TE-25TH Firemist : Impossibly good deal.

If you're on the fence about this one, just go for it. The specs speak for themselves, but the finish, frets and set-up are all at least what I'd expect on a guitar costing twice as much. No dead spots or high frets that I can find, no sharp fretboard edges either. The finish and body binding look great all over, and the flamed maple neck is just wonderful. Hardware is all good quality and fitted properly, no loose screws, knobs, switch or jack. Set-up is good also, intonation sounds about right, nut and string height are just fine for me, truss rod is set correctly. Tuning stability seems solid too.

A couple of screws on the control plate are just a tiny bit off-axis, but this is nitpicking really. I can't tell if the body cavities are shielded - they appear to be painted the same as the outside of the body. Regardless, there's no noise problem that I've noticed when plugged in. The wiring is really tidy as well. Switches and pots feel pretty good, no scratching noise or looseness. Knobs are push-fit, but that's fine - no push-pull pots on a tele anyway!

I saw that some people reported high grub screws on the bridge poking their hand, but that's not my experience at all. Despite being a vintage-style design, the bridge is perfectly comfortable and I can palm-mute as much as I like without any issues.

The pickups sound absolutely fine. No microphonic noise or any of the real problems you find on budget guitars, anything more is a matter of taste.

And you get a nice gig bag too. Plus elixir strings - far and away my favourites. Just an unbelievably good deal all round. Happy anniversary Harley Benton!