I was attracted to this tele by it`s relatively unusual paintjob, black paisley. When I looked up the specs and saw bass-wood body I thought I`d better leave it. I used to have bass-wood in my `beginner-guitars` years ago. Browsed on and found Fender Telecaster James Burton`s Artist Series Paisley Flame with bass-wood body for more than 2 grand. What`s good enough for James is good enough with me.
Inspected the Harley Benton (what a crappy name) on arrival and it was not perfect. There is a small laquer runner up in front where you can see it if you want and a few areas haven`t been buffed properly. Played through an American Fender Tweed Blues Deville 4x10 from `94 and the Roswell pickups were not pulling my socks off, not really here nor there, though I must admit I didn`t spend much time. Surprisingly good intonation out of the box and a very chunky feel of the neck although it`s a bit rough around the edges. It`s not an American Fender. The tuners are so-so but hold the tuning alright. The strings are new and need to stretch and are okay for a start. Mind you this guitar went by quality control in August if one wants to believe the little hanging tag and strings didn`t have much time to corrode. If you are into pimping then please note that the routing under the hood is for a single neck-pu only. The pods are on the cheap side, so is the bridge-plate which is seemingly slightly bent and on one side not entirely flush with the body. This Telecaster weighs in at 3.75kgs, not really a lightweight either but resonance compares quite okay with my American Standard Strat when played unplugged. It is easy to lower the strings at the riders for better action. With the small Allen-key provided in the set one can achieve pretty good results without buzzing.
A couple of days later I played this tele through my Vox ac 10 and the Roswells are coming to sound like egg-slicers, but it is the setting of the amp and the sound can be regulated reasonably well with the tone pod, just roll back. Different experience altogether. The Roswells are not
really made for each other though, having the pu selector in the mid position doesn`t blow me away but in general I guess you get your country-twang at the bridge. Then again the Vox ac 10 is a little wonder-box and I put the sound receiving down to that fact. I have already asked for a return form but don`t know yet will I. There is a certain charm to the TE-70 Paisley and I do have a few pus and pods to fool around with. I have enough of guitars really but all considered this may stay after all. Most people I know bring a cheapo to the jam rather than their American Fenders. Price is more than kinda acceptable for what you get.
Nov. 30th, 2017.... the pickups sound terrible.... played the tele last night through a small solid state amp jamming with friends in a pub.... gruesome... no matter which way one turns the switch or knobs the pus seem to be not compatible with the sound of other instruments... they have to be replaced...
05/01/18 ....I did replace the bridge pu with a very cheap Chinese twin rail hot (supposed to have 16k)humbucker bought on ebay which is giving the instrument a lot of punch and changes the original high-pitched sound to more mids and bass which is much better than before, however now she is missing the country twang a bit. I have a set of custom shop nocasters which I will put into this tele in the coming months. I`ll keep you posted. Here one more thing, the original telecaster ashtray can be fitted over the bridge although the pick-guard would have to be slightly altered to make fit 100%.
13/03/18 ... The Nocasters are in along with 250k pots from Goeldo. Nice looking and sounding guitar for Country, Blues and Rock now. Might at some stage even change the switch to fender or similar.
