“It’s a modern clean machine, but there are plenty of twists to create a clear and powerful rock machine. A unique and frankly inspiring instrument”: Cream T Astra Custom ‘Decades’ review
The Astra ‘Decades’ aims to stand apart from the generic Tele-style guitar. So if you want more sounds, not to mention pickup swapping, you just might fall for its charms – Dumbucker included…
Not only is there a superb guitar here with its altered outline and comfort contours, the dual circuits, passive boost and neck-only Guitar-X pickup swapping turn what could have been another rerun into a unique and frankly inspiring instrument. A brand to watch and a guitar to try!
Pros
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Another finely made and crisply detailed guitar.
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Great neck and playability.
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Good weight.
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Expansive sounds from the unique control setup and passive Black Ice Boost.
Cons
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Not everyone will get the dual-circuit concept or the ‘Dumbucker’.
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When Cream T owner, Tim Lobley, told us he was working on a ‘modern’ T-style guitar earlier in 2024, we can’t say we were overexcited. Plenty of makers have done that and we shudder to think how many mucked-about-with ‘Telecasters’ there are out there across the price points.
In truth, Tim was thinking along the same lines: what could Cream T bring to the ‘posh’ T-style table? It turns out that “quite a lot” would be the answer.
As you can see, the Astra certainly looks the part and its outline isn’t just a redraw around a Fender, with a shorter treble horn and slightly wider cutaway. We get a forearm curve and deep ribcage contour, too, and in terms of specification it follows the posh S-style Polaris that Cream T launched at the tail end of 2023.
So there’s the lightweight obeche body capped with a thin AAA figured maple cap to which a rather fine roasted and flamed quarter-sawn maple neck is screwed on.
The modern elements continue with a nicely contoured round-nosed heel, its inset aged aluminium neckplate etched with the serial number and brand logo, not to mention the absence of a Telecaster-style pickguard leaving that maple figuring in a choice of four pretty modern-looking ’burst colours.
As with the Polaris, these colours are only over the maple top, while the rest of the body (including on our Sirius Blue review model) is a gloss opaque black. Similarities with the Polaris model continue with a dot-inlaid rosewood (as here) or maple compound radius fingerboard, well-fitted and polished pretty big frets, and blue Luminlay glow-in-the-dark side dots.
(Image credit: Future / Phil Barker)
That Gotoh bridge plate with its trio of ‘In Tune’ compensated saddles shouts Telecaster, as do the chromed, knurled control knobs. But what on earth is going on with those two three-way lever switches and that mini-toggle switch?
Quite uniquely, in our experience, there are two different circuits and that centrally placed mini-toggle switches between them. With that switch in the down position we have a circuit that’s in the style of the original single-pickup Esquire.
It only uses the bridge single coil, and in position 1 only the volume is engaged. In the middle position, we have the tone control in circuit, and in position 3 again it’s only the volume that is in circuit but with a pre-set treble roll-off originally intended to sound bass-guitar-like.
(Image credit: Future / Phil Barker)
Flick that mini-toggle upwards and the second circuit is engaged – what most of us know as the modern Tele setup of bridge, both and neck pickups, with the volume and tone functional in all positions. In this circuit, a pull switch on the volume splits the neck humbucker.
But there’s more: pull up the tone control in either circuit and you introduce the passive Black Ice Boost for some noticeable thickening. The neck pickup uses the Guitar-X pickup-swapping mount so any humbucking-sized pickup can be loaded in instantly. Cream T has provided its Cream Of The Crop humbucker here to play with the bridge single coil, which was scanned from a 1957 Telecaster, we’re told.
Now, going back to that single-pickup Esquire, some believe the absence of a neck pickup means there’s less magnetic pull on the strings and therefore that this is part of that guitar’s magic. So, after chatting with Adrian Thorpe of ThorpyFX, Cream T has also included a ‘Dumbucker’ dummy neck pickup with no magnet, if you want to experience the single-pickup Esquire drive but not have an open hole where the neck pickup should be.
(Image credit: Future / Phil Barker)
Playability and sounds
(Image credit: Future / Phil Barker)
The Astra is lightweight at just 3.02kg (6.64lb), and its subtly altered shape and those contours help it feel very comfortable and less plank-like than the original Fender. The neck feel is also in the modern camp, a well-shaped “medium C”, says Cream T, and we’d agree, although as is quite often the case that flatter fingerboard does give the impression of the neck being a little thinner than it actually is.
It’s essentially the same neck you’ll find on the Cream T Polaris as it’s dimensionally very similar with a nut width of 42.5mm (with 36mm string spacing) and a depth of 21.1mm at the 1st fret and 22.3mm by the 12th. There’s zero neck flex, and overall tuning stability is really good, along with a pretty vibrant, lively acoustic response.
Initially, the control circuits take a bit of thought, though it all becomes intuitive very quickly. On Circuit 1 in position 1 we have the brightest voicing of the bridge single coil, while the added tone control in position 2 just pulls back those sharp highs a little, plus you can pull the tone back to round the highs further.
Position 3 brings in that pre-set treble roll-off, which isn’t quite as woolly as rolling the tone fully off and is a pretty usable thick rhythm or quite fruity lead voice, especially with a little crunchy gain.
(Image credit: Future / Phil Barker)
Circuit 2 brings in the neck humbucker, a pretty classic ‘balanced’ PAF-alike that splits well enough, although it voices the slug coil whereas voicing the neck-facing screw coil might be a little more Tele-like. The pickup mix, then, doesn’t quite have the width of a classic Tele, particularly in coil-split mode. Position 1 here duplicates position 2 of Circuit 1: bridge pickup with both volume and tone in play.
Mike Christian’s Black Ice Boost can be engaged in any position on either circuit. When adding it to position 3 of Circuit 1 (already a treble roll-off), things do get a little too thick and indistinct to our ears.
But adding it to the bridge (with or without the tone) works extremely well: sonic cornflour that creates a rich and thicker sauce. The ‘Dumbucker’ with Circuit 1 is possibly a tweak too far, and while the science might be sound, the sonic effect is subtle at best and many might prefer a second humbucker – perhaps the more Tele-like Banger & Mash – to be included in the package (not least if it was wired to voice the neck-facing coil when split).
(Image credit: Future / Phil Barker)
While the control cavity is pretty stuffed, you can’t help thinking a treble bleed might be handy to retain some clarity as you pull back the volume. And in this hum/single‑coil setup, a phase switch can work well – just ask Andy Summers. Maybe both of those could be internally switchable, which could add to the tweakery?
Overall, though, this is another superb-sounding guitar from the Cream T stable. On the one hand it’s a modern clean machine, but there are plenty of twists to create a clear and powerful rock machine, especially with some heavier gain. It’s hard to put down.
Verdict
(Image credit: Future / Phil Barker)
Tele traditionalists probably won’t have got this far and will have scuttled back to Total Blackguard magazine. You can’t blame ’em.
In this launch ‘Decades’ version, the Astra is feature-led and by design not that standard T-style.
Guitar World verdict: Not only is there a superb guitar here with its altered outline and comfort contours, the dual circuits, passive boost and neck-only Guitar-X pickup swapping turn what could have been another rerun into a unique and frankly inspiring instrument. A brand to watch and a guitar to try!
Specs
(Image credit: Future / Phil Barker)
PRICE: £2,499 (inc gigbag/approx $3,089) ORIGIN: UK TYPE: Single-cutaway, solidbody electric BODY: Obeche with thin AAA maple top NECK: Quarter-sawn roasted maple, medium C profile, bolt-on SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”) NUT/WIDTH: Graph Tech Tusq/42.5mm FINGERBOARD: Rosewood, 6mm white dot inlays (w/ blue Luminlay side dots), 254- 356mm (10-14”) radius FRETS: 22, medium jumbo HARDWARE: Gotoh BS-TC1S bridge, Gotoh SG381 MG 07 rear-locking tuners – chrome-plated STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 55mm ELECTRICS: Cream T T-style single coil (bridge). Master volume (with coil-spit pull-switch for Circuit 2 neck humbucker) and tone (with pull switch for passive Black Ice Boost), Circuit selector mini-toggle switch. Circuit 1: bridge pickup only, 3-way lever pickup selector. Non-magnetic ‘Dumbucker’ supplied for neck position. Circuit 2: Adds Cream T Cream Of The Crop humbucker at neck with 3-way lever pickup selector, coil-split (via pull switch on volume) WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.02/6.64 OPTIONS: Maple fingerboard; custom-spec via Crème de la Crème option (£POA) RANGE OPTIONS: Polaris has various pickup formats from £2,499, as does Aurora Custom LEFT-HANDERS: Not currently FINISHES: Sirius Blue (as reviewed), Terra Burst, Black Hole Burst, Antares Red – gloss body; satin neck CONTACT: Cream T Custom Shop
Dave Burrluck is one of the world’s most experienced guitar journalists, who started writing back in the '80s for International Musician and Recording World, co-founded The Guitar Magazine and has been the Gear Reviews Editor of Guitarist magazine for the past two decades. Along the way, Dave has been the sole author of The PRS Guitar Book and The Player's Guide to Guitar Maintenance as well as contributing to numerous other books on the electric guitar. Dave is an active gigging and recording musician and still finds time to make, repair and mod guitars, not least for Guitarist’s The Mod Squad.
