Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster

Webster's defines "affinity" as: "a natural liking". This Chinese- made Tele features 21 frets,maple neck,rosewood fretboard,single-ply pickguard,and a solid body(possibly Alder). Controls: 3-way switch, one volume and one tone using chrome-dome type knobs. Pickups: single-coils at the neck and a slanted one at the bridge. The controls are passive. My guitar's body is finished in solid red paint and the neck has a "light" satin clear-coat. The frets are medium-sized and the radius is relatively flat. Tuners are the enclosed type. Guitar came with allen wrenches for truss-rod and bridge adjustments. The neck is "U" shaped. The bridge saddles are similar to a strat's and the strings DO NOT pass through the body like other telecasters. However, pilot holes were drilled into the body(under the bridge)thus lending itself to a future upgrade. The controls mount to a chrome plate. There is a single string-tree on the "E" and "B". Purchased new in January 1999.

Has the Fender Tele "twang" and brightness. Played through a Peavey Supreme head and 4x12 cabinet with some gain caused lots of howling and feedback. This was fixed with an upgrade to Duncan hot-stack bridge and vintage neck pickups. Sounds good clean and dirty. Great for blues, country, rock(my favorite). Not recommended for heavy- metal. Nice with finger picking styles. The tone control has a very narrow "range-of-effect" and could stand to be upgraded for those players who really do use it.

Factory set up was done well. Fret, body, and neck finish was impressive on such an economical instrument. However, examine a few different guitars since I noticed some are fair while others seem quite good (this is called variability, my friends)! I purchased this guitar knowing it needed some upgrades. For the price, the instrument had a good foundation on which to build upon. As noted above, I replaced its pickups due to feedback problems. I also changed the tuners to grover minis due to tuning instability and control. Another string tree was added onto the "D" and "G" to increase string angle on the nut. A better quality switch was installed. These upgrades have made this guitar a good instrument and at a fair price. After the upgrades I give it an eight.

I've used it live and the guitar holds up well. This is a serious chunck of wood at 45 mm thick! Although still relatively new, the finish should hold-up well. But who cares at this price! The strap buttons are solid and designed well. I would use it live without a backup guitar. I believe the neck to be made from a lower grade of maple. Not "hard maple", but perhaps the cheaper "white maple". I've had to make a few truss-rod adjustments to correct for excessive relief. But, do not fret(pun intended), the truss-rod seems to work well.

I've never had to deal with Fender directly, so I consider this to be favorable. But, I honestly feel that if there ever became a problem, Fender (or their dealer) would make the situation right. After all folks, Fender Musical Instruments is no fly-by-night operation! I can not remember if there was a written warranty on this instrument.

I've been playing guitar for the better(or worse) of 20 years. I currently own ten guitars. I honestly wish that guitars of this quality and price were availablie when I first started playing! I would recommend this axe to anyone looking to start playing or others looking for some Fender "twang" that's "easy" on the wallet. I've seen this guitar offered in mail order catalogs for $129.00 now. That's a deal! Now with all my upgrades it may have made more sense to purchase a higher-end model, it was fun to improve this guitar as finances permitted.

very plain , 4 solid colors , basic tele pickups and controls , rosewood fingerboard, maple neck. slightly thinner body, not sure what kind of wood. Strings dont go through body like old teles ,but though rear of bridge. A bit difficult to get strings up though saddles.

Sounds nice , neck pickup sounds creamy like it should , bridge pickup sounds stinging like it should. not sure if pickups are alnico or ceramic but i cant tell.

guitar was set up very nicely w/ very light strings. I put on 010s soon after. Great paint job, beautiful neck and fingerboard. No flaws at all . Im very impressed w/ this guitar for 129.00 . It feels like a much more expensive ax. not a chunky feeling neck/fingerboard , smallish more vintage type frets. but you can still bend strings ect. comfy 9.5 board radius. Made very well in china. no sloppy workmanship.

its a tele!

impossible , but why would you need it?

not great for metal ect. but if you want a cheap tele get one

1999 Model Affinity Series Tele, made in China. Standard tele set-up, nothing too surprising. You know what you're getting with one of these. Nice white finish, no blemishes, rosewood fretboard, white pick guard.

Been playing for a little over a year, and have a Epiphone Les Paul, but decided I wanted a lighter sound -- this one fit that perfectly. That classic tele sound is there, no complaints. Very bright sounding. Playing it through a Peavey amp, and sounds good, with or without distortion.

This guitar was ready to go right out of the box. The action was perfect, though the strings were a little light. Once I replaced them with heavier strings, I wouldn't change anything. No flaws that I can see (and I looked pretty carefully).

This guitar could withstand a nuclear blast. It's heavy, solid, and, if I dropped it, I think it would break whatever it landed on before it got damaged. I would definitely use it without a back-up.

Haven't talked with the folks at Fender.

I've been playing for a little more than a year, so this is a great guitar for me -- not too expensive, and, to my ears at least, equal to or superior in sound to the Mexican Tele's. I also have an Epiphone Les Paul Standard, and a Yamaha Aucoustic/Electric. I've only had the tele for a couple months, but I'm starting to use it more and more, and find myself leaving the Epiphone behind.

made in china spent alot of time picking this guitar to back a strat, jackson the other teles a guitar centar the tone nobs were lose , so i would take youre time a dont just pick any model play it turn all the knobs the tuners and find the best one they arnt all the same if you want a good one take you time or drive back and forth three times with differnt guitars

great sound

look at all the models i picked this model because it feels like the fender model and sounds the same.

solid as a rock

look before you buy the strat of the same make had bad tuners

compared to epiphone explorer , fender strat,jackson js-1,epiphone les paul, they all faltered all of these guitars had volume or tone knobs that turned past were they were spousted to stop all three of the other teles had the same problem this one dont thanks to me i am very pickey

1998, Crafted in China, Features: one-piece maple neck, 25.5" scale, 9.5" rad fretboard, solid alder body, single-ply pckgrd, 21 frets, two SC pu's, volume, tone, chrome hrdwr. Finished in a very thick natural finish which looks better from a distance. Gets to look more like a sick colour close up but it was better than sky blue. Lovely neck, Rosewood board, tuners that are actually staying in tune really well (very suprising) Got a lovley moulded Fender case to go with it too.

Ok first the bad part. It hums like crazy. And then when you touch the strings it clicks and stops. So ive gotta keep at least my pick on the strings. This is my first Fender and ive heard about them humming but i reckon its just these shitty pickups. Ok now onto the sound. Compared to my Les Paul, my LP is much darker and fatter. I can get much more of a bite from my tele which was exactly what i was looking for. Excellent for all my clean on the neck pu especially. Bit too bright on all the other positions in the clean sounds. I was also very impressed with the tone knob. It really makes a difference rolling off some tone and muffling the sound. Much more versitile than im used to. Whacking in the overdrive you are greeted with an excellent lead tone on the bridge pickup. I can nail early Jimmy Page with it. If there wasnt that hum the pickups would get at least an 9 but i make it 7 cos of that. When i change the pu's im sure it will sound amazing so thats what i intend to do.

Action is great, quickly changed the factory strings and im happy with everything. No probs at all apart from the hum

Im sure this would be fine for live playing but the pickups need to be changed. Finish is very thick, bit too thick if you ask me. Wouldnt mind getting straplocks but im lazy :))))

i think ive got 1 year warranty nothing special, gibson do lifetime

i been playing a few years now and ive gone through tons of gear. My main squeeze is my LP but this comes clsoe in second. Definatley better for rhythm and also lead but my LP edges it cos of its fat tone. I love the look of the tele. I love Radiohead and Jonny Greenwood is one of my fave guitarists and he uses teles so ive always wanted one. Same because of Page. Im not too keen on the thick finish and the hum from the pickups but when i modify it it will be one sweet axe. Great value for money too.

Typical Fender Squier. Came in a trianglar cardboard box. Black body, white pickgaurd, very nice. Two single coil pickups, neck and bridge, neck pickup is an ashtray type (doesn't have six metal dots) 21 frets. One volume, one tone control; the way I like it, more that one tone control confuses me. The bridge is a proper one like you'd find on a strat on real tele, it is not like the type which you find on a Standard Squire Tele, which to me looks a bit dodgy. Came with two alen keys, one for the truss rod, one for bridge adjustments. Nice neck, could be a touch thinner.. A touch, tiny tiny little bit.

You can get as good a range of sounds on this tele as you would with a squier strat, even though it has one less pickup. The neck pickup is a bit disapointing (ok, more than a bit), the sound isn't quite as good as what you expect. The bridge pickup is OK for a heavy distortion sound (I use a Nobles ODR1) but you may have to fiddle with the tone controls as it sounds a thin. With both pickups selected it make more noise, good for feedback noises and pickscrapes. It can make the classic tele type twang. This guitar sounds best with a good quality amp. I had a cheap practice amp for a while and when I used it for gigs I noticed the difference is sound is substantial.

Out of the box the action was good, thanks to incredibly light strings. The length the strings were set to were not great. Harmonics were in the wrong places and around and above the tenth fret the notes were sharp. All strings were adjusted too short. The finish was disapointing. On the back there are lines in the paint work, as if the paint wasn't as thick in some areas. Incidiently, I've chipped the paint a couple of times (violent playing style) and there are a good few coats on it. There is a string tree for the High B and E strings but i wish they'd put one on the the G string. Also the low E machine head is way too close to the nut. The nut which is perfect apart from the fact it is wearing out at an alarming rate. Worryingly the 16th fret is not hammered into the next properly. On the B string it causes fret buzz because it juts out higher than the rest, to fix this problem requires destroying the low action I've set it to. The truss rod works, but it isn't that effective. It will take about a week of wrestling with it to find a setting that suits. I don't like the pickup switch, since it is a squier, it breaks the circuit with the last position before making contact with the next one, making annoying noise when changing settings

Unless you smash this guitar about it will not fallter. I have my doubts about the machine heads. They are the enclosed types and two of them (A, B) are very stiff (worrying)... One big solid lump of wood. Dead relieable. You won't need a back up. The neck pick up isn't as well attached as the bridge pickup. If you take the pickgaurd off you can rattle the neck pickup about a fair bit and the wiring is a bit exposed.

N/A didn't talk to them, don't want to. Strange people...

Despite it's faults, I love this guitar. It has servered me well over the time I've owned it (one year). For the money, I don't think you'll get a better guitar. It beats crap out of Elipiphone LesPauls I have played. But then again I hate Humbuckers. If it got stolen I'd buy another, but this time I think I'd get a bit more money together and but a TelePlus. Must get that bank robbing gear out of the garage.