The LTD TE-401 BLKS is overall great value for money. I wanted a guitar with that classic EMG 60 + EMG 81 pickup combo but on a good quality guitar with no-frills, but looks nice, and this really hit the mark. The telecaster body is great and the matte black finish apart from looking beautiful it screams this is not your average tele, and we're not playing country music today. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the Pau Ferro fretboard but honestly on such active pickups you'd be really hard-pressed to tell its not your standard mahogany.
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND:
1. You can always drive non-active pickups harder, but you can't understate active pickups (like these). These pickups are great and time-tested classics if you know them and are clear on the sound you're looking for, but you'll never get traditional natural clean sounds on these pickups.
1. The Gotoh tuners are good, but they are NOT locking tuners.
2. The fretboard inlay markers are very minimalist and original, but even though I don't "need" fret markets, it bugged me aesthetically, so eventually I ended up doing a custom job on the fretboard to put skull & crossbone inlays and now I love how it looks.
3. As with all matte black finishes, enough wear (like where your arm rubs on the body) will eventually, with time, progressively turn the matte finish shiny.
