Ron Kirn Barnbuster: The Ultimate T-Style (Made Of ≈200 YEAR OLD Pine!!)

If you're after an epic guitar with a great story behind it....this is it.

I've recently been on the hunt for a great Telecaster. I love my MIJ '52 Reissue, but it's a bit of a handful in terms of its setup (it has to have a high action to stop it choking out, even with the neck shimmed). Plus, I have some amazing new Tele pickups on the way (more about them soon!!) so I wanted to look for a Tele - or, T-style - deserving of those magnets, and without having to mess with my '52. I went through all of the Fender Custom Shop options - and couldn't afford any of them - as well as some other alternatives that I also decided against for various reasons (again, mostly financial!). But then, something cool showed up on eBay...looking like a cross between an old table and the coolest looking Tele I'd ever seen.

It was a 2009 Ron Kirn Barnbuster. I'd heard of Ron through the forums (The Gear Page, TDPRI, etc) and was vaguely aware of his work, but when I saw this I decided to do some more digging about the great man himself. In all the threads on all the forums, people who REALLY know their Telecasters (vintage, Custom Shop, etc) were routinely saying over and over that Ron's work is easily up there with the Fender Masterbuilders. High praise indeed on forums that usually love to be...well, somewhat sceptical!!

Long story short, I drove down to Devon and bought the Barnbuster. But it was when I got it home that the story became really interesting. I sent some pictures (and the serial number) to Ron, and asked if he had any additional information about it. I already knew he likes to use reclaimed wood in his builds and this particular body was made of Loblolly Pine - but what I didn't know is that this was no ordinary Barnbuster...it had been custom ordered by the original customer (hence it having a Rosewood board, 4-way switching, etc). And the piece of pine he'd used had been reclaimed from the structure of a factory in New York that was built in..........1838! Yes, this piece of wood is nearly TWO HUNDRED YEARS OLD! Pretty crazy, eh?

Combined with the Glendale Cold-Rolled Steel bridge, the Bill Lawrence (aka. Wilde) Micro-coil pickups (which are a story in themselves!) and Ron's immense attention to detail and decades of expertise, I'd somehow managed to buy the coolest - and vibiest - T-style guitar I could have ever dreamed of! And to top it all off, it sounds beyond wonderful - one of the most balanced, quintessential Tele tones I've ever heard, with all the Twang you could ever wish for.

What do you think? A wonderful instrument? Cool wood? Or would you have gone with the Fender Custom Shop? Comment below!

Guitar Specifications:
- Body: Reclaimed Loblolly Pine (dating to 1838!)
- Neck: Maple w/ Rosewood board
- Pickups: Bill Lawrence (Wilde) Micro-coils
- Switch: CRL 3-way
- Pots: 2x VIPots 280k
- Capacitor: Good All PIO 0.047uF

Amps:
- Vajra JTM45 Clone
- Orange Retro 50
- Tube-Town 18W Marshall Clone
- Dr Z Z-Wreck

All amps running into a Zilla Studio Pro 2x12 cabinet loaded with Scumback S75-PVC AlNiCo and Celestion AlNiCo Gold speakers. Recorded with Aston Spirit Condenser, '70s Sennheiser MD441 and sE RNR1 ribbon mics, with a Schoeps CMC6 room mic.

0:00 Intro Playing
1:24 The Tele Search
8:15 Enter Ron Kirn
14:00 The Bill Lawrence Micro-coils
16:31 PLAYING
24:16 Outro


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