Belated 2023 NGD: Trussart Steelcaster

[Deft Tungsman]

Happy 2024!!

I've been a member here for ages. First time I ever noticed this section of the Forum. Hence, the tardiness in posting my first electric NGD in at least six years.

Here's a post I started on The Gear Page on March 3rd, 2023 :


I've been playing guitar for 43 years, yet have never owned a Telecaster.

Until yesterday.

Late to the party? Yes.

I'm off to a pretty good start, though.







That's the executive summary.

For more background, see this SteelDeville NGD thread from 2017: https://www.thegearpage.net/board/in...ntent.1828876/

Not long after I got the SteelDeville, my band broke up, and I started playing acoustic guitar almost exclusively. I sold the Trussart without regrets. It was beautiful and sounded as good or even better than my #1 Trussart Strat from the early '90s. But it was on the heavy side, and the neck dive issue was a structural buzzkill. Awesome tones on all settings, but the control layout was confusing to navigate. It also made me realize yet again how much I hate push-pull knob switching: it's simply too tricky to pull up on a knob without twisting it right or left. The coil-splits on the SteelDeville were on the volume knobs, so it was even worse than the usual tone knob position.

Over the past 5-6 years, I have been playing my electrics rarely, if at all. Sure, I still browse the Internet for guitar and amp porn. But I'm all set in every department, don't need and would never use another amp, and I certainly don't need another acoustic.

I turned 60 last week. No fanfare, no plans to celebrate other than spending the evening at home with my lovely wife. Sweet, but kinda boring, right?

So, I decided to spoil myself with a new guitar, a new ELECTRIC guitar, to fill the gaping T-style hole in my little bevy of instruments. After a few days' trawling the net, I zeroed in on this sublime Steelcaster.

I love it way more than the SteelDeville. The Arcane single-coils don't make me feel any need for a humbucker sound, which keeps the switching options limited to the bare minimum. It's bone simple, very intuitive. This guitar is also lighter, with no neck dive. It sports a beautiful rendition of the Rust-O-Matic relic look. The amount of handwork that goes into crafting a Trussart is much more apparent here than on the shiny chrome ones.

A winner in every way. Happy birthday to me !

[Puddleglum]

Those are pretty cool. One of my favorite players is Charlie Sexton and he plays one of those sometimes.

[GoPappy]

That is a great looking T-style guitar! I love it. Thanks for sharing with us.