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MGR/Ben « Squier Standard Fat Telecaster »
Published on 03/27/05 at 14:00I got this guitar at a local music shop called Melodee Music. I had a classical guitar and was looking for a relatively cheap electric guitar. The guitar was purchased for around $240.
When I was first looking at electric guitars, I liked the stratocaster and Fender. Then it seemed as if everyone had a stratocaster so I looked at other things by Fender and found the Telecaster. I liked the shape and look of it. The Squier is very cheap and is a great beginners guitar. The finish is applied well. The neck is freakishly thin and quite fast. After that, I don't have too much else nice to say about it.
Where to start? The tuners are mediocre, at best. They stay in tune while I'm playing normally but when I work on a solo passage with a lot of bends, they go flat pretty quickly. Not to severly but just barely noticeable. That won't matter if it's masked in distortion but if you're playing clean that is something to worry about. The neck is good, but the joint to the body is annoying. It's a bolt on, like almost all Fenders and has a huge heel at about the 17th fret. Since the frets get small, the side of my hand hits it at about the 12th fret. The cutaway helps but not too much. A neck-thru guitar with a double cutaway is probably best. But that is one of the things that has drawn me away from fenders, the huge heel. The 17th fret of the g string buzzes like crazy and adjusting the bridge wont help. Also, if I am bending the 17th fret on either adjacent string, it buzzes as well because it will touch the g string. That is a pain in the ass. The pickups are pretty bad but will get a beginner by. The single coil sounds nice and bright if not a bit too twangy and earpiercing. The feedback is pretty bad in high-volume high-gain situations (which is mostly where I play). The humbucker is a lot smoother and I prefer the humbucker for everything. Slight feedback is still there but an enourmous improvement of that on the single coil. Leads on the humbucker aren't too great, especially as it is in the neck position, but the sound is still better than the neck pickup. The bridge is ok, nothing special. The input jack is recessed so you might have a hard time using some right angle plugs. Also, the screw holding it down always comes loose. Now, I don't like the look too much as well. Oh yah! It's freakin heavy!
Made pretty well, lives up to its price.
Finish was good, electronics seem ok.
Good guitar for it's price. Definately not for someone with expierience or someone who will want to play some nice leads as playing higher is hard. Also, if you're someone who progresses fast, you would probably be better off starting with a better guitar than this. Having, not tried a lot of other beginner level guitars, I can't recommend anything else at this price level but I would definately go for something else. Again, at the price you can't complain too much.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
When I was first looking at electric guitars, I liked the stratocaster and Fender. Then it seemed as if everyone had a stratocaster so I looked at other things by Fender and found the Telecaster. I liked the shape and look of it. The Squier is very cheap and is a great beginners guitar. The finish is applied well. The neck is freakishly thin and quite fast. After that, I don't have too much else nice to say about it.
Where to start? The tuners are mediocre, at best. They stay in tune while I'm playing normally but when I work on a solo passage with a lot of bends, they go flat pretty quickly. Not to severly but just barely noticeable. That won't matter if it's masked in distortion but if you're playing clean that is something to worry about. The neck is good, but the joint to the body is annoying. It's a bolt on, like almost all Fenders and has a huge heel at about the 17th fret. Since the frets get small, the side of my hand hits it at about the 12th fret. The cutaway helps but not too much. A neck-thru guitar with a double cutaway is probably best. But that is one of the things that has drawn me away from fenders, the huge heel. The 17th fret of the g string buzzes like crazy and adjusting the bridge wont help. Also, if I am bending the 17th fret on either adjacent string, it buzzes as well because it will touch the g string. That is a pain in the ass. The pickups are pretty bad but will get a beginner by. The single coil sounds nice and bright if not a bit too twangy and earpiercing. The feedback is pretty bad in high-volume high-gain situations (which is mostly where I play). The humbucker is a lot smoother and I prefer the humbucker for everything. Slight feedback is still there but an enourmous improvement of that on the single coil. Leads on the humbucker aren't too great, especially as it is in the neck position, but the sound is still better than the neck pickup. The bridge is ok, nothing special. The input jack is recessed so you might have a hard time using some right angle plugs. Also, the screw holding it down always comes loose. Now, I don't like the look too much as well. Oh yah! It's freakin heavy!
Made pretty well, lives up to its price.
Finish was good, electronics seem ok.
Good guitar for it's price. Definately not for someone with expierience or someone who will want to play some nice leads as playing higher is hard. Also, if you're someone who progresses fast, you would probably be better off starting with a better guitar than this. Having, not tried a lot of other beginner level guitars, I can't recommend anything else at this price level but I would definately go for something else. Again, at the price you can't complain too much.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com