Finish:
The guitar looks the part, finish is generally good, and no material faults found in body or neck.
Frets looks to be pretty even, but they can be felt on the sides. The neck probably shrunk a bit since assembly, and made the frets protrude just a little bit.
Frettboard is a bit dull, and seems to need a good oil and polish. Otherwise looks nice.
Pickguard edges is a bit rough, they look like they have been cut, but not sanded afterwards.
The neck pickup had a couple of nasty scratches right through the chrome plating, near the high E string, but that was really the only flaw I found in the finish. I don't believe it affects the pickup signal, so..
Setup:
Action out of the box is a bit high, but still has some buzz on the low E and A string.
Neck relief looks good, with a slight front bow. Pickups were in the bottom position, and had to be adjusted.
I've since set the action a bit lower, and the buzz hasn't become any worse, so maybe it's simply the strings that aren't the best.
Intonation was spot on, so all in all, this TE-20 was ready to play right out of the box, although the action was rather high.
Electronics:
There is some hum going on, but I guess that is to be expected. I checked the controls cavity, and there was no shielding, so I assume there is none under the pickups either. So, count on doing a little shielding mod, when the hum gets to you.
Conclusion:
I'd 100% recommend this cheap guitar for a beginning guitarplayer, or maybe for modding.
