TE-62CC SP : A Budget T-Style Guitar That Exceeded My Expectations

I'm an advanced guitarist but I don't believe in spending thousands on big-name brands as the marginal benefit is so low the higher up you go (I am also an economist). That being said I was looking at an affordable T-style guitar that gave me the most value that I could upgrade down the line and learn advanced luthier skills such as fret levelling, etc (And to play math rock) and this guitar intrigued me. I had really low expectations because of the price tag but was very impressed with what I received in comparison to similarly priced instruments from Squier.

Positives

- The fit and finish are amazing, I love the mint pickguard and pink finish! But the pickguard is a lot more mint than in the images. 0 defects that I can see. My only complaint is one of the screws for the control plate was a bit too close to the cavity but no functional issues there. If I was being really picky, the pickguard edges and the bottom of the vol/tone knobs are slightly rough.

- The neck looks and feels amazing, and the fretboard edges also feel slightly rolled which was a surprise.

- No sharp fret ends and scratchy frets! I was surprised that they were polished pretty decently, it's not perfect but it's way better than Squier's for sure.

- Great tone, obviously not identical to Fender tele pickups but I'd say they are 90% there, I don't think they are ceramic either so I probably won't be replacing these soon!

- Very lightweight, the body is poplar and seems to be a few millimetres thinner than an actual tele body which I'm all for if it decreases the weight!

- The nut is perfectly cut

- Tuners honestly are decent, I really liked them

- Switch is decent as well, a little flimsy but not too bad.

- No crackling with turning pots, no microphonic pickups, awesome!

Negatives

- It came terribly setup out of the box, the action was a mile high but the neck relief was ok, just gave it a quarter turn and lowered the saddles so it was playable

- The strings on it were old and sounded terrible, I immediately replaced them.

- There are a few high frets so there is some buzz with my preferred action setting, but no dead spots no choking on bends.

- Intonation isn't great on the low e but that's a tele problem

- It has mini pots, GuitarGeek did a review for it and the model he got had full-size pots, not a deal breaker but I do feel a bit misled.

- Tuning stability was poor initially, but I used a pencil to add graphite to the nut slots and it's alright now.

- I can't lower the high e-string saddle height anymore as I reached the limit, it's fine but I would like it slightly lower, maybe I'll shim the guitar.

- Saddle adjustment screws protrude after setup, I don't mind it as it doesn't hurt but yet another tele design problem.

- It was 21 frets, I prefer 22 but it is what it is.

Overall a great guitar and for the price you can't go wrong but it NEEDS a setup, IMO all guitarists should know how to do a basic setup and if you're scared of doing it with your expensive axe, practice on a cheaper one! I'm pretty happy with it now but I'm planning to change the saddles to compensated brass saddles, get a tusq nut and level the frets. Maybe down the line, I'll replace the electronics. Giving 4 stars as I might've gotten lucky and your mileage may vary with cheap guitars so keep your expectations low!