Harley Benton TE-62DB BK

Tried to source a surprise birthday gift for a colleague on a pooled limited budget. I started looking at what I could get, and after scouring Thomann's website and checking some YT reviews I decided to go for the HB TE-62 DB 62. The guitar arrived super fast from Germany to Sweden in 48hrs. The guitar itself is very light weight but well screwed together. The Poplar body is seriously light and is slightly thinner than a standard big ''F'' tele body modern or vintage. The double binding is very well applied and the paint black and glossy with no obvious blemishes. The biggest surprise I did get was from the neck. It is very nice indeed with a lovely mid size profile and flat radius fingerboard. The caramelised maple neck is comfortable and feels great. The medium frets are fine and could do with a little finishing on the edges and a polish but were acceptable. The neck pocket fit is extremely well executed. Downsides, well you get what you pay for don't you? Tuning pegs are little cheap feeling when turned, the 3 way selector switch is flimsy and the scratchplate could be finished better, however, these are all things that are easily fixed with an inexpensive upgrade or two. Sound wise the bridge pickup is tele twangy, the neck pick up is a bit wooly, both thin sounding but ok, overall acceptable but again easily upgradable. If you are in the market for your first T style guitar or lookin for a tele upgrade project to mess with, then you could do a lot worse than this guitar. The neck alone is worth the money imho.