TE-52 NA Vintage Series : Bank for your buck, needs work to be awesome

I got this guitar in November 2018. At the moment this review is written, I have been using it for 6 months.

Specs:

Mine has the Roswell pickups, a 3-piece body and Strat pickup routing in the neck position (I am mentioning this as there are variants with Wilkinson pickups and humbucker routing). The reason I bought it was because I have another guitar with a floyd rose and wanted to have a second one with a fixed bridge.

Pros/Cons/Middle

Pros:

-Tone: It sounds great out of the box(sound wise, we'll get on the setup later). The pickups won't go anytime soon. I love the neck pickup, sounds really bluesy. The bridge pickup has a lot of grit and when overdriven, it can get heavy.

-Build quality: I feel it comes on par with other budget teles, costing a hundred euros more

Cons:

-Electronics(not the pickups): they feel cheap. Welding seemed ok but the switch feels really cheap.

-Bridge: I changed it with a Wilkinson with brass saddles. Tone improved, the metal is of better quality.

-Tuners: functional, a bit too stiff.

Comments:

-Setup: The frets are a bit sharp. The intonation was already fixed and stock strings were not bad, however. Came almost tuned out of the box.

-Weight: This is a heavy guitar, period. I kinda like that, others may not. I have not measured it, definitely heavier than my Ibanez RG (basswood).

Conclussion:

Overall, I really like this guitar. I have already spent about 30-40 euros on it, I will take it to a professional to have it setup, maybe change the nut to a bone one. I highly recommend this guitar for modding. If it is your first guitar, take it directly pro to fix it up for playabillity and you will have a fine instrument in your hands.

Edit: After 2 years of owning this, it is still my go-to guitar. After installing a bone nut, the next improvement will be to change the tuning pegs.