Local guitar-builder Alder & Main was born just a few blocks down the road from Telluride Music Co. in Telluride, Colorado. In their condo's parking garage, husband-and-wife duo Jamie and Christianna Catchpole began experimenting with fine tone woods and exploring their own intriguing guitar designs. Now relocated to a proper wood shop in nearby Norwood, Colorado, Alder & Main have honed their craft. Using the finest materials and components available, each Alder & Main guitar is built by hand with the utmost care and attention to detail, right here in the San Juan Mountains of Southern Colorado. Here's the scoop from Jamie: "Rising from the sawdust, this Tele was nearly scrapped. Originally intended to be the "Super Keef," this guitar was just too heavy. So we routed out underneath the pickguard. Still too heavy. So we planed a quarter inch off the back, hollowed out one side and recapped the back with an Ash top. Er, back. I lost interest in saving it, but my wife took over and voila! You have The Phoenix." The Phoenix features a gorgeous Silver and Green two-tone finish. On the back, the Silver finish fills the Ash grain, and the back of the neck matches the Silver top. For the perfect contrast, the front of the headstock sports the Green finish, and the Alder & Main brand is filled in with Silver. We're glad Christianna believed in this body and took the time to experiment with fun finish colors. This is a guitar that will get noticed. The contouring of the top softens the edges for comfort, but it also makes it subtly different from other bolt-on, single-cut T-style guitars. For pickups, The Phoenix has a Dimarzio Master PAF in the neck and DiMarzio Twang King bridge. Despite the hollow construction and additional routing under the pickguard, it's still not a particularly lightweight guitar (8 lbs 8.1 oz). Perhaps the Ash used is just particularly dense. Regardless, it produces tone like no other! The humbucker neck/tele bridge is a versatile configuration, and it has plenty of sustain and bite. Body: Ash, Mostly hollow with an Ash cap on the back Neck: Refinished Squier with dressed frets Scale Length: 25-1/2" Nut Width: 1-21/32" Neck Pickup: DiMarzio Master PAF Bridge Pickup: DimArzio Twang King Electronics: CTS 500k pots, Orange Drop 223k tone cap, Switchcraft switch Knobs: Schaller Tuning Machines: Sealed 6-in-Line Bridge: Fender Classic Series '50s w/ compensated Brass saddles Bag/Case: Basic StewMac Gig Bag
