." I used two Lindy Fralin hot pickups in it and it melts the paint
right off the walls. Finished in Reranch nitro butterscotch, I wanted to get the paint to look more like Gibson TV yellow, so there is about 25 coats hand buffed on it.
My next project is a solid spruce body with a one piece flame maple with white binding. It used a 1966 Fender Jazzmaster neck; I love these necks. I installed a Lindy Fralin humbucker in
the neck postion with a concentric knob. The bridge is a badass billet and I have to say this guitar is as smooth as silk. Finished in Reranch nitro satin clear.
This one started out as just a kind of stock Tele. Marc gave me a piece of figured swamp ash for Christmas. At first I wanted to
stain it black and after getting it done, I just didn't like it, so I painted it Daphine blue. After about 20 coats, it came out as
deep as it could be. I love this color. I used an All Parts 1950 style v-shaped neck; I tinted it. Stock Fender pickups and a 1959 Tele bridge with brass saddles.
After I got it painted, I called Dino a pinstriper who use to work for George
Barris and now lives in the Portland area and had him do his thing.
At this time, I'm finishing up a solid Mahogany Tele. One piece body with a quilted mahogany top, double-bound. The neck is
Gibson scale, mahogany with kingwood fret board and bound in ebony. It is a glue-in neck with a Gibson style angled head stock. I'm installing two Lindy Fralin P-90s, a similar
bridge to the one that Paul Reed Smith uses on his Dragon model. All the hardware is gold and every time I work on it, it just takes my breath away.
Finished in using tinted clear and then high gloss nitro.
The last Tele is a 2001 Mexi Tele Im getting ready to work on. I picked it up for $175.00. I'm changing out the pick-ups to Joe
Bardens, and will re-work the neck a bit. It's a great Tele...
So there you have it! I always use Reranch nitro, they are a great company, I'm in love with Lindy Fralin pickups, and, all in
all, it's really great to be able to show off my work.
Keep up the great work everyone, and thanks for checking out my Telecasters.
God Bless ya', Leo!
I'm The Rev. Tony Hughes, and I grew up in Detroit and I've have been playing for about 35 years.