i have found my tele, but....

I found the tele for me. well, almost. the squire affinity tele, love the butterscotch/blonde look, it's exactly what i am looking for, except it's a squire. is there no way to get a fender american or standard guitar that looks like that without having to spend $1200 on a 52 RI? Or 900-1k for an ash telecaster? Am i missing something. How big of a drop off in quality is there between squire and fender MIM? Would it be possible to buy a squire and upgrade pickups and bridge? or would that be pointless/insane? Does fender not have a butterscotch/blonde guitar in the mid-price rang market? thanks for the help, i am sure my wife is glad i found someone else to discuss these sorts of things with.

The Muddy Waters Tele is an ash body, has great pickups, and good hardware for about $600 and doesn't need any upgrades.

I own just that Squier Affinity Butterscotch
LOVE it
Replaced the pup's to
Fender Customshop NOCASTERS
www.acmeguitars.com
$110 for the set
Night & day difference

thats true. i actually played one last weekend. nice tele for sure. i don't know why, but i just seem to be fixated on the butterscotch/blonde look with the black pickguard. mostly i don't understand why there is no "in-betwen" model. if they can make a squire in butterscotch for less than 200 bucks, why can't they make a standard butterscotch or a hwy 1 butterscotch, etc. the closest i can find in the mid-price range is the honey/blonde. i guess i could go that route and swap out for a black p/g. that would be close i guess. then again, i've never owned a squire, so maybe i shouldn't be dogging them????

hawkeye2u,

how are the tuners/bridge. any probs with it? how bad were stock p/ups? what would u rate it overall?

That's what I should have bought. I bought a Jay Turser Tele instead. I was a great guitar, but just something about it was just not right for me. My last recording in the sound check area was done with it. It got shipped off today.

If I had bought the Squire I would still have it. They just feel so much more Fenderesque.

tele-vangelist

I've just got back from band practice ( we R a garage band as yet but let me give MHO )

I've only had this axe for 2 mnths but......

Tuners are fine , they stay in tune for days , smooth with no blind spots ( even though I'm in Australia with massive heat & humidity variations- ie the whole set stays in tune , sorta, although they might be of pitch due to the temp range

Neck feels great ( i DO have one fret that has sharp fret ends & a
few frets that hasn't been banged in properly , ONLY minor.
But that is subject to warranty!!!
I have no issues with fret buzzing, the neck is so easy to play The action is really close .( I also play an Epiphone Les Paul Special with slightly higher action ( for the gruntier stuff)) The Tele is so much easier to play, The Epiphone has actually gone into semi retirement

I'll get my Squire neck fixed up in a few days ,Made in China LOL
However the intonation is spot on ( after setting up , a good tuner, a small screwdriver & Bob's your uncle)
Bridge is fine too no problems , each string is adj both lenghtwise & also by height. Some original Teles had the feed through bridges!! Not the 52 issues
Neck truss rod adj is also avail but I havn't had to adjust it

The orig pups was for the
Neck MUDDY ,undefined mids & highs & the Bridge was ICEPICK in your ears mate & also LOW output comp to the Nocasters
After getting the Fender Nocasters I believe I own a GREAT guitar beit a Squier or not , Im happy as a pig in mud. IMHO
Rich warm lows & mids with well def highs for the Neck pup
Really Twangy bridge with a great BITE to it
The mid selection is dep on the pup setup . ie your height setup
Look for other threads on this topic , mainly the pup tent

The pup change was done by me, with no problems.
I couldn't use the Vintage rubbers that was supplied with the Neck pup as the routing depth must be diff but the orig screws & springs worked fine. As for the Bridge pup all fitted fine with the supplied rubbers & screws.
All other hardware fitted perfectly!! no need for mods .

Hope this helps man

Also You might concider to change the Vol & tone CTRL's to 250k pots since the Squiers have 200k ( a slight diff in tone- 250k a bit more highs) The orig Fender Tele (52 with Nocasters were 250k)
Tell us all how U go
There is NO shame in owning a Squier!!
If it feels good in the hand .... why not use it!!!!

If you can live with the white/honey blonde, the 50's classic teles are kick ass. I have one, but am eventually going to switch the white guard out for a black guard.

I too love the butterscotch blonde/black guard. However, I will have to wait a couple of years for that. When I graduate from college, I'm gonna splurge and build 2 USA Custom guitars: one Butterscotch blonde/black guard (ash/maple) guard with a humbucker in the neck (with stacked 500/250K pots), and one Lake Placid blue/mint green guard (Alder/rosewood).

I guess I'm a hopeless guitar horder. :lol2

Squiers often play well, often not. It's a crap shoot. Electronics are usually not up to par with Custom Shop or vintage Fender Tele's, and neither is fit and finish. They're meant for a student market, are made "off shore" to keep cost of labor low, and not in the league of let's say, a Custom Shop '52 Butterscotch, when it comes to neck feel, playabiltiy and tone.

If cheap gets the job done, they're OK. The comparison ends there.

Squire's are good guitars. I've looked at a lot of foreign junk out there. They adhere to decent quality stands that I am satisfied with.

Some of the models are actually competing with the MiM lines. The MiM's are still better, but Squires are very playable, decent guitars.

I sort of have one from each category and I've taken them all apart so I know how they are put together.

An AmSer Tele, a MiM Std Strat, and a Squire Bullet Strat.

Here's another answer. Try find a Japanese made tele or strat. No...not Mexican, not Philipino, not Indonesian or Korean. Made in Japan. VERY nice fit and finish, premium parts and pick-ups. A little cheaper than made in USA, and sometimes lots better.
Fender on the cheap is not a great thing. I don't want Leo rolling over on my account!

Last night I got a shock. I played a Fender Modern Player Tele Plus (Chinese) alongside a Nashville (Mexican) that I've been lusting for. Completely stock, the Nashville took the lead in the neck and neck/middle positions, but that Tele Plus was so fun to play, especially at $400. Some decent pickups and this thing would be a monster! I gotta get one as soon as I can!

A buddy of mine just got one of the Squiers. I thought they were made of pine, but this one was solid alder. It sounds excellent through my Deluxe Reverb RI.

I've always shied away from them because I don't like pine bodies. I'll take a closer look at Squier's after seeing and hearing his. It'd be so much fun to buy one and to customize the dogshit out of it.

But that guitar may need only a pup upgrade, if that.

Had one for a bit (Blonde Telecaster)....great kit solid guitar .....great mod platform if you so choose..... great price .......whats not to like:dude

I have also had MANY other Squires, Affinity Squires and even the Starcaster Strats.....all where excellent for the $. Good solid gear I really can't claim a "stinker" in the bunch......and I have had.....that I can remember

3 Starcaster Strats
4 different Squire Strats (Currently a "blackie" with the BIG headstock in the house)
A Squire P-bass
A Squire Jazz bass
A Squire Telecaster
Squire Jazzmaster
Squire Jaguar HH
Squire Jaguar Surf Green yummyness (my avatar pick......need I say more?)

YEs.......you could SAY I am a fan of this brand/line lol