FIRST PLAY:
The stuff that goes on front end

Joining Ulrich Teuffel's futuristic Birdfish sculpture guitar in his exclusive design-led range, is an instrument with a concept so out there it's back in again. This 7-string guitar features an exquisite birdseye maple fingerboard running through a tunnel of American alder. Ulrich opts for a seventh fret neck-to-body join for a better transmission of power from the low B string, and boy does it work. The hand designed, wound and finished pickups translate that power convincingly via an array of wild controls. A pair of large, tactile volume and tone control knobs sit close together in order that you can operate both of them at once with the side of your finger. A trio of black hole momentary switches offer a choice of piezo feedback from the switch nearest the neck, a mute or 'kill' switch for staccato riffage and finally a switch that brings in an 'open circuit' hum.

Designer Ulrich explains: "With the Tesla I have designed a guitar that, along with modern guitar sounds, also has these primordial sounds at its disposal. Pushbuttons are situated all over the body which activate these noise sounds. On the other hand I also wanted to give the guitar itself a modern punchy tone with no compromises."

Above the strings is a large push button pickup selector to toggle between bridge humbucker pickup only or neck split single coil pickup. As a custom option Ulrich offers a three-way or five-way selector to gain fuller access to the hand wound pickup tones. An ergonomic knee rest aids player comfort when seated and, while we're on the subject, the Tesla comes in a plush hand-stitched nubuck leather gigbag. Oh, and if you're wondering about the non toxic'Iunatic green' finish; it feels like sott rubber and ges, it glows in the dank too!

For more Information call Teuffel guitars on 0049 07307/961716
www.teuffel.com

Written by Ben Bartlett