I am big fan of Telecaster Type guitars. They have that certain unique sound that just chimes out so nicely. Being a left handed player, I was limited to this Harley Benton TE-20 Thomann offers at such a great low price. My expectations were not huge, given the price. When the guitar arrived here in the USA, upon opening the box, that all changed. First of all, this is a really nice looking guitar. The fit and finish are beyond good. Once I held it, the guitar felt great in my hands. It's got some heft for a Basswood bodied guitar. The neck felt wonderful and surprisingly, even with its low price, there wasn't a single rough fret end. It's super easy to get up and down the neck on this TE-20.
Now comes the real test. I plugged it into my Fender Champion 100 not knowing what to expect. I started in the bridge position, because that's how I know if this guitar has the Tele sound I love. I'm happy to report that there it was, all the TWANG one could hope for. The sound was true and excellent in cleans. I tried it with some gain, and sure enough, it still sounded wonderful. Next I worked my way through the pup selection switch and fiddled with the tone and volume knobs as I played. I could not find anything about this guitar to dislike sound wise. The build quality is very good, the guitar looks great, and most importantly it sounds really good. The one small gripe I might mention, the tuners a little bit small, but that's not a deal breaker at all. Oh and did I mention how well this guitar stays in tune? I did a lot of bending and hard playing, and much to my amazement, the guitar held tune really well. Another thing that really blew me away...once this guitar had come down to temp from the long journey, it tuned up really quickly. The action was just about perfect for me, and even with the 3 barrel bridge, the intonation from the factory was almost spot on. Are you kidding me? I have guitars that cost 10 times as much that don't come intonated that well.
So in closing, I have to say, I can recommend this guitar with no hesitation. I don't know how Thomann does it, but I'm glad they do.
Perfect service, great communication throughout, and the people at Thomann are wonderful to deal with. Thank you Thomann for getting my inexpensive TE20 to me in good shape. Now if you would only offer a Harley Benton RB 600 and a few more Strat and Tele types in left handed models, my musical world would be a better place.