The UK guitar brand’s ProShop has put together a pre-beaten T-style in tribute to the New Jersey rock icon’s 1950s “mutt”
(Image credit: Vintage)
NAMM 2022: UK guitar-maker Vintage has debuted its Unique range of one-off models pre-aged in its ProShop – and among them is this fine Springsteen-like T-style, dubbed The Boss.
While the press release makes no direct reference to Springsteen, the instrument wears its inspiration on its blue collar, er... sleeve, closely reflecting the look of The Boss’s ‘number one’ Telecaster.
It features an ash body, maple neck and maple ‘board with a distressed Butterscotch finish, while there’s also a black Bakelite pickguard and a set of Bare Knuckle’s The Boss Tele pickups.
These offer a fat, hot and yet decidedly vintage tone, without losing the emotive twang so associated with the single-coil Tele sound. They’re a pretty serious set and usually retail for around £209 ($263), so it’s a premium appointment.
Springsteen’s own Tele was supposedly equipped with stainless steel and titanium hardware in order to withstand the rigours of The Boss’ three-hour sets. Vintage has not gone quite so far, but it has added Wilkinson WJO7CR E-Z Lok machine heads and a chrome, six-saddle Gotoh GTC201 bridge.
It’s an appealing package in its own right, but particularly so for those of who have made eyes at the guitar on the Born To Run cover (by the way, those people might want to read the full story of Springsteen’s Fender Tele).
The Vintage ProShop Unique ‘The Boss’ has a price of £1,399 (approx. $1,760).
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While The Boss is, appropriately, the real star of the recent ProShop Unique batch, there’s more on offer.
V624 ProShop Unique Raw Knuckle Pink (Image credit: Vintage)
The V120 ProShop Unique Distressed Red/Tobacco Burst emulates a refinished sunburst single-pickup Les Paul Jr-style six-string and has a Bare Knuckle Old Guard P.90 pickup with CTS pots.
Vintage ProShop Unique – Joe Doe Salty Dog(Image credit: Vintage)
V624 ProShop Unique Raw Knuckle Pink(Image credit: Vintage)
Elsewhere, the V100 ProShop Unique Vintage Black brings a Bigsby to the classic Gibson-style single cut template, while the Vintage ProShop Unique – Joe Doe Salty Dog offers tattoo-themed artwork on a Strat-style build.
Finally, the V624 ProShop Unique Raw Knuckle Pink offers speedster variant, with a sleek, 24-fret neck, a Floyd Rose vibrato and Bare Knuckle ‘After Math’ humbuckers.
Matt is Features Editor for GuitarWorld.com. Before that he spent 10 years as a freelance music journalist, interviewing artists for the likes of Total Guitar, Guitarist, Guitar World, MusicRadar, NME.com, DJ Mag and Electronic Sound. In 2020, he launched CreativeMoney.co.uk, which aims to share the ideas that make creative lifestyles more sustainable. He plays guitar, but should not be allowed near your delay pedals.
