Fender Squier Fat Telecaster

Mine is a 2004 one, made in Indonesia. Agathis body... you may know the features. Bought this one used, and there have been quite a bunch of modifications made, by one of the previous owners, but the guy I've bought it from knew nothing about guitars generally, so I'm not really sure, which pars are orig, a which are not.
The tuners on mine are GREAT... not sure if they are originals, think they are not.
The neck humbucker has to be set down, to around the level of the pickguard! Try that if you have problems with it. Anyway it was pretty unbalanced (the B sring was a lot louder, than the others), but quickly fixed that with the adjustable polepieces.
My rating is based on my version, wich still has the cheap, crappy pots, but apart from that it's just piece of cake.

I'm a JAZZ and FUNK type musician, maybe some blues... not really into distorsion. Using it through a Rat pedal (dist down, filter up), to fatten up the sound, and a Line 6 FM-4 filter modeler.
The neck pickup is very warm (didn't even had to turn down the tone knob), I don't think it would be to good, for harder staff, but clean it sounds awesome. It was pretty uneven, as I said before, but fixed it quickly. Great for a Tele Jazz sound!
The middle position is funkyfunky. Ads some quank to the sound of the humbucker. It only needs some autowah from the FM4.
The bridge pickup is a high output singelcoil. Really ads versatility to the guitar: rat dist up, ad there ya go: Cocaine. Would be a bit too fat, for a country sound.
Love it, but i still know, the sound it is already a looot more, than I expected for this price?

Pure setup... it's a Squier. (Can't understand though how could anybody play the guitar like this.)
A piece of sandpaper and fixed the fret issues. I wouldn't want to pay a dime more for that. Very easy to do, and fun too. Pretty good option from Squier if you like ;).
So I did the whole thing, now it plays great.
I'll rate it 6... poor quality on this one, but one hour, and a little knowledge of guitars in general, and you can make it a 10.

It's a Telecaster... it would survive a tank attack. But might need to replace all replaceable parts with time they are poor quality.

I expected a guitar that will be only suitable to start from somewhere... but it quickly became a purchase of a lifetime. Somebody wrote earlier, that teles should be cheap instruments, and Fender made them to luxurious. Totally agree.
This one feels to me, as a vintage tele should. Great stuff.
Been playing for around 10 years, have lot more expensive gear, but this on is an absolute winner. Rarely play anything else. I tried to be critic in this review, but if you have the choice I really recommend you buying this guitar.

Detailed listing of the features available in other reviews. Mine is the "vintage blonde'. Squire vintage blonde is an odd colour, but it's nice looking.

Taking the price into account, you can't really knock the stock features. You can't expect too much from electronics or hardware in a guitar this price.

There aren't many options for a budget Tele with this pickup configuration, rosewood neck, and large frets. So it's a pretty good deal.

For a guitar in this price range the pickups are decent. The real issue is the cheap switch, jack, pots and wiring. I'd imagine even upgrading those parts would improve the sound quite a bit. But again, in this price range you just aren't going to get high end parts stock. The cost of those parts is pretty small, and if you did those upgrades you'd have a lot better sounding guitar.

I had never owned a Tele with a humbucker in the neck. Even with the mediocre pickups, that middle position on the switch sounds like heaven. I can't believe it took me this long to try a Tele with this setup.

I bought mine used, but the guy had never had a professional setup on it. And it's totally fine. There are no rough fret ends, and the action is quite good.

I see no quality issues with the construction of the guitar. The finish is very nice and the neck looks great.

The hardware is, once again, decent for the price. The tuners are ok as is the bridge.

It's a Telecaster. Tele are made to take a beating.

But as mentioned, I'd have no confidence in the stock switch, jack, and pots. But that's common with any guitar in this price range so I can't deduct too many points for that.

I bought it used.

I have been playing for 13 years. I mainly play Rockabilly and Rock n' Roll. I run my guitars into a Princeton Reverb, a Tweed Super, and Traynor YBA-2A and a Reverend Goblin.

This is basically a great budget Tele. Especially if you buy one used. I own an American Series Ash Tele, which is a better playing and better looking instrument, but I also paid 4 times what I paid for the Squire. The quality of the Squire is quite good though, and if I spent another $150 or so on upgrades I'd have a guitar I would consider almost on par with my American Series for about $300 total. Even just doing some electronics upgrades would be an improvement.

Again, you can't be too picky about a guitar that I believe was $200 USD new. And I paid $150 CDN for mine used.

1982/2002 anniversary Fender Squier Fat Tele in 3 color sunburst.Rosewood fretboard with 22 frets.Made in Indonesia.Looks like solid alder.Die cast tuners.Humbucker equipped.

This guitar is actually pretty versatile.I play mainly classic hard rock and blues and this guitar can cover alot of ground from screaming Roy Bucannan style pick harmonics to faux humbucker-like tones with the bridge pickup used and the tone control rolled back half a turn.I mostly have been running this through my cyber-twin using a crunch preset based on blackface preamps.It sounds pretty killer.The neck sounds pretty good as well.

When I first checked out this guitar it seemed to have some set-up problems that I figured I could correct myself, mainly some fretting out at the 10th fret when bending the high E and B strings(a pretty important area; key of a and b at least).A slight adjustment of the neck and bridge helped but after a few months they came back.I figured the guitar is still being broken in so I did more adjusting.After needing to raise the action significantly I brought the Tele back to the store and even though I'd had it almost a year it was still under warranty.The tech who works there got approval for a partial fret mill and it turned out great.All the hardware and construction seems fine.I am especially impressed by the fit of the neck and pick-guard.Looks pefect.The sunburst finish is nice as well.I lowered the neck pickup to balance the output with the bridge pickup and it sounds good.

This gutar seems pretty solid but with my experience of playing out(about 10 gigs and too many rehearsals to remember over the years) I would totally bring a backup.The finish seems good but does have a low spot on the top by the upper strap button.it can only be seen when the light is reflected.Not bad considering the price.The output jack is susceptible to trouble but after taking the unit apart and flattening out the retaining plate before reassembly I know now to hold the jack in place with two fingers when unplugging it.

See above.The tech said getting approval for the repair wasn't easy.I think the term "hardballing" was used.

I addition to the cyber I own a variety of other amps(blues jr,peavey sp112 etc.)I have been playing off and on for over 30 years(almost non-stop for the last 15 or so)I also own 7 other electrics(epi lp std,ibz 58v and 335 copies,arbor and peavey strat copies,squier jagmaster,cort v) and none of those axes ever had as much trouble as this Tele.All this happened in the last month or so.But when all is said and done I am pretty happy with this guitar.I am more of a HB type of guy but still dig what a Tele type of axe can offer.

The good: Antique burst finish is beautiful - rivals $1000 guitars, neck is very playable; price is hard to beat. The bad: Low quality hardware (switch feels cheap, bridge chrome is starting to pit, output jack seems cheap)

I left mine stock for 12 months. I found the stock pickups very usable, but eventually wanted to try to improve on them. I installed GFS pickups into both locations and did get a nice improvement in sound. I put the split coil (aka Seth Lover knock-off) in the neck, and the oversized poll tele PUP in the bridge). After these modestly priced PUPs, I rate the sound a 8. They also improove the looks of the guitar.

As stated above the finish in immaculate. The frets and neck are fine; but the guitar did need a setup when it arrived. Very playable - no dead spots.

Tele's are basically blocks of wood anyway... so I don't think it will fall apart anytime soon. The low-grade hardware items (bridge, switch, output jack) will need to be replaced soon (after 2 years of playing)

No issues

I give it an 8 mainly because for the price, it's a damn nice instrument. I have been playing 25 years. I gig 2-3 times per month. This is now my main 'drag it to the gig' guitar. I get lots of nice tones from it.. and I don't need to worry about it getting scratched or stolen (The Les Paul and American Tele stay at home most nights).

Antique Burst, Humbucker in the neck, single coil bridge. 3 way switch, Rosewood neck. 2006 Indonesia.

Sounds great! I was prepared to change the pickups when the guitar arrived (especially the neck humbucker) after reading other reviews. When I plugged it up, the humbucker sounded harsh, one dimensional, and muddy (just like other reviewers had said). I lowered it to the level of the pickguard, and wow!!!!!! Sounded like a completely different animal. Very smooth and warm. It is now very matched with the single coil. I would not dream of removing either pick up. They both sound great. You can get a ton of sounds out of this guitar. The single coil bridge is very bright and twangy. The combined pickups is kind of strat like, nice for rhythm. The neck humbucker is made for blues or jazz. I seem to gravitate here because it sounds so good with a little overdrive.

For $199.00 I should not complain. It was acceptable out of the box. I'm pretty picky. The fret ends were a little jagged to me. Not terrible, but not great. I filed them down a little and now the neck is really nice. I put on 10's so I had to adjust the intonation. Not a big deal. The neck on mine is a little fatter than most of the squires I've played at local shops like GC. This is a good thing.

The finish looks awesome. It has the antique burst, with a dark rosewood fretboard.

Seems like it is built like a tank. Hardware is nicer than I thought it would be. Switches feel pretty heavy duty.

I had a 30 day period which I could return the guitar for any reason. I really expected that I would probably return it. Once I opened the box I knew this guitar would be with me for a long long time.

Been playing (or trying to) about 10 years. I have a bunch of gear. I have custom Strat 1997 anniversary, Gibson 335 and SG, number of old Ibanez's, Yamaha SA2000, some fender amps - Blues jr, Vibroverb,a Peavey Delta Blues, and a VOX AD30Vt (which i love!)

I absolutely love this Squire because it inspires me to play. It sounds as good as any of my other guitars. It feels great and it plays really nice. No buzzes, rattles or hums.

Standard Indonesian Squier, burst w/rosewood board. Humbucker @ neck w/traditional single coil @ bridge. Nothing fancy. Just what I was looking for.

I'd wanted to buy this tele configuration for years, due to the many tonalities available with the H/S pickup configuration. These pickups are conmensurate with the price-point of this guitar. They will work fine for the casual player or beginner. If one is looking for great sounding guitar with the stock pickups, I'm not sure you can accomplish it regardless of amp. I do not have a modeling amp and am not sure how one would affect available tones. However, I bought this guitar for the shell, knowing that lots of mods would be done resulting in exactly the guitar I wanted at a fraction of the cost.

Absolutely terrible fretwork from the factory. However, the neck is good, as it is the geomety of the Fender neck I was looking for. After spending $100 a the luthier, the frets and neck is just as good at a US made neck. Before luthier=5, after luthier=10.

Even though it is a cheap Indonesian model, it's a tank.

Really do not expect any problems. In 42 years of playing and a zillion guitars, I've never once had to deal with Fender on a product issue.

I view this guitar as a shell to craft a good guitar from. If you are looking for US or custom shop quality out of the box, this is not it. If you are looking for this configuration of guitar that you can inexpensively craft into a good to very good guitar, this may be for you.

It's made in Indonesia. What year I'm sure of, but somewhere between 2002 and 2005.
Neck: Bolt on maple C-shape 22 Medium Jumbofrets with rosewood fretboard
Body: Solid top in agathis.
Controls: 1 volume and 1 tone plus a standar 3-way toggleswitch
Pickups: 1 Humbucker in neck and Alnico Singlecoil in bridge. The pickups are of an unknow make, though I wrote to Fender and they told me it's a standar Fender pickup.
Bridge: Through body fixed Fender bridge
Tuners: Standar Die-cast tuners
Accessories: two allanwrenches
Finish: Candy Apple Red

For my style it just the thing I was looking for in terms of configuration, though the pickups are not qiute to my liking. The neck pickup alone is too muddy and boomy in the low end. It got too much middel and it grows a bit together in the extreme ends. Also, the bridge pickup alone is too whimpy compared to the humbucker in the neck. On the puls side though, it's brigt enough, just lacks the output. When the pickup is used together, the give a good rich and bright sound I like, as this is the position I main use when I play.

I run this guitar through my pedalboard in front of my amp.
Pedalboard:
-Morley PWV-1 Wah/Volume
-Ibanez PH-7 ToneLok Phaser
-BOSS OD 20 Drive Zone
2 presets with Blues Driver
2 presets with Tube Screamer
-Old BOSS DS-1 Distortion
-BOSS MT-2 Metal Zone
-Marshall VT-1 Vibratrem
(Reverb on the amp)

Amp: VOX AD30 VT
Ch. 1: Boutique OD (Dumble Special Overdrive run clean)
Ch. 2: US HiGain (Soldano SLO 100 run as main drive)
The guitar gives a good rock sound in general, but as a metal guitar it's no match for a humbuckerloaded Gibson Les Paul or SG, yet it beats the strat in the sound. The humbucker helps, but without the bridge humbucker, it falls behind.

I mainly like the guitar, but I don't like the pickups and the tuners.
But if you change the factory pickup and tuners, I would give this a 9.

As I commented in the subject above, I don't like the factory pickups and the tuners. These two will be changed as quik as I get the money. Also the 3-way toggleswitch, but there is nothing wrong with the toggleswitch from the factory.

This guitar will take the beating of giging, but I would changed the strapbuttons to StranLoks of a good make. I wouldn't rely souly on this guitar for a gig. Would always use a backup.

The support is OK. I only emailed them once to se if they could give me the exac make of the pickups.

If the guitar were stolen, I would buy it again.

I bought this guitar with the intent to customize it futher. Change the factory pickups with some Seymour Duncans (SH-1 in the neck and ST-59-1 in the bridge), Gotoh tuners, Jim Dunlop StrapLoks, 1000K dual volumepot and a 5 way toggleswitch.

What I like about it, is that it's a mix between a Telecaster and a Les Paul.

With the modifications I would give it a 10.

Made in Indonesia 2005. One single-coil bridge pick-up, one humbucker neck pick-up. Traditional tele shape. Body made of solid agathis (not laminate), chestnut brown finish, with a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. 22 medium-jumbo frets.

You can play anything on this guitar; from twangy rock'n'roll on the bridge pick-up with your amp on a clean setting, to heavy metal using the neck pick-up with lots of crunch, and blues and classic rock with other pick-up and amp combinations. The neck pick-up is quite a bit louder than the bridge.

The set-up on this guitar was rubbish; in fact i am not sure it was set up because the intonation was way out, but i do my own anyway. Also the tuning machines are CRAP! The guitar won't stay in tune more than five minutes (i use 10s) and that is no exaggeration. Apart from that this is a nice, well-built guitar and excellent value for money. With decent tuning machines this would probably be as good as a USA tele.

Apart from the tuners this is a rock-solid guitar and you could definitely gig without a back-up( i only play at home).

Haven't had it long.

I have been playing guitar for twenty years and although i prefer acoustic guitar i have owned a number of electrics including strats and yamahas. If this guitar was stolen i would definitely buy another but i would immediately replace the tuners. I love the tele shape and although this is not a USA tele it is a real tele in terms of sound and build qualiy (except the tuners). Why pay #700 for a 'Made in USA' logo when you can get one of these for less than #200. This guitar rocks!

Standard Indonesian job in Sunburst, standard squier tele pick-ups, controls and hardware - simple but does the job very well

I play bass guitar usually and i use the squier on songs that need a bit more fill-in work. I've never had a problem with noise or feedback. Has a wide variety of sounds from thin and twangy to a much smoother but still bright sound thanks to being able to mix the two pickups. And you can use each pick up on its own of course. It really does sound like a "proper" fender tele when put into a Marshall rig or a Mesa Boogie. In fact it sounds brilliant thorugh my SWR bass rig as well if you like a clean guitar sound. You will never a Gibson sound from it but then again its a tele!

When I got it there was fret buzz on the 13th and 17th frets, the neck had not been set properly and the intonation was out. None of it was major - just annoying. It took about 30 minutes to sort it out. Now it plays really well and the finish is great. My score is after doing the fine-tuning! Now I would put it against any tele or tele clone and it would give a good acount of its self.

Before I did the work I would have given it a 5 - I think anything that is badged Fender should have better quality control on the assembled item. I can't fault the individual bits though.

I like fairly high frets which this guitar has - its a personal taste thing! You might not so its something to be aware of.

I think you could drive a tank over it and it would still work! I have owned it for about a year and I've used it on gigs / rehearsals / playing at home and I'm really pleased. Plus it keeps in tune very well once I ditched the original strings.

I can't imagine anybody needing a back-up although, nervous Nellie that I am, I always have a spare:-)

Never had to contact them. I had a one year warranty.

I've been playing for 30 plus years. I have played a large number of bass and six-string guitars and own Gibsons, Fenders and Rickenbackers amongst others.

I really rate this guitar both in terms of cost to build/ sound quality and in comparision to any other tele I have ever touched be it USA, MEX or whatever. If it broke or became lost i would have another without hesitation.

Simply, a very nice guitar to play that gives the classic tele sound. For teh price it is a stunning guitar. If you want a tele get one - you will not be dissapointed.

Candy apple red, maple neck with rosewood fretboard. White pickguard. Humbucker neck, single coil bridge. 3 way switch, 1 tone, 1 volume.

twangy sound just like a tele should. but the neck humbucker lets it get thick. the neck, and the neck/bridge positions sound nice and fat, and the bridge is twangnasty (thats a good thing). i use a Laney LC15 amp with JJ tubes and a Jensen c10Q speaker, and i play mostly blues/rock. i replaced the pots and the switch and all the wiring/electronics except for the pickups. i will be changing those when i can afford it. it sounds good, with pickups of your choice, it will sound great.

bought it used, but it seems to have gotten a pro setup. the nut has been filed a little so the strings lay deeper in it (lower action). i dig it the way it is, but i am not picky.

seems solid enough. especially for the price. great value.

i really dig this guitar. i wish it had a maple fretboard, and maybe a sunburst finish. but that is merely cosmetic. i cant wait to hear how this thing sounds with a Rio Grande muy grande bridge pickup, and a Seymour Duncan 59 neck. it is a great value even if you buy it new, but if you can find one used... that is a sweet deal.

Squier fat telecaster, made in Indonesia,3 tone sunburst, agathis body, maple/rosewood neck, medium jumbo frets, humbucker and single coil, volume and tone and a 3 way pickup selector, standard hardware.
For features i`ll give it a 6, but i don`t need more in this guitar.

I`ve been playing guitar ( mainly bassguitar )for over 20 years now,( soul, funk, jazz, blues etc.
I owned a Am.Std. telecaster 10 years ago, and always loved the sound.
I used a gibson Les Paul for solo and dirty rhytm stuff and the tele for the clean stuff (studio sessions).
I wasn`t really looking for a new guitar, but when i saw it hanging in the local music shop i played and loved it instantly, so bought it.
It has the real vintage tele sound including the dirty Keith Richards sound which gave me a "wellcome home" kind of feeling. Great all together

The guitar was reasonably set, however some slight adjustments by me ( neck, action, intonation, pickups height )and new strings made it perfect for me. This guitar is very well made and doesn`t look cheap in any way, in contrast with the price paid. The finish is applied beautifully, the neck finish is too ( however thin applied ).

How wel a guitar will stand to gigs and so on is allways a question, but i would play it without a backup guitar, it looks trustworthy enough to go with it on the road.
The neck finish is very thin applied, so it will give in time( beautifully )playing marks, but he it`s a tele and will look better with wear.

Never needed them, so no opinion.

Like i said before, i play guitar/bass for over twenty years now and found MY guitar finally. If this guitar is stolen i would buy it again, i love the vintage sound/vibe of it.

2003, Fat Tele Squier Std, made in Indonesia, (you all know the specs) vintage blonde (I swear you can see what appears to be ash-like grain through the paint, but I am told it is solid Agathis, which is just Asian alder.) Firstly, let me say that I have been playing since 1966. My first electric was a 1968 rosewood, blonde tele that I got for $145 new back in '68. I have owned many expensive teles over the years as well as other models, but this Squier Fat Tele has the vibe of the old 60's "cheap" teles! I also now own a 1996 Fender B Bender tele....but I swear this Squier has more guts and grit to it.
I think Fender has upgraded the tele to too high a status and they got away from what a tele should be...proof of this is the 101 flavors of tele Fender offers!!! A tele should just be a freaking tele, dammit...

This Tele has bite. I played it through my computer recording rig and had to alter the sound only a tad...it has the sound of a tele even through a computer recording system. And that says a lot.
I thought I would eventually have to replace the pu's but uh-uh, don't think so.....they sound gritty and nasty and very similar to late 60's CBS Teles. And that is what I was looking for. Amp brand does not matter to me as I play through a wonderful Morley JD-10 pre amp, nuff said.

It looks and feels better than any Mexi tele that I have owned and I have had over a half dozen in the last 12 years. The workmanship is very competent. It all has to do with Computer Controlled Machines.
It really does not matter where they are made as long as they use the CNC's. And yet, the Mexican stuff is debatable. Stuff from the Orient seems more on the money. The frets are neatly done, the finish is very pro looking. The feel of the guitar is not chintzy.

Seems as duarable as anything out there...

Fender forgets ya.....don't expect much.....it is now between you and your guitar...

I have owned mostly teles over the years, even had a 1952 Esquire that I paid only $250 for back in '70, and the guy who sold it to me, told me after the sale...that he got it at a garage sale in South Carolina for $60...but I traded that off for a 1959 Les Paul Special double cut...and traded that off for...a , er...hmmmm who the hell remembers...............oh, well....
oh, the stories I could tell....
but I like this guitar.....

Standard Fat Tele made in Indonesia with chrome covered humbucker in the neck and single coil in the bridge. Standard tele 3-Way selector. Agathis body and rosewood neck (9.5? Radius (241 mm))with 22 medium jumbo frets.
Standard Die-Cast Tuners and 6-Saddle Strings-Thru-Body Bridge. Candy apple red metalic.

Giving it is a telecaster and you should know beforehand what a tele is about it gets a 9.

First thing to know is that I am a not specially skilled home player (which does not mean I cannot play!) and that my assessment is mainly intended for those kind of people looking for a good guitar to have fun with.
I play mainly blues/Stones kind of music and with this guitar I can have the tele twang I like as well as a really fat sound (but you have to tweak your amp to keep the mud out).
I use this guitar with a POD2 trough headphones or my high-end home stereo and the combination of the guitar and POD does deliver what I need to have fun and please note that a crap sound is not my definition of fun!
So again for the sound/price ratio it gets a 9

The guitar got a complete set-up when I bought it. I only raised the action afterwards, but that is a personal preference.
I really like the neck which fits better than the vintage Fender necks. When arriving home you could feel the fretwire coming over the edges of the neck, but this disappeared after some time (temperature issue I think) and it is OK now.
Inspecting the guitar I found some scratches at the back, but for the rest no complaints.

It looks and feels rock solid, but you never know.

I only visit the Fender and Squier websites. Never had to deal with the company directly.

I love this guitar. I saw it in the shop, asked to play it and bought it. Absolutely no regrets. I had a more expensive strat for 10 years before this one, but I sold it as I never played on it anymore.
I now have a great and versatile combination in my guitar and POD (which I traded for a Fender Champ 25 and some other effect boxes). The guitar deliveres me the sounds I like and the POD allows me to play without waking up the children.

Indonesian Fat Tele, 2003. Solid agathis body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard. 22 medium jumbo frets. Standard Tele single coil bridge pup and chrome-covered humbucker. Tele 6-piece adjustable bridge. Non-branded tuners. Candy Apple Red metallic finish.

It suits my style just fine, I like folk, pre-80's rock, and some country. I just play for myself, and use a Frontman 25. The only effect I really like is reverb. The bridge pickup is a little too tinny for me. The humbucker is great!

I decided against mail-ordering this guitar. I went to the guitar shop looking for the best Tele I could find in the price range from $159 to $600. I thought I would wind up with a Mexican standard Tele. Wrong! The first standard Tele I looked at had the E string almost coming off the neck at about the 14th fret. The second one buzzed heavily on two strings. The salesman said "they all do that". I spent 3 hours selecting from among a dozen Tele's.

The neck on this one is one beautiful piece of maple. Frets were finished off very well. The paint finish (it's polyurethane)looks like a million $$$. The setup and action (pretty obvious that it was adjusted in the store) was nearly flawless. The joinery between the rosewood and maple is outstanding. The knob on the PUP selector was broken off (probably by a customer) but I put it back on with epoxy. The PUP selector seems cheap, and I don't trust the input jack, but both are easily replaced, by me, for minimal $$. I didn't want a guitar that neededed neck work right off the bat. If you spend 3-4 hours looking, you can find one, too!

For live playing, I would think you would want more substantial strap buttons...the included ones are hollow. I think you could bend the PUP selector fairly easily. I'm very careful with my stuff, so it's not a problem for me.

No idea, but I would not count on much help unless something split in half.

I've been playing off and on for 34 years. I also own one acoustic guitar. If it were lost, I'd get another one like it. What I love about it is the fact that I feel I got the best Tele in the shop for $259. Despite the draw of the American-made stuff, I think this is the best value for the money. Oh, and electric guitars, like many other things, have gotten much better in the last 20 years due to technology.

this is yet another update of my other review (the one two below, with my other update above it). I have now giged with this guitar numerous times, with two different pickups in it. One was a Seymour duncan hot rails, and now its got an STL-2 seymour duncan hot single coil. I now have a fender prosonic head (similar to a dual rectifier in tone, no im not kidding, check them out i love mine) going into a mesa 2x12 vertical rectifier cabinet. with this new setup i play my squier tele almost exclusively, and no one belives the crushing tone i get. I'm way into NoFx, so i decided to get a single coil and replace the hot rails so i could get their extremely overdriven vintage amp sound (they used marshall 1987's, a soldano 50, and a top hat head on their last album, even though they use high gain amps live). I wasnt sure what i would get, because the stock pickup in my tele was feeding back uncontrolably. But when i got my new hot single coil i found that it feeds back LESS than my hot rails did. do yourself a favor and replace the pickup, because now i love playing my squier, and i can blow away all those guys who spent $1500 on a gibson any day of the week. My amp stack cost me (used, of course) under $900 total, and thats a tube amp into a mesa cab. Why should i pay twice that for one guitar when i can play squiers and cheap fenders for so much less?
Although i have done many mods to this guitar i have yet to replace any of the hardware. the bridge and tuners work wonderfully, and i play scream-punk, so you know i bash it hard.
What i have replaced is all of the electronics. i have to have 500K pots, 250's are to weak for my tastes, and i dont want the treble bleed to ground that 250K's have. By the way, if you want to have a true fender sound your gonna need to add a treble bleed curcuit on the volume pot (look around online schematics and diagrams are easy to find), fenders have them but squiers dont. i personally dont want a treble bleed, so i like it this way. Buy this guitar! show all those les paul-weilding snot nosed daddy-buy-me-a-gibson bitches whos boss.

2001 model in metallic green finish, made in Indonesia. Same specs as listed in reviews below.

For the price I paid (about $70 below retail), I don't have any real complaints. The hardware is not top-notch but it is at least functional so it feels and plays like a real guitar (which it is). I wish they made these with maple fretboards though.

Out of the box it sounded pretty good, but I ended up swapping the bridge pickup with a Bill Lawrence BL-290TLE. There wasn't anything really wrong with the stock bridge pup (it had that characteristic Tele sound) but it did have a good deal of noise when recording in front of a monitor, as expected. The BL cut most (but not all) of the hum out and I think it is well worth the ~$50 extra investment. The Tele bridge is very bright sounding and sounds great in my recordings without much EQ'ing.

I'm not too crazy about the neck humbucker, it is too muddy for my taste. I usually play in the bridge only position and haven't considered swapping out the neck bucker (yet). It does have a good warm sound for clean fingerpicking (like Jeff Buckley's cover of Hallelujah). The neck bucker seems to have a much higher output than the bridge and dominates in the middle pup selector position.

Overall I give the stock pups an 8 for the price. They could be much worse (like some cheap Strats I've heard).

The action was set very low from the factory. Changing the strings to 10's fixed some of the buzzing. Other than that the build of the guitar seems very solid. There is a knot in the wood on the side of the neck (which I got a generous discount for) but other than that it looks great cosmetically. This is a pretty heavy guitar though so it feels *slightly* unbalanced while playing.

The hardware (tuners, probably pots) will need replacing in a few years but the rest of it seems solid.

Never dealt with them

For the price I paid I think this is a great deal. I record with it using a Johnson J-Station and it is the only electric guitar I now own.

2002 Squier Standard Fat Telecaster (by Fender)
Made in Indonesia
Solid Top
volume, tone, and 3 way switching controls
chrome plated humbucker in the neck position, and classic tele single coil bridge pickup
solid body - rosewood fretboard
Glitter Metallic Green

This is my first guitar, but not to say that I haven't played more expensive (and well known) models of guitars, say for instance (because I'm a tex-mex bluesey kind of guy) I have played the Stevie Ray Vaughn Fender Strat, and that goes for about $950.00 as compared to the $382.00 of the fat tele. I have to say, that I am very impressed with the sound that this guitar offers, the SRV strat dosent have the deepness or twang that this guitar has, that may be because of the neck humbucker, which offers great sound compared to any single coil pickup, especially on any strat. peoeple say that telecasters are old, and out of music, they say that les paul's own the music industry, thats soo incorrect, the telecaster may be a classic, but that dosen'e mean that its' not a contender, and just because it's a squier, dosent mean that it cant rock, because with this guitar, it does, I've taken it to 5 gigs now, and know what it's capeable of, it defenitaly beats out our rhythm guitarists gibson les paul studio, which is one of the most expensive electrics you can buy, this guitar just simply has better tone and sound than what you would expect from a fender.

This guitar was built quite sturdily, I have no intentions of modifying it, or adding more pickups, the only thing I might have fixed (and I think this may only be a flaw on my guitar, NOT ALL MODELS) is my tone knob is a little loose, in that when I turn it down all the way (and its off) the switch can still move down, not a major flaw, and nothing to worry about. Very good action, and craftsmanship.

as I said before, I have taken this guitar to 5 gigs, and have had NO onstage problems. and like any other telecaster (made directly by fender, or squier by fender) it is still the most durable model guitar made to this date. I do use it at gigs (as I have allready mentioned) and suprisingly enough, my backup is the Stevie Ray Vaughn strat that I mentioned before (my neighbors axe, very nice to let me use it) and I've never had to go to it. VERY RELIABLE

I have never dealt with the squier/fender companies before when it comes to support. it is under warrenty (hence the fender warrenty form given with the guitar)

very toneful, and good guitar for the money, like I said before way more quality than youd expect from squier/fender

this is a quick update of my review below. upon further investigation it turns out that the neck is really nothing like my tom delonge strat, its a lot thinner, which i like so no biggie. i also forgot to mention some minimal double fretting higher on the fretboard, which might also be a symtom of the low action of my setup. its not a problem , just throws me off when finger tapping. (and who finger taps a telecaster, any way.)

just picked this up at my local shop, and no one is more surprised than me that i got it. the sales guy came over and looked at me, as i mumbled "i cant buy a squier, I cant buy a squier." I mean, i was going to get a gibson, so why did i buy a squier? oh well, on with the review. youve heard all of the features, and mine is no different. i am planning on doing some major mods to this thing, so im going to do two reviews, this one being on the untouched stock tele. Mine is metalic black, which just looks very cool if you ask me. rosewood fingerboard, with a neck that feels to me very similar to my tom delonge strat (also ready to be modded itself), which might be why i liked it so much. actually, i love fender switches. compared to gibson style three ways these are indestructable, and every punk knows that on gibsons (especially LP's) the switch is the first thing to be destroyed mid-jump hitting an open E chord. its a tele, so for a tele its got many features (although ive already disconnected the humbucker so i can use the switch as a kill like my other guitars). so ill give it, oh i guess a seven on features, why not right?

remember, this is on the unmodified guitar. tell the truth, i first didnt like the guitars tone, as this is my first ever foray into single coils, a strange new land of treble ;) but as i tweaked my Marshall AVT150 half stack (one of these nights a fairy will come in and change it out with a JCM 800, i just know it) i got some cool new sounds. as i strummed i got, well, just a different feel. however, when i tried to play leads, i remembered why all my guitars are humbucker equiped. it sounded thin and tinny, of course, but even more than i expected a tele to sound.

it is noisy, as it is a single coil p/u, which is something that kind of comes with the territory, but there was another even more important problem. FEEDBACK, and im talking the uncontrollable ear splitting bleeding-from-every-orface type. rolling back on the treble and prescence controls helped, but took away the attack of the pick up which is the reason that i wanted a tele at all. i cant wait to practice with the band tomorow, so i can hear how it sounds with another guitar going, but ill probably just be overpowered by the other guitar.

oh by the way i play a combination of ska, rock, punk, and hardcore.

i cant wait to mod this thing like crazy. im taking the pick guard off, getting a gold bridge, gold control plate, and gold metal p/u ring, along with a seymore hot tele stack bridge pick up from warmoth (check out warmoth.com, they have every SD pickup out right now), so it'll be all gold on black, like my personal black beuty telecaster. like i said before i didnt want a squier, actually i was looking at a gibson sg fade, or an esp viper 301, so tell me, how did i end up with a squier telecaster?

truth is, even though im only 19 i do home recording and am over the whole punk rock sound, so i figure what better guitar to get to make the departure, right? now all i have to do is get my SD custom soap bar P-90 for my strat, and ill have an arsenal to pick from.

stock, this guitar stings, and OH, HOLD ON, WAIT A MINUTE- i forgot the clean. I LOVE THE CLEAN (preach it brotha, say it again!) I LOVE THE CLEAN. mine eyes hath been opened to the beuty of single coil clean sounds, thank you very much. The punk side of my playing has little experiance with clean sounds, however the ska side of me is a clean guitar lover, and i want more.

ok to sum up, the dirty with the stock set up gets a 5 from me, but the clean gets a 7 or 8, its so sweet and, like clear and warm- very nice.

heres where my guitar shines. i have played (insert obligatory list of manufacturers here). lets just say im not a begginer (the local sales people ask me about the gear they sell). and i like the action, thats all there is to say. its low, lower than my other guitars, but the only buzzing is on the e and a strings, and its the kind of buzz that is consistent all along the neck, which shows that there are no exeptionally high frets, just low action. its not noticable when playing. the intonation is slightly off, but thats expected, and will be remedied when i put on the new hardware, so no need to intonate this setup. the pick up poles are aligned very nicely, and response among the different strings is very balanced. the finish is great, no flaws that i can detect. One difference in the production of this guitar is that the routing was done after the finish was applied. I was surprised to see wood inside the routes when i took off the pic guard. this was kind of annoying, as its my trademark to have an open cavity in the neck position, but i coudnt do that because there was no black paint in the hole (im the only one who would complain, i know. i give the fit and finish a 9, with respect to other guitar in or near this price range.

i cant wait to play this live. unfortunatly im between gigging bands right now, but maybe tahts good because i would have probably just stepped out on stage with it, just because i like the playability. its a fender. it weighs like seven pounds. its got a maple neck. how can i avoid the cliche's? oh, i can go with the old favorite-if there was a nuclear holocaust only roaches and this guitar would be left. i always loved that one.

by the way, is any one else tired of people filling out these reviews like questionaires? boy that gets my gut :(

does any one use strap buttons any more? get locks or do what i do, just screw the strap directly to the guitar (punk rock, baby!).

when i start gigging again i am going to switch guitars for different songs, so a back up is not a problem. isnt it messed up that the people who break strings the most cant afford a good back up? "punk rock, a lesson in irony," an essay by me. this guitar gets a 9 for dependability.

Fender? whatever :(

play one of these before you get it, thats all i can say. these lower grade guitars very so much. what am i saying, all guitars very so much. i love how resonant it is, which probably comes from its weight, so if the one you try is lighter, it might not be as resonant. there are hundreds of things like that, so play it! i also have a deam standard ML with a duncan distortion, and a tom delonge strat, that will soon have a custom P-90 (i love P-90s), all my babies go straight into my marshall stack, and they all have a different sound, which is what i wanted to begin with. i'll give this guitar, based on its stock status, a 7. thanx for reading, and stay positive guys, were all here to help each other remember, so lets all get along. ;) feel free to cantact me with any questions or comments, i welcome gearhead conversation.

This guitar was made in Indonesia. It has a humbucker in the neck position and a traditional Telecaster pickup in the bridge position. There are a volume and tone controls and a 3-position selector with passive electronics. It is red sparkle finish on the body and head with a maple neck.

I LOVE THIS GUITAR! It has a greater variety of sounds than any single guitar I have ever played. The front, both and back pickups are like 3 different guitars. It plays well as clean, jazz, distorted, raunched out, and just about everything in between. Since I bought it, it has become my new favorite over other much more expensive guitars.

I still cannot believe how great this guitar plays as set-up by the factory. I have changed nothing on it. It's only flaw is that the bridge pick-up is mounted quite high (which sounds great). However I often rest my palm for muting in that area and sometimes I will inadvertently push the low E-string against the pick-up pole (which makes an anoying sound). I had this happen several times at a recent recording session. However, I have not adjusted it because I love the way it sounds as is.

I have only had this guitar for less than 6 months and have not used it for any live performance. So far so good and I have changed nothing. However, when I play live next I will plan to only take this guitar.

I have had no need for customer support so far.

I have not stopped raving about this guitar since I bought it. I was not even planning to buy a guitar but was only checking out what was new when I saw this beautiful instrument. It is unusual as a red Tele with a maple neck but red head. I thought it was a nice looking instrument so I tried it out. It played great. Surely it must be $1500-$2000 Canadian (approx. $1000-$1500 U.S.) but it was only $279 Canadian (about $170 U.S.) I couldn't believe it! I thought: "Plays great but probably sounds lousy" so I tried it through a couple of amps. Wow! It sounded great! Surely it must be mismarked so I checked: $279!!! Long & McQuade is the largest music store in Western Canada so I tried every other Tele. None of them played as nice. I then went to Long & McQuade's primary competitor, Tom Lee Music and tried all their Teles. None still compared. I really couldn't afford it but I couldn't afford not to pick this up. I have collected guitars for over 30 years and this guitar is the best deal, most outstanding find I have come across. Many of the Squire guitars I have tried to not play well although they are well very well priced. Even this same model at other Long & McQuade stores is $100 more. But it plays great, sounds great, looks great -- it is classic!

I have owned many guitars in my time and I have never raved about a guitar like this. 6 months later I am still blown away. My theory is that for whatever the reason the Indonesian guitar techs just happen to take special care with this guitar as it is one of the best playing guitars I have ever played. I have compared it to at least 25 other Indonesian-made Teles and it is by far the best. My Schecter Strat and Gibson Les Paul are lonely now since the Tele is getting all the attention.

2001 Fat Tele. Candy Apple Red with Maple neck. This is a tele with a humbucker. Not much to say.

The finish...is fantastic. This is what sold me, you would think I had learned after buying that crappy Westfield Strat.

Not bad out of the box. But it needed sorting for my kind of music : grunge and hard rock. After some work, it sounds fuking fantastic !

The stock pickups are shite, but what do you expect for a couple of hundred quid from Fender. They save the good bits for the #350+ guitars. The humbucker was really muffled and the bridge single-coil was far to twangy, even for a Tele. But the combined setting sorted all that out perfectly, I used it for a couple of months like this before sticking a Seymour Duncan '59 in the neck position. This new pickup keeps a real warm single coil sound when clean, but can still sound grungy when distorted through my Marshall Guv'Nor and my Fender RocPro 1000. I had contemplated putting a SH-6 in there...maybe I should have... I plan to put something in the bridge, probably a hotrails or a JB Junior that can shred nicely. It deserves a 10+ now, but out of the box, it's no more than a 5.

The action was absoloutly abysmal. Unplayable, all six strings were sat along the neck, which was bent backwards and all the saddles were on the deck. This guitar was clearly straight off the factory floor and had never been out of it's box since. Also, the neck was not on straight and was angled up toward the low E , so the strings were not parellel to the line of the neck, this requied the screw holes to be filled and re-drilled. The neck then was straightened with the truss rod and then a serious fret dress to get rid of the buzzes. This enter fix and setup was done by a local guitar tech for #75 and was worth every penny, this guitar now plays better than any Squire or Fender Tele out there, I know, I've played em !
Also, the jack socket fell out after the first week so I got a new one imported from Stew Mac. This one cannot fall out...EVER !
This guitar also snapped strings at an alarming rate, I replaced the bridge saddles with graphtech ones. NICE !

It took alot of work and a bit of money. New pickup, a professional setup, new bridge sadles, straplocks. But I got there eventually. This guitar now kicks ass and is used regularly at gigs (10 so far this year). I gigged with it out of the box, and was shocked at how bad it was, but now I have 100% faith in it, this guitar is the dogs bollocks and plays better, and sounds better than any stock Tele out there (excluding custom shop, which I haven't tried yet). So again, it deserves a 10 now, but out of the box...it's a 5. Sorry Fender.

I've dealt with them many, many times, Arbiter UK are shite. They don't deserve to have a prestigious distribution deal such as Fender. I didn't bother when I needed support, I just went to my local guitar tech and handed over the dosh.

I know this may read as a bad review. I feel these reviews are about how good the guitar is without having to modify it and out of the box...this is a pretty sh1t guitar and you might be disappointed with it. Bear in mind however, this is a budget guitar, and wipes the floor with Honers, Encores and the crappy Westfields (see my review of Westfield Strat Copy) that find themselves under christmas trees every year. (even if mine was unplayable out of the box).

BUT after spending #75 on a setup, #25 on bridge saddles, #80 on a pickup, and #15 on a indestructable jack socket (from StewMac), this guitar is really fantasticly sounding and reliable. It doesn't break strings, it stays in tune, the straps don't fall off (thanks to a Planet Waves strap mroe than anything), it croons, it wails, it sustains so long you can go for a cup of tea, come back, and it's still going.

If it got stolen, I'd replace it with another, definately, it's a tool I can't be without. I *NEED* something this reliable on stage.

I have abused this guitar on stage, thrown it, dropped it and "played" it with a mic stand and it still doesn't have a scratch on it, it's as tough as old boots. I love my Squire Tele.

Four Your Info - I've been playing for 10 years or more, I currently own this Squire, a Fender Jag-Stang, a Westfield Strat, an old '69 Top 20 and a Martin 000 acoustic.

Squier Stander Fat Telecaster: agathis body, maple neck, "sherwood green" finish, string-thru-body-bridge, crappy tuners, crappy hardware, crappy pots, crappy electronics, crappy pickups, all these things you get when you buy a Squier. There's no definite style of music this guitar fits into.

If you're experienced with guitars(which you probably aren't if you're planning on purchasing this guitar) then you could probably imagine what it sounds like. The humbucker is not all that bad. It's very muddy but some people like that. One solution I find is that a compressor can really relieve alot of that muddiness, but that's just me. The bridge, however, brings down the whole sound of the guitar. It's not that bad distorted, but clean, it's horrible. It is horribly twangy and bright. I've played Fender Teles before and I know how they're supposed to be twangy but man, it's pretty damn twangy. Ya, I think about new pickups which might help alot, put i'm not to quick to trying to spend the same amount of money that it cost me to buy the guitar, just to make it sound better. As you'll find in the Reliability section of this review, it's best just to trash it,! I can't even sell it to a pawn shop for more that 10 bucks! But it might just be that I got a bad one.

Action, not that bad. I got it setup twice, but the second time, they cut the nut down so far the strings buzz on the frets all the way up the neck. But that's not the guitar's fault. What gave it the 6 is the finish. It is way to thick. The smallest dings will make dents in it.

This guitar has slowly fallen apart since the day I bought from the local Mars Music. This thing doesn't stay in tune for more than 3 minutes! The jack fell out countless times since I bought it. Ya, the whole thing hanging by the wires. The strapknobs fell of after a performance and the guitar came plummeting to the concrete floor cracking the finish directly below the control panel, which also fell out, once again, this was also hanging buy the wires, striping the screwholes. As of now the screwholes for the strapknobs are stripped and the standard procedure for this instance was taken; sticking toothpicks in the holes and redrilling the screwhole to fit the screws, the jack is being held in with epoxy, after my failed attempt of drilling a hole in it and permenantly screwing it in. Yes, I still do live performances with this guitar and love it like my own son yet hate it with all my heart and can't wait to take it into my high school's parking lot and have people pay me so they can beat the hell out of it. But hey, then again....I might have just gotten a bad one.

I don't really care about that.

All you middle-schoolers out there that don't have jobs but can't wait until that bright morning on Christmas day when you come prancing down the stairs in your in your fuzzy baby blue pajamas so you can open up you new Squier Standard Telecaster with that awesome "sherwood green" finish, make shure you fall down the stairs head first so you don't have to put up with the misery of owning this sorry excuse for a guitar. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Oh ya, feel free to express any feelings you have towards this guitar if you own or have previously owned one or if you just have a question or something by use of electronic mail. WOOHOOOOOHFHOIHA:ONFR

This is an Indonesian guitar that is fat (weighs a ton), but sounds like it was sold by the pound; I bought it on E-bay for $300. It came with a buzzy low-E, but a little allen wrenching took care of that. This is an oddball, though, since it has a black headstock matching the body, and, Lord above, a maple neck, which looks great and I like for performance.

I am new to humbuckers, but these seem a little muddy, and my get replaced with some S.D.s. I swapped out the switch with a 4-position, so I get series and parallel combinations. They give it up when you get on them, so that's good. I may go from 10's to 11's just to hear what's what. I have a couple of other Asian teles, and the heavy, dense woods don't mean they're crappy, just different. Overall, I like this tele, second only to my Japanese JD, which is magic.

This is pretty bulletproof, as are most teles. Love them and they love you. Treat them rough, and they look rough, but go on. I like to swap out the switches and pots, but when you buy a $250 import, that's what is prudent. ;

I have a guy. He's been into guitars since I was crapping my pants, so I go to him and he does what I want, and then some. That's customer support.

I've got all Asian teles, and a weird-ass Guild acoustic/electric, a bunch of pedals and effects, but I use them sparingly. I swap out the selector switch to 4-ways on the teles; on this one, it gives me series and parallel positions. I hate white pickguards on black guitars, so that went, and with the black tooled-leather and nickel-hardware strap, this is a stage guitar that speaks volumes. I liked this guitar from the day I got it, even though I had Squier predjudices. It just delivered, and I can go with that. If you get rough with it, it comes right back at you with a nasty bite. This is a rare bird, and it would be hard to find another, so I would consider it a real loss if it were gone. If it is stolen, check out death.com. I have friends everywhere and weapons.

This is your basic tele configuration, except it has a chrome covered humbucker in the neck position. Staggered pole piece single coil in the bridge position. From what I was told by a Fender dealer this is an upgraded model from earlier Squiers i.e. the bridge and saddles and tuners. And when I recieved my first Fat Tele I could see what he was talking about. Schaller type tuners the torqued steady and evenly. The bridge was a six saddle rust proof w/black allen screws for height adjustment. It was crafted in Indonesia (as it says in the headstock) Very nice so far!

It sounds unreal. Period. A little background first, I have been carving up Teles for many years putting humbuckers in the neck position. Regrettably some vintage ones I probably should have left alone. But back in the days there were no "jap teles" or Squiers around. You wanted a Tele w/ a humbucker out came the router.
I own many teles in this configuration and aside from a 63 Frankentele that is a freak these Squier teles sound as good if not better than any of them.

The finish on both I own (vintage blonde and 3 tone burst) are fantastic. Both guitars needed some fret work (about 1/2 hour from my tech). Not unusual for me as I am pretty discriminating. I'm a tele guy so I know what I like.The pick ups were adjusted fine and they balanced fantastically (a must for this configuration.

So far so good. I bring average of 3 Teles on a gig so I would have no problem using these guitars on gigs. Plus listen to this THEY STAY IN TUNE!

Can't say for sure about Squier as these are my first ones. But Fender support has pretty much been bad for 30 years or so

I love these guitars absolutely. Buy one NOW before Fender realizes that these guitars blow away the Mexico Fenders and are as good as any MIJ teles I own or have played.
One thing I can add too is that both my guitars sound very similar, but the vintage blonde one is pretty heavy. Not unlike the 60's era teles these are supposed to be based on. Honestly I like little idiosyncratic difference in my guitars especially Teles. It reminds me of the 50's and 60's teles I cut my teeth on. The agathis wood they used on the burst tele ain't ash as far as looks but it comes alive when in proximity to any amp I've used.
I can't believe this guitar $249 bucks for a tele with a humbucker and a rosewood board.

A 2000 Squier 'Fat' Strat' crafted in Indonesia. Solid body classic tele style with humbucker at the neck and a single coil bridge pickup. Mine is red (I think it's called candy apple red). 3 way pick up switch, one tone and one volume knob. The neck is very thin at the nut and took a bit of time to get used to butafter a year it feels just fine.

I mainly play soul/r'n'b/blues in my 10 piece band. This is the dogs swingers for my sound and style. Fat tones and still enough harsh edge to funk it up. I find it more versatile than my recently aquired Epiphone Les Paul, but then again I think it takes a while to settle in to a new guitar and get the best out of it. I have a Marshall 80 watt which I still haven't really got to grips with but with the Tele it sounds perfect. A very versatile guitar that looks great.

Factory set up seemed OK and i got a free 6 month service from the dealer. After a bout 4/5 months the screws on the scratchplate started to rust but I think that is because I didn't wip it down propely after gigs. The top of the toggle selector came off after about 10 months but I super-glued that back on and the jack plug socket came loose. Action is great, finish is great. Once seviced and set up to my style it hs become my favourite guitar. The

This guitar has been gigged since the day I bought it. It is reliable and robust. The finish looks as good as the day it left the dealer (I do spend a fair amount of time looking after the thing, cleaning polishing, intonation etc.) and tha hardware seems to be solidly fitted. I have just changed the strap buttons for lockin Schaller ones (personal preference). I would'nt gig it without a backup simply because I am, by nature, a string breaker. But I would gigi with two Fat Tele's!

Thankfully I have not needed to speak to Squier.

I have been playing on and off for aout 20 years. In the past I have had several guitars, some have been sold and a couple are still with me. I wish I had bought the Tele a long time ago. If it were nicked, I would be devastated, this is my favourite guitar. I chose it because i thought it looked good and a lot of soul, blues, funk comes from the Tele. If you are thinking about one, go for it. I am not a guitar snob, I am not really that fussed if i have Fender, Gibson, Epishone or Squier on the headstock. I need a realiable and versatile gigging guitar and the Squier Fat Tele is just that>

Fender Squire 'Fat' Telecaster.
List $379 Paid $310 new.
Made in Indonesia. 'Blonde' color.
2 pickups. 3-way switch.
Humbucker at neck gives extremely 'fat' sound.
Single-coil at bridge gives traditional Telecaster twang.
Middle selection gives smooth blend of both.
Neck is a light wood, perhaps maple.
Fairly slender and easy to grip. Very nice feel.
Tuning pegs look like standard Fender hardware.
Sound-wise, this is a great guitar.
The humbucker is extremely quiet, but 'fat' and sounds great
with distortion.

The humbucker at the neck position gives an extremely
fat, full sound. If you are looking for a Stevie Ray Vaughan
kind of sound, get a single coil at the neck position.
This is less bright, and thicker. But it is extremely
quiet and full.

The finish is excellent.
The neck (a light wood) is extremely smooth and fast to play.
The body is a banana-blonde color with a white pickguard.
Very pleasing to the eye with no apparent blemishes.
The 'blonde' color is traditional for a Telecaster.

I haven't used this guitar for live performances
and don't intend to. However, it looks very rugged and solid.
I doubt that durability is an issue here.
It is as heavy as a log.

N/A
Never needed customer service.

I've been playing for over 30 years, classic rock and blues.
I've owned a Fender srat and Gibson SG in the past.
Sound-wise, the Squire guitar is as good as the other ones.
My only complaint about the guitar is the weight of its body.
It is extremely heavy. I have also played a Fender 'fat' telecaster
and I would estimate the Squire is 2-3 lbs heavier.
I use this guitar strictly for recording, using a variety of
direct boxes. The weight of the guitar would make it difficult
for me to play standing up (I have low back pain).

If lost or stolen, I would get another Fat Telecaster.
But I would compare the weights of various models.
The weight of this guitar may not be representative
of all Squire Telecasters.

It's a 2000 Squire Fat Tele, Crafted in Indonesia, 3 Color Sunburst finish. 22 Med Jumbo frets, Solid hardwood (Agathis or Alder) with nice grain showing thru the sunburst. See Frank H.'s exc. description below. The nut on mine is similar to the others, high E seems a little to close to edge of neck (maybe 1/32 inch).

PS - If I could, I'd get the Vintage Blond finish, but it's no longer available. The 3 color sunburst, while done well, is too Yellow for me.

My style is everything but metal, with Blues, Country, and some Jazz as main styles. This guitar suits all these. I use a Blues Cube amp, and the PAF style Humbucker sounds very Jazzy, the Bridge PU is a nice Tele style - Alnico, needed some adjustment to match the HB output. Covers a wide variety of styles due to the HB, Single Coil, and combo switch settings.

Out of the box, it needed everything cleaned up / adjusted. The truss rod was loose, tuners were all lose, bridge set up very high, pickups needed height adjustment. One of the neck screw holes was oversized, but I fixed it myself with dowel/glue. Strings were "bent" - how? I don't know...Replaced them with Fender 150's - the best Tele strings.

Good finish, cavities are painted with cond. paint and clean, hardware looked good, tight neck pocket, has 500K pots for Vol., Tone. Needed Lemon oil on the fretboard. After all that - I'd now give it an 8.

It's a solid body Telecaster (says "Telecaster" in somewhat gaudy label on headstock)!! Is there a more durable guitar out there???

Hardware is above what I expected. Any problems down the road can be fixed with new hardware. I am impressed with it for the price paid.

I bought it partially because my Granddaughter likes to "Play" it while I'm playing. She uses whatever is near as a "pick!" So I need a DURABLE guitar.

I didn't ask about the neck screw, and MF has not yet answered me.

I been playing 30+ years. Have a Squire Protone Strat that is a beautiful, great playing and sounding Strat. Also have a Martin HD-28, play thru a BluesCube amp, BOSS DD3 and SC1 Super Chorus, Dano 7-band EQ and Temolo pedals, and a RAT. All "Toys" and fun to play with.

If lost, I'd look at a Fender Squire again. It's a great value, after it was set up and adjusted properly. At this price, I think it beats the Epi's, and other brands easily. I would gig with it along with the ProTone Strat. They cover all the tone ranges I'd ever need.

If you are a newbie, I recommend that you buy it where you can get it set up, or get the "How To" book, then have fun!

This is a Fender Squier Standard Fat Telecaster made in 2000 in Indonesia. Its most distinctive feature is the humbucker neck pickup combined with a traditional Tele single coil bridge pickup. Otherwise, visualize a 90?s Telecaster. 22 fret rosewood fingerboard on a maple bolt on neck (Fender offers no maple fingerboard option on this model). Body is "solid hardwood" according to Fender, medium weight and traditional Tele shape. Standard Telecaster control arrangement: 3 way pickup switch, one master volume, one master tone. Bridge is the same design as current US and Mexican Teles, a six-saddle cast rectangular footings setup on a stamped metal pan. The neck profile is medium shallow with a C section and the fretboard has a noticeable radius. The specs say "60?s style neck", and its possible that it has a 7.25 inch radius instead of Fender's current 9.5 inch radius. Vintage style (smallish) frets. Tuners are no-name sealed units, nut is plastic, and two folded steel string trees.

In short, this is Tele from the top of Fender?s low end line with a mix of a vintage neck with a modern body/pickups/bridge. The overall quality of the features ranges from acceptable to surprisingly good. This is not a fancy switch-laden shredbeast with double locking ball bearing pickup covers, but it is a very versatile Tele.

I play whatever comes into my head to play, and listen to and enjoy a wide variety of music varying from folky stuff, to blues, to some saturated rock?n?roll. A lot of what I do lately is guitar instrumentals and so I?m paying a lot of attention to interesting and varied guitar tones. I play it though a POD, a 1960?s Fender Princeton "blackface", a Music Man combo amp, and some other amps that I don?t use as often.

I was shocked by how good this thing sounds. The neck pickup sound is a nice humbucker with good note definition combined with warmth. The humbucker seems to be vintage (meaning lower) output level. The bridge pickup is outstanding for a stock pickup on a bargain line guitar. Note that I?m looking for vintage tone here, but this particular guitar on the bridge pickup has a grainy, slicing, slightly hotter than vintage sound when plugged into a cranked or overdriven tube amp: very nice. This pickup seems to not have the very top frequencies so it doesn?t have get glassy or shrill, but as with any good Tele lead pickup it has good bite and presence. In summary, I think it?s ideally voiced. As with most single coils it can pick up interference/electrical equipment noise.

I raised the bridge pickup slightly and lowered the neck humbucker to balance the sound between the two. The Tele "both pickups sound" has always been one of my favorites and the screaming "cut" of the bridge combined with the "fat/warm" neck humbucker makes for a rich sound when recording a song with lots of guitar in the front of the mix. Besides using them in combinations, the difference between them means you can go from mellow jazz/bluesy sound to an overdriven "woman tone" on the neck as if you were playing a Gibson style guitar and then flip back to the bridge and get all the Tele slicing scream to clean chicken pickin?--all with one guitar hanging on your neck.

The tone control has more range or a quicker taper than many others I've played. In general I don't use it with the neck pickup but with the bridge pickup its easy to get the Roy Buchanan "sighing" sound by turning the tone control down, hiting a note and bending it up with the left hand while rolling up the tone control and then wiggling it with the right hand.

I think this single coil/humbucker layout offers at least as much variety and the three single coil pickup/Strat switching Nashville Tele. The US Fat Tele has an extra switch position allowing for a split coil sound on the neck humbucker.

Off the rack the action was on the high side. I have no idea what the quality of the factory setup is in Indonesia and if the mass-market store I bought it from did anything to it before hanging it out. Many of my guitars have a flatter radius fretboard, and I?ve often preferred that. With the radius and as the neck sits it I cannot achieve super low action on this example even after I did my setup work. This is OK with me as most of my other Teles are not setup for this kind of action either. As one other reviewer here mentioned the high E string seems about 1/32nd of an inch too close to the edge of the fretboard up near the body, but you can fret it all the way up.

As I purchased it, it was playable, but it did require a setup. I did the setup myself when I got it home. It comes strung with 9?s and put on the ?original gauge? Fender 150 set (.38 to .10) which is what I use on all my Fenders. I adjusted the bridge saddle heights and matched them to the fretboard radius, tweaked the intonation length, filed the nut slots down a very small amount and found a couple of the slots needed to be a bit wider. I checked the neck relief and found that the trussrod was right with my string gauge and it was ready to play. As I mentioned above, I raised the bridge pickup slightly and lowered the neck pickup so that the sound of both together was balanced.

After a week or so of playing I found I was fretting out a bit on bends up the neck so I raised the action just a tad. Anyway, pretty much a standard setup that any guitar needs to play its best with the string set and playing style YOU use.

Nice metallic dark green paint with no obvious flaws. Frets were smooth and well seated though if you slide your hand up and down the fretboard edge you can feel each edge as you hand slides by. All the hardware works as it?s supposed to. Tuners seem fine and don?t slip, though I had to tighten 5 out of 6 of the nuts clamping them to the headstock.

Who knows how well the hardware will stand up to the years? At the worst it?s all replaceable if something goes.

In summary: I bought a bargain line third world constructed guitar from a mass merchandiser. It had some little things that had to be done to it, and most of these things would be covered in any good luthier?s setup. Since I could do them myself I saved the $30 or so that a skilled workman would charge for this.

This is a solid body Telecaster, it probably can be used for personal self-defense during a gig. I can?t tell if the hardware will stand up to years of playing yet, but the visible stuff seems OK to me. Some of the lower end Squier stuff feels like it?s ready to break before it leaves the store.

I always take a backup to a gig. I do that even if this was a custom shop model.

No dealings. 1 year limited warranty.

I?ve been playing guitar for 25 years. Other Telecaster style guitars I own are a MIM Nashville Tele, an early 80?s Japanese Tele copy, a Washburn hollow body Tele-shape with an under-saddle bridge pickup, and my original solid body guitar, a modded 1960?s Japanese guitar into which I put a Telecaster bridge pickup and a Gibson humbucker back in the 70?s.

I play a Telecaster style instrument more than any other kind and I still think it?s the most versatile yet distinctive sound going. From the time I modded my original solid body I?ve wanted a real Tele bridge sound with the neck humbucker combination and this was a surprisingly affordable way to get it.

I chose this one because of the sound and because I?m crazy about dark green as a body color. I?ve always avoided the lower end Squier line as I feel used instruments offer much more value at the same prices, but this one seemed to have good enough build quality. I?d love it if it had the new American Standard neck, but then I?d need to have $500 more dollars to spend on it too.

For more gear info visit my personal web site: http://www.users.qwest.net/~fhudson/

Bought 11/16/00 from Musician's Friend on-line for $259.00 2000 Squier Fat telecaster, "crafted in Indonesia". 22 medium frets, maple neck w/ rosewood unbound fret board. I bought the "vintage blonde" just because it's a cool color and I already have other guitars in cherry red and sunburst. I bought the generic black tolex case with it for $59.00 on special from Musician's Friend.

I like to play a little bit of everything. I have a an Epiphone Dot for more jazz and rock sounds and it can do almost everything pretty well except get those cool, funky single coil and out-of-phase sounds that Strats and Teles do so well. Perfect for Funk, R&B and Country. Right now I am playing this Tele through a Korg PX-3 just for practicing and it sounds really great. I liked the basic sounds that the guitar made right out of the box but there were some problems. See below...

The delivered setup was pretty bad. Either the neck was not adjusted evenly or the grooves in the nut were cut crookedly because the high E string was almost off of the neck and made it impossible to play correctly. I usually get the crappy plastic nuts that most cheap guitars come with replaced with a Corian nut anyway. The action was a little high and the guitar came from Fender with a set of .09 strings which I find pointless anyway. Almost all of the great guitarists seem to use a little bit heavier strings and I needed to build my callouses up anyway so I had a local guitar tech replace the nut, center the neck and setup the guitar with a .12 to .48 set of Fender Bullets. I also noticed that the balance of the sound level when switching from the single coil bridge pickup to the neck humbucker was way mis-matched as the humbucker was a LOT louder. With only one set of volume and tone knobs, this seems to be a big problem for playing live.

I also noticed that the Fender stock humbucker was extremely microphonic and since I tend to play a lot over where the neck pickup is, I was getting a lot of clicking as the pick would occasionaly hit the pickup. I had the guitar tech install a Noiseless Tele Vintage in the bridge position and a Texas Special Humbucker in the neck position. By playing with the pickup heights, I was able to get the volume level to almost match and these pickups sound killer compared to the stock ones. I went through the body before I gave the guitar to the tech and the stock pots and switch are crap so I had him replace them with higher quality replacements. While he was at it, I had him also replace the tone pot with a push/pull switch so that I could coil tap the new humbucker. Works like a dream and now I have a very versatile guitar, soundwise. Stock, out-of-the-box I would give this guitar a "4" for action, fit and finish. After my mods, it is now a "9"

Teles are probably some of the beefiest and most solid guitars out there. I bought this guitar to play at home, knowing that my two year old son will undoubtedly tip it over and bang into it while I have it out to practice. It's a cheap guitar so who cares if it gets a few dings? As I stated before, the stock pots, switch and pickups were junk so if you are going to buy one of these, plan on replacing at least some of the hardware before long. The strap buttons and and output jack are questionable too. The finish seems solid although I won't know how solid until junior takes a few whacks at it with some of his toys.

Would I gig with this guitar without a backup? I don't play professionally but if I did, I wouldn't be playing a Squier. This is a cool, cheap guitar that I bought, knowing that it was cheap but with some mods, it could be a really nice guitar. The way I see it, I paid $259.00 for it new and I spent $315.00 for the two new pickups, installation, new pots and switch, a new Corian nut, setup and intonation with .12s and a general going over by the tech. So now for a total of $574.00, I have a guitar that plays and sounds better than a stock Fender Fat Tele for around half of the price. If I didn't want to spend that much money, I would not have bought this guitar, I would have srung for the Mexican made Nashville Tele which you can get for $429.00 everywhere. The quality would have been better than this guitar, but I would have only been able to get single coil sounds and I still would have spent the difference in getting the Nashville Tele setup.

Haven't dealt with them but I have heard horror stories. Find yourself a good local guitar tech and just deal with the problem! My time is too valuable to try to mess around with phone calls and e-mails to Fender to use the "free" included warranty.

Have been playing for 25 years, Also own an Epiphone Dot, Roland GR-303 Guitar Synth and a Washburn D-21 Acoustic. Nothing I wish that I would have asked before buying, I did the research and knew exactly what I was buying. If it were stolen or lost, I would buy another Tele, not sure if I would get a Squier and modify it again or if I would just look for a good used US made Fat Tele. What do I love about it? The sound. It gets those beautiful bell like chime sounds that only a Fender can do right. What do I hate? That Fender charges so much for a US made Fat Tele. I wish that they had a Fat Tele that was made in Ensenada for around $500.00. Would have saved me a lot of effort but overall, now that I have personalized it to my needs, this guitar rocks!

Oh and I forgot, I have to be macho like all of the other people on here and say that if I found the guy who stole it (women don't steal, do they?), I would tie him to a chair and make him listen to a really cheap JVC rack system stereo cranked to 10 with Brittney Aguilera doing a duet with the InSyncBackstreet98degreeBoys for a week, then I would drag him to the local Guitar Center and make him listen to some 14 year old hacker practice his favorite Korn and Limp Bizkit riffs at full volume with a Marshall JCM2000 double stack for another week. Then I would take him to a Chuck E. Cheese and make him spend the afternoon there with my kids and no game tokens!

2000 Sam Ash Limited Edition Fat Tele. Solid wood body (agathis or alder), 22 medium-jumbo frets, Maple neck/fingerboard, candy apple red body and painted headstock. 3-way pickup selector, volume, tone. Neck humbucker (PAF style) and bridge Tele single coil. 6 section thru body bridge (American standard style). No-name sealed tuners (look like Schaller).

I use a Line6 Flextone amp and a Korg AX1000G multi-fx.
This Tele is very good sounding out of the box. The neck humbucker has crunch and is not muddy, has a good bright top with a Dlx Rvb style amp. Great for Blues and Jazz. Plays nice on a clean channel. The bridge single coil has that 'ol 60hz hum. It is nice and bright, twangy, and is not microphonic (even with dual recto setting). THe output is not high on the SC...Wwon't drive a Fender amp into overdrive. It is a good sounding Tele pickup.

For the money, the stock pickups are good. I will probably replace with Fender, Duncans or Lawrence pups someday

The Candy Apple Red paint job is flawless, looks like a million bucks. The neck shape is a wonderful chunky "c" shape with a satin finish. The fretwork is good, but not up to MIA Fender standards and I had one screw that wasn't vertical. Action was set high, but that is always a personal preference. I would say that the finish level is equal to a Mexican Fender.

It's a Telecaster

N/A

This is one great Telecaster for the money. Plays and sounds great. Feels great. Buy one fast!

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.