Teuffel Tesla Studio

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Instead of the noise buttons the Tesla studio model has three pickups. The bridge and neck pickup are the same as on the classic model. In addition the Tesla studio has a middle pickup. A Schaller Megaswich controls the sounds. The switching positions are: bridge, bridge + middle, bridge + neck, middle + neck, neck.

CRAIG'S POV

It’s easy to be different. Want to make a “different” guitar? Buy a slab of wood, bandsaw it into an oddball shape, throw on 5 pickups and a 12-way switch, bolt on a neck, and you’ll have a “different” guitar.

It’s hard to be great.  It takes deep thought. Asking the right questions. And then, making decisions based on that thinking and those questions.

When Ulrich Teuffel designed the Tesla (which you see here), he did so based on a very special insight: That the shape of a guitar predisposes the audience and the player to expect a certain kind of music. Here’s what I mean. Most guitarists’ guitars immediately signal what kind of music you expect to hear. (Aside from Ted Nugent’s Byrdland and Ed Bickert’s Telecaster).  If Jim Hall showed up at Iridium with an inverted Gibson Explorer, or James Hetfield appeared with Metallica holding a D’Angelico New Yorker, the audience would experience a kind of cognitive dissonance. Same with a player. When you’re playing a new Strat for the first time, “Autumn Leaves” probably isn’t the first tune that will come to mind to you as a player. You’re probably not going to play “Purple Haze” on your L-5. That’s the way our minds work.

In short, Ulrich Teuffel’s design of the Tesla is purposeful – from a psychological and a mechanical view.  Psychological, because when you play it, it frees your mind to play anything you want. Mechanical, because there are elements that simply make it a better instrument – like the way the body shape provides exceptional stability to the neck.

Everything on the Tesla (aside from the fret wire and strings) is crafted with meticulous skill by Ulrich himself. (He had an extended apprenticeship at Mercedes, so he knows from mechanical excellence). Even the paint is custom formulated to allow the alder body to sing.

All of this wouldn’t mean a thing, of course, if the Tesla was simply an interesting object.  It’s not. It’s a stunning instrument. Addicting. Mind-expanding. Limitless in a way a traditional guitar is not.

The neck is superb - a gorgeous piece of birds eye maple, really smooth and sweet.  The controls fall exactly where your hand wants to go. Standing or sitting, it simply feels right. You’ll love it.

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.

oops--no videos or audio for this entry (yet)

Length	770 mm (30.31 inches)
Width	360 mm (14.17 inches)
Thickness	55 mm (2.16 inches)
Scale length	650 mm (25.6 inches)
Body	sides from American alder (red alder)
Neck	bird's eye maple throughneck, asymmetrically V-shaped
Neck thickness	20.0 mm (0.79 inches) at the 1st fret, 22.8 mm (0.90 inches) at 16th fret
Neck width	43.4 mm (1.71 inches) at the nut, 56.0 mm (2.20 inches) at the 22nd fret
Fretboard radius	350 mm (13,7") at the nut, 450 mm (17,7") at the 22nd fret
Fretwire	Jim Dunlop #6105, 22 frets
Pickups	1 humbucker hot PAF type AlNiCo8, 1 or 2 splitcoils vintage
Weight	2,95 kg (6.5 lbs)
String setup	10"-46" Pyramid nickel plated
Case	custom flight case