I've been playing Telecasters (and other guitars) for a long time and have another Tele without tremolo, so I just got this H.B. '52 Telecaster N/A w/Tremolo almost the day it was released. I am deeply impressed at the excellent build quality (tight specs including the overall build quality but also the pickup switch & volume/tone controls), tuners (very stable), bridge (great sounding), pickups & sound (hot, varied tonally & delicious),
B-style tremolo (very expressive), playability (smooth & very easy) and weight (good!) of this Tele and I love that it records well in mixes (cuts through) as friends have commented. It's a superb reissue of that '52 era Tele. I especially like the gorgeous aesthetic treatments of the neck and maple fingerboard. I see no reasons whatsoever to modify anything at all on this instrument as it fulfills everything I expected it to be and more. I have other instruments that are professional grade and this Telecaster easily holds its own amongst them as a workhorse whether I'm playing live standing for hours long gigs (no guitar weight problem for me) or in the recording studio. I taught guitar for 11 years to hundreds of students of all ages and whether one is a beginner, intermediate or pro, this guitar is well-suited to any level and is definitely a keeper. Im finding myself composing more new songs on this guitar than usual and that's a very good thing. I hope this helps anyone in making their decision about whether this guitar fits their needs or not.