Up for sale is the one-of-a-kind TAO Guitars T-Bucket "Lusso".

It was custom hand-made in 2013, commissioned by me, the first and only owner. I am a close, life-long friend of Serge and John, the two luthiers, founders of Tao Guitars in Brussels Belgium.

The story started in 2012, when I decided to have a guitar hand-built, and be stripped of all superfluous elements interfering between the player and the instrument. This guitar is a statement and an homage to the guitars of the late fifties and early sixties: beauty, simplicity, impeccable craftsmanship, best materials, and tone.

Everything about this guitar was meticulously hand-picked, which resulted in a coherent, stable, and superbly sounding instrument.

The light woods are a block of mahogany that was cut and joint in a flawless book-spread technique, resulting in a 2-piece, deep contoured body; a once- piece Spanish cedar neck, and a beautifully grained slab of Indian rosewood for the fingerboard. The guitar weighs 3.390 kg. The body-neck joint is seamless, and delivers one of the most balanced instruments you ever held and played.

The hand-wound David Barfuss PAFs are made with vintage clone butyrate bobbins, custom machined steel parts and wound with 42AWG Plain Enamel magnet wire, like those old PAF we know and love. The custom made slugs and keeper bar and the use of special alnico IV magnets give them a vintage tone which still gives great attack and articulation but without the harshness postmodern burst style pickups have. These humbuckers sound veRRRy special. The bridge and neck humbucker are wound to 8,0 k-ohm /7,2 K-ohm and made with a vintage style winding pattern.

The finish is a thin skin urethane Ferrari blue (check the 1964 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso chassis color) just on the front and the matched headstock, and an oil- finish was applied for back, sides and neck, on top of a smooth dark woodgrain filler, which gives the body a rich, almost torrefied feel. The thin and discrete finishes allow the guitar to breathe, sustain, and deepen the interaction with the player through very strong wood vibrations.

The neck has a comfortable, discretely asymmetric mixed-C profile, that fits the players hand like a glove, with a 10” radius. It comes equipped with 6 in-line vintage Kluson-type GOTOH [w.pat.p] H.A.P 510 (slanted) tuning machines; no string trees needed. A bone nut was mounted, with medium (1-12), and vintage- correct frets (13-22).

During its entire existence, the guitar was used indoors only, preciously kept and cared for, it is in MINT condition. The setup was performed in 2020-nov-24, with a fresh set of Daddario NYXL10-52 strings especially for the sale, by a professional that personally knows and understands the builders and the philosophy behind all their creations.

As for the sound of the guitar, the wraparound ABM aluminum bridge gives it a refined, very distinct, warm tone, but projects note clarity through precise separation and fast response. In all pickup combinations, the chords sound compact and allow the player variation in picking dynamics, and individual notes retain he same level throughout the neck, no matter the string. In the middle position, the guitar maintains warmth with well-balanced chime on top. In the bridge position... well... if it were made in 1959, the price tag would be... different.

I played medium to high gain rock, jazz, alternative, shoe-gazing-drone huge reverb-based cleans on it, and all styles are at home on this guitar. I can provide video recordings of the guitar and more HD photos on request and to serious bidders only.

Heavy-heartedly, I have decided to sell it to cover another, bigger, investment.

The guitar will be skillfully packed to reduce temperature and humidity variations, or all other physical damage risks.

The guitar comes with a hand-made deluxe leather strap and a GATOR thick-padded carrying bag, but, for 50 euro extra, a light and very solid guitar case can be provided, depending on the buyer’s choice.