“A first-class build that’s impossible to fault… it would be criminal if this didn’t hit a stage”: Patrick James Eggle Oz-t Cabronita Thinline review

What is it?

Such is the modern world, we were scrolling through Instagram and stumbled across a delicious-looking Patrick James Eggle Oz-t. A quick “can we get one?” request and a little while later, once Patrick and his team had made another, here it is.

There’s no launch embargo date to follow. No PR to wade through. Just another jaw-dropping example of home-grown craft in the UK.

Increasingly, those of us who enjoy über-quality are looking beyond the big guns’ Custom Shops and Private Stock programmes. Nobody is saying £3k is cheap, but it’s considerably less than those obvious Custom Shop models, not least if you want some bespoke features that suit you.

Like many, many makers worldwide, Patrick’s range centres on electric guitars inspired by Fender favourites: the Tele-style Oz (named after the location of Eggle HQ), as here, and the more Strat-aimed 96, while the Macon covers more Gibson-like style in its various configurations.

So, while there’s no new outline for your eyes and hands to adjust to, Patrick’s main USP is simply the hugely detailed craft honed from vast experience in both the electric and acoustic worlds. And when we say ‘hugely detailed’, we really mean it. This is masterpiece level.

From the off, the experience of unboxing a perfectly packaged instrument is illustrative that the details go beyond the guitar itself. Opening the classic-style hard case, we note that the guitar is shipped with a fretboard protector, and the whiff of quality is hard to miss.

As you pull the guitar out, it’s not only a beautiful light weight for the style, but we’re drawn to the pristine condition and lightly aged hardware, not to mention the look of the roasted, figured maple neck-back and the deep brown/orange of the tortoiseshell pickguard and top-edge binding.

There’s no ageing to the perfectly glossed nitro body finish, though; its dark 2-Tone Burst over the vertically striped swamp ash seems somehow opulent but in very classic rock ’n’ roll style.

It’s perfectly matched by the stripped-down dress: the cut-off bridge with its big brass saddles, and the domed and lightly knurled control knobs, again lightly aged like the original P-Bass-style control plate they sit on.

Suiting the aged style is the old-looking single humbucker at the bridge – a Wide Range-style pickup, wound by Mojo here in the UK. There’s no need for a pickup selector switch, but you can split the humbucker via a pull-switch on the master tone control.

Specs

• PRICE: £3,260 ($4,379 approx., inc case)
• ORIGIN: UK
• TYPE: Single-cutaway, semi-solid electric
• BODY: 2-piece swamp ash back w/ swamp ash top
• NECK: Figured roasted maple, soft V profile, bolt-on
• SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”)
• NUT/WIDTH: Bone/43mm
• FINGERBOARD: Rosewood, ivory coloured face dots w/ Luminlay side dots, 304mm (12”) radius
• FRETS: 22 medium (Jescar 55090)
• HARDWARE: Gotoh ‘chopped T’ bridge with intonated brass saddles, Gotoh SD 91 tuners – aged nickel-plate
• STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 54.5mm
• ELECTRICS: Mojo CuNiFe Wide Range-style humbucker. Master volume and tone (w/ pull‑push coil-split)
• WEIGHT (kg/lb): 2.97/6.54
• OPTIONS: The base price is £2,990: 2-piece swamp ash body construction adds £100; single-ply tortoiseshell pickguard adds £60; body-edge binding adds £200
• RANGE OPTIONS: Solidbody T-style Oz (from £2,900) is joined by Oz Contour Top (from £3,400) and Oz Carved Top (from £4,300). Aside from these standard models, PJE also offers a full custom service (£POA)
• LEFT-HANDERS: Yes
• FINISH: 2-Tone Burst (as reviewed) – gloss nitrocellulose body; satin nitro to headstock and heel with ‘worn through’ neck back
• CONTACT: Patrick James Eggle

Playability and sounds

There’s obviously a familiar feel here to the slab-bodied guitar, which weighs in at 2.97kg (6.54lb). It’s a great seated player and feels like part of your body when strapped on. But not for the first time with a PJE guitar, it’s the neck feel and fretwork that’s truly exceptional.

There are no tricks. The oil/wax finish to the neck-back feels as good as the roasted maple looks, which is technically rift-sawn with a lovely strong flamed figure.

It’s only a shade lighter in colour than the deep brown rosewood fingerboard with its simple clay-like dots to the face (the side dots are quite large-diameter Luminlay), while the narrow/tall fret gauge seems perfectly suited, especially with the 305mm (12-inch) fingerboard radius.

Those frets are beautifully smooth with rounded ends, and the very straight neck has a pretty low action: 1.27mm on the treble side and 1.53mm on the bass side.

Of course, the heel is rounded, too, and the neckplate inset, which all helps the guitar to disappear in your hands. Nothing gets in the way. The neck profile is classed as a ‘soft V’ and there’s good depth – 22.8mm at the 1st fret, 23.4mm by the 12th – but the trim shoulders make it feel thinner to your hand.

The chambering is mostly on the bass side, which not only reduces weight but we get a good acoustic volume and pretty much halfway between a solid- and hollowbody response.

Not everyone will get on with a single-pickup guitar, of course, and you can order the Oz-t with a neck pickup. But us Les Paul Junior or Esquire fans have no complaints and, sound-wise, this Oz nods more to the latter than the former.

If you find a humbucker a bit too ‘big’ and a single coil too ‘small’, then this Mojo ’bucker might appeal. It’s pulled back a little from the Patent Applied For clone we have on our reference PJD Carey Standard – a similar chambered swamp ash/maple build – but it’s got a smooth, lean voice here that, for some, could be a hot country classic.

It’s a very vibrant and ringing voice at full volume and keeps its clarity under some tougher gains, but as any single-pickup player will know, your volume control is your friend.

Here, the guitar cleans up nicely and actually leans into a more twangsome zone. Set up your sound with that rolled-back volume then pull it back up for your riffs and leads and we’re right into a near-perfect roots rock Americana ballpark.

With the pull-switch engaged, though, which voices primarily the neck-facing coil, there’s an almost Gretsch-like sparkle, lower in output with less thickness but bags of bite that can easily be rolled back with the tone control.

Throw some chorus into the mix and if we were told this was a signature pickup for Johnny Marr or the late, great James Honeyman‑Scott, we’d believe it. But it’s just as valid for your 60s power-pop or clean and stingin’ righteous blues. One pickup, a host of sounds. Superb.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★★

Guitar World verdict: A first-class build that’s impossible to fault, this almost demure Oz-t is yet another illustration of why Patrick James Eggle is held in such high regard. But it’s no posh case-queen; it would be criminal if this didn’t hit a stage. It might just be a single-pickup guitar, but when one sounds as good and is versatile as this, do you really need more?

• “Built to a standard that few can come close to – and for a grand under a Fender Custom Shop Strat”: Patrick James Eggle 96 Rob Harris Signature review
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• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.