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mooseherman « Good build, solid guitar, bad pickups »
Published on 05/20/10 at 14:02This is a Squier guitar, made by Fender. Squiers tend to be marketed as entry level guitars. When they first came around they had the air of "bargain guitars". The reality is a bit different, as I'll explain. They are actually quite similar to many new Telecasters in their design. There is a maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard, the neck has a 9" radius. There are 22 frets. The bridge is a 6-saddle string-through-body bridge. It has two Alnico magnet pickups in the neck and bridge position, and the bridge pickup is slanted in typical Telecaster fashion.
UTILIZATION
For a supposed bargain guitar, this is actually well built. The neck in particular feels really good. The reality that I've been discovering is that these Squiers are only getting better, while the Fenders are getting worse. The design of the guitar is pretty much the same as a regular Tele, it's a little bit lighter than most of the high end vintage Teles but that's to be expected. The drivers on my Squier are stable, though I'm anticipating that I'm going to need to do some work on it eventually. They do use cheaper hardware than Fender guitars.
SOUNDS
Here's where the bargain part of the equation comes in. The main, and really only, difference between this and a good Fender Tele is the pickups. They tend to be sort of crappy, with not much detail or sustain. I would certainly not encourage any player to keep this guitar as it is, as there's really no way you'll be satisfied with the sound. I gutted it and put some better pickups into it, I think that made a world of difference. With a good set of Tele-style single coil pickups, you can get great sounds from everything from rock, blues, country, and even some jazzier stuff (though nothing as warm as a hollow body with some humbuckers.) The score reflects the sound of the pickups that came with the guitar, but rest assured, good sounds are possible with some work.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar plays really well. I didn't like the pickups, but I switched them, and now I love the guitar. It's really a shame that more people aren't aware of how little it takes to make a guitar that's worth a few hundred sound a hundred times better. I would only recommend buying this if you're immediately willing to put pickups of your choice in there.
UTILIZATION
For a supposed bargain guitar, this is actually well built. The neck in particular feels really good. The reality that I've been discovering is that these Squiers are only getting better, while the Fenders are getting worse. The design of the guitar is pretty much the same as a regular Tele, it's a little bit lighter than most of the high end vintage Teles but that's to be expected. The drivers on my Squier are stable, though I'm anticipating that I'm going to need to do some work on it eventually. They do use cheaper hardware than Fender guitars.
SOUNDS
Here's where the bargain part of the equation comes in. The main, and really only, difference between this and a good Fender Tele is the pickups. They tend to be sort of crappy, with not much detail or sustain. I would certainly not encourage any player to keep this guitar as it is, as there's really no way you'll be satisfied with the sound. I gutted it and put some better pickups into it, I think that made a world of difference. With a good set of Tele-style single coil pickups, you can get great sounds from everything from rock, blues, country, and even some jazzier stuff (though nothing as warm as a hollow body with some humbuckers.) The score reflects the sound of the pickups that came with the guitar, but rest assured, good sounds are possible with some work.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar plays really well. I didn't like the pickups, but I switched them, and now I love the guitar. It's really a shame that more people aren't aware of how little it takes to make a guitar that's worth a few hundred sound a hundred times better. I would only recommend buying this if you're immediately willing to put pickups of your choice in there.