Bacchus Vintage Series BCT-67, made in Japan 2003-4, walnut stain finish. This is an unusual one! Bacchus launched in 1991 as part of the excellent Deviser family of brands, offering truly handmade instruments made by a small team of luthiers all trained under master luthier Yasuo Momose. The Vintage Series was made from 2002-4 and were some of Bacchus' last vintage Fender-style instruments before they switched focus to their own designs in 2005. This example is a limited run version of the BCT-67, a model referencing the mid sixties 'Custom Telecaster' with the double bound bodies. The standard version of the model got a pair of single coil pickups, an alder body and a vintage style 3-saddle bridge, but this one is packing a fancier spec sheet. First up, the body is made from some gorgeous mahogany, and it appears to be one piece. Bacchus were using Honduran mahogany for their high end offerings at the time, so this is an absolutely sublime piece of wood, with gorgeous ribbon grain on show under the walnut stain. The finish is topped off with a coat of super thin nitro, letting the aesthetics and tonal qualities of the wood shine through unhindered. The gold hardware, including deluxe six-saddle bridge plate, rounds out the look nicely. The neck is equally classy: a rosewood slab fingerboard on top of a quarter-sawn, oil wax finished piece of rock maple, carved to a perfect slim rounded C shape. It feels amazingly alive in the hands, the natural resonance and responsiveness is really quite something. The HS pickup setup is a lot of fun. The bridge pickup doles out classic Tele-twang: plenty of brightness and sparkle on the top end, with a pronounced midrange with plenty of presence and attack. The neck pickup is gooey, warm and full while maintaining a gorgeous clarity, and the middle position... oh boy, I'd just leave it there forever and be a happy chap, it's magic. This plays and sounds better than many Teles at 2-3 times the dime. Oh, and yeah: we all love a bit of binding on a T, right?

Model: Bacchus Vintage Series BCT-67
Made: Japan, 2003-4, Aska Japan (serial 011643)
Finish: walnut stain, thin satin nitro topcoat, cream binding
Body: Honduras mahogany, appears to be one piece
Weight: 3.525kg
Neck: quarter-sawn maple, rosewood slab board, 25.5" scale, 12" radius, oil wax finish, slim C shape
Mods: none
Pickups: Bacchus Yuta YH-1 humbucker, Yuta YT-1 single coil
Case: basic gig bag

Cosmetic condition notes: minor finish wear. The headstock has some minor scuffs on the end. The neck is clean and smooth in the hands, minor scuffs and rub wear on the back only. The back has widespread light surface scratches and scuffs, most notable not he back edge, bottom horn and around the middle, but there’s no major marks. The sides have minor dimples and scuffs around the whole body, no major marks. The front has a minor dent on the bottom edge down from the knobs, another dent in the elbow area and widespread light scuffs and surface scratches, nothing too nasty. Note the satin nitro finish marks easily, so there’s lots of little marks but it looks pretty clean from 1ft away. Overall: very good condition (7.5/10)

Playing condition notes: Neck is straight, action is low, intonation is good, truss rod works. All electrics tested and working properly. The frets have some normal wear, inc minor pitting but they're pretty even with no major buzz issues, 6/10 for fret life left. Wearing fresh 10/46 Moonshiners strings.