Johan Gustavsson Fullerbaster - Preowned 2012

Johan loves the simplicity of the original Teles. He had no interest in simply branding an "also ran" model with the JG logo. He kept the familiar Bluesmaster silhouette, while incorporating the 6 in line headstock and bolt on one piece maple neck, found in the original design. The JG Fullerblaster is available with both the traditional slab and custom contoured body options. This model is offered with a distressed finish, which gives the instrument a warm and broken in feel. Body material options include mahogany, ash and alder. Fingerboard options include slab rosewood and maple.

Johan Gustavsson Fullerblaster preowned 2012

CRAIG'S POV

We don’t get may opportunities to offer pre-owned Gustavsson instruments—Johan’s guitars are so good and so hard to get that people overwhelmingly keep them close. I’m very excited to have a outstanding and unique preowned Fullerblaster in the shop. We originally sold this guitar in 2012. It was exceptionally well cared for and and is in the same condition as when it originally left the shop.

I wrote at length about this guitar when it first arrived, and have included below excerpts from that original description. It was part of the first shipment of Fullerblaster models that came to CR Guitars, and this particular one is extra special because as far as I know it is Gustavsson’s only homage to the black-guard Telecaster that started the modern era of electric guitar in the 1950s (certainly Leo Fender’’s most iconic design).

Because Johan is an exemplary artist, he never makes a copy of a vintage guitar. Rather, he is preternaturally gifted at grasping the most essential elements that define a great original guitar design. He then envisions a new instrument that captures the spirit of the classic model while adding his own stylistic nuances and masterful guitar making technique. In my view, he takes a great design like the Tele and extends it to its full potential. Perhaps in this case we might even say its fuller potential.

As expected, the detail work and finish on this guitar are exemplary. The neck is wonderful, a hand carved soft-V / full-C shape with a compound radius fretboard, and slightly rolled over edges that make it feel like a neck that was formed by your hand over years of playing. Gustavsson necks are legendary for good reason.

The pickups are custom wound to achieve just the right tonal balance, and moreover you can move the pickup selector switch with confidence knowing only the tonal character will change with the different settings, not the volume. It should also be noted, that the *vintage* feel of the instrument goes beyond the especially well achieved look of the guitar. The pickups were wound to respond like the best classic guitars we so covet, not overwound like most modern pickups. Too, often when I play relic guitars I find there is an almost a pretend vibe, simply a modern guitar whose finish has been basically damaged. But with Johan’s guitars, there is a honesty to the tone and feel that makes them incredibly genuine.

As with other Gustavsson instruments, this guitar has unbelievable articulation. The tone is crisp and defined, and dynamically responsive with incredible depth. Single note lines ring true and chords sound orchestral. This is a bolt on neck guitar at its absolute best.

As promised, follows are some excepts from the original description of this great guitar when it first arrived at CR.

When I started playing the guitar, I wanted to be a jazz guitarist. Back then, Gibson was the guitar of jazz. All my idols played them, and I logged all my hours of playing and practice in the world of Gibson. I had a 1966 Gibson catalogue that I stared at for hours and hours (by the way, I still have it). To me, Gibson was GUITAR.

Then I became a session player, and had to re-learn what a guitar should be, because session players played Fenders. It took some getting used to but I got the bug. And, truth be told, now, in my heart, I am a Fender style guitar player.

As a professional guitarist those have always been my go to guitars. There has always been an honesty about them. To me they are the working man's instrument, you get out what you put in. And the right Fender can be a simply brilliant instrument (like my treasured ’56). They don't lie.

Today’s best builders all have their own take on Leo’s design, their own recipe of how to take the basic building blocks and create their personal vision of what this style guitar could and should be.

It really takes a deep understanding of the DNA of the guitar to do this. More than that, it also needs a deep understanding of the player who creates music with that style of the guitar. But most of all it takes love. Love for the history of these guitars. Love for the titans who have played them and those that made them. Love for all the details, big and small…

If you'd like to find out more about this item, just call or e-mail me. It would be my pleasure to talk to you about it.

ABOUT JOHAN GUSTAVSSON GUITARS
It's probably fair to say that there have been few builders who’ve made as deep an impact on the contemporary guitar world as quickly as Johan Gustavsson. He’s taken the ’59 burst to a level that you likely haven’t experienced from any other builder. Johan's first exposure to a fine guitar was via his teacher, Robert Larsson, who had (as Johan puts it) “an old beaten up 1960 Les Paul Standard.” It was then he realized just what a great guitar could be. The experience continued when Johan got a part time job at one of the few places importing vintage guitars to Sweden from the U.S. (fifties Gibson Les Paul Goldtops, Juniors, pre-CBS Strats, Teles and Jazzmasters, etc). The exposure to that level of guitar and to that many great instruments had a great influence on his work as a guitar maker. Again – the quality of those guitars showed the possibilities inherent in the instrument. Johan has always been more attracted to the Gibson style of making guitars (with carved maple tops and glued in necks), and this is reflected in his most famous, and current model, the Bluesmaster Custom 59. A Gustavsson guitar is a Gustavsson guitar. His shop consists of Johan and an able assistant who was trained at the London Guild Hall University (and is a wonderful guitarist). That’s both good and bad news. The good news is that Johan’s genius is evident in every guitar he creates. The bad news is that since he makes them all himself, there are never many available. It’s a rare treat to play one. Simply superb.