Bacchus BTE-1 Review

I’ve always considered myself a bit of a Strat guy and considered Teles to be kind of blocky looking and only good for country twang, which isn’t really my bag. I was at a gig about a month ago, however, and broke a string right before our last song. The end of the string was somehow lodged in the string hole making it difficult to quickly install a new string. Luckily, the other guitarist in our band was playing his 335 and loaned me his Bacchus Tele.

We launched into our last song, Midnight Rambler by the Stones, I was delighted at how great the Bacchus sounded through my warmed up Princeton Reverb 65 RI. In fact, I was so impressed that I spent the next day researching Bacchus guitars and looking to get one. I ended up on the Bacchus BTE-1, which is part of their Universe series.

What I like about the BTE-1

Quality Construction

First of all, the overall feel and construction of the BTE-1 feels really good. Also, when I got the guitar, the setup was surprisingly good right out of the box. While the action felt a little bit low, I think this is because of the humidity coming to the Philippines. I loosened the truss rod about a quarter of a turn to give the fingerboard some relief, and it plays very well with low action and no buzzing.

Bacchus is a Japanese brand and while these Universe series guitars are manufactured in China, the quality control is done back in Japan. Having this extra set of hands on the guitar before is ships is probably one reason everything felt very straight and playable right out of the box.

Tuners

While I’ve become a big fan of locking tuners on some of my other guitars, I found that I do actually like the stock rotary tuners shipped with the guitar. While they won’t be as fast for changing strings, they feel solid and like there is really no need to upgrade them.

Pickups

The stock pickups on the BTE-1 also sound very good. Sometimes inexpensive guitars can sound a little sharp, brittle or thin, and this was a particular concern I had buying an inexpensive Tele where I was most likely to be playing the bridge pickup. No problem, however. The bridge sounds great, especially through a Fender style amp with a little crunch.

Roasted Maple Fretboard

Finally, the roasted maple fingerboard is very nice. Living in a humid climate, I’m always a little concerned about fretboards warping. The roasted maple looks and feels great, and is supposed to be a little more resistant to humidity. This is a great feature for such an inexpensive guitar!

What I Dislike about the BTE-1

Very Flat Fingerboard Radius

I have to admit that at first, I wasn’t super stoked on the fingerboard radius. Coming from the strat world, I’m used to anywhere from a 7.25″ – 9.5″ fingerboard radius. I had overlooked the fact that the Bacchus BTE-1 has a “400R” fingerboard radius which is approximately 15.75″ radius. It felt extremely flat at first. That said, I think we tend to like what we are used to and dislike what feels different. Now that I’ve been playing the 400R radius for a while, I don’t even think about it.

Nickel Frets

The other thing I didn’t like immediately is the nickel frets, which feel a little slow and “friction-y” to me. Again, I’ve gotten used to this, but I do think I will upgrade the frets to stainless steel sometime in the future, which is only about a $50 upgrade here in the Philippines. To me, stainless steel frets just feel a little more buttery. They last longer too.

“Hardwood” Body

Bacchus myseriously says that the wood of the BTE-1 body is “hardwood.” I don’t know exactly what kind of wood is used, and it probably only makes a minor difference in tone. The tone snob in me would prefer and ash body, though. But, hey, for $185, you do make some tradeoffs, and its hard to say how much difference tonewoods make. Some people care, some people don’t. Still, in a perfect world, I’d like the ash!

Conclusion

Overall, I’m super happy with the Bacchus BTE-1 for $185, and will definitely be keeping it. I think the playability will only improve with some fresh stainless steel frets. It’s not necessary, but I also found some used Fender VMOD-II Tele pickups on Reverb for $80. In a few months, I plan to swap out the pickups and do a side-by-side comparison to see if there is a really noticeable difference.

The Bacchus BTE-1 has definitely scratched my itch for a Tele style guitar, and you get a ton of bang for the back by skipping the Fender logo. Those in the know, know that there are great guitars coming out of Japan, and Bacchus is definitely flying under the radar. I highly recommend the BTE-1 if you want to have a great guitar and save a few bucks.

Bacchus BTE-1 Demo