This T-Bucket Serial # 001 is as rare as they get in the high-end, Luthier built guitar world. The guitar has been very well taken care for and shows only slight use w/ some minor wear to the extremely lightly applied finish.The only other T-Bucket Model before this incredible instrument was the actual Prototype. Making this the first T-Bucket production model to ever be built.
This guitar plays incredibly and has opened up with time in a way we have only seen great acoustic guitars do. The notes bloom and breathe with great harmonic clarity and sustain. It is a magnificent wonder of an instrument that seems to breathe like a living organism. You feel it vibrate heavily in your hands and against your body while strumming chords or even playing single note runs. The tone is sophisticated and appealing to both fans of humbucking & single-coil pickups, as they have all the grit of the best PAF style humbuckers while retaining all the high-definition clarity and sparkle you usually only find in single-coils. They are true humbuckers though.
I’ve been watching the progression of the “Tao Boyz”, as their fans lovingly refer to the guitar building duo John & Serge based in Belgium since they first started out circa 2011/2012. That is right around the time this guitar was built. Man did they get it right the first time. Leo would be honored & proud.
This T-Bucket sustains forever and is built from only the finest materials. The body is made from extremely light weight Swamp Ash, the entire guitar weighs a hair under 6.4ibs on our digital scale.
The neck is built from an impressive 4A grade highly figured European quarter-sawn rock maple. The fingerboard is made of beautiful dark Indian Rosewood. This is one of only three T-Buckets with a gloss nitro finish on the neck (beautiful inlays serve as side fret makers) which really helps make the heavily flame maple figure really pop out. (I personally play a T-Bucket with an oil-based finish neck & enjoy both guitar necks very much, though I prefer the feel of the gloss finish & medium large size of this neck. The back shape is Tao’s trademark & extremely comfortable, asymmetrical neck shape that screams quality & literally fits right into the palm of your hand. (round on the bass side, a bit flatter on the treble side)
The frets use Tao’s progressive fretting. They start with jumbo fret wire to the 12th fret and then the frets become more narrow as you move up the board. This is done to prevent finger fatigue in those usually cramped upper registers. The fingerboards radius is 12" With a 1 11/16” nut width. The carbon flex dual-action truss rod design, consists of multi layered wood/carbon mixture for a larger push/pull than standard single-action truss rods designs.
This proprietary system prevents necks from warping & other problems related to most standard rods, where the neck can only be tightened or loosened. This is ideal, as a guitars wooden neck is very sensitive to climate and humidity changes. The truss rod is easily accessible, right between the last two frets of the board. No taking off the neck for adjustments with this guitar & the handy handmade truss rod adjustment tool makes sure you always have control with its perfect fit. A very useful touch.
The scale length is 24 3/4” which will feel very comfortable as familiar to fans of Gibson electrics.The pickups are a set of extremely special Custom-Wound for Tao, Stephen Designs Z-Max Neck Pickup and a V-1 61 bridge pickup. Both of these pickups have Tao’s unique handmade covers which are inspired by the world of hot-rods & classic cars. The Tao Boyz are also very talented Machinists as they hand-build & fabricate mostly all of their own hardware. The Bridge on this guitar was a Glendale’s (included) but is now changed to a Mastery Cut-Tele bridge with both string through the body & top-loading options for even more versatility. Tao has begun using Mastery Bridges/Vibratos on some of their newest builds and it compliments the guitar both in feel & looks very well.
Tao is quickly becoming a very well known high-end boutique guitar brand and for very good reason. They only are able to build/produce a few instruments per year as everything is done by hand, making them hard to find but once you try one you will be hooked. This instrument will surely further appreciate in value.
Comes with COA stating that this is Tao T-Bucket Ser # 001, Custom HSC W/ Aluminum Tao badge, Glendale Bridge & Saddles, Custom Truss-Rod adjustment tool built by Tao & other assorted tools.
(Check out the video link of Mr. Brice Delage playing this instrument in 2012 when it was brand new)
