Johan Gustavsson Distressed Black Fullerblaster

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.

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. Love for all the things from big to tiny that goes into making these beasts.

In my opinion, Johan Gustavsson has more than accomplished the task at hand. These Fullerblasters are spectacular! Actually they are beyond spectacular. Remember - Johan, the man who makes the Bluesmaster, is the artist behind them.

I am extremely fortunate to have, in the shop, my first run of Johan’s intensely personal take on the bolt-on neck guitar. This is the first group of 4 guitars to arrive, all of which have a distressed finish to some degree.

While they all possess the care, artistry and perfection in design that I would expect from Johan, they all have their own individual touches, their own idiosyncratic touches that are all there for a particular reason.  I can actually imagine Johan fussing with each one:  a little more aging here, a little less there.

All the necks have a Soft V to C with a compound fingerboard radius. They are wonderfully hand carved with rolled over edges. All the aging and distressing are masterful. Each one looks and feels exactly right, perfectly warmed up and particular to each guitar.

The pickups are custom wound to achieve a well balanced sound. And the tone is really vintage. These are not overwound modern pickups. They really sound and FEEL like a guitar that has been around a long time. That’s an incredibly difficult feat to achieve with any kind of honesty.  It’s way beyond superificial “relicing” - or beating up the finish on a guitar.

The black guitar has a very sweet humbucker. Very, very PAF. Speaking of which, Johan took the time to not just make an aluminum pickguard, but then to then age it! Amazing. That’s what I mean by putting every little thing under the artist’s eye.

The korina body model is lightly aged with a slab Brazilian fingerboard and aged nickel P90 covers (I’ve honestly never even seen an aged nickel P-90 cover like this before).

The "combat burst" (an original Gustavsson color) finish covers a flame maple top, and is beautifully partnered with with a TV green mahogany back and aged binding. I just want to melt when I play it.

The black and green version has a gorgeous veneer Brazilian board that adds elegance to the look and a slight tendency-toward-mapleness to the sound (so you know, the slab board with with the Korina body is slightly more ‘raw’ sounding).

The one piece maple neck on the blackguard, with its perfectly reliced body and neck is Johan's clearest nod to Leo, whose inspired genius started us all down this path.

What Johan did with his Bluesmaster (for LP-Styles) he does here with the Fullerblaster. It's a guitar born from a familiar design platform but deeply infused with the extraordinary skill and sensibilities of a brilliant guitar maker.

When I started this venture, I promised you that I’d never offer a guitar I wouldn’t want to own myself. Yes, I realized that there would be times when it would be hard to let a guitar go, but I didn't expect there to be a time when I’d have four examples of the same model in hand that I would want to own forever. They are that good.

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.