Squier Standard Telecaster Review
 |
Squier Standard Telecaster through my Heatseeker 18 watt handwired tube amp
Here is a good, affordable Squire Telecaster that is very enjoyable and easy to play. It is made in Indonesia and is another example of the good quality guitars Squier are now producing.
The body is made of Agathis (not sure what that is) and is light. It comes in many colors; Vintage Blonde, Candy Apple Red, Antique Burst, Black Metallic, Walnut Satin.
It has a maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard, 9.5" radius. I has 22 Medium Jumbo frets. I really like the neck; it was the main reason I bought it. The bridge is a 6-saddle string-through-body bridge, and is of good quality. The same goes for the tuners, they are also well made and the guitar stays in tune well.
Features
Not much features to brag about - it's a standard Tele!
The 2 pickups are Alnico magnet pickups, and they sound quite good. The bridge pickup is a litte shrill, and the neck pickup a little muddy at times, so if you want to make this a top notch Tele, installing better pickups would be the first step.
Sound
The Squier Telecaster sounds good, and is quite versatile for only having two pickups. The bridge pickup can yield a soaring sustain with the right amp. The middle pickup position makes for a nicy, clucky rhytm sound. The neck pickup is a bit more bassy but not bad at all. It can give you a nice bluesy tone, clean or overdriven.
Quality
The hardware is overall good and of decent quality. The only problem I've run into is the input jack is of questionable quality and comes loose right away. It's something you would probably want to upgrade, and it doesn't cost much to do. The neck is fantastic, the pickups good and it stays very good in tune.
I would highly recommend it to anyone on a budget wanting a standard tele. Its overall quality is quite amazing at this price point, so check one out if you have a chance - you might be surprised.
Upgraded pickups
I was content with the stock pickups, but I often have problems with noise and hum from single coils. So, I installed some DiMarzio Virtual T pickups. They are AWESOME, man. They are dead quiet and sound like a good telecaster pickup to me - they have spank and clarity. Now I have one insanely good, inexpensive guitar!
Telecaster Video Clips
| Squier Tele through my Vox AD50VT. |
| Squier Tele with a Baja Tech Custom Das Fuzz through my Vox AD50VT. |
Summary
I think this is a great Tele for the money, whether you're a pro player or not. Don't be fooled by people who say Squiers are crap. They don't know what they are talking about. This is a great guitar to get. I'm happy with mine, even without any upgrades.
Buy yours from Musician's Friend!
Privacy Statement
Your email address is safe with us and will only be used to notify you when new content is published. For more information, read our Privacy Policy.
If you like what you see and hear
I put in a lot work into running this web site. If you like what I do, you could make a contribution.
if you would like to support the making of video lessons, video clips and all this stuff that I do.