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Vintage TC200 Electric Guitar

 

Vintage TC200 Guitar reviewed by The Man in the Jar   

Features of the Vintage TC200 Guitar

Tuners - Wilkinson deluxe retro-type with all six tuners sitting on the same fixing plate. The gears are individually covered but not sealed. The tuners are quite smooth and worked well.

Headstock - A cross between Tele and Strat shape that does the trick. There's no truss rod cover but the painted finish to the access hole makes things look neat and tidy. 

Nut - Black plastic set-in-slot type. neat and accurate.

Neck - The maple neck is slim and immediately comfortable with a shallow profile which is very playable. The neck is bolt-on as would be expected on this style of guitar.

Fretboard - The fretboard is another piece of maple fixed onto the face of the maple neck. I really like the look of this neck and fretboard combination and the construction on this model is smooth and flawless.

Frets - Small frets contribute to the good playability.

Action - Impressively low out of the box. I was soon playing high fast licks with no difficulty.

Body - It's a shape we all know and one that I particularly love. At this price you cannot expect a heavy body but there is certainly enough weight here to feel satisfying and well balanced on the strap.

Bridge - Retro ashtray style that houses the treble pickup. The retro vibe is maintained by the presence of only three bridge saddles, each guiding two strings. However a clever manufacturing system of grinding the barrels means that the stopped length of the string is staggered to avoid intonation problems usually associated with shared saddles.
Through body stringing is standard but the bridgeplate is drilled to allow stop stringing if desired. 

Pickups - Wilkinson look-a-like Tele pickups.

Controls - Again standard Telecaster fare. One volume, one tone and a three way selector.

Pickguard - The classic shape that really makes the Telecaster such an attractive instrument. Here the three-ply white scratchplate on the black body really looks the business. 

Strap-buttons - Large and safe.

Output Jack - Recessed as you would expect in a chrome dish on the lower edge of the body.

Finish - For a guitar of this price the finish is excellent.

 

Sound of the Vintage TC200 Guitar

Any guitar that looks this way has got a certain sound heritage to live up to and the Vintage does a very credible job. Running both pickups together gives the best Tele tones although the neck pickup has a slight bass boom. But lowering the bass end of this pickup or using lower gauge strings would sort this out. The bridge pickup on its own is very bright and sparkly without being too harsh. I soon found myself noodling around with my favourite Tele tunes.
The neck pickup on its own produces a muddier tone suitable for darker blues numbers. But I suspect most users of this instrument will run both pickups together and manipulate the tone produced with their evolving playing techniques.

 

Overall Impressions of the Vintage TC200 Guitar

This guitar costs a little over £100 which is an astoundingly small amount of money for such a playable instrument. If you're a beginner or intermediate player and you like the look of the Telecaster then this instrument should be on your shopping list. The TC200 is really excellent value for money and you should snap one up before Vintage review their pricing policy.

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