Who makes a "full hollow" tele or esquire?

[H165]

Anyone know of a maker of such a beast? This would probably be something like:

Neck block made with pocket for tele neck
Top, sides and back built like acoustic, but maybe 2 1/2" deep max.
2 pickups - probably filtertron neck and 'bucker center (no bridge pickup)

Likely similar to Carvin /Kiesel AC175 or AC375 but without the soundhole.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by H165

...Likely similar to Carvin /Kiesel AC175 or AC375 but without the soundhole.

TMK non-RPO options such as the one you describe can still be special-ordered via a one-to-one phone conversation with a Kiesel representative - every so often you'll see an instrument like that which a prospective owner has returned, being sold through the "Guitars in Stock" listing - so I'd make that my first line of pursuit...

[FrankHudson]

The current Acoustisonic isn't exactly like what the OP asks for, but it's a cousin of that idea. And I used to see a band* whose guitarist used one of the Carvin models mentioned already, and it worked great for them.

The other thing that struck me about what they asked for is that it's not really a Tele (other than I suppose general body shape looked at straight on.) Any hollowbody might give the sound they're looking for even if the body isn't a Tele shape. The Guild M75 Aristocrat is an uncommon example that comes to mind. Danelectro "countertop hollowbodies" are another cousin to what the OP asks for. I used to play a Reverend Slingshot that was sort of a better-made Danelectro formica thing with a slightly more Telecaster shape, a very Tele-like neck, and a pair of P90s. Nice guitar.

The OP likes Gretsch-style pickups. I surprised Steve hasn't suggested a Gretsch from his incomparable catalog of all things big G.


*The band was The Reptile Palace Orchestra from Madison Wisc.

[H165]

That early Aristocrat is close. I am actually looking for a 4.5lb electric with a wide neck.

THINLINE (chambered) 6.5lb

Hollow (old style) ARISTOCRAT 5.5lb

CARVIN (chambered) 6 lb

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by H165

That early Aristocrat is close. I am actually looking for a 4.5lb electric with a wide neck...

Godin CW II: two P-90's, full-feeling 1.72" neck, simple controls (volume/tone/3-way), built from ultra-thin (laminated) woods, has some definite Gretsch mojo thanks to same, and mine weighs just a tick over five pounds on the strap (about the same as the similarly-sized Seagull mini-jumbo) - although it's a full-size (16") hollowbody, I doubt you're going to find anything lighter:

[H165]

I doubt you're going to find anything lighter:

Yep; this is starting to look like another build.

[BoneDigger]

There was a company selling CF teles a while back that were very light

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by H165

Yep; this is starting to look like another build.

I built a couple of figured wood Teles several years back. Here's a shot of the innards of the birdseye natural finish one. The flame maple blue Tele was done in a similar manner, but the body was done using conventional kerfing which made it lighter in weight.

Both of these were built primarily to dump a few pounds of overall weight as I love Teles but wearing one for 3 hours was more work than I wanted to do, so I needed lighter instruments when I was gigging a lot.

Both started life as MIM Teles, which I chose predominantly because the necks were so much better at the time than the American-made counterparts. Both had stainless steel bridges I fabricated, different control / output jack locations, Texas Specials, Dunlop StrapLok hardware, and a few other mods I'm forgetting at present.