Crusoe Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 Oh my word! How can they churn out great guitars like this for the price? I haven't played it yet (will report back on that- I'm knackered after a 110 mile drive and there is someone else sleeping in the house). Out of the box it looks gorgeous. The finish on the body is great. I haven't found any flaws yet, other than a little bit of glue overspill om the back where I assume the string ferrules haven been glued in, and I was able to wipe that off with my finger. The neck looks to be straight as a die. Tuning was only out by maybe a half step, but I never worry about that on a new guitar that's been delivered. The neck and fretboard look beautiful. The neck is caramel maple and the neck is laurel. The bridge is the classic tele ashtray style and the tuners are kluson style, with the string ends going into the centre posts. The tuners feel nice and tight, but turn smoothly. The frets are reasonably well finished. They are all polished and there is no fret sprout. If you run a finger along them at an angle there are one or two that feel a little bit sharp, but I don't think it'll be noticeable when playing. Even the edges of the fretboard seem to have been rolled a bit. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardMarlowe Posted July 14, 2023 Share Posted July 14, 2023 Lovely! Interesting this version has a skunk stripe. I'd wondered if they were using the 62 delineation as a time-related thing. Some of the HB guitars seem to have a nod to the design era in the name (like the PB-50), others don't. The S types with the 62 in the name don't have a truss rod, which would have been the case with Fenders from, roughly, 59-71 (always there are outliers as Fender had a real habit of using up old stock and phasing in the changes gradually). The skunk stripe disappeared originally as it wasn't needed when the fingerboard became a separate piece - rosewood - after 1959. When they brought them back in 71 it's cause they'd simplified the manufacturing processes, and all necks had them irrespective of whether they were one piece or the board added separately. I've always liked that utilitarian approach with Fender designs. The skunk stripe looks beautifully finished. I like the binding too. Reminds me of Muddy Waters' Tele Custom, save in black rather than red - just needs a couple of Fender amp knobs on the pots! Intrigued by the caramelised maple. Is there any indication as to what that means anywhere with the packaging? I did previously assume it was another term for roasted maple, but I see HB are also separately referring to some of their guitars as having roasted maple necks. Wonder if it's a question of degree? Either way, it has a really lovely amber tone to it that I think gives them a real cosmetic boost. My old Fender is from that mid 90s period when the maple looked crazily anaemic - a few years of sun exposure helped a lot there. Interesting to see laurel as an alternative to rosewood here. Looks a dead ringer - I doubt anyone could really tell the difference by sound, though tbh I've always maintained that the notion you can hear differences between different woods on an F type dubious. An acoustic, sure, But an electric guitar? Through fuzz, drive, an amp...? Eh. Personally, I think the much bigger deal with the Tele sound is mounting the bridge pick-up in the steel bridge like that. It's a thing of sonic beauty. I spent years trying to replicate Hendrix's lead tones on Purple Haze with a Strat - only to discover that on the night he recorded those, he'd earlier smashed his Strat's headstock on the low ceiling in (I think) the 100 Club, and played that session on a borrowed Telecaster, restrung lefty... I like that they've kept a three saddle bridge, too - a defining feature of the telecaster type for me. At the other end, I'm really enjoying the HB headstocks. Just different enough than their original inspiration to stand proud as their own thing, but that also look really good too, seem balanced with the body shape and everything. I'll have to hold off for a while now on buying anything new (recently bought an MR Classic, my loyalty sale DC Jnr arrives Monday, and I should have a JA25th when they are back in stock early September), but I'll be really interested in your review on this and how it sings when it's plugged in. The T52 model is calling me like a siren... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusoe Posted July 14, 2023 Author Share Posted July 14, 2023 I do love the look of it. The slightly sharp fret ends are the only thing that annoy me, but you don't feel it if your finger is perpendicular to the neck. I'm torn between being a fret file and having a go at going it myself (I would tape of the neck and fretboard, obviously) and paying someone to do it. I think the caramel maple is just roast maple. The laurel really does look like rosewood. I don't buy into the whole tone wood debate, so I'm not worried about anything there. It has a tele sound, obviously. I'm going to have to compare it with the cheap TE-20 to see if there is much difference in the sound of the pickups. I'll probably change the strings. The website says they are d'Addario EXL 110 10-46s. I'm not fussed on the feel of them. I thought d'Addario strings had coloured ball ends, but these are just brass. I might go for Ernie Balls. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardMarlowe Posted July 14, 2023 Share Posted July 14, 2023 4 hours ago, Crusoe said: I do love the look of it. The slightly sharp fret ends are the only thing that annoy me, but you don't feel it if your finger is perpendicular to the neck. I'm torn between being a fret file and having a go at going it myself (I would tape of the neck and fretboard, obviously) and paying someone to do it. I think the caramel maple is just roast maple. The laurel really does look like rosewood. I don't buy into the whole tone wood debate, so I'm not worried about anything there. It has a tele sound, obviously. I'm going to have to compare it with the cheap TE-20 to see if there is much difference in the sound of the pickups. I'll probably change the strings. The website says they are d'Addario EXL 110 10-46s. I'm not fussed on the feel of them. I thought d'Addario strings had coloured ball ends, but these are just brass. I might go for Ernie Balls. That would be interesting... I suppose a lot might depend on what it would cost to have a fret job done. Be interesting to compare that with the cost of the file... The comparison will be interesting, particularly I think on a Tele. The 20 vs 62 spec on the Strats I think the differences are more obvious - it's all about the trem system, the block and all the rest. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusoe Posted July 15, 2023 Author Share Posted July 15, 2023 I did a quick comparison and the 62 seems to sound a bit fuller than the 20. I'll maybe do a more comprehensive test tomorrow, if I have time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
