TE-52 NA Vintage Series : Amazing quality for the price...... and then some !!

Out of the box the build quality appears pretty much flawless. Body finish is immaculate mirror gloss? no visible dents, scratches or scuffs etc. If these are either two or three piece ash, I can't see any join ? it looks like one piece of wood.. Nice chunky but comfy neck and all hardware seems to do its job well. Fret job feels good with no sharp edges that I can feel at all and nut seems well cut. This IS a heavy guitar, but not an issue as I'm just a home player . this guitar just feels amazingly solid. All the classic TE tones are here and the Wilkinson p/ups definitely seem worth the extra bit of money.

A couple of very minor issues. Fitted strings show some oxidation and feel a little rough.Frets look and feel like they could do with a bit of a better dress or maybe even just polishing up will fix this . Some grime or gunk on frets which may be the cause and greyish blob of what I guess is polishing compound on the fingerboard which looks like it will pick or polish off. Also control knobs seated at very slightly different heights and volume a little bit off being true parallel to body. The very highest black dot fret marker is a bit smudged around the edges which again may well polish out.These are very very minor and wouldn't normally even notice them. Any of the above issues I'm sure could be found on guitars 2 or 3 times the price.

Who should by this ?

I have a few mid lower range electrics ?92 Squier Strat MIJ , Epiphone LP Special, Yamaha and promised myself my next guitar would be a ?proper? TE. However, when I heard about HB guitars and what you get for a very low price I changed my thinking. I'm an occasional home player who likes to have variety of guitars for different moods and tones etc. I don't gig and whilst this may not be the sort of guitar that would survive years of touring without some upgrading, it does what I need it to and does it very very well. Seriously when you look at what you get for the money, its amazing how HB are doing this. Forget the name on the headstock, based on feel, tone and build alone you would think you're playing something a lot more expensive . I've never played a ?real? TE or vintage or custom shop model so can't say what they?re like but it's hard to see how the big manufacturers justify some of their prices when you see what you get with this HB.

Get one !!!