Quotes-comments

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Opinions:

• Teyes are the best sounding electric guitars being made today. And just for the record, I have an R9 too. (Gibsons top reissue of the Les Paul) A really, really good Murphy one in fact. It kills my buddy’s 1968 Custom, which, up to now, was the best LP I’ve ever heard. Guess what, my Teye beats it hands down. (Calvary Kendrick)

• Dude, it’s not every day that someone A/B’s a new guitar with my sweetest ’57 Goldtop (the first ever Gibson Les Paul with humbucking pickups: a legendary guitar) and then it walks all over it. (Mark Taylor, vintage guitar dealer, Nashville)

• The most soulful guitar I’ve ever played. (Konstantine Zakzanis, owner of amongst others a $250,000 1959 Gibson Les Paul)

• This guitar is as close to what I’ve been trying to achieve as I’ve seen. (Les Paul)

• When I say it’s good, I mean it’s good. Otherwise I would have said nothing. Your guitar is as good as mine (a modified by Les Gibson) (Les Paul)

• Sit down! I wanna talk shop with ya. Why did you do this, and this, and this? I would NEVER have thought of that. (Les Paul)

• Teye has raised the bar on custom guitars. His instruments not only are beautiful, but their sound and the way they play make them some of the best guitars I’ve ever played. (Rich Robinson, Black Crowes; Bad Company; Magpie Salute)

• The Teye Gypsy Arrow is one of those gui­tars that really could do everything for you. So if it’s a bit out of your budget, fear not, because if you cave in and purchase one, it’ll likely be the only guitar you’ll need for a long, long time. This gypsy has magic, baby! (Michael Molenda, Editor-in-chief, Guitar Player Magazine)

• The (Teye) Jazz Cat is an impressive achievement – (…) a wondrous piece of guitar craftsmanship. (Pete Prown, Vintage Guitar magazine)

• And all of the tonal variations were extremely inspired. Although I tried, I could not coax an unlikable sound from the (Teye La) Pirata. (article in Premier Guitar Magazine. Reviewers’ name unknown)

And a quote found on TheGearPage, pretty much randomly stumbled upon the following:

One guitar to rule them all? Teye

Discussion in ‘The Small Company Luthiers‘ started by redgold, Jul 4, 2018.

Always in search of a versatile guitar, I was primarily a PRS player in the 90’s. I moved on to Suhr as I preferred the pickups and somehow John is able to make singles and humbuckers work well together. For the last few years I fell in love with LPs, and although I love the fat tones they of course don’t have the slice of a nice strat or tele. I picked up this Teye Super Coyote at MountainCatGuitars (NY/NJ members need to check out Doug’s stash of great boutique gear; super nice and knowledgeable guy too) and for one singlecut offering an array of musical tones the Teye is it for me.

It was as if this guitar was custom built with me in mind. The wide elliptical neck shape, the thin finish without grain filler, the Z inspired looks, the improved neck access and ergonomics while sitting (due to the short waist the balance is perfect) are all things that I personally have sought over the years. But none of that would matter if the sound was not there. I can say that in my opinion there is not an unmusical sound to be had no matter where the controls are set. I’ve assembled dozens of partscasters and played around with treble bleeds, onboard preamps, coil splits, tbx and tonestyler controls chasing a “do all” guitar, and none of that approaches the totality of Teye’s proprietary electronics. And it goes without saying the Lollars sound terrific.

It might be easy to become overly focused on the visual aesthetic of the Teye’s or the unique switching, but I believe everything about the guitar is done for a reason. I believe the ratio between the mass of the neck and the body is important based on the notion that the neck acts as a driver to the body (and why tone seems to follow a good neck on bolt ons). A body with a lot of mass like a tele or LP requires a chubby neck to drive it and make it sing. Some builders use an oversized headstock and thinner body (Fano/Novo comes to mind) and Suhr offers an oversized headstock. With the Teye, the body is thinner than an LP, making it comfortable and light. The large headstock and plating make a cumbersome body unnecessary. I noticed different models with more or less plating seem to be constructed a bit differently, so no doubt Teye uses this ingredient with sonic intentions.

I hope people will have a chance to take a Teye for a spin. It may not replace your holy grail tele, strat or LP, but it will get you in the ballpark in a most musical way.

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