TE-52 NA Vintage Series : A Excellent Guitar For The Money

As i mentioned in my other review I wanted a couple of tele's I could use for a halloween gig, nothing silly priced as they would properly end up trashed so I ordered the TE-30 and The TE 52. 3 working days later they arrived.

On opening the box my first impressions were wow the TE-52 is beautiful, The body is made of 2 nicely figured pieces of ash that are center joined and stained a mid 50's vintage butterscotch which is flawless . This was areal surprise as I expected a multi piece body with possibly a veneer on the front.

The neck is maple with a nice c section to it and nice a satin finish that feels nearly as good as my relic tele. The fret however were quite uneven but I always budget in a professional setup so this was not a problem.

The bridge is a nice sturdy wilkinson ashtray bridge. The tuners are wilkinson vintage kluson style and were quite good so I kept them(may change them further down the journey). The control plate also was quite responsive but I always upgrade the pots and wiring.

The pickups surprised me the they are both ceramic pickups and I have to say they do a good job of getting the classic Tele sound, the neck pickup is clear and articulate but not thin. The let down is the bridge pickup, this ceramic pickup doesn't really have what it takes. Its a nice sound but some of the telecaster natural brightness is lost with this pickup

The guitar is now back from its setup and it's fantastic, I changed the bridge pickup for a wilkinson WVOB that costs about £30 and the sound transformed. This guitar is now my go to telecaster leaving my relic 52 abandoned in its case