Kent Telecaster

From what limited information I could find on lines, Kent started making copies of recognizable guitars in the late 60s early 70s. It could be Japanese or Korean made. The guitar does not indicate where it was made.

The tele has 21 frets, two pickups, 3 way selector switch, a volume knob, and tone knob. The tuners are the cheap diamond-shaped tuners common on cheaper Asian import models. The bridge has 6 individualized barrel-shaped saddles...not like the 6 saddle bridges that come on Fender Mexican Telecasters and definitely not like the three brass barrel saddles.

The guitar is a greenish blue color, almost like a Lake Placid blue that has changed color over the years. It has a standard 8 screw white pickguard. It has a well worn maple neck and headstock painted to match the body of the guitar. The headstock says "Kent Vintage Series".

The neck pickup has the standard covered tele pickup, but is more arched than flat. The bridge pickup looks more like a strat pickup, with a cream pickup cover.

From what I can tell, the body is made of plywood. I opened up the control cavity and I'm pretty sure I could make out the pressed layers through the paint. It's as heavy as a regular tele is.

Teles aren't known for a ton of features, so I rated this right in the middle...a five.

The neck pickup definitely has a mellow, warm sound. Maybe it's the age, but it definitely gets that neck pickup sound that teles are known for. The bridge pickup is much hotter, full of the brighter telecaster bite. The plywood body appears to have no negative effect on the tone.

The pickups do buzz with the typical single coil hum, the bridge pickup humming a little more than the bridge pickup. The middle position does not cancel the hum, something I've experienced on other guitars, including a more expensive highway one strat. But, at least at the volume level I play at, the hum is not noticeable on the clean channel.

I play and write (well, try to) 90's influenced music and the tele seems to fit just fine. The bite of the bridge pickup is a nice change of pace to my Les Paul and USA Fender Lonestar Strat (Pearly Gates in the bridge)

The volume difference between the two pickups requires more attention be paid when switching between them. Fortunately, the volume knob reacts well enough.

For a thirty-something year old guitar, the body is in relatively good shape. It has some dings here and there and definitely has a decent sized piece of wood missing. The guitar is set up well, and the intonation is enough to help with the cheap tuners. The tuners DO feel a little loose, but the guitar holds its tuning, so I really can't complain.

The neck is probably in the worst shape. It's almost as if there's a maple veneer that's started chipping away instead of a one piece maple neck. The rosewood skunk stripe doesn't quite feel right either...maybe as if the clear coat has worn away and you can feel the difference between it and the maple. Despite this, the neck still plays fine when you're actually playing and not scrutinizing it.

I recently picked this up, so I'm not too sure about this. Then again, the guitar is pretty old and is still working just fine. That has to say something, right?

I have a feeling that Kent is now defunct.

I've been playing guitar for about 15 years. I've owned too many guitars over the past year and a half, and this is my fourth tele. I've yet to own anything beyond a Fender mexican standard. This tele compares favorably enough to them when comparing the sounds. The mexi teles played a little bit nicer...though not enough for me to say it was a completely different experience.

I picked this up to fill the tele niche in my guitar collection...not as a main guitar, but just for that tele "sound". If a tele were my main instrument, I'd have spent my money on a good tele. This is going to be my project tele...new bridge, new tuners, and/or new pickups. That is, if I don't sell it after picking up another import tele here in the next couple of days.

It definitely opened my eyes up to plywood bodies. It seems that the common opinion, and probably for good reason, is that plywood bodies just don't have the tone capabilities that a solid wood guitar does. That's probably mostly true. But, this guitar has a good, resonant unplugged sound. When it's plugged up, the wood doesn't quite make the difference that some people would have you believe, and certainly wouldn't be obvious to the crowd watching your band play. While I won't be searching out plywood bodied guitars, I definitely won't turn my nose up at the mere mention of one again.