New TE-80 Deluxe came in this morning!
Sept 5, 2015 16:45:47 GMT
gullum, EvolatoR, and 3 more like this
Post by dacfan on Sept 5, 2015 16:45:47 GMT
Ordered from Thomann on Monday morning from the US around 1:00am, about 6:00am in Bavaria. I usually have larger items delivered to my work but wasn't expecting it to show up this soon. I just happened to have a live remote broadcast from a local town festival this morning and from the studio I heard the door open and close. I looked down the hall and saw a big box with Thomann printed on it. I couldn't believe it. Five days! I was really surprised to get it that quickly. Went outside and spoke with the mail carrier. He said that was the first box from that company he had ever seen.
I quickly unboxed the guitar and was relieved to find no physical defects. The stripe was centered and the veneer on the front was well laid. Not the most figured flame but very nice. Much lighter than I expected. I could shoulder this guitar for 45 minute sets with ease. At first strum it was almost in tune. By ear, I can hear there may be some slight intonation issues but I may not have it in perfect tune either. The action seems fine. I don't think I'll have to adjust the neck at all. The slightest fret buzz from the top string that I think I can remedy easily. The frets are a little gritty but look to be crowned fine so they will just need a polish. There is some fret sprout but it's no worse than a Squier or G&L Tribute. A little sanding will fix that in short order.
When describing a guitar like this, one must put any "guitar snob" notions out if their mind. I am a bit guilty of that myself. Considering I paid around $180 USD including shipping and was not charged any taxes or customs duty, it would be absolutely unfair to compare this instrument to a vintage US made Fender or even the $500-$1000 guitars I gig with regularly. Instead, I am trying to compare apples to apples (or apfels to apfels if you like). What other guitar can you find for $180 (162 euro, 119 gbp) with a traditional tele shape, nice veneered top, Wilkinson parts and some semblance of double binding for that kind of bread? Here in the states a Squier Affinity tele is the same price new but is a few pieces of plain agathis with lower quality hardware and an equal, if not slightly better neck. There are some off brand guitars starting at $80 and up but most don't qualify because you'll spend another $50 and several hours making them playable and reliable enough to gig and some are still made of plywood. Then there are the chinese knock offs. Possibly the same factory this guitar came from but you sure won't get Wilkinson pickups and the quality control is so bad you could easily spend hours and hours working on it or paying a luthier twice the price of the guitar to make it playable. That is not always the case with Ali blah blah blah guitars as I have found some quite surprising but it's not worth the roll of the dice when Harley Benton's have customer service behind them.
Let the guitar snobs rattle on all over the web about how these guitars are junk, etc. I've been earning money playing and singing since I was 12 and own so many guitars I can't even remember how many I have. At least five or six are loaned out to friends....more like "stolen with a smile". Just based on the sheer number of guitars I've owned or currently have, I feel I'm qualified to say this guitar is the best bang for the buck new guitar purchase I've ever made. Granted, I'm not a fast technical player. In fact, I'm a pretty sorry guitarist. I cover my shortcomings with cheap chicken pickin tricks and stage antics but I sling teles around and treat them like a street harlot and I feel this new prize will hold up to the gigging. We shall see...
I'll post some pics later today of the new HB hanging out with some members of it's new family. Hopefully they will play well together. I'll update as I play it more and possibly post some vids playing it live.