TE-70 Black Paisley : A lot of guitar for your money.

I was in the market for a cheap telecaster and was considering going for a Squier, for the classic look, but having had good experiences with Harley Benton instruments in the past, the Black Paisley caught my eye, so I bought it and am pleased that I did.

The good:

- fit and finish is good - no sharp fret ends and the finish was consistent on the body and the neck, which has a vintage tinted gloss finish.

- the Wilkinson pickups have a pleasant amount of output and effectively capture the sound of a telecaster - the bridge pickup is suitably twangy with a more mellow neck pickup.

- the tuners do their job and I haven't felt compelled to change them.

- the action at the nut didn't require any attention.

- truss rod is responsive and does what it's supposed to do.

- the paisley pattern looks striking.

The bad:

- the bridge pickup was very microphonic, so I changed it for a Wilkinson vintage-voiced pickup from eBay for £16 and this improved this a little.

- the bridge itself on mine wasn't making full contact with the body at the neck end, causing the whole assembly to become microphonic - a common problem with telecasters it seems.

- I removed the bridge, which was a little bent, lifting up at little on the treble side, so I bent it back into shape as best I could and then drilled two small holes in front of the bridge pickup to screw it to the body, resolving the problem.

To summarise, even though I had to do a little work on it, it was still worthwhile and I've been able to set it up to my tastes. Sounds and looks great, so I'd recommend giving it a try - might just have been my bad luck with the bridge.