USED AND ABUSED - This is a mint condition Telstar!
The DAG Telstar - modern vintage mayhem via schizophrenic mojo; built entirely by mean Gene Baker and available exclusively through Destroy All Guitars.
For a diehard Tele or Strat fanatic, the DAG Telstar electric guitar is a mix between a long-term relationship and a one-night stand. You may have started off as a Tele, or a Strat fanatic, then somewhere in your playing career, you have a romance with the Stratocaster (or the Telecaster in the case of a Strat fanatic), and it's in and out of your life like some psychotic ex-girlfriend that just doesn’t quite want to go away, shows up every now and then, locks itself in your bathroom and refuses to leave...the Telstar really allows you to keep that crazy ex-girlfriend in check.
As a near-perfect blend of new and old, the DAG Telstar is a versatile multi-tool that combines two singular instruments into a cohesive, organic whole. It takes the best attributes of Telecasters and Stratocasters and combines them in a unique way. Folks that play Strats AND Teles can now get it done with one guitar. For instance, You look at the bottom ledge of the Tele, they way it just sits on your lap more comfortably for sitting and playing; and vice versa with the Strat, with the rounded contours and the tummy contours—it's a bit more comfortable up top so the Telstar combines these features.
In addition to vintage styling, the Telstar has some of today's more advanced modern design elements. DAG has eliminated the need for a string tree, which they describe as a vestigial appendage. Instead, the height of the tuners can be adjusted. In addition to providing better tuning stability, this design also helps many Nashville-style players. Lots of Tele players do a lot of tricks and moves with bends behind the nut, and if you have a string tree in the way, you can't do them. So with the graduated height on the tuning pegs, it allows you to get back there and do bends on the head of the guitar.
The 22-fret maple neck on the Telstar is one of the finest, most advanced features. Gene Baker has designed a compound radius neck that has a huge feeling at the nut, but tapers off smoothly to increase playability at the higher frets. The taper really allows you to adjust your playing style between the two designs as well. Open chords really twang and pop, while the thinner profile higher up allows for lightning-fast leads. Maybe someone's never going to go past the third fret, and just plays cowboy chords. They'll love this guitar. Yet someone who's going to push the instrument to the extreme is going to appreciate to the same depth.
The bridge pickup is one of the few standard accoutrements on the Telstar: every model has a Tele pickup in the bridge. The strongest trait of the Telecaster is the bridge pickup. The weak link on a Strat is the bridge pickup. So it makes perfect sense to use a Tele bridge pickup in this guitar.
If you're crazy about both Strats and a Teles, but wish the (relative) shortcomings of the one were compensated by the strengths of the other, the Telstar might just be your dream guitar.