TX_Slinger
Tele-Holic
I figured this would be more or less a project but really surprised at how good the bones were on this model. If not familiar, this is basically HB's knockoff of an ESP/LTD Snakebyte (see James Hetfield) with a set neck that really nicely done. The fretwork was on par with both the guitars I've owned that were over $1k (possibly better?). The frets have a high polish and have that rolled fretboard feel (frets, not the board). They aren't advertised as stainless but they sure don't have that slight yellow I'm used to seeing with standard nickel compound fretwire. Nut is Tusq XL. Ebony fretboard is really nice with attractive coloration. Neck is a baseball bat, which is good for me but YMMV. By baseball bat I mean thicker than a baseball bat Tele is normally described. The tuners were the worst I've ever come across in 40+ years of playing/-modding and they cut corners by using unbranded mini pots instead of the EMG wiring harness setup. I slapped some black Wilkinson EZ Lok tuners for $30 on there, which are always a good cheap tuner fix, and will grab an EMG harness/pots at some point to redo the wiring. I was so impressed with the rest of the guitar that I was going to put HipShot tuners on with Universal mounting plate but luckily went to their specs page and discovered the tuner holes were drilled closer together than the UMP can accommodate. For FWIW, I sent HB an email with a vid showing the issues with the tuners and they said they are shipping me a replacement "part" so not sure if a set of tuners or two tuners where the issue could be shown on video. All of them felt like there was no lube in them and squeaked, two of them you could turn the button almost a full turn without post movement. Pics show the Wilkinson tuners already installed. I removed the HB logo to do something fun later with graphics. Pics also show the crappy OEM strings that were rusted upon arrival. Indonesian not Chinese if that matters to you.. Sounds like chugger with 2 EMGs should. I would call it a steal for $429+tax shipped from Reverb store.
