First Act ME-302 Telecaster Copy

The features are pretty good for a $50 dollar guitar. 21 frets, tele copy no name pickups. (I mean the features are pretty good not bad)

I am the lead guitarist in a band.(we play rock, hard rock, 70's-80's metal, and a little grunge) My cousin the rythm guitarist got this guitar just to have a little fun with or maybe even smash it on stage.(lol) But he actually found that it was possible to make a decent noise with this guitar. The pickups on the clean channel is where the decent noise comes from. On the other hand the distorted channel sounds like crap. It actually sounds like the amp is underwater. And believe me it was'nt just his guitar i played another one in a shop. I really don't understand how people think this sounds so good on the distorted channel. But who knows maybe underwater sound is what there aiming for.

When my cousin got this guitar the action was way to high but after a few adjustments it turned crap into a pretty decent set up guitar. Now i would'nt recommend this for any type of fast music but it's not horrible.

So a day before we were headed down to the beach for our family vacation his sg's bottom string broke off and he was forced to bring the tele down instead.
Now when we got right down to the beach for our family vacation the input fell off, just because we took the cable out. So after we finally fixed it we had a chance to play live!!!
The live performance was'nt that bad and but we had to keep his guitar on clean the whole time to keep a decent sound coming out of it. And heck no, if it were me i would not use this guitar without a backup.

Never had to deal with em.

I would reccommend this to a begginner if all they did was play on the clean channel but other than that i would'nt.

I got this at a pawn shop, so I don't know many of the features. I had broken the bridge off of my other guitar due to extreme whammy bar use, and needed another. I don't know much about the guitar other than that it was and still is stock, even to the strings I'm pretty sure. However, I should mention that it has a short neck, which is something I like. Typical tele setup, but the bridge doesn't go out to the bridge pickup, it's just a wilkinson sans trem bar. One volume knob, one tone knob, and a three way selector, which, in my honest opinion, is one tone knob too many. I do plan on replacing the tuners and strings, though.

I use a Fender Twin Reverb, and the sound is brilliant. It can go from basic single coil (think rhythm strat) to bright, twangy lead tones (classic tele). I play it in jazz, rock, and psychadelic styles, and it works for all. The lead guitarist in my band uses almost exclusively Gibsons, but he played this and fell in love with the tone. Definitely not First Act tone.

The action was very high, as most guitars in this class, but it was easily fixed by lowering the string saddles and tightening the truss to reduce bow. Now, the action is perfect. The frets are just right, well set and what not. It also bends very easily.

This guitar will likely last forever. Let's just leave it at this: I'm a clumsy guy, but when I drop this, I'm far from worried that it's broken, more just annoyed that I've got to retune it.

N/A

All in all, this guitar is something I'd expect from one of the $300-$500 Fenders. With some new tuners, it'll be brilliant.

First Act ME-302.
Features are covered in other reviews.
Tele copy with some variations.
Body is plywood. Neck is maple with maple fretboard. Headstock is glued on with a joint behind the 2nd fret. Tuners are those ultra cheezy chinese sheet metal covered ones. Bridge is a toploader like a shorty tele with the pickup mounting area cut off. The strings hit the intonation adjustment screws in a comical way where they come through the bridge pieces. The neck is wider and flatter than my Tele. Frets are pretty meaty. Fret dress is spectacular. No sharp fret ends. That's why I bought this as a junker in a pawn shop, because the neck felt so good.
The pickups have metal polepieces that show the lathe cutoff marks, and the magnets are a piece of rubberized stuff on the back of the pickup like a refridgerator magnet. They look like they might be drop-ins for a tele, but I haven't checked. No shielding in the cavity, but hum is within acceptable limits. Signal wiring is shielded. Pots are not a bit noisy.

This guitar sounds interesting. Compared to a tele it of course lacks some bite. It has adequate twang when both pickups are on. The neck pickup is a bit dark and the bridge pickup has a very boxy or resonant tone to it. For this reason, the guitar sounds quite good with a bottleneck slide. Kind of the same reason a resonator guitar sounds good. I tried it with a ss Fender Deluxe 90. It has plenty of treble with that amp. With other amps it would maybe not have enough snap or twang. Very useable sound, though.
Since the pickups have lots of output (more than vintage SD's on my tele) it does fine with distortion. The tone control is smooth and rolls off the highs as it should.

I bought this as a wreck from a pawn shop last weekend. The description on the pawn ticket said "white guitar - rough shape". It came complete with lots of gouges, pickup selector didn't work, output jack was falling out, and the setup was nonexistent.

The biggest thing I did was to take 0.035" off the nut so it could be intonated. If you have to pay to do this, the guitar is automatically not worth it, because who is going to put $75 into a $50 guitar? But hey, it's a hobby. Then I fixed the other junk wrong with it. Did a bridge setup and it intonated perfectly. Frets were dead on, smooth and flat. Amazing.
The bridge is mounted at a slight angle to the pickguard, so it looks really bad. Nothing else was mounted crooked. Neck pocket seems pretty OK, but nothing about this guitar is stout.

The string thru bridge is designed wrong. The strings hit the intonation screws as they come through the bridge saddle pieces. It looks really stupid through a magnifying glass. You could get around this by grinding the screws shorter.

This guitar is fairly fragile, kind of like the old plywood teiscos.
The plywood body has some cracks (remember - I got it as basically junk) where the neck fits in, but they don't flex. It is flexible enough that you can get a vibrato just by holding it in the midsection and waving it back and forth in air.
The tuners seem like they are almost ready to fall apart when they are new. The bridge seems solid enough, but it is goofy, as noted above.
The pickups seem fine, and the electronics stood up to a lot of abuse already. Strap buttons seem fine.
I would never use it without a backup.
Overall, this guitar is marginal unless you are really careful with it.

hahahaha

I've been playing 45 years. Owned everything.
This is cool in the way old teiscos and danelectros are.
It has a unique voice and is cool in the way cheezy guitars are often cool.
Good neck and good project for beginning luthier or punker.

When you're in the checkout aisle at Wal-Mart, most people think, "I need a lighter", or lint roller, or batteries. Not I, I thought to myself, Guitar! Just like the other two reviews before me, I got this putrid, yellow, knock off of the American Ash Telecaster (which sells for more than a grand in Musicians Friend). It looked very close, too. A non-guitarist probably wouldn't even see the differences. The 3 + 3 headstock, smaller bridge, and the shorter, less-phallic cutaway are the visual differences.

I didn't get this guitar for the features that it did have, but was pleasently suprised that the neck was smooth, fast, and the frets were smooth and free of burrs (at least on mine). But also like the previous reviewers, I only got this as a project piece. So I have no opinion on the features.

The pickups that came with it were quiet single coils, low-output, and a little dirty, even all the way on clean. I got this axe to see if I could make a $90 guitar sound as good a $750+ axe. And according to everyone who has handled it on all experience levels, I have, or am at least darn close.

I put a Seymour Duncan HotRails Tele in the bridge, and a Duncan Performer SCORCHER in the neck. Just amazing tone, no noise at all. The HotRails pup is my favorite passive pup of all time. Very high-output, clean, clear, and punchy. Only thing it lacks is deep low-end, and that's what the Scorcher is for. High output, ok highs, great mids and lows. I play with the switch in the middle position and nothing else.

The strings also had to go, as expected. At first, I strung it with GHS Thick-n-Thin Boomers. Better, but I don't really like GHS strings, they have a tonal waver that irritates me (all of them). So I bought a whole pile of strings, from all manufacturers, and found DR Dimebag Darrell Hi-Voltage 10-52's, pluck any of these strings and all you'll find is rock solid , unwavering tone.

I set it up when I got it, I've seen worse factory setups. When I got the pickups installed, I had him do a pro-setup. (Funny note, though, as an amazing guitarist himself, he refused to tune or play a guitar from Wallyworld. He's my friend, I had enough of a discount to laugh it off and do that myself.)

The frets are smooth and will NOT cut my fingers. The tuners (suprisingly) hold tune very well. The bridge is adjustable and serves it's purpose. I have the action set medium-low.

The finish was well done, but I hated the color. Same color, mixed by someone way back in 1952 for that year's Tele, like the yellowed walls of a white room full of smokers after 50 years without cleaning. Ugly, but very well done. I later repainted it with copper/green chameleon paint.

Everything WAS ok, but now it's excellent. I might get Sperzel or Schaller tuners, yet. And a Gotoh-style bridge. Maybe.

This thing will easily last for years, and the abuse of the road.
If the finish wears off, that's my fault, therefore, I don't care.
Strap buttons sucked, replaced them with Dunlop Strap-loks.
I'd never gig without a backup.

I think the warranty is officially void. I'll never call'em.

I'm 27 and have been playing on-and-off since I was 13 or 14, mostly acoustic. Would I buy THIS guitar if lost or stolen. Probably not. I don't think it's available anymore. Besides, there are alot of guitars in this price range and I'm sure with similar changes, they can be made to sound as good as mine does now.

Just go out and get a dirt cheap axe (make sure it's not plywood, particle board, or pressed cardboard first! The best makeover in the world won't help those!), then read all the reviews you can on the type of pickups, tuners, bridges, knobs, nuts, and strings. I paid $90 for the guitar, $125 for the pickups (including installation), $12 for paint, and $6 for the strings. $233 for an axe that sounds as good as a $1000 guitar, to me anyway!

This is a Chinese made First Act tele copy. I got it dirt cheap at T.J. Maxx for $50 so I just couldn't resist...bought it to basically experiment with refinishing and customizing a guitar. It's got a maple neck, I think, which can't compare to my 80's Schecter PT (I love that thing and wish I had more) or my Jackson Sustainiac...but hey, it was $50.

The finish is decent, the guitar looks very solid. I just wish it had a bitter of a better neck...a little scratchy for my bends.

Came with a cable (which will be tossed right away).

I was pleasantly suprised by the pickups...not much noise at all. Certainly doesn't compare to my Schecter, but hey it's China made vs. USA made...need I again say that there's a reason it was $50.

The sound leans a little to the "tinny" sound, but I guess that's the tele twanginess coming through. I've got to rate this as a "7"; mainly due to the value of the guitar at its price.

Set up fairly low...pickups were well adjusted. No visible flaws, the pickup selector switched silently. All knobs and parts are tight and look like they will stay that way. Intonation was suprisingly right on.

Don't know yet, but inital thoughts are that this is a rock. Finish will probably wear off, but my plan is to strip it anyway. The strap buttons are pretty small, so I'll replace those. I wouldn't gig this without a backup, but I'd never gig without a backup (unless it was my beloved Schecter).

2 yr. warranty...haven't had to use it.

Been playing for 20 years and I mainly play rock. A little on the heavier side (ACDC) but also pop stuff (U2, Collective Soul) I have a:

Schecter 80's PT (Black Tele copy) with all original hardware- love this guitar and if I lost it I don't know what I'd do

Jackson DK2S Sustainiac- this is my metal guitar; for the flashy stuff. Very fast.

Kramer Strat Copy- project for refinishing
Burswood- suprisingly nice guitar I got for $40; project for refinishing

Samick Bass- project
Fender P-Bass- since I suck as a guitarist, I figured everyone needs a bass player

If the guitar was stolen, I'd probably buy another one if I found it at the same price (they had 3, and I was tempted to buy them, but my wife would have killed me for having all these guitars in the house)

Don't really love this guitar or anything, it's just a project at this point. It really doesn't match up to my more expensive guitars...but for the price it's good.

This is a Chinese-made copy of a telecaster. It is a yellow color with a fixed bridge and 2 single coil pickups. It's got a 3+3 angled headstock (much better looking than a normal Tele) with a bolt on neck and maple(?) fretboard. There is one volume and one tone control with a 3 way pickup selector. The fixed bridge is not string-through, which I was disappointed by. It has some cheap non-locking tuners. It has a fat neck with average sized frets. Comes with a cheap cable.

I give it a 7 because I expected much worse from the factory pickups. They are a bit muddy as you can expect from a cheap guitar, but not too bad. I'm not much into telecasters, but I think it does have a good Tele-style sound. Not too much noise, and fairly versatile for music played. I bought this guitar for something to build on- no intention of keeping the stock pickups. I just ordered P-90's for it, and I was happy to see that I will have to do no routing - the body is routed out to fit any type of pickups. I will be cutting the pickguard out and putting two Mighty Mite black P-90's in it. I wanted to get a cheap, solid guitar to put P-90's in so I can have a little more versatility with what I play. My other guitar is an Agile double cut with humbuckers, and I play punk rock, Nirvana, Incubus, 311, Finch, and many other things. I think this guitar will sound great with new pickups.

I was impressed by how well this thing played out of the box. The neck feels great and there is minimal fret buzz. However, the faded yellow color is ugly as hell and is not the greatest quality.

It seems to be built very solid. I basically wanted a guitar that was built solid and was cheap, and that's what I got. I think it will withstand alot of abuse. I don't know how well the finish will last, but I might paint it sometime anyway. The tuners are junk, but I have some extra Grovers laying around that I will put in it. I bought this guitar partially as a backup, so I would not gig without backup. The strap buttons will have to go - they are tiny. I don't ever leave them stock anyway.

I haven't had to deal with the company, but it comes with a 2 year warranty.

I have been playing guitar for about 8 years now. I also own an Agile Les Paul Double Cut style guitar, a Squier Vista Series Musicmaster, and a Marshall 8200 Bi-Chorus head with a Marshall cabinet. I got more than I expected with this thing. I like this guitar because it is a perfect cheap guitar to build on, and I think it will be a great sounding guitar with a few mods. If it were stolen, I would definitely buy another. If you're looking for a backup or something to build on like me, this is the perfect guitar. How can you go wrong with a solid guitar that costs $98?