Fender Squier Telecaster

Made in 1991 in Korea

Unknown wood body (could be ply for all I know)

Maple neck (that I will come to later)

Usual pick up configuration for a Telecaster.

Top loader bridge (rather than string through body)

In butterscotch blonde (or bright yellow if you like)

Won't go on about it's many features because, as a Telecaster, it naturally has very few. Got it in 1993 and owned it until about two months ago.

An incredible guitar.....eventually.

Sounds like a telecaster should...I think that's all you can ask really.

read on to the end and I'll explain.

The hardware on this guitar was crap. the bridge corroded within 2 years and the saddles fell to bits. The pickups sounded tinny on the bridge and dull on the neck. The electrics generally were of poor quality. The volume and tone were of little use and the jack kept cutting out.

Now you're thinking 'Why did he keep this bag of crap for 16 years and bother to stick a review on Harmony Central'. Well here's the thing...

The neck on this guitar was incredible. I mean it was a true joy to have in your hand. At first (being inexperienced) I didn't realise just how nice it was. My history with this guitar was unusual in that I lost possession of it for years at a time (its complicated so don't ask) but everytime I got it back it just felt right again.

So here's what I did.

I replaced all the internal electrics (including the jack) with a set up from a Mexican Standard.

Drilled through the body and fitted a kluson bridge and six ferulles at the back

I replaced the nut (twice)

New pickups from Gotoh (T1 and T2)

new scratch plate (for the hell of it)

Now plays like a dream. The body resonates beautifully giving a fantastic sound. The neck (and tuners) are still excellent, far better than I would hope to expect on a budget guitar like this. Everything works as it should now.

Will now last for years.

errmmm?

If you buy a cheap guitar and you love the wood in it, everything else can be replaced. This is now a very good guitar which will last through gigs and do what it's supposed to do.

The stock hardware on squier models are not good but if you find one that fits your hand the customise it and you'll have a good guitar.

I no longer own this guitar. I've given it to a friend who I'm in a band with. I own too many guitars now and i don't have room. I suppose by giving it to him at least I'll still get to hear it every week.

I love my Indonesian Squier Standards, but this... this is an instrument that is very different. It's in it's own category. This is a "Crafted" in India Telecaster. It's actually like a SITAR with an "H". The serial number should have been a clue... SH 07034575.

The sound is fine, typical tele. rich neck and biting bridge.... Until you turn it up, then it squeals like a pig. Cheap... Embarassing... Do not play it in public - it will humiliate you. If you own one, don't admit it.

The frets on this thing are bad enough to be humerous. Lowering the strings down from bluegrass to electric guitar range (closer than 1/2" away from the frets) allows it to be used in only certain keys as fingering many of the frets plays the note that is one, two, or three notes higher. The bow in the neck is unfixable. The strings are much closer at the 21st fret than at the 12th. The tension rod absolutely will not bring the neck up. I twisted the provided Squier allen wrench until it looked like a candy cane. I got a normal allen wrench and stripped the end of the tension rod with the next turn. The pickup switch top makes absolutely no pretense of trying to stay on - it's great if you like to repeatedly pick things up off the floor. Back to the frets - Sooo Talll! - 11s require extreme delicate fingering to avoid bending a note many cents off pitch. The 1/4" jack is mounted in what looks like a piece of pickguard. But I have to admit that the "Crafted in India" label is clearly legible and very, very nice.

The black with tiny gold sparkles finish can be counted on to capture and hold on to minor scratches, and chip rather than dent. I've only owned it for a month, but I'm sure it will endure as the most reliably utterly hopeless guitar in my collection. Seriously, in order to be reliable and durable, it would first have to become playable. The people who made this guitar deserve some kind of punishment.

Oh please. I can just imagine that call - "I need you to teach me how to file and crown frets and then please talk me through replacing the tension rod.... hello?... hello?"

Really, there's nothing to discuss.

I've been playing since I was 5 YO and am now too old to be a pop star. I own a perfect Taylor 410, a '76 Ibanez Les Paul, a fantastic Squier Trans Fat Strat, a brilliant Squier Jagmaster (plays like butter - sounds great with red/red and blue/gold lace - unfortunately the name sounds like something that should be done in private), many others played, owned, and traded/sold through the years. Before I bought this guitar I wish I would have asked if I could just pay the money and let them keep it. If it was stolen I would laugh about it every time I thought about it for years to come. Now that I know the guitar, I really wish it had come equipped with a self-destruct button. I have always liked Squiers, but realized that this is the first time I didn't get a "Standard" model. Here's the rub. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE IF IT SAYS "INDIA" ANYWHERE ON A SQUIER. Or buy it and destroy it to save a guitar tech a nervous breakdown. Or, buy it and give it to someone you hate. You can't have this one, though. I got my hand drill and put a long screw through the face and into a stud in the wall in the hallway so when I pass it I can always wipe on another booger.

98 korean squier tele in cream.

modded with Wilkinson machine heads and tele pickup set.

this poor, long-suffering guitar. used to create beautiful sounds in the hands of more accomplished musicians - part of some twisted ordeal/therapy in mine.

only recently has it started to look and feel a little happier. matched with big strings, thick picks, a Kustom 2x12 transistor combo, Harmonic Percolator clone, Barge Concepts BB-1 for boost, and occasionally a Boss DF-2, I have almost found my sound. use the neck pickup to produce some fairly nice rounded, ringing tones with just the BB-1 engaged. with the Percolator it starts to sound nasty - really aggressive distortion. i like this guitar. it has been patient with me and churns out some very usable noise. to get better than this is going to require substantial investment on my part - a vicious amp and aluminium neck guitar beckon. yes i am an Albini fan.

i can't remember how it was when i got it. okish? whatever i was just delighted to have a proper guitar to wang around. action has always been highish coz of buzz lower down and intonation has always been a slight issue. did change the machine heads coz they were a bit crap and upgraded the pickups to give a bit more clarity - i don't want muddy fuzz, i want definition in my distortion.

everything's fine and always will be.

never had to.

this is my first choice. saw Big Black's Santiago Durango playing a tele a long time ago and had to have one. bought a Hagstrom F200 recently and modded it so that it is also a lovely little beast, but turned back to the tele and modded that as well and now poor Hag sits there neglected. do pick it up once or twice a week to reassure it that it's still my friend, but it knows.....

it will never fall into another's hands - simple as. but if it blew up i would bury the bits and save for something really lovely (Jazzmaster, EGC Custom) while making do with the Hag.

best things about the guitar are it's sound and simplicity. it makes a very good effort at achieving the clanky, chinging, harmonic-laden, Andy Gillesque, rythm sound i dream of. but then i'm a perfectionist and i may have an impossible vision.

top marks for effort though. and for being a friend.

This Squier Tele was made in 1985 in Japan and I bought it new that year. Blonde ash body with a whiteguard and slim maple neck. Original hardware and electronics were the usual Squier junk but it has been modded significantly. It came with a Fender hardshell case of the era. I'm mostly taking points off here because it was originally a toploader and Teles should always have strings through the body as this girl now does. It has the typical, bulletproof Fender poly finish.

The mods I've had done include replacing the tuners with Fender/Schaller locking machines, the bridge with a Gotoh string-through 6-saddle, the pickups with Duncans ('54 Vintage in the neck, Jerry Donahue [one sweet unit] in the bridge), adding a bone nut and replacing all the Squier junk with quality American pots and switch. I now give it a 10 for features but ironically, the modding probably DECREASED the value. Who'da thunk, back in '85, the lowly Squier Tele might someday become a semi-collector's item? But that's what happened and a collector would pay more for it stock. I bought it as a player, however, and that's what I've used it for over the past 23 years (and hopefully, 23 more).

This was my first non-Gibson electric and I bought it specifically to get the Fender Tele sound. It's always delivered that sound; adequately before the mods and superlatively after them. I've played everything from old-time fiddle music to Neil Young-style grunge on this puppy and it's done the job well on all of it. I generally prefer it for '80s-style and later prog and alt rock. You really need a humbucker to play blues and blues rock and the Duncans are too ballsy to give you a convincing country tone. It is noisy but that goes with the territory for Teles with single-coils.

The finish is, and always has been, beautiful with the grain of the ash showing nicely through the milky-blonde paint. The setup from the box was decent, as I remember, but fret sprout made its appearance at an early date (but was totally eliminated by my friend's Dremel and hasn't been an issue since. The finish, as stated earlier, is bulletproof. While I haven't exactly played this axe into the ground, it hasn't sat in its case for the past quarter-century either and, except for a few very inconspicuous dings, it looks practically new.

It may be a Squier but it's still a Tele and built like a Sherman tank. Rest assured that you cound bash somebody upside of the head a la Keef and then go on to jam out on "Sympathy for the Devil." The original hardware rather sucked but it's all been replaced so no problem there. I almost wish the finish would start showing some wear and tear. I think factory "relicking" is seriously bogus but I've had this guitar for 23 years now and I almost wish it would start looking its age. I probably should replace the strap buttons with Schaller straplocks but they've done the job okay up to now. This guitar is as dependable as the Rock of Gibraltar and I would have no problem gigging without a backup with it if I had to (but it's always a good idea to have a backup regardless of how solid an axe you're using). If I did break a string, the Fender/Schaller locking heads would make replacement a piece of cake.

I don't deal with the company. If something needs to be repaired, I bring it to Rich Beck in Tempe who I know will do the job correctly.

I've been playing for 30 years and this is one of my core axes. Besides this, I own 2 other Teles ('52 Vintage Hot Rod and '72 Thinline reissue), 2 SGs, a Strat, an Epiphone AlleyKat and a Jon Kammerer custom Strat. I'm currently playing through either a VOX AC30CC2 or a Fender Blues Junior and an effects chain that's too long for me to list here. What I love and hate about it the most amounts to the same thing: as with every Tele, it makes me work like a bastard for my licks. Teles are not for folks who want guitars that "play themselves" but that's GOOD. A Tele will ALWAYS make you a better player, even while you're cursing it for being so cantankerous the whole time. If this guitar were stolen or lost, I'd be utterly heartbroken as it's pretty much irreplaceable. So I probably wouldn't try but would just mourn it and carry on with my other 2 Teles. But I would never forget this one.

Bought secondhand and was in immaculate condition for ??80 which I thought was a bargain at the time as I was looking to invest in a more expensive Squier Custom Tele. Guessing that year is 2006/2007. Made in Indonesia. Tobacco sunburst finish. Main body not too sure but is probabily Agathis. 22 Fret neck with rosewood fretboard. Standard tele style pick ups. It initially felt o.k but needed strings as some were missing. I could see that it need adjustments to it when I bought it.

I am an amateur player who used to play in a pub rock band in the early 80s, doing police covers, hard rock + "bluesy" music, so the sound kinda suits my style. I've been listening to a lot of other types of music recently and for a while started listening to Albert Lee and some country stuff. I wanted to get that "tele sound" without having to shell out too much as I'm on a tight budget.
I got the impression that this guitar has had a few owners before I got it but it looked like it had not been played much.
While the sound on this guitar is definitely a "Tele" sound, (bright bridge pickup with a "bluesy" neck pickup) the pickups are the weakest I have ever heard! I have to turn up my amp a good couple of notches to get the same volume output as my other guitars!
The short scale of the neck feels o.k. to me (I'm used to longer scale necks) and allows some nice bending and pull-offs (if it manages to stay in tune long enough). The back of the neck is rounded
which also suits my style.

The action when I got it was terrible! Took it to a local music shop and got them to set it up for me. It now has what I would consider average action and intonation but still has fret buzz around the third and fifth frets. It also had the "loose jackplug syndrome" which plagues all of these models which I got sorted out. I did some work to it myself, changing the stock machine heads for the Fender Telecaster standard types and fitted a set of telecaster pickup tension springs as the only height adjustment for the neck pickup was via a long woodscrew placed directly into the body, with no other means of support for the pickup! I must have spent nearly as much money on the work as I did for the guitar and decided not to spend any more on it as I felt I wouldn't get my investment back if I traded it in at a later stage.
The finish on the guitar is nice and is really about the only thing they got right when making it. How it would stand up to constant banging at a gig is another matter.

This guitar would "fall at the first fence" in a gig and the build quality suggests that it was never made for the road, only as a beginners guitar. I wouldn't even think of letting it out the door.
(It looks nice though...........)

No point......................

I've been noodling around since I was fourteen. I will listen to most kinds of music (except Irish Country & Western! My god what dross! I think they use it to extract confessions from prisoners!)and playing guitar keeps me calm, well balanced and happy!
I have a Fender MIM maple neck Strat (which I love!), an early 80s Tokai rosewood Strat,(IMO a classic and was my main guitar for a long time!) and a 1979 Gibson "The Paul" guitar (easily the nicest guitar I have ever played and I've played a few! - see the harmony-central user reviews)
It's a great pity that Fender has chosen to make guitars this way as it seems to me to be a proper waste of wood, chopping down the Indonesian forests for a guitar as weak as this. I know that I was buying a budget guitar but I thought I was getting a real bargain at the time, spend some money on it that it would be a good "player". (you know the story by now.....) My greatest concern is that it would either put off someone from learning the instrument or even worse dent fender's sales as they are endorsing this product by putting their name on it. If I was a beginner I would never buy a Fender again after buying this.
I would not reccommend this guitar to anyone starting off as there a are much better budget instruments out there (e.g. IMO the "OLP MM1" is about as good as you can get for a beginners guitar and afforadble).

This is a brand new 2006 Indonesian Squire Telecaster Standard. It does what it says on the tin.

It's made from Agathis which is a real wood... Weight is average. I'd prefer it a bit heavier but this is neither a horrific 70s strat or dodgy basswood (or is it balsawood?)shreddy thing. Rosewood on maple neck. The 22-fret neck is a decent size and shape and is a comfortable if uninspiring shape, the satin finish in nice to play but looks a bit anaemic.

HOWEVER, Squire get top marks for finally addressing the Telecaster's (only?) significant design flaw. I (and I cannot be the only one) have found real problems gigging teles at high volume as the bridge plate is only attached at one end and therefore squeals like a piggy. I resorted to drilling holes in bridge plates and screwing things down which always looked a bit messy. Squire have done this for me: the bridge is properly attached to the body, in front of the pickup as well as behind. I have yet to test it at high volume (as I don't currently have a gig) but I have every confidence it will be much better. For this reason it gets 10 in this category, despite obviously not having "tons of features".

Playing into a decent tube combo with a couple of stomp boxes in the way.

In the bridge position this sounds like a decent tele should and therefore sounds much better than the price would suggest: a good mix off fat and twang with the tone knob doing its job of removing any ice pick factor as you require. Just about nasty enough for your Roy Buchanann and Albert Collins licks, but can also do everything else from Keef to Stve Cropper to Chrissy Hynde. Presumably you can play country music on this guitar too...

The neck pick is a dull and nondescript, but this can be a problem for much more expensive teles too.

Comments on neck pickup notwithstanding, if you like teles you'll like this: despite being cheap as chips, it doesn't sound it.

The "Antique Sunburst" (i.e. reddy) finish is fine. Out of the box action was a tad high and the intonation wasn't brilliant (but this is a sub-?200 guitar so you'd expect that).

I popped of the scratch plate and the neck pickup is fitted pretty badly, but it is routed for a humbucker which is useful to know for future upgrading. Tuners seem fine, but electronics are cheap. For some reason they put a cheesy tortoise shell scratch plate on: white would have looked better.

The electronics are cheap (but it does look like they have used screening paint in the control cavity) so I expect the pots, switches (and neck pickup) will need replacing if this is to be gigged solidly. Tuners look good to me but only time will tell.

I would gig it without a backup simply because I'm too slow at changing broken strings and have other guitars!

???

I bought this as a cheap, but playable, guitar to take abroad with me (I work in in not very nice places) that I wouldn't cry over if it was lost, stolen, driven over, rotten, had to be left behind, etc. I'm sure it will do this job valiantly.

However, with ?100 or so of investment this could be turned into a serious guitar that could mix it with guitars twice the price and more. For this reason this would make an excellent second/back-up guitar. Similarly it would make a great first guitar as it is cheap but totally playable and also ugradeable into something really quite good.

This is the best value new guitar I've every owned or played.

This is the usual Telecaster features. Some poorer quality features - e.g. no screws in the machine heads. Everyone knows what a Tele is like - nothing flashy but it has what you need. The edging around the cable in socket is plastic and shattered when I dropped it once. Replaced it with a metal one.

This guitar has a quite mellow sound, not much difference between the bridge and neck pick ups. Sounds decent, pick ups are quite quiet and low output.

I bought this guitar second hand. I tried every guitar in the shop and this one felt the best. I would guess that it's been set up professionally first. This is, without question, the most playable guitar I have ever owned.

There is some crackling when I change pick ups or adjust the tone knobs.

I used this guitar at over 40 gigs over 5 years and never had a problem.

NA

This guitar was bought second hand, which is hard for reviewing because I do not know how it was from the factory.

Generally Squire guitars can be decent, but the quality control is not as good as Fender. The action, neck and playabilty of this guitar is perfect. Other bits could be better. Adequate but not great. A Squire guitar can be a great guitar if you are prepared to adjust it yourself, change the pick ups and upgrade the accessories. If you don't mind having "Squire" on the headstock it can be a good way to save money. I wouldn't get rid of this guitar for anything, even though it is no longer my main guitar. I have a Fender Telecaster now, but it doesn't have the smooth playability of this one.

Okay here we go...

Mexican Squire. It's candy apple red with a white scratch plate. The neck is probably maple, and the bridge is standard, but each string has it's own bridge piece. Sometimes Fender guitars have three bridge pieces and two strings go through one bridgepiece with two holes in it. This makes it harder to adjust the action. The single bridge pieces allow me to adjust the action to my liking. This makes the guitar more valuable to me.

The pickups are the standard, single coil pickups that it came with. I tried a Squire with a humbucker and it did not sound as clean, but it was originally made in Indonesia, and I have no idea who put the humbucker in. It was being sold for about $300 used, but my Mexican Squire still sounded better. It's in the electronics, but that's a whole other discussion. The humbucker was what made that guitar sell for $300. Without the hummer, I'd say the guitar was worth about $150, $200 tops.

I give my Tele a 9 because 10 says "tons of features." It's not a digital keyboard...it's a guitar. I take good care of it and it looks and sounds nice.

I play flat or round-wound 11 gauge strings.

It came with a hard-case.

Be careful if you are looking for a Telecaster that is made outside of the United States. I would only buy one that was made either in Mexico or in Japan. Again, it's the electronics thing.

A lot of this has to do with more than just the guitar itself. I play through a Fender Blues tube amp. Very simple. I have two analogue pedals - a Russian made Big Muff distortion/fuzz pedal, and a Japanese made Ibanez Phase Tone. The flat-wound 11g. guitar strings allow for a smooth, jazzy sound, and I can use a brass or a glass slide (as long as the strings are clean. Otherwise the glass slide sticks instead of slides). The neck pickup provides more bass, which works well with the Big Muff for melodic, heavy, blues metal as well as fast blues and metal, and the bridge pickup (as well as the center setting that uses both pickups) sounds good with the Phase Tone. Of course, it all sounds right together or apart (i.e. effects off), and I've been playing guitar for 11 years.

I bought my guitar new from a reputable local dealer. What can I say? They're good people with good guitars.

I've adjusted the pickups myself (another nice feature) to sound the way I like.

Everything about the guitar was good. The strings do not buzz and the action is very subtle and easy for a steady eye to adjust. It has a maple neck instead of, say, a rosewood neck, but it also was not a $1200 guitar.

Live playing? Yes. Pete Townshend? No.

The electronics have lasted for about 6 years now, and I don't see any serious foreseeable issues. Do regular maintence, an occational tune-up...it's all good. But their Mexican electronics, not Indonesian or Korean.

Well, I have it repaired where I bought it, so that's simply a store thing. I've never had to contact Fender for anything.

I think I've covered most of this. If it were stolen or lost, I'd upgrade, but as long as I have it, it'll be my only electric guitar.

Im 14... a guitar ifisianardo i like to think... anyways i dislike this guitar a far bit. I own a Gibson Nighthawk and a Martinez acustic. I got the Gibson for my 14th for 1460 and i put in 500 (all the money is Australian). But anyway were not here to talk about the amazing Gibson, were here for the Tele copy. I bought this for 200 Australian because i needed a guitar to leave at school.
I am much more of a Gibson person then a Fender person. For example i played a Japanese Jazzmaster the other day and although it sounded good it played awfully.
On a guitar i like a thin neck and this one is big and fat (yuck). This dimensions are pretty much the same as a normal Tele. I regret buying this guitar i should of bought a Epiphone or a Synocromatic. I dunno... its not great.

Well, to give this guitar alittle credit it sounds ok. Not great, but good for a 200 guitar.

Feels awful. Looks ok could pass off as a normal Tele! The bits inbetween the frets are to big. Not much to say.

Yer, well theres not much u can fix with a Tele. Its ok and well heck it does the job well but its feels awful and i dunno.

Its crap dont buy save up for a real guitar!!!!!!!

Indonesian Squier Standard Tele - purchased secondhand in 2006 so year of manufacture unknown - the serial number is IC0008xxxx, so must be quite an early one. its Blonde with a rosewood neck. Had no need for another guitar but this hung in my local music shop for months and looked quite cool..haggled it down to #100

I play all styles of music and have a 15 year old 62 re-issue telecaster (made in japan)..so I compared it to that, there is a difference but not a huge amount, the bridge pickup on the squier is a little harsher, thinner and lower output..but its close. the neck pickup lacks the body of the 62 model but again close. I may change the pickups as others have done..but its just a fun guitar to leave around the house.

Well set up secondhand guitars are great!!,all the hard work has been done before.. this one has been well set up and plays great..intonation is good tuning stability ok (I removed the D/G string tree). The neck and fretting and good and I could have gigged it after walking out of the shop. the neck finish and headstock show where corners have been cut (the headstock is not quite the right shape)..and the electrics are a bit cheap (but they work!!)

Should go on for years..nothing is hard to fix on telecasters!!

none needed

Been playing for 25 years and own 16 guitars, this is just brilliant for the money, even new they are great value..dont buy and Affinity tele, pay a few $ more and get a standard. If you can afford a US one great!..but to have round the house and gig occasionally this is a great tele.