Fender Squier Fat Telecaster

2000 Squier Fat telecaster, "crafted in Indonesia". 22 medium frets, maple neck w/ rosewood unbound fret board. "Solid body", who knows what type(s)of wood the body really is, says alder or agathis in catalog I think (haven't removed any covers to see if its solid, pieces or laminate). Usual tele controls - 1 vol. and 1 tone knob (small knurled chrome), w/ a three way switch (looks really thin and cheap, I.E., may break off at some point).

This model has a chrome covered dual humbucker in the neck position and a single coil in the bridge position, both passive. Nifty cast looking tele style bridge w/ individual ajusters (height and "depth")for each string (stings are standard tele through body/bridge). Finish is "sherwood green", a medium green metal flake. Tuners are non locking, cheap sealed units...maybe a step above the affinity numbers. Few accessorys... I've been looking for one for a while at a store, didn't want to order off net w/o handling first. Saw this one a few weeks ago at local Mars Music store. It had just arrived and was pristine. Came back yestarday and some one had dropped it and/or dropped something on it and scratched the back, put a deep bulls eye in the top edge slightly smaller than a dime and bent the first string tuner. Store gave me 1/3 off, only $20 more than an affinity and it only consmetic damage.

Suits me fine. Simple easy to use tele style w/ addtion of humbucker...to help me pretend I'm Neil Young etc... Running through a 35 yr. old Gibson scout style tube amp, lots of noise at time, is probably from amp (sound great through solid state at store). Only had a day and played about three hrs., but sounds range from tele twang to crunchy block of wood w/ a humbucker on it and everthing in between w/ only stock amp. reverb and tremelo (thinking of a fuzz box and some other effect gadgets though). Like the range of styles/sounds, but the tone knob is a bit on/off - limited range, kind of goes from twangy to dirty w/o a lot of in between shades. Sound was a bit thin but I am raising the pick ups slowly and it has improved.

Action is really good for a $200 guitar. I'm old enough to remember when either you dished out serious money for a professional quality instrument or took a chnace w/ some asian board that often as not was unplayable past the 9th or 12th fret and/or it buzzed like hell, and even alot of those were not inexpensive.

Pickups were pretty much flush and I've been raising them slowy. Fit and finish are pretty good (bridge as noted is tele surface mount style), the fret wire's cut edges are a little sharp in spots, but that's an easy fix. Controls seem tight, but the input jack was loose and seems like it may also need a tweek to keep the plug from backing out. The nut seems to be plastic and its pretty thin, but time will tell.

As noted above guitar had been dropped or something at store, metal flake finish seems very deep....the heavy bulls eye dent pushed down into the paint about 3/32nds of an inch, but didn't flake it off (can see depth of paint) and even the bent tunner works OK. Tunners don't hold as well as I like (I've been doing lots of bends) and bent one may give me an excuse to upgrade in future.

Based upon the 3 hrs. or so I've played this tele it's readily playable and got more than enough toughness to be used night in and night out as a main live axe (hell, some boob dropped it in the store pretty hard and didn't effect the electronics or damage the neck at all). Finish seems built to last, the strap buttons appear to be mounted solid, but are a bit small and my old Fender leather strap has popped off a couple of time already (like the look of those straps w/ the built in chich down locks...another toy...er, acessory to buy). I'm pretty sure I can depend on it and would gig w/o a backup if necessary.

It's got a life time warranty as long as I own the guitar, registered online at Fender.com. Pretty painless, but site didn't work exactly as designed. Haven't used yet...but thinking about seeing if I can weedle some new tuners out of Fender to replace either the bent one or the whole set.

I have been play off and on for about 25 years (played drums semi pro for a while, played bass in past as needed, picked up guitar first as teenager, then later by proximity to musicians). Own an Fender D-75 acoustic from the mid '80's.

If the Fat Tele was stolen I would be pissed because I got a really, really good deal on this tele, due to cosmetic damage, and would either have to fork out 1/3 more to replace it (IF I could find one), by an affinity or think about a mexican or american Fender (or some other brand/style).

I love that for less than 1/2 the price of the mexican '72 custom tele reissue, and for about 1/5 the price of a USA made humbucker mounted tele I got almost the same guitar. Love that it has such a wide varity of sound options.

Not much to hate for the price I paid...wondering about the semi-cheesy input jack and tunners though. I looked at the Fender/Squier line (and several used), Gibson/Epihone (Les Pauls and SG's) and a real sharp tranlucent green Guild Blues 90 at Willies American Guitars, but after lots of research decided this Squier Fat Telecaster had by far and away the most bang for the buck.

I wish the clutz had not dropped it (I had finally had worn the wife down into agreeing to let me buy it and was ready to pay full price), but it is only cosmetic dnamage and I'm sure I'll ding it up as time goes buy. If you can find one of these and have the dough, but don't want to pay $500-$1000 for the mexi or USA made models -BUY IT!!! I think it will probably only go up in value, as I undertsand it, Fender made something like this before, but quit making it a couple of years ago(maybe when they figured out it was cutting into their upper end model sales?) and potentially a great hot rod platform if you'e into that.