Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster

Purchased second-hand. Made in China, 2001 model, Affinity series. 21 frets, full-scale, 1 tone, 1 volume, 3-way pickup selector (all missing their covers). Guitar looks like it is pretty much stock. Seems to have light strings, but they are black, and high E is missing. Maple neck and fretboard, probably an alder body (guitar is VERY heavy). Body is 3 pieces of wood. Stock features, no accessories. 7 for what it is, but in the condition I bought it, more like a 4.

I have been playing for about 9 years on and off, and I am awful. I specialize in rythym chord work. I want ultimately to play like David Byrne. This guitar has a beautiful tone. I have yet to play it thru an amp, but so far I have played it through a small portable CD player/tape deck/radio (you know the kind), and even through that the Tele sounds marvelous. The neck pickup gives a fat, slightly muddy sound (which I like), in between gives a bit more sparkle and would be great for soloing and lush, open chord work, and the bridge position ALMOST gives me The Telecaster Sound, even through a radio. Bridge pup sounds like it has a premanent echo effect on it. Slight hum on both pups alone, eliminated when using both.

I don't know how much variety can be achieved as I mostly play clean, but I suspect the guitar would give a pretty good range.

I like the trebly bridge sound and the difference in sound between pickup positions. One thing I don't like is that I think the pups could stand to be a little louder.

This is where we run into the good and the bad, remembering however, that this is a second-hand guitar.

Pups were well positioned, although I will make them a bit higher when I change the strings. Wirings seem to be fine, and even the notoriously bad pickup selector seemed quite solid. I had a look to see if it was the original, and although I am no expert, I think it was.

The finish looks great. Although it is not the color I would have chosen - black body, white scratchplate - I cannot fault the smooth shine, even for a 7 year old second-hand guitar. A couple of chips near the rear strap button, but that's fine by me; I like a guitar to have a 'lived in' look.

The number one thing that drew me to this axe was the neck. Beautifully smooth, slight gloss finish, and amazingly smooth fret edges that don't look like they have been home filed. The fretboard was quite grubby (I don't think the previous owner loved this guitar like I will) but that was easily cleaned.

Action wasn't so great. Lots of fret buzz, partucularly on the A string, probably not helped by the missing string. Tuners also are hard to keep at a good tension.

I will reserve my rating on this category, because it is a second-hand axe, and I bought it in quite poor condition (not the fault of Fender).

I suspect that once it has been restored, this guitar would certainly hold up to live playing. The main aspects of the hardware seem quite durable, but the tuning pegs might have to be replaced to achieve a bit more reliability. The finish seems thick and strong and I don't think it will be wearing away in a hurry. Strap buttons seem solid enough, but I haven't used the axe with a strap yet. I think the guitar could be counted on for a gig, and I'm confident that with some good d'Addario 10's on it, it would survive a gig quite comfortably. While I personally would not be gigging with it, I have a friend who might like to used it. I would let him, but I would suggest he keep a backup handy (he's a metaller).

As said before, I have been playing on and off for nine years, and am little more than a novice. I have been wanting to start playing more seriously, but felt I needed a nice guitar for motivation. So I but a Squier Jagmaster on layby, then decided I wanted more of a single-coil sound. I spotted the Telecaster at a second hand shop for AUD$249 (about US$255 right now) and I was given the guitar for $200 because they didn't have a lead handy for me to test it. I bought the guitar unplayed and in poor condition and I couldn't be happier so far.

I will probably still buy the Jagmaster for variety, but I suspect the Tele will be my number one guitar. I don't have an amp at the moment, but I will be getting one soon enough. I will be looking to spend about $200 on my amp.

As for the Tele, my favourite thing is that I think I will be able to pluck The Telecaster Sound from it with a minimum of fuss. My least favourite thing is that the guitar is in such poor shape right now. But it is inspiring to know that even as it is now, the guitar still sounds wonderful when plugged in.

Mine was purchased at Guitar Center around Thanksgiving 2007. I got the red one with white pick guard and maple neck. Standard features for this guitar.

First off, I had been playing Squier Tele's (affinity series) on and off for a few months at Guitar Center before deciding to buy one. I really wanted the butterscotch blonde one cause it looked so nice. But they didnt have one when I decided to buy it. So I settled for the red one. The stock pickups are ABSOLUTE CRAP!!! Especially the neck pickup! The sound was UNUSEABLE. Muddy, undefined sound. BUT....when I replaced those ****** pickups with REAL Fender Vintage Noiseless........what a difference!!! Now this guitar shines! The neck position is what I mainly use on solo's now cause it sounds so good....here is PROOF!!! Go to my music site and listen to the song "Tele Blues" to hear what Vintage Noiseless pickups can do for a Squire!!

http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=81665

I paid $160 for this guitar and some of these cheap guitars can be made to sound nice. I got it all set up with new pickups and I love it.

The action is good, after setup. Pickups were all adjusted and the finish is a beautiful candy apple red. Tuners are a little boogity woogity but stay in tune pretty much.

I just gigged last weekend and played a set with my Tele and it performed well. It seems durable, hardware is mediocre at best but holds up. Strap buttons ok for now.

No use for it

Overall, for a $160 guitar you can't expect much but after investing $99 for new pickups and $40 for a set up, all totalling $300 it is a fine intstrument now that looks good and feels good to play.

Its a 2007 squire affinity telecaster crafted in China. It has a nice black gloss finish with a white pickguard and silver volume and tone knobs. The finish is exellent. It didnt come with anything special such as a gigbag. For the finish i will give it an 7 because it didnt come with any accessries.

I tend to play indie/rock music with some blues as well. At the moment because it is my first electric i have no effects but do have a orange crush 10 watt amp. Wen i turn the gain on alot and put the overdrive up the pickups start to get noisy. Generally it is good and i dnt tend 2 play with that high gain so for wt i am after it has a nice telecaster sound that can be compared to fender but im sure with some new pickups it will be a 10/10 guitar.

Im nt big into all the electronics of guitars but i fink the pickups were set a bit to high but it hasn't caused a problem. The action is good and i will not change it. I think the finish is excellent and the neck is great to play all styles of music.

Everythink seems like it will last but i havnt had it long so we will see. At the moment i cant complain but if i played live alot i would hange the pickups so there is less of a risk of noise from them but i have played it with gain up and often it is fine so for wt i use it for i will give it a 9

Never had 2 use them.

Im 15 and have been playin since i was 13 i have had a cuple of acoustics but have always prefered electrics. I own a orange crush amp as well. If were stolen i would probably get another one after killing the person who stole mine. My fav part of it is the nice warm sound you get from it that is good but not as nice as a real fender but for the money it cost you cant argue. I will get the pickups changed if i decide to keep this guitar for a while. After some modifications i can see myself having a sentimental attachment to the tele. I really like it and would recomend it for any beginner.It is a great value for money becuase i have always wanted a telecaster.

Not really many features to speak about...but it's a Telecaster, not a Robot Les Paul. If it wasn't simple and classic it wouldn't be a Telecaster :-)

So that being said, it has just what I need.

Made at the Yoko plant, China in 1997 (dated using Serial number), Affinity Series...Candy Apple Red finish, aged pickguard (?? very interesting), 21 fret Rosewood freboard with maple neck, two pickups, volume, tone, 3-way...you know.

Here's the skinny. For the longest time I had a hard time making single coils sound good through my set-up, but I can't be bothered to play much else but Fenders...I just love how they feel and sound. The Tele Deluxe and Toronado are nice choices, and dropping rails in a Strat or Tele is also a decent option...but I want that single coil definition.

At the store I tried this guitar through a solid-state Marshall DFX100 junker...it only worked half the time but I could tell there was something different about this telecaster. I loved the way it felt and the action was teriffic. I took it home, plugged it in, and was instantly blown away.


CLEANS - amazing, sparkling, twangy cleans. I love it. I don't think I've heard better cleans on a Mexi Standard or even a Hwy 1.

DIRT - this thing will put a hole in your wall if you really want it to. The bridge pickup on this particular guitar averages the same output as a Les Paul humbucker. But here's the thing - it still has the definition and clarity of a single coil pickup. I don't know how, and I don't know why. I don't even care. It just rocks hardcore.

Action is a bit stiff, but you know for $100 I've played TONS worse. It has slightly less desireable action than my '93 Mexi Standard Strat - which isn't bad at all.

My guitar was fitted with Grover tuners by the owner before me. So tune slippage is not a problem unless I bend the crap out of the B and E strings up in the high registers - then those two strings will drop half a step. No biggie - it takes 2 seconds to twist them back up after the solo and the audience probably won't notice much anyways. This thing stays in tune better than my Deluxe Toronado - which I payed $395 for (and now currently grabs figures near the $600-range on eBay and Craigslist).

The neck is not dry like most squiers. It doesn't feel fake, and it doesn't feel like sandpaper. It's got a thin coat of nitro gloss and it feels about right.

While many people complain about the board width on a lot of Squiers, this one ain't too shabby. I admit I feel more comfortable on my MIM Standard, and way more comfortable on my Toronado (25 1/2" scale) - but my fingers have yet to slip off the bottom of the fretboard like they have with Squiers in the past.

No finish flaws really...but I mean is anybody really seriously LOOKING for them on one of these guitars? "Oh, I found a little bit of glue residue in the neck pocket". Oh really? Why don't you send it back and yell at them for not giving you American quality at a Squier price.

The only major qualm I have is that it's a top-load string set-up rather than a back load. I'm used to loading the strings on my Teles from the back, and I must say this "alternative" method is a real pain in the neck. In order to string your Affinity Telecaster properly, you must :

1) Kink the end of your string at a length of about 1"
2) Insert into bridge hole
3) Flip saddle on its side (90 degrees) using a Philips
4) Run string through saddle and pull a little bit
5) Reverse #3, pull through and resume stringing as you normally would


(See? It's so much easier skipping all five of those options and just loading it from the back...*poke* *pull* *zoom* and that's it)

It feels solid and I wouldn't have the slightest issue with using this as a main guitar (let alone a back-up) at a gig.

I mean really, it's kind of a stupid question. HC hasn't changed it for awhile and I'm wondering why. If you're playing it at home, then obviously it's going to hold out during a gig unless

a) you have REALLY bad luck, or

b) you treat your gear like crap because you're too busy showing off than focusing your mind on playing and having fun.


Had one string snap on me at the bridge but that's nothing that a simple file can't fix.

Reasonably solid.

I've played various different Telecasters and I've never heard one that rocks this hard for the money. Those guys must have put some extra lovin' into this axe because, wow...

I've owned everything from various Fender Strats (50s RI, 60s RI, 70s RI, '68 Japan Custom Shop RI, Mexi Standards), and played several Telecasters (owning a 50s RI at one point). I've also owned and played several "Deluxe" series Fenders, as well as the obvious Squiers including the Pro-Tone series.

I'm not saying this is the holy grail, but for 100 bucks this thing impresses me on almost every level.

I can actually count on my hand the flaws that I've found in this guitar.

Finger 1 = string breakage at the bridge. Only had this happen once, strung it up with a fresh set of D'add EXL120s and haven't had it happen since.

Finger 2 = Pickup selector sticks at bridge... just jiggle it a bit and it comes loose. I'm guessing if I could be vigorous enough with some contact cleaner, say...twice a week, I could have this problem resolved.

Finger 3 = B and high E strings slip out of tune during face-melting solo. Okay, so this is a bit annoying...but really it only goes a few cents out of whack, so give them a half-turn and you're right back to where you were. 2 seconds...no big deal, even during Rush's "2112".

Finger 4 = (I'm really trying hard to find fault with this guitar...I'm struggling) Neck pickup is a little weak; I'll probably slap a GFS Lipstick Tube in there and it'll be better than it ever was.

And really, that's all I have to say. I didn't even use five fingers to count the flaws.

And for $100, that's pretty darn good. From what I hear a lot of beginners and guitar enthusiasts alike adore their Squier Affinity Tele's. You can't go wrong. I like the Bullet series too... but the Standards never impressed me much! Go figger...

Go out and try one. Try several. Find one that fits you and give 'er a nice home.

A nice candy apple red tele with maple neck

Sound is good but the single coils hum a little and i might be switching them with emg pickups

Action is pretty good from factory

This is a great overall guitar i would reccomend it to other......I have gigged with it before and everthing was greeat

Made in China, year unknown ... but man what a looker! Maple neck with maple fingerboard, Alder (or Agathis -varies from one model to the other, this one feather light) body with a sweet, eye-catching metallic blue finish. Standard lipstick pickup in neck position, Telecaster pickup in bridge position. Top loading bridge with 6 individual saddles.

Sealed (Gotoh/Grover style) tuners that don't slip (I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about MIC hardware), standard 25.5" scale with 21 medium frets, plastic nut. No accessories included, but inexpensive enough to get a hardshell case and strap without making too big of a dent in the bank account.

Standard 1 volume, 1 tone 3 position blade switch arrangement.

This was the big surprise: I was expecting full hum-a-sonic from both pickups ... through my J-station straight in my E-MU sound card I detect barely any hum (note - using a clean patch from the J and I have a LCD flat monitor). Through my Traynor Hybrid amp and through dirty/overdriven patches on the J-Station, the 60 cycle hum is right in your face, worst in bridge position.

I was expecting to upgrade the pickups, machine heads & do the full string-through bridge conversion, but now, all I'm intending on doing is swapping the pickups with hum cancelling ones and perhaps do a bit of shielding. That's it that's all. One needs to define "twang" to me, but it sounded plenty twangy to my Cyberpals stock!

I own a Variax, but for certain signature sounds, only a Les Paul sounds like a Les Paul, only a Strat sounds like a Strat, and only a Tele sounds like a Tele!

Off the rack, it was as expected - pretty weak. High-ass action, intonation all over the place, nut height uneven. Thumbs up to the techs at Long & McQuade and to their free setup on a new instrument purchase policy.

After a proper setup, that metallic blue beauty was a whole lot nicer to play. It's a solid color finish, so no comments on bookmatching. There is a tiny scratch on the back of the guitar a few inches above strap button level, but only I can see it, doesn't really bug me.

It feels very light and frail, personally, I'd keep it home where it's safe. Then again, I may be wrong.

n/a

This guitar came out as a big surprise. I'd been advised to avoid the Affinity series like the plague, but seeing (and playing) is believing. The only reason I'm swapping pickups at all is that I have an aversion to 60 cycle hum. I've ordered a pair of self-adhesive copper pickguard shields from ebay, one for my MIM Strat (Dimarzio VV's) and one for the Tele. The sheilding may be overkill after the pickup swap, but ... every bit counts.

For those who still have issues with the Squier moniker, Musician's Friend has a nice article entitled "Squier, the other Fenders".

The hardware might be sub par on some instruments, but this inexpensive made-in-China Telecaster has been an eye-opener for me. I own a Squier Fretless Jazz bass and now a Squier Telecaster, one of the vilified Affinity series ones. And guess what? I like it fine!

Many thanks to my loving WMWW for the wonderful gift!

This model is an arctic white Fender Squier Affinity Telecaster.. alder body.. maple neck.. and all the other standard Telecaster features..

I am a bass player by trade.. but I also record demos of my own stuff. I needed another electic guitar because I needed a more "Fender-y" tone, as I mostly play Gibson guitars.. So, I went to Guitar Center, and I found this for dirt cheap.. And the sound is so right on for what it is.. They had Squier strats for the same money, but they just seemed so cheap and flimsy.. I think the Squier tele wins over the Strat..

This guitar is notably lighter than the Telecaster Standard, and the neck, like all Squiers, is unvarnished.. but, the neck feels right good and comfortable. The action was too low for my taste, and the truss rod was too tight, and the intonation was out.. as per usual with buying a new guitar.. so, after the treaking, it played even better..

I think this is a well built guitar, and the sound is very good for the money paid.. I think if I built a tele-style guitar from parts, it would be an awful lot like this guitar. I think it will last a long time.. I doubt I will ever play gigs with it, but I wouldn't have a back-up.. that is if I had the motivation to play guitar more seriously..

why deal with customer support? A guitarist should know how to do most repairs.. and.. being that it is from Guitar Center, it's warrantied anyway..

I think this is the perfect workingman's budget guitar. Nice quality and value for the money. and, if you want to, you can always upgrade the pickguard and the pickups, etc.. and even have a guitar thats better than the MIM Standard guitar, with some cash left over..

Nice looking Butterscotch blonde,maple neck,21 medium/jumbo frets

Trebly twang from the bridge pickup and creamy tones from the neck...all as expected. No noise from the pups...using with a Line 6 Spider 15 and computer monitors via guitarport. Bought this guitar having already decided to change the pups...but may well wait a while as they dont seem that bad.

Factory setup is good. Intonation is spot on and action is perfect.
Very slight roughness on some of the fret ends...but not enough to draw blood!Paint job is fine.

Too soon to say. First impressions are favourable in this dept.

12 months warranty.Got extra set of strings and lead thrown in from Dawsons in Liverpool.

Been playing for about 30 years..but still in the intermediate category. Also have a Yamaha pacifica 112 and Epiphone Wildkat.I really like the look/action and sound of this Tele and for the price I think its really great value.

2000 model in butterscotch. Alder body (unlike early 90s affinitiy teles which were made from plywood!!!)and an absolutely GORGEOUS maple neck. chrome harware which looks cheapo with a six saddle modern bridge as opposed to the classic tele bridge which has a small bridge plate with a lip round the edge (vastly better tone) and 3 barrel saddles. This one has a 'top loading' string system (just budget stuff to save money, presumably)

standard generic singlecoil telecaster pickups which are totally decent as well as most of the electronics. 3 way selector with volume and tone controls. Machineheads are more generic ching-chong-alikes but are also totally decent for the money. No case or anything, but what do you expect for the money?!?

Sounds like a decent tele. Bridge pickup twangs, neck pickup creams. volume/tone controls are unresponsive but they do the job. I replaced the neck pickup with a seymour duncan hot tele rhythm to increase jazz/blues tone. and I hacked up a mexican strat pickup to fit in the bridge position.

One thing, there is a LOT of earth buzz from this guitar which i can only assume is from the cheapo electronics and wires etc. This is very annoying in live situations and recording.

I actually used this guitar for a recording session and it performed infinitely better than my mate's gibson les paul with P90s. A nice woody bright sound with a twangy short sustain.

Increcdible action on this, shame that i like a high one! as i cranked it up with 11s i thought 'shame, a shredder could have a field day with this'. The finish is nice, with the woodgrain visible. It marks easily but looks cool when it does.
The neck is inch perfect. A lot nicer than my lite ash strat.

This guitar is not built to be thrown around like most teles, hence the light body. But i throw it around anyway and have had no problems particularly when throwing it onto the stage in a feedback frenzy. I could depend on it except for the wiring which is a bit terrible. strap buttons are great, as is the hardware.

never had to deal with them

A great little guitar which you can trash and smash and bash and modify with no conscience or guilt or worry. rock solid construction and a wonderfull neck. Bad wiring quality, but hey that can be easily sorted if you can be bothered.

2006 model SPC Transparent Butterscotch/ black pickguard 550 Squier Affinity Tele (China). 21 frets Alder body, maple neck and maple fretboard with .043 X .080" frets (6230). 3 way selector, 1 volume, 1 tone. Neck pup covered single coil, bridge uncovered single coil. Stop tailpiece (not string-through) with 6 individual adjusters. Die cast tuners. Everything a Tele should be and nothing more.

Excellent. Bright, lots of quack when you want it, nice middle position (best Tele sound for me) and warm and clear neck pup.
Princeton, G-Dec, Champ 15, Dano Dirty 30 and Honeytone. No noise from pups in my guitar room. Pot and tone are nicely linear. Lots of tonal possiblities. The strings are "Fender 250's" .009" and up. I'll put 10's on soon. These strings are decent and really put-out the quack and twang, but I like a slightly larger gauge.
With good amps and effects available, and the quality increase of inexpensive pups, the need for high-end pups is decreasing IMHO.

This guitar was manufactured very well. All woodworking is tight and clean. Finish is flawless.
The tuners are very smooth and hold their tune with aggressive playing. Pups blend well and only needed to lower the bass side of the bridge pup about .050".
The neck was nearly straight and required a slight truss rod tweek with these strings. Action was too high for me, but there is plenty of adjustment room, so no problem. I dressed one fret (7th) that was slightly high, say .005", to address a buzz. Fret edges are very good and require no dressing.
The bridge is very stable. Some would like a 'string-through' but I see no compelling reason for me.
For the price of this guitar I should give it a 10, but for the one fret that needed 2 minutes of work, I'll give it an 8.
This guitar is very handsome, just like me!

It's built as well as any guitar, so should be fine. I was in a regional rock band forty years ago with lesser built equipment than this. We still carried backups.

Bought this at The Guitar Center. I nearly pulled the trigger for an e-Bay Squier Tele, but called GC and they matched the price. It reduced the price a little from the going street rate.

GC has been good for me over the years and Fender (through GC) has been expedient and fair.

Playing about 46 years (many years before I was born).
Eastwood amber Sidejack (my best guitar overall), Fender standard Strat, two Squire Strats, Yamaha Pacifica, Dano Innuendo, Fender Bronco bass, Ibanez bass, Harmony 'strat' (old), Dean short scale 'strat'... Can you say 'bend'? I've had lots of cheap and expensive things over the years.
I always wanted a Tele, this is all I need to align the universe until the next obsession hits me.