As always John, and honest and thorough review, and you really made it sing! I can't praise Artist's CS enough after the locking tuners were damaged by ParcelFarce (who also lost the guitar for 2 days). After I sent them pics of the damage they gave me 2 options: - Return the guitar for a direct replacement (not an option as it was just before Xmas). - A 20% refund on the purchase price as they don't carry locking tuners in stock (which I took and bought a set of Vanson locking tuners) I swapped the string trees for roller string tree's as I don't like butteryfly string trees, and the brass saddles, well I had a 'senior moment', that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it ;-) For the price the fit & finish on the guitar was top notch, and I did very little to it. Polished the fret's (no fret sprout), rolled the fingerboard edges, and gave it a full setup. I may well swap the pickups out for a set of Vanson's as I have a spare set & see what it sounds like.
I've been thinking about buying a less than £200 Tele copy for some time. John's review of the most expensive Fazley made me think about one of those, but I play left handed and Fazeley only make the basic model in L/H. So it was the usual suspects including the TC59. Then one night I had a look on the Artist website and they had a customer returned TC59 with some damage for £90. A no brainer really so I ordered the guitar. It arrived a few days later. The damage was as described - a loose control plate due to one of the holes being stripped and the tone/coil splitting knob was wobbly. Both things were easy to fix, although the tone control turns a bit too easily for me. There was also some scuffing of tuner buttons, but again very easy to replace these. The good news was that the rest of the guitar was undamaged (other than a few scratch plate marks were the previous buyer had taken the plastic cover off), very well finished and set up nicely. As John has commented the frets were a bit scratchy, but again not a big deal. So for under £100 I have a guitar that looks good and plays well (I love the neck!). Yes it is heavy, but I don't find that a problem and it helps with the sustain. The pick ups and coil splitting offer a wide range of tones. The only one that it only gets close to is the classic Tele bridge tone, but then perhaps you need a full ash tray and slanting single coil to get that? Very pleased and many thanks to John.
Nice one John....Artist Guitars are amazingly good value for money. Aussie company but, trading in the UK from a base at Daventry. No 'middlemen' they sell direct to the customer. I''ve had two of their 'short scale' guitars over the last 18 months...a 'strat' type and an acoustic. Both excellent and great value for money....👍👍
Artist G have done great things here in Aust for years now - their P90 JM inspired entry level effort is also great value and quality at the price (and cheaper from memory than the tele). Great review thx
Hi John. I had one of these for a short while and rated it pretty highly. I returned it as it was ridiculously heavy. Full kudos to Artist who were excellent in a seamless, free returns policy. Their guitars are very good. I might take a punt o their Les Paul p90 gold top sometime.
Awesome Demo/Review. Thankyou. I love my Artist Guitars TC59 (and 4 other Artist guitars). So Beautifully made, sound great and are a true Pleasure to play. Cheers
Great review. See if you can get your hands on more Artist Guitars. I've got 5 Artist Guitars (TC59, Cherry58, LP60, Seafoam green ST and a cheap acoustic) with 2 more new P90 Jr models pre-ordered. They are outstanding value for money. I actually like the heavier sound of the Bullbucker bridge pickup. But I'm not worried about "Tele tones". The TC59 is definitely the weightiest guitar I own though. I actually bought a set of the Bullbucker pickups from Artist Guitars and put them in my Ibanez PS60. Waaaaay better sound and the chrome looks great with the rest of the guitar trimmings. Cheers! 🍻
Love my Artist LP59 TSB,I think you benefit from replacing the locking tuners anyway,my guitar stays in tune really well but when you turn the standard tuners they have a horrible feel to them.I will have to try some different pickups as well.Its a pity there guitars seem to be out of stock for long periods of time sometimes as I would like to get one of there new Strat guitars.
i guess people in the uk don't know english anymore either. i thought this was just a u.s. phenomenon. it's their guitars, not there guitars. i am just baffled that you guys don't know your own language.
Thanks for doing this review. Not enough reviews and demos of Artist on TH-cam. They make great stuff for incredible prices. I paid $159 for this guitar, although it's $200 now. Still well worth it. Where can you get humbuckers, locking tuners, a push pull pot and a bone nut for that price? It's unfortunate that for some reason they haven't been able to sell in the U.S. for over a year. I've been wanting to get their deluxe SG style since it was announced. They say it will be resolved soon, and I'm hoping so. You really make that thing sing, too. Nice demo. By the way, my neck has nice figuring too.
Great review... yeah I like Artist guitars, mostly because they dish the tone with decent quality at a murderously low price point. Players could do a lot worse than getting a few Artists for their collections. I'm sure Squire and Epiphone keep an eye on these guys.
Hi, I have a couple of Artist Guitars, and am quite impressed with them. More bang for your buck is what they claim. I could believe it from what I have heard. I am a keen guitarist, but not an aficionado, so price is an important consideration for me. You made it sound great. I feel as though they may be better than Harley Benton guitars.
Is this about the guitar or the amp modeling software you're apparently using and it is highly appreciated that you showed the amp models you were using in that intro bit, btw; not enough are open about that stuff. Nice, overall.
Those specs are very impressive for a budget guitar. If I didn't already have a Tele in my arsenal at that price I'd be very tempted! As ever, a good honest review. Thanks John 👍
Almost bought one of these but went for the HB TE52 NA instead as for me it was more what a Tele should be. But I have the Artist Grunge master which is their Jazzmaster style with P90s and for £129 its great. It played so well out of the box and the only issue I had with it was a few sharp edges on the frets. It does deserve better pickups though so that will be a job for the future. Great playing as usual BTW John. Keep up the good work.
I also bought the Grungemaster (which renamed the Jizzmaster) as a response to the very heavy Tele featured above because it is much lighter however i was disappointed with the balance as the body is lighter than the neck.
Artist seem to be online only (website, eBay store etc). They have websites in a couple of countries, I don't know if there's a German site, or if the other sites will ship to Germany. The usual problem is they sell out fast and the website often says "out-of-stock, due in 4 months".
@@colinfalcon-original yeh, I saw intheblues Shane favourably reviewing an Artist gold top LP, so they presumably have some kind of distribution into Australia. I hope Kowas can find a way for Germany, maybe even from the UK site.
Another excellent T-style with its very own sound. Please do a fretboard edge rolling demo. (my 2 T styles can use it!). Another excellent guitar for an affordable price. Get 'em now before they are going for 250 or more.
@Cal B Guitar Newbie, rolling the fretboard edges take around 10 mins tops with a foam sanding block (that's what I use), and it polishes the fret edges at the same time ;-)
there is that danger of moding for the sake of it. swapping brass saddles for brass saddles is a good example of that. Having said that I dont seem to be able to resist the urge to tinker with things myself
@phil B, I had a 'senior moment' in that respect. I actually ordered (and paid for) stainless steel saddles, and completely forgot it came with chrome plated brass saddles
@@colinfalcon-original I am a big fan of modding myself but sometimes it is hard to judge if the cost is worth it in terms of improving the guitar. but sometimes it is worth it just for the fun of it.
@@phililpb In total the guitar owes me £27 (Artist pretty much paid for the replacement tuners with the 20% refund). If I hadn't had the 'senior moment' and bought the brass saddles it would owe me £9.99 for the roller string tree's
Sweet guitar! Sadly, at their US website every single guitar model, not just this one but all models and types, are sold out. No info on when there'll be replacements. Another victim of shipping snarls?
Just a comment - these come as a Kit as well - for not much - I like all my Guitars to be black - but the wood is nice on those - at that price you can buy one standard and customise another $199 AUD as a Kit - Lots you could do - like a Natural oiled finish and some P90's - FUNKY
The change in pick up sound is odd..... reminds me of a Gibson L6S with the rotary selector, all the selections sounded nice but all very indestinct. not in any way like a Les Paul. Just saying. Cheers.
As always John, and honest and thorough review, and you really made it sing!
I can't praise Artist's CS enough after the locking tuners were damaged by ParcelFarce (who also lost the guitar for 2 days). After I sent them pics of the damage they gave me 2 options:
- Return the guitar for a direct replacement (not an option as it was just before Xmas).
- A 20% refund on the purchase price as they don't carry locking tuners in stock (which I took and bought a set of Vanson locking tuners)
I swapped the string trees for roller string tree's as I don't like butteryfly string trees, and the brass saddles, well I had a 'senior moment', that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it ;-)
For the price the fit & finish on the guitar was top notch, and I did very little to it. Polished the fret's (no fret sprout), rolled the fingerboard edges, and gave it a full setup. I may well swap the pickups out for a set of Vanson's as I have a spare set & see what it sounds like.
artist are very good and prompt ....go out of their way , i agree
Please do consider making a video on how to roll the fretboard edges. Thank you!!
I imagine the extra power in those buckers is there to prevent it from getting too weedy when in coil split mode.
I bought an Artist Goldtop Les Paul type. Very impressed.
I've been thinking about buying a less than £200 Tele copy for some time. John's review of the most expensive Fazley made me think about one of those, but I play left handed and Fazeley only make the basic model in L/H. So it was the usual suspects including the TC59. Then one night I had a look on the Artist website and they had a customer returned TC59 with some damage for £90. A no brainer really so I ordered the guitar. It arrived a few days later. The damage was as described - a loose control plate due to one of the holes being stripped and the tone/coil splitting knob was wobbly. Both things were easy to fix, although the tone control turns a bit too easily for me. There was also some scuffing of tuner buttons, but again very easy to replace these. The good news was that the rest of the guitar was undamaged (other than a few scratch plate marks were the previous buyer had taken the plastic cover off), very well finished and set up nicely. As John has commented the frets were a bit scratchy, but again not a big deal. So for under £100 I have a guitar that looks good and plays well (I love the neck!). Yes it is heavy, but I don't find that a problem and it helps with the sustain. The pick ups and coil splitting offer a wide range of tones. The only one that it only gets close to is the classic Tele bridge tone, but then perhaps you need a full ash tray and slanting single coil to get that? Very pleased and many thanks to John.
Nice one John....Artist Guitars are amazingly good value for money. Aussie company but, trading in the UK from a base at Daventry. No 'middlemen' they sell direct to the customer. I''ve had two of their 'short scale' guitars over the last 18 months...a 'strat' type and an acoustic. Both excellent and great value for money....👍👍
Artist G have done great things here in Aust for years now - their P90 JM inspired entry level effort is also great value and quality at the price (and cheaper from memory than the tele). Great review thx
That sounded amazing John , Absolutely great playing ,
Hi John. I had one of these for a short while and rated it pretty highly. I returned it as it was ridiculously heavy. Full kudos to Artist who were excellent in a seamless, free returns policy. Their guitars are very good. I might take a punt o their Les Paul p90 gold top sometime.
I too bought one and sold it to a mate because it is ridiculously heavy. But sounds good plays good built like a tank.
I love mine, can't stop playing it, it's just that sort of guitar.
John, I'd be looking forward to you getting yourself one and putting in some pickups of your choice. 😊
Picked one up from cash converters today, beautiful guitar, up there with Fender. 🎸🎸.
Nice review, John. I've been looking at their 20r tweed amp instead of a blues jr
Awesome Demo/Review. Thankyou. I love my Artist Guitars TC59 (and 4 other Artist guitars). So Beautifully made, sound great and are a true Pleasure to play. Cheers
Thank you for the honest review John. You give great reviews, keeping it real!!
Great review. See if you can get your hands on more Artist Guitars. I've got 5 Artist Guitars (TC59, Cherry58, LP60, Seafoam green ST and a cheap acoustic) with 2 more new P90 Jr models pre-ordered. They are outstanding value for money. I actually like the heavier sound of the Bullbucker bridge pickup. But I'm not worried about "Tele tones". The TC59 is definitely the weightiest guitar I own though. I actually bought a set of the Bullbucker pickups from Artist Guitars and put them in my Ibanez PS60. Waaaaay better sound and the chrome looks great with the rest of the guitar trimmings. Cheers! 🍻
Have one of these. Incredible VFM. Hefty beast though! Thanks for the review John 😊
Love my Artist LP59 TSB,I think you benefit from replacing the locking tuners anyway,my guitar stays in tune really well but when you turn the standard tuners they have a horrible feel to them.I will have to try some different pickups as well.Its a pity there guitars seem to be out of stock for long periods of time sometimes as I would like to get one of there new Strat guitars.
i guess people in the uk don't know english anymore either. i thought this was just a u.s. phenomenon. it's their guitars, not there guitars. i am just baffled that you guys don't know your own language.
Thanks for doing this review. Not enough reviews and demos of Artist on TH-cam. They make great stuff for incredible prices. I paid $159 for this guitar, although it's $200 now. Still well worth it. Where can you get humbuckers, locking tuners, a push pull pot and a bone nut for that price? It's unfortunate that for some reason they haven't been able to sell in the U.S. for over a year. I've been wanting to get their deluxe SG style since it was announced. They say it will be resolved soon, and I'm hoping so. You really make that thing sing, too. Nice demo. By the way, my neck has nice figuring too.
I have the same guitar. I absolutely love it.
Great review... yeah I like Artist guitars, mostly because they dish the tone with decent quality at a murderously low price point. Players could do a lot worse than getting a few Artists for their collections. I'm sure Squire and Epiphone keep an eye on these guys.
Mine came with rolled fretboard edges.
Yep and really well finished all round. I love mine.
Hi, I have a couple of Artist Guitars, and am quite impressed with them. More bang for your buck is what they claim. I could believe it from what I have heard. I am a keen guitarist, but not an aficionado, so price is an important consideration for me. You made it sound great. I feel as though they may be better than Harley Benton guitars.
Is this about the guitar or the amp modeling software you're apparently using and it is highly appreciated that you showed the amp models you were using in that intro bit, btw; not enough are open about that stuff. Nice, overall.
Those specs are very impressive for a budget guitar. If I didn't already have a Tele in my arsenal at that price I'd be very tempted! As ever, a good honest review. Thanks John 👍
@Guitar Girl, you can never have too many Tele's,I have 6.....so far ;-)
Almost bought one of these but went for the HB TE52 NA instead as for me it was more what a Tele should be.
But I have the Artist Grunge master which is their Jazzmaster style with P90s and for £129 its great.
It played so well out of the box and the only issue I had with it was a few sharp edges on the frets.
It does deserve better pickups though so that will be a job for the future.
Great playing as usual BTW John. Keep up the good work.
I also bought the Grungemaster (which renamed the Jizzmaster) as a response to the very heavy Tele featured above because it is much lighter however i was disappointed with the balance as the body is lighter than the neck.
You've done it justice, John!
Great review John, and fantastic playing. Have you reviewed a similarly priced Harley Benton Tele, and if so, how does it compare?
I reviewed a HB Tele ages ago & this has the edge, I'd say 👍
@@JRobsonGuitar Thanks John
Superb playing John!!! - Looks interesting for me - i also llok for budget style T-Guitars - do someone know if i could get it in Germany?
Artist seem to be online only (website, eBay store etc). They have websites in a couple of countries, I don't know if there's a German site, or if the other sites will ship to Germany. The usual problem is they sell out fast and the website often says "out-of-stock, due in 4 months".
@@PaulCooksStuff IIRC you can pick up from their UK warehouse, and they do have a showroom in Australia ( I forget which city though)
@@colinfalcon-original yeh, I saw intheblues Shane favourably reviewing an Artist gold top LP, so they presumably have some kind of distribution into Australia. I hope Kowas can find a way for Germany, maybe even from the UK site.
Another excellent T-style with its very own sound. Please do a fretboard edge rolling demo. (my 2 T styles can use it!). Another excellent guitar for an affordable price. Get 'em now before they are going for 250 or more.
@Cal B Guitar Newbie, rolling the fretboard edges take around 10 mins tops with a foam sanding block (that's what I use), and it polishes the fret edges at the same time ;-)
Going to have to try it on my HB Tele. Thx!
Little secret, roll the volume down if 14k is too hot for you
there is that danger of moding for the sake of it. swapping brass saddles for brass saddles is a good example of that. Having said that I dont seem to be able to resist the urge to tinker with things myself
@phil B, I had a 'senior moment' in that respect. I actually ordered (and paid for) stainless steel saddles, and completely forgot it came with chrome plated brass saddles
@@colinfalcon-original I am a big fan of modding myself but sometimes it is hard to judge if the cost is worth it in terms of improving the guitar. but sometimes it is worth it just for the fun of it.
@@phililpb In total the guitar owes me £27 (Artist pretty much paid for the replacement tuners with the 20% refund). If I hadn't had the 'senior moment' and bought the brass saddles it would owe me £9.99 for the roller string tree's
Sweet guitar! Sadly, at their US website every single guitar model, not just this one but all models and types, are sold out. No info on when there'll be replacements. Another victim of shipping snarls?
Just a comment - these come as a Kit as well - for not much - I like all my Guitars to be black - but the wood is nice on those - at that price you can buy one standard and customise another $199 AUD as a Kit - Lots you could do - like a Natural oiled finish and some P90's - FUNKY
Looks great, sounds nice but not like a tele sound to me. Fab value for the money. Pick ups look great.
Crikey, what you get for your money these days is amazing! Makes you think, doesn’t it?
A nice guitar, but why make it look like a Tele when it doesn't sound like a Tele ?
The change in pick up sound is odd..... reminds me of a Gibson L6S with the rotary selector, all the selections sounded nice but all very indestinct. not in any way like a Les Paul. Just saying. Cheers.