Teuffel Antonio

The newest creation from Ulrich Teuffel is called Antonio. It's an electric guitar with a neck pickup only, made of Honduran mahogany and ziricote, a dense and beautiful wood from Mexico and Central America. The upper bout is quite long to provide enhanced bass response, while the lower bout of the body is chambered for added resonance. All the hardwood parts are made from selected ziricote, such as the fingerboard, headstock cover, jack plate cover, bridge, and binding. The bridge consists of solid aluminum covered with ziricote. The jack plate is also a 3mm aluminum plate covered with ziricote. The scale is 24.75" with a 12" compound fingerboard radius.

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.

I decided to become a Teuffel dealer not only because I'm a fan of Ulrich's unique guitars but because I'm also a fan of the man himself. I admire his skills, his dedication, his passion and his strong single minded desire to extend his talents to creating a guitar that enhances the whole essence of guitar making. Many builders can make a great guitar. Few can successfully find that elusive extra magic that makes a great guitar simply sublime.

What Teuffel truly wants is to free you, the player to play what inspires you most.

With the Antonio, Teuffel reached back in guitar history for inspiration to the legendary builder Antonio Torres, who really designed the first modern guitar. To Ulrich, the Torres guitar is the ancestor of all modern guitars be it classical, flattop, or electric. The Antonio quotes the shape of Torres but is a pure electric with a single splittable neck pickup.

This is not a Strat-like, Tele-like, or Les Paul-like guitar; it is not meant to replace any one of those classic designs. What it is is an outstanding instrument for the player/collector who wants to explore new territory, be it tonal, esthetic or artistic. It's interesting to me that though this might not be the primary guitar for some of my favorite musicians, I can certainly picture all of them playing it and using it as part of their arsenal. Be it Pat Metheny, Jim Hall. Bill Frisell, Chet Atkins, Eric Clapton - I could go on and on - I can see any of them finding a place for this beauty in their music. It is remarkably versatile even with one splittable neck pickup, and though I would primarily think of this as a "clean" tone guitar, it really sounds great with distortion and holds together remarkably well with a slide... OK, add Ry Cooder to my list. Check out this video that John Bollinger did for Premier Guitar and you will understand what I’m talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nR2OFzaN7Y

Everything on the Antonio (aside from the switches) is crafted with meticulous skill by Ulrich himself. (He had an extended apprenticeship at Mercedes, so he knows from mechanical excellence.)

Teuffel winds his own pickups to create the tones which he feels compliment each particular guitar. He even makes his own metal parts and nickel plates each one, again, keeping in mind what he wants the guitar to sound like as well as look like. I keep thinking he's like a fine watchmaker who is conscious that the tiniest detail counts. His best shot at perfection is if he "controls the room." As Uli said to me "that level of freedom makes me tick."

This is a fantastic guitar, something different but not for different's sake. It's for the player or collector who is searching for that elusive magic, an instrument that will ping your soul and awaken your inspiration. Built by a true artist for the artist within you.

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 ULRICH TEUFFEL GUITARS
If asked about his most formative experience in guitar making, Ulrich Teuffel tends to say it was his study of industrial design from 1992 until 1996. Indeed, after obtaining a highschool degree Teuffel served an extended apprenticeship in metalwork and construction at Mercedes-Benz. During that period he learned that you can't name something "exact" if it isn’t down to one hundredth of a millimeter. While Teuffel crafts what we know as 'guitars' into a set of unorthodox, awe-inspiring and unusually engineered forms, it wasn't always that way. His earlier instruments were Steve Klein inspired acoustics and gorgeous traditinal electrics - Les Paul and Strat-like renditions that are remarkably similar to the iconic designs. But today, Ulrich is known as an intrepid adventurer with an engineer's bent. His intruments are thought out to a mind-boggling degree and executed with impeccable quality - the sort of creations that provide comfort and inspiration to artists like David Torn, Henry Kaiser, Hans Zimmer and Billy Gibbons.