Artist TC59

Highly Playable Bargain – Overall you can't go wrong. Obviously tight budgets existed but the savings were mostly made on switches/pots, IMO. For a home user or v occasional weekend warrior fun gigger this is good to go for years possibly. There is no neck dive and it's a simply smashing instrument out of the box. Delivery Experience Exceptional. This company excels at service. You are a valued client with these good people and that includes post sale in the very unlikely event of a hiccup. Packaging is top notch. Yes dealt with Artist lots of times.

Weight Heard stories of heavy. I only have one. It's 3.9kg (8.5lb), which is fine. Easy pass.

Headstock Looks classy inclusive of finish. Very strong pass.

Tuners Locking ones. Some rave over the added feature. I am ambivalent feature wise, but they work fine. Good pass.

Nut Cut very well. Fussy as ever I went cork sniffing and detected some slight high e plinking when turning the tuner. Half a show of my nut file all gone. An important as it gets component, and so a very strong pass all up.

Neck Sturdy with some girth whilst aiming at a broad range. Feels way above its price. Strong pass WITH ADDED COLOURS. Super+ pass.

Frets/Fretboard For my basic classic rock I detected no issues with buzz or deadspots. Shiny and clean. No one will get cut hands. Simply a classy experience visually and for feel. Grade A pass.

Neck Plate Bolted through what looks like metal over plastic? Dark and difficult to see and no interest in unscrewing to reallysee at this price. I know of no sensible issues with this approach. Strong pass.

Body/Wood/Finish Classy enough visually. They say American Ash, and so using that and getting that to near this weight is v well done. Strong pass.

Bridge and Saddles Above expectations. Strong pass.

Switching/Pots Pickup switch feels flimsy versus high end. The pots are OK with some sound change happening in travel. For my, non very regular must rely, usage case scenario I see no need to change. However, overall this feels an area where budget constraints meant cost saving decisions were made. It's an easy pass at this price as so v easy to swap components.

Pickups (sound) Couple of super pickups. I see no reason to change for my punk/classic rock needs. Its a super twin HB Tele. Strong pass.

Set up Pretty much factory perfect for this type of guitar. Easy adjustments of quality hardware allow to taste adjustments easy. I lowered v slightly and all good. Easy pass.

Conclusion

Super pass:

I have several guitars from several manufacturers at widely varying price points and a 4 of those affordable protagonists are from Artist. I am not sure how to slot this one in to any half budget comparison. What it gets correct it shines on. What it saves on won't matter to me and even a pro user might be able to upgrade enough to be a regualr reheasal/stand by guitar at the very least. I never disassembled in any way. IMO, it's just the switch/pots that feel like cost saving even if they work fine out of the box. For a beginner it's Rolls Royce in every way. I jagged a Boxing Day sale deal, but affordable anyway @ $279 .

No Brainer – $344.00 with a hardcase. Beautiful to look at, although I did change the pickguard to a pearlescent one, but that just personal taste. It plays well too. Straight out of the box the intonation was slightly out, but when I lowered the action, again personal preference as it was playable as it was, the intonation was spot on. The pickups are quite good too. I particularly like the single coil sound. Obviously because there is no slant on the bridge pickup the Tele sound isn't quite right, but it's close. The neck pickup sounds great. In humbucking mode there is a lot more power, but that isn't a problem either, volume and tone give plenty of tonal shades both ways. I will admit that when you pick it up it is one heavy guitar, but I can't say I really notice it playing, and I can get carried away for an hour or three. I did notice when I first got it that the frets weren't entirely smooth, but that disappeared with a little playing. All in all its a really good guitar. Basically the only reason I can see not to get it is if you are a gear snob, and really need a certain "F" word on the headstock to take it seriously.

Update 13/08/2022

I have ended up swapping out the humbuckers for single coils to get that Telecaster sound. I debated whether to sell this one, and buy a Telecaster, but I really like the feel of the guitar, and decided that I didn't want to take a chance on getting another guitar that may not feel as good. The choices locally that I could physically try weren't what I was looking for, besides the fact that I could put pickups in I would be happy with, plus wire it the way I wanted to. So, even if I got a different one, there was more work to do. It now sports Tonerider Hot Classics for pickups, which give it a much more Telelike sound, the Bullbuckers just didn't do it, good as they are. It is also wired to switch between series/parallel, and in phase/out of phase, with push/pull pots. As it wasn't a huge outlay for the TC59 initially, I wasn't unhappy to modify it. If I had waited a bit longer I could have purchased one of Artist's new range of Telecaster type guitars. I am still very happy with the quality of the guitar. I love to play it, along with other models I have bought from Artist. I still highly recommend their products.