Fender Squier Telecaster Custom

22 medium jumbo frets on a one peice maple neck/fretboard, bolted onto a agathis body. This guitar has a standard hard tail bridge with two hot humbuckers. Classic Les Paul set up for the electronics. This guitar was made this year in Indonisia (2009 si the year) so she's brand new, and freshly polished in gloss black.

My sound can be best described as alternative. I really like to keep it pretty clean, so not much distortion, but I'm not afraid to use effects. I'm running this guitar straight through a Peavey Vypyr Tube 120, and it is possibly the best sound I've ever heard. For the price this guitar blows me away, it manages to be full and rich but still bright and articulate. It's really smooth and clean, but still sharp and powerful. I'm hugely impressed by the sound from this guitar, and I beleive for the price you can't find better. Sound is of personal preference but for me this guitar is perfect.

I've never bought a guitar that came perfectly set to my liking until now. The action is high which is how I like it, I find low action to be sloppy, and I'm faster with high action and more acurate. The pickups we're set perfect, and it was intonated. There we're a couple scratches that I polished out, but did end up adding my own removing the plastic covering on the pickgaurd.

This guitar is fairly solid. It's a heavey best, comparable to a Gibson Les Paul in weight, and not much else I picked up besides a bass. I've owned other squiers, and most cheap guitars have crappy imput jacks. From expirience I know that the finish will scratch easy and that the pick gaurd does, and that the imput jack will need work over time. This is the same with any guitar though. It feels like it will last, but no matter what the guitar always switch to strap locks! Stock strap buttons will do you no good.

I've delt with Fender customer support before. They're fairly quick to respond and helpful, but they left me feeling like they could care less. I work in customer service and that's always something that's frowned upon. The people I bought it from however are amazing. I buy all my stuff from a local music store, and I love the people there, ever since I got my first guitar from them. They're super helpful, and just treat me really well (which they should because I spent $1500 there this month).

For the price there is no better deal. This guitar is good enough for the studio, and proof that you can get a whole lot of guitar for not a whole lot of cash. It play's as good as an American Standard Tele, and sounds out of this world. Never do you feel like you're playing a cheap instrument. Squier's Vintage Modified series has always seemed to be the companies top of the line series next to the CLassic Vibe. This guitar was love at first sight, and if it were stolen I'd hunt it down and get it back. I think for any guitarist this is a worthy axe.

Normally, I'm not into cheap guitars - you pretty much get what you pay for. However, this guitar really challenged that old maxim for me. It all started when I was looking for a low-cost H/H configured guitar to use as the basis for a project guitar. I came across this nifty model at a music shop in Presque Isle, Maine. I love Fender telecasters and currently own a 1988 American Standard Tele. I previously owned a 1995 Fender Custom Shop Tele Jr. too. I've also had a Squire strat-tele mix thingy back in the day (ca. 1984). Up until this Squire Tele Custom, I've never had a tele had a model with humbuckers. When I first picked up this guitar, it really surprised me. It played and sounded great. I thought about it for a few days and couldn't get this little Squire out of my head. So I went back to the shop & plunked down $200 and took it home. Boy am I glad I bought it!

The guitar was made in Indonesia. It has the standard features: dual humbucker pu's, 2 vol & 2 tone pots, 3-way selector switch, maple bolt-on neck, medium jumbo frets, solid agathis body, black finish, chrome hardware. Nothing particularly special about this tele except that it has humbuckers in a guitar famous for single-coils. So if you're looking for a thicker Gibson-like tone in a Fender package, this guitar might be for you.

One of the tow clinchers for me buying this guitar was the sound. At the guitar shop, I tried it through a fender G-Dec 30 (an amp I also had at home). The guitar sounded full, but not muddy (like some humbucker guitars sometimes sound to me.) I also tried it through a Fender 5-watt Champ retro tube amp. Through this amp, the guitar sounded phenomenal. I love clean sounds and slightly overdriven bluesy tones sounds. This Squire nailed them both.

I am particularly impressed by the variability in sound between the three pick-up positions. The neck pu is clear and crisp, but not thin at all. The middle position is jangly and full. The bridge pu is round and somewhat throaty, but also very clear (In fact, the Squire bridge pu is clearer and a bit more expressive than the stock bridge pu on my 1990 Gibson Les Paul Classic). As a previous review stated, the sound of this Squire tele Custom is really is a meld of tele twang and Gibson fullness. I can get a clean, bright sounds from the neck and rich, thick tone from the bridge. This guitar offers great tonal color and variety.

Again, I had originally purchased this guitar to swap out the pu's with SD P-Rails. But the more I played it, the more I fell in love with the guitar's sound. So I haven't tampered with it. Why mess with something that sounds so great?

About three years ago, I tried out a few Squire teles at a local guitar shop. (I seem to recall that these Squires were made in China.) These guitars struck me as really poorly made (cheap parts, whimpy pu's, finger-slicing fret edges, bad action and intonation, etc.)

In stark contrast, this Indonesian Squire Tele Custom shares absolutely nothing with the very bad Chinese Squire guitars. The factory set-up on mine was perfect. The intonation was spot on, as was action and the pick-up heights. There is no fret buzz and the neck plays fast and smoothly. My neck is unfinished, which I really love. The maple neck on this Squire is every bit as nice as those on my other US Fender guitars. The neck on this Squire was the other main selling point for me. It is a joy to play and my fingers fly across the fretboard with easy on this Squire.

The body is slightly lighter in weight than my American Standard tele, but not by much. Actually, this is kind of nice, since the lower weight of the Squire doesn't fatigue my shoulder as much when playing for long stints.

Overall the guitar has performed flawlessly. One of the pots is a wee bit crackly, but it's not a big deal.

The parts on this guitar just don't feel quite as sturdy as those on my US Fenders. The pu selector switch seems like it could be a bit weak, but so far so good. Also the tuners feel a bit less sturdy than those on my real tele. (I will probably replace these with Sperzel locking tuners like those on my Strat Plus.) I hope this guitar is as study as my real Fenders, which have traveled far and wide with me to hundreds of gigs. I kind of think that the Squire might not hold up quite as good as my +20-year-old US Fenders. Still I'm hoping that this Squire is a real warrior. So far, so good.

I think this guitar comes with a 5-year warranty. I hope I don't have to use it...

I've been playing guitar for over 30 years. I've played in working cover bands, working original bands, and know I am in a very active church praise band. (Yes, my years of gigging are pretty much over...) As listed above, I have many other electric guitars and have owned many, many more over the years. I like quality and never buy junk. I am almost never impressed by cheap, Far Eastern-made guitars that have flooded the US guitar market in the last decade. But this guitar has really impressed me. I'm not sure if I got lucky and they just happened to make a great guitar when they made mine somewhere in Indonesia. Or have production standards and quality control really improved? My old Japanese Squire from the 80s was a good solid guitar (I kind of miss that old axe.) But the (Chinese?) Squires that I had previously tried out a few years ago absolutely stunk! Somewhere in there, Squire/Fender must have gotten their act together because they hit a home run with this baby.

I know this sounds silly, but this guitar is perhaps the best electric I've ever owned when considering the price and quality. I now play this guitar more than my real Tele, real Strat, and real Les Paul combined. The playability and tone are just fantastic.

I know it sounds crazy and I don't want anybody to think that I'm resorting to hyperbole, but this Squire Telecaster Custom is one great guitar. My only concern is long-term endurance - will this guitar still be great 20 years from now, like my real Fenders still are. I sure hope so. If it was stolen, I would look for another. Hopefully Squire is making them consistently good, so I could find another of equally high quality. Good job Squire.

Standard features of the Fender Telecaster Deluxe - 2 humbuckers, 2 tone, 2 volume, 3 position toggle. Hardtail style bridge.

My set-up is a 66 Fender Bassman head with a Avatar 2X12 open back cab. I play rock, pop, soul, blues. It's OK for the harder stuff, but not at all for the subtler sounds/styles.
As is, this guitar is best suited for rock/hard rock.
The pickups are relatively high output, but lack definition/clarity.

Factory set-up was pretty god awful. I replaced the stock bridge with a Gotoh brass hard tail Fender style bridge. This really improved action/playability and to a lesser extent, tone.
Black poly finish is fine. The frets should be considered deadly weapons (fret edges are sharp and over extend the finger board by just enough to pose a modest threat to your health). I filed the fret edges down, adjusted the truss rod, replaced the bridge and lowered the action. It plays pretty damn well now. Next move is to throw a TV Jones TV Classic in the bridge and the clarity problem will be solved and this guitar will be stage/recording ready.
The rest of the electronics are acceptable - I don't waste much time worrying about that kind of stuff. If it works, it's fine.

If you take the time and spend a little money to upgrade the parts you deem lacking, you can save yourself hundreds of dollars on a fender.

Haven't needed it, so N/A.

Been playing 26 years. This is a decent guitar as is, but it can be a very good guitar if you replace the cut-corner parts that made it cheap in the first place. All in all, a little work can save you hundreds of dollars if you're like me and don't care about what it says on the headstock. Not a "main" guitar, though, for an experienced player.
On the wish list for this guitar would be real Fender humbuckers, and a better bridge.

I've been playing since 1976 and have gone through dozens of guitars since that time. On top of that, I am an admitted nit-picking freak when it comes to the sound and design of a guitar. Compared to most I've got a pretty good basis of experience to offer an in-depth review.

My Tele Custom is older - coming out when Fender first started offering this model. I bought it off of a guy who picked it up for his son and then promptly tossed it into his closet. The guitar had maybe 20 minutes playing time so it might as well have been considered new. I think that I paid $120 for the guitar and a hard shell case.

Lately, Fender has started offering the Squier Custom in different finishes. Mine is black. Not exactly the color I'd chose, but it could be worse.

I don't need to tell you the various features offered on the guitar. It's been repeated a hundred times in previous reviews. Instead, let's move onto the other categories...

The Squier Custom isn't going to blow your socks off with craftsmanship or finesse. It's "blocky", heavy-feeling, thick, and very much a "rocker's" guitar. My other Tele's (I own a '66 Tele and a '74 Thinline) feel more dainty by comparison. The overall stoutness doesn't make the Squier less of a guitar. Rather, it actually serves to make me appreciate it more.

The original pickups weren't bad. As a matter of fact, they were FAR above what I expected. Even so, I had a couple of Seymour Duncans lying around so I thought I'd toss them in to see what the guitar might sound like with a pair of quality pickups. I also added a set of 500K pots (since that is the standard to use with humbuckers.)

The difference was surprising. All of a sudden it was as if the guitar had cleared it's throat and was able to speak clearly. I can get warm thick bluesy tones or sharp piercing lead tones that cut through like an audio ice pick. Think of combining a Les Paul with a Tele and that is the range of sounds offered. Again, I know this because I own a few Les Pauls and the two Teles I spoke of earlier.

I have to admit something here. Despite having a terrific sound that easily matched (and often surpassed) my other guitars I felt somewhat hesitant playing a Squier on stage. Yes, the guitar sounded and played absolutely awesome, but that damned "Squier" name made me feel as though I was being judged by everyone who looked to see what I was playing. In a fit of self-absorbed vanity I sanded "Squier" off of the headstock, ordered and installed a couple "Fender" and "Made in the USA" decals off of Ebay, and then covered over the heantire head with a few coats of StewMac polyurethane spray. I even added a "Fender Custom Shop" decal to the back of the headstock, as well.

Now before you being to think that I am pathetic for chaning the name on my guitar, I have no intentions of ever selling to anyone under false pretenses. The crazy thing is that everyone who comes up to check out my guitar cannot seem to get enough of it. They sit down to give it a few strums and 45 minutes later they're still at it. This includes many of the top guitarists in my area!

I'm forever being told, "Man, the Fender Custom Shop really does put out an awesome guitar! I'd love to have one of these!" That's when I tell them that the guitar is nothing more than a slightly modded Squier Custom with a different decal. You should see their eyes. At first they're incredulous and then they begin to realize that they, too, could have something like this for less than $200. I've actually had a few friends go out and buy the same guitar and make the same changes that I did.

One of the most common complaints you'll find in the reviews is the set-up. I can understand people ragging if the finish was bad or if the metal plating pealed off at an early age, but a guitar set-up is an easy thing to perform. Anyone can do it. There's really no reason whatsoever to whine that the intonation is off when it takes 20 minutes, a tuner, and knowledge enough to use a small screwdriver to make things right.

That said, my Custom was in bad shape. The edges of the frets were so sharp that I literally cut my hand when I first tried it out. In some places the hung out over the edge of the fretboard! I bought the guitar anyway, but those fret edges were the worst I've ever seen on a new guitar. It took a few minutes of careful filing before they were just right. Again, not a big deal, but it does make me wonder about the lack of quality control at the Fender factory.

The finish is black and while I first thought it might be thin simply because the guitar is a Squier, I have now come to see that the finish is almost indestructible. I'd love to have the same type of paint on my car. Stray shopping carts and boneheads opening their doors into me would be a laughing matter. Seriously, the finish is amazingly thick on this guitar.

The neck is rather thick which adds to the feeling that it's built like a tank. I've considered shaving the neck slightly so that it is more like a Strat. I may do that if I grow a pair of balls. As it is now, I like the guitar too much to mess with something that is working perfetly well.

I have the action low. It could go lower without buzzing. I don't do this because when I switch guitars on stage I prefer the action to be the same for each guitar.

The bridge is a typical no-nonsense piece of work. The tuners were adequate. I changed them out for a set off of an American Strat neck (that had broken in two due to a drunk falling into it). The knobs are kind of thin and cheesy. My Thinline knobs feel thicker, but knobs are knobs. I'm not going to whine over something as insignificant as a new thousandths of an inch of plastic on a guitar knob.

I did all of the work myself on this guitar. Yes, it's been modded and, yes, no guitar can be 100% reliable all of the time. Still, there is nothing on this guitar that would give me reason to doubt it's reliability.

The neck is a four-screw type so it's not going to go anywhere. The humidity doesn't seem to have much of an effect at all on the tuning of the guitar. I added a couple of roller guide trees to the headstock (replacing the friction type of string tree). I can't say that it made much difference, though, because there were no tuning problems before.

Dunno. I never think about calling them mostly because I expect to talk to some guy in India who can only recite sentences from a pre-ordained fact sheet. I figure that I am better off figuring out the issue myself.

I'll give Fender a "5" on this category.

I have been playing forever it seems. I've opened up for some big name acts and now have settled into doing a few hundred (if not more) studio gigs each year. I certainly wouldn't say that I'm the greatest player in the world - far from it! Even so, I am sought out enough to where I make a pretty damned good living off of the guitar work I do.

I play through a Vox AD120VT that has been reworked (terrible factory workmanship, but a terrific amp once the problems are sorted out). I own 26 guitars including Les Pauls, Strats, an old Dan Armstrong, a '59 ES-345, a very cool '63 Gretsch 6122 Country Gentleman, and even a Kramer aluminum neck prototype model I picked up from their factory in Neptune. On top of that I have a few basses that I've collected over the years.

And yet... it's it's own unique way this silly little Squier Tele Custom is able to keep up with most, if not all, of the other guitars I own.

It'll never be collectable. It'll never be worth more than a couple of hundred bucks. But it plays well and gives me all I could ask for.

How many guitars can make that boast?

Indonesian-made, two humbuckers, four controlknobs and a three-way toggle switch. Many of its features have already been mentioned in other reviews. I have to say that I bought this guitar for its fantastic appearance and its Gibson-like configuration.

I am absolutely thrilled by the power of the clean sound. I drive it through a number of stompboxes into a Marshall JCM2000. Together with the distortion from my amp I also get a true rocksound, very much like the 70s 80s sound (not bad for a 72 custom lookalike). The only drawback is the muddy soloing sound you get in the 'rhythm' position. I prefer the Epi or Gibson guitars, because this one lacks sustain.

Now here is the tricky part: as I unpacked the guitar from the box I immediately noticed that some of the screws in the pickguard were askew. Also, the cupshaped input system was not very tight. After playing three times I pulled this cup and the whole input socket out of the body! Stunned, but not shaken, I decided to repair it myself (I was still pleased with its sound) and noticed that underneath the pickguard were more holes than there were supposed to be! Appearantly some worker at the factory had had problems with getting the pickguard in the right place. I used a bit of woodfiller, drilled new holes and replaced the cupsystem by a regular steady input coverplate. I have never had this experience with a new guitar before in my life! Still, the necks plays smoothly and the guitar still rocks!

I think the initial problems are dealt with and believe I can rely on it. Time will tell. I use it intesively (six times a week) and haven't had any complaints yet.

I haven't dealt with them, so I wouldn't know

I have played guitar for more than 30 years. I have owned guitars on both ends of the price range and this is remarkably cheap for a reasonably great sound. Also, its playability is very good. The looks of this guitar was the reason to buy it and so far I haven't regret it either. The clean sound is magnificent, its overdriven sound has a unique retro rocksound, but in rhythm position it shows that this is not an Epi or Gib. At one point I thought I would make it look like a relic by deliberately damaging it a bit, but then I thought: keep playing it intensively and it will become one in time. The people at the Indonesian factory have done their bit in this relicing process anyway!

Someone gave me a honey colered with black faceplate. It looks like a recent model, perhaps the last 3 to 5 years. Solid Top. Standard Telecaster provisions. Hardshell case. Maple neck. Looks OK. Never played.

Sounds like a Telecaster to me and I've played the real Telecasters. I use a Crate DXJ-112 amp. Excellent bright tone, I find myself constantly pulling the tone down for Rythm and Lead work.
Great for that driving R&R Rythm with a good punch when in Lead mode.

Poor Setup (if any) at factory.

This guitar was never setup ANYWHERE including at the factory. I am dismayed by the hardware used in the bridge. The screws for adjusting the intonation were too long causing them to butt against the string and bending them further and further way for any type of intoation set. Fender put their name on this poor quality crap?

I set the intonation myself after I took a hacksaw to the long screws in the bridge.

Will withstand playing but I had to set it up for my liking. Hardware appears robust but the aforementioned bridge screws should be considered again. I have gigged with this guitar and it performed OK, However, I would not use this axe without a backup.

I can't speak indonesian so customer service is a moot point. Fender put their name on this crap so let them deal with the mediocre reviews that they are getting.

Overall rating 5, and it served me well in rehearsal.

I'm not sure what year mine is,nor do I care.It's Indonesian made,has 2 humbuckers,3 way pup select switch,2 sets of volume and tone controls,made out of Agathis,which I'm told,is almost like a mahoghany type of wood,and has a glossy black finish.Too bad it couldn't have a Sunburst finish,but for $200.00 bucks,you can't be choosey.The pups are passive,which I prefer,and I believe that they're general Squier stock pups.It also has 22 frets,and as far as asscessories go,it came with 2 allen wrenches,one for the truss rod,and the other for the bridge saddles.

First of all,let state right off the back that,unless you're using a effects processor(aka Digitech Rp series)this is not a guitar for Metal.If you're playing this straight through your amp,you'll realize that this guitar is great for Blues,Country,and Classic Rock.I haven't heard any hum at all from the pups,which is grteat.And with the 2 sets of volume and tone controls,you can get a wide variety of tones wiith this guitar.I love playing this clean straight through my amp,but when I kick in the distortion,I noticed that the pups can get a little of a Bassy tone to them.If I use my Digitech RP 50,it screams.All in all,this is a very versatile guitar that can produce a variety of tones.I like it.

Here's where the shit hits the fan.I was told that these were made by Cort for Fender in their Indonesia factory.They should've done a better job.It seems like this was just put together and shoved in a box and shipped off to lord knows where.I had to tighten the tuners,imput jack,3 way switch,and the neck plate.The saddles were very high and needed to be lowered and reset accordingly.I also had to intonate it and put on a new set of strings,which made a big improvement.I didn't see any flaws though like,frets being too sharp,loose wiring,etc.In that aspect,I was lucky.Mine is one solidly made beast.

I believe that I could gig with this and not have to worry about a backup.Once I did a complete set up and intonation on this guitar,it came accross as a very durable instrument that should last me a long time.I see no need at this time to do any modifications to it as far as changing any of the hardware,although I'll probably get some Graph-Tech saddles for it,which I have on my MIM Strat.I don't have any tuning issues with it,and plus there's no fret buzz,which is big for me.

Fender is always great to deal with.No problems there.

I've been playing for over 35 years and I have played some Squiers in the past,and have never been too fond of them.This one puts some credibility to the Squier name.I beieve that this is one of the best guitars that Squier makes today.It's a welcome addition to my set up which also includes a 2006 MIM Fender Sunburst Standard Strat,1997 American made Peavey Studio Pro 112,and a Digitech RP 50 effects processor.

the looks for one, blonde, my faourite tele colour!, the p-90 designed picks were the biggest draw, more so the price ??100 near brand new.

this guitar reflects my playing perfectly, the p-90's are superb, i play alot of pearl jam, rem etc so i can get some real blues or harsh attack, i have found a massive difference between the neck and trem pups.

i play through a combo rig of a jcm 900 4102 and a laney vc 30 and use a DD6-BF2-Moreley wah and dod chorus and it sounds great.

this guitar is better than any standard squier and i can't believe they go for the price they do!

i've had problems with mine, just had to have 12, 13 and 14th frets stone ground down as they were a little lumpy and coked the notes for lead playing

other than that, great finish, quiet (noiseless) pickups, no string buzz and the paint work is great

have noticed a couple of tiny cracks on neck joint, but no concerns

never gigged her yet, but built lika a preverbial house

got my own guy for this :)

a great guitar, better than beginner or budget, a real workshorse, looks the biz, an eye catcher, no a shred machine but cool and chunky blues machine

Two Seymour Duncan pickups, two volume and two tone knobs, three way selector, through body strings, squier standard tuners, 22 slim frets, maple neck. Indonesian built, date uncertain, this century definitely. Beautiful cream body with black scratch plate (going up above the neck for the selector switch like the telecaster deluxe). Rated 9 since there is no cut off without dropping the volume on one pick up.

This sounds fantastic, the bridge pickup is spiky and perfect for squealy lead and chords, cutting through the mayhem with ease. The bridge pickup is deep and rich, dripping with tonal depth. The crossphase selection is beautiful, chords sing and lead seduces. I play through a Fender Princeton 122plus and the combination is fantastic, at low volume for practise and higher volume for live. There is a little noise when distorted from the bridge pickup, but only when it's not playing, when it's going the guitar punches through the crappiest of in-house PA's. I play nu-wave influenced materiel and the chop and skank the tele gives is unsurpassed. I have a Korg Toneworks which I try and use as clean as possible, with only a touch of phase or chorus, or really overload the distorted models for that No Prisoners attack. The tele shines throughout.

I bought this used from a great shop Rockshack in Leeds, England, It was in good shape when I bought it, but had a little trouble getting the intonation perfect so took it back and they did a full set up for free, bringing the strings down as requested. The set up job was perfect, low action really suited it and it is incredibly playable. It just feels right. The neck is thinner than a lot of teles I've played and when a really established gutarist came round for xmas I couldn't get this guitar off him, despite the Strat and Tele standard sitting in the rack.

The pickups are great. The electrics are fine, although I would like to find the reason why when there is distortion selected the guitar buzzes at rest, this might be a cause for pickup upgrade.

The finish is lovely. I heard it is based on the old Olympic White fenders would yellow in the sun and become a gentle cream like this one. The neck is maple, as a tele neck should be, and smooth and dry. The only thing I have changed is that the screws holding the black scratchplate in were silver and I have replaced them with black screws. The guitar is perfect now. Rated nine because of needing a professional set up and dist buzz at rest.

Live I swop between this and my Indonesian Tele standard, which I'll review whe it comes back from a much needed refretting. There would be no need to swop in many cases, but some songs deserve the rishness of this guitar, and some need the fiercer attack and twang of the standard. Live it has held up, occasional gentle retunings, which isn't surprising considering the abuse I give it. I use D'darrio 9s. The hardware is fine for the time being, the finish is thick and durable, never had a strap come off.

I can depend on this guitar, it is a great guitar, and, like most guitarists when they have that lump of wood that warms from their body heat and expresses their creativity as though it is an extension of their souls, I have become firmly attached to it and would rue the day it was stolen or broken beyond repair.

I would use it without backup, but not without a set of spare strings ( you know the score).

Professional set up from the talented boys at Rockshack, Leeds, UK, other than that, perfect.

I have been playing live for 20 years now and owned in my time a wide range of guitars. My current set up is a Strat, a squier tele custom and a tele standard, going through a fender princeton 122plus, via a toneworks, a cry baby and a Boss Loopstation. The two teles are indonesian Squiers.

If I lost my custom I would immediately hunt for another indonesian squier as I have found they are consistently good, while the koreans I have tried have felt like toys.

My custom just feels right, it is hard to explain, but I know there are guitarists who feel the same way. It's MINE, in more than just ownership, it fits me. I know where to attack the strings, where on the fret to slur, where to chop and where to ring: where to make it squeal, growl, slice the air and embrace the audience.

There are some songs I need to cut through the mayhem, and I'll use my tele standard (again squier), and where I need to funk them up (strat, second selector, heavy compressor), but for everything else my custom does it all, beautifully.

Shiny black bowling ball Poly finish, satin maple one piece neck, hardtail bridge with string through body. Made in Indo. 22 Fret (I think). Dual Humbuckers with a LP style wiring setup. Mahogany's long lost cousin Agathis body.

For a long time I thought the pickups sounded the same, just muddier in the neck and more ice pickish in the bridge. But after adjusting the pickup height and finding an overdrive pedal that complimented the sound I'm pretty happy with the pickups. On clean settings the neck pickup is wonderful. The bridge pickup is a bit anemic. With mild overdrive the neck pup gets warm and fat. Think of an SG with the tone rolled off a hair. The bridge pickup isn't great, but it gets the job done. The guitar would really bennifit from better quality pickups and pots.

Out of the box the fret edges were sharp but the intonation was pretty close. After playing it over the last year the sharp edges have been worn smooth and the neck is starting to get a nice broken in feel to it. I probably logged about 400 hours on this guitar in the last year (figuring roughly 1 to 2 hours a night 4 or 5 nights a week). The output jack cap gave me some problems, but I was able to fix it fairly easy. Overall this guitar needs to be tweaked and peaked to get dialed in, but it will reward your efforts.

This guitar takes abuse and smiles. It will ask you if that's all you got and give you the Bruce Lee crazy eye look like he gave in Enter the Dragon. I try to take good care of my gear, but sometimes bad stuff happens, like drunk people at house parties deciding to start slam dancing in the living room. It's worse when you're the drunk that knocked over you're own guitar, and the cymbals etc... Other then the jack cup issue, the guitar still looks and plays as good or better then new.

N/A, haven't needed any customer support.

This is a second review for more of a long term opinion. If you're on the fence about this guitar but think it looks "cool" you might be a bit dissapointed. Even at the paltry sum of $200 there are better playing and sounding guitars out there. If you're a Tele player and want to add a different sound to your line-up this is a great addition. The shortcomings are fairly mild and for a couple hundred dollars you could really make a nice little axe out of it. It's really grown on me and I think it would be worth the investment. Another bonus is that the routing will accomadate Buckers or P-90's (obviously since the Custom II has P-90's).

Just picked this up for a back up guitar to my les paul. Love the two humbucker set up with the three way switch. I'm used to that so it suits me fine. The finish is flawless (black) and the neck is smooth and fast with med/jumbo frets i believe. Tuners seem decent enough as well. I'm personally not crazy about the "cup" style input jack but so far no problems.

i play just about whatever i'm in the mood for. I bought the guitar because right now i'm into some vintage stuff ie: old stones,hendrix, 60's 70's stuff mostly. This guitar seem to satisfy those needs as far as that style goes. The neck pup is really warm and bluesy but i find i cant get what i want from the bridge pup. It seems to get either too muddy or too bright...no middle ground there. I'm currently running it through a Marshall JTM combo and the amp/guitar together make for a really nice vintage sound overall. I would not recomend this axe for hard rock or metal as the pickups just wont cut it. I may upgrade the pups later and i'm sure it will sound even better.

The setup was bad out of the box but nothing major really. I tweaked a bit here and there and it's now playing rather well. The neck really surprised me and the frets feel nice. It's a bit rough on the fret edges but for a $200 axe, you just cant beat it. Finish is black and very sweet...no flaws found. I have to give it a 6 because of the set up out of the box.

Here's where i am most impressed. I was really expecting this guitar to be very light weight and full of rattles but low and behold....it's not! It's built very well and the neck is a bit on the chunky side which makes the whole thing feel really solid on the strap. One thing i am a little nervous about is the input jack. as stated before, i dont trust it and i've read on here that others have had problems with it.

I've been playing for about 18 years and have owned/still own Les pauls, Strats, Jacksons, Esp, and others. I was looking for another mumbucking vintage type guitar for kicking around and as a backup and this fit the bill. I may change the pickups down the road but this cost me only 200 bucks!! I just cant imagine finding something like this for that price. All in all, it's NOT a usa fender but it's pretty close in my opinion.

This guitar is a great deal. Solid body, bolt on neck, separate volume and tone controls, dual humbuckers, and a sweet look. It has one hell of a paint coat on it, i sanded mine down to give it a worn look, and it takes a while to get under the finish, even with a power sander.

Your buying a squier, what do you expect for sound. Great thick body, has a good solid feel to it. The problem lies in the electronics. The stock humbuckers have a low muddy output and the volume pots are set to being either silent or loud with no difference in between. My suggestion is too keep a little money around to buy a new set of humbuckers and pots. I droped a dimebuck in the bridge and it was definitely worth the money i spent. This has become my southern metal beater guitar.

Get rid of the standard 9 gauge strings on it, i'm sure everyone could agree with that. The neck has no finish on it which means that it feels absolutely amazing. The body has a genuine fender coat, thick and hard with no transparency what so ever. the action is very easy to set also.

This thing is a brick, case closed. True, Solid, well made guitar. Everyone knows your not paying for the name with a squier so your getting every cent of what you paid.

haven't had to deal with them.

Great practice, beater, beginner guitar. I personally don't see the point in paying the $650 for the fender version when you can get this one for less than a third of the price. Personally i believe the tone comes mostly from the amp, as long as you have some good electronics in the guitar your good.

No voy a describir, ya conocen todos los detalles. Negra, 2 hb cromados, llave 3 posiciones, ...

Me encanta el color negro q trae, lastima q quedan todos los dedos marcados, pero bueno, es el precio del exito.

Un sonido muy peculiar. Tiene de fondo esos tonos twang de la tipica tele, pero aparejados con los bajos de un hb. Un sonido mas agudo q una lp, tirando a un hibrido entre una sg y una lp, pero con esos agudos tipicos telecasterianos.

El buzz de los hb, se va con un noice reduction como el q tengo en la pedalera. Amplia gama para el rango de distorsiones, desde un fuzz, a un leve OD, y hasta algo de heavy rock.

La probe con un peavey banditt 112 y una pedalera korg toneworks ax1500g.

Podes ir desde el blues hasta el funk, pasando por lo alternativo y lo rockero. La verdad q una variedad de sonidos muy grande.

La guitarra de fabrica, viene con unas cuerdas medias chotas, y la calbiracion estaba bastante mala, pero nada q con un tornillo, un afinador y algo de paciencia no puedas arreglar.

Lo recomendable es tocar la viola un par de semanas, para amoldarla a tu estilo, y recien ahi optar por cambiar cuerdas y calibrarla.

De pinta, la verdad q un ca??o. Muy fachera, el color negro me encanta, y los potes en buen estado. El cuello muy docil y liviando.
En general, una de las mejores violas, en cuanto a facha.

Lo q si, la llave de 3 posiciones, se ve algo fragil, por lo cual ya vengo ahorrando algo de $$$ para su recambio.

Muy durable, las cuido a las violas ademas, asi q espero q no se rompa.

ni idea

Vengo tocando desde hace 12 a??os, tuve pocas violas, pero siempre de calidad, y me gusta cuidarlas, y evitar q se arruinen, ya q seria una pena maltratar un instrumento musical.

Me hubiera gustado q venga con un mango de strato, como la tele deluxe, pero todo no se puede. De todas formas, me encanta el mango de la tele, y esa cabeza tan caracteristica.
Si me la robaran, me compraria otra igual, o en su defecto, la squier 51, q tb suena muy bien.

La compare con otras guitarras squier, y realmente es lo mejor de la gama. Las cuerdas through body es otro valor agregado para el sustain.

Realmente muy recomendable. De hacer modificaciones, le pondria un pushpull en los potes para desfazar ambos hb, y asi ampliar la variedad de sonidos, pero ya seria en un futuro mas lejano, por ahora me encanta este sonido.

ok so i went on a hunt for this tele custom squire made in indonisa..
i thought i would be getting a better or at least as good as my SQUIRE 51 ..that is great by the way...the neck is no where as nice as the SQUIRE 51s neck ....and looks white and is alot like a club in your hand ..not aged looking or low profile like the squire 51...

ok sounds is muddy muddy muddy...i have a epiphone les paul standard that humbuckers sound really good ...i play through a marshall 50 watt amp with distortion and clean...a good amp..and the guitar sounds toyish...why can fender make such a great guitar like the 51 and blow it on this custom...

set was fine low action no buzz ..the guitar looks good on a stand..pick it up and it feels and sounds cheap...nice looks no soul

forget it! id rather hum at a gig that play this...

ive been plaing for 25 years ..i own fender strats, epi les paul..i play punk alt..i really wanted to love this guitar but i rather play the squire 51 anyday of the week over this if your looking a squires play one before you waste your money on a tele squire custom with ha ha humbuckers....the pickups are way way better on the 51...

Mine's a 2005 Indonesian-made model and the specs are pretty much the same as others have listed - twin humbuckers, tone and volume controls for each, one-piece maple neck, ash/alder body (can't really confirm as it's finished in solid black), strung through the body.

In general, a reasonable spec for the price and the hardware is decent enough quality.

With the twin humbuckers, some have commented that there isn't enough variety between them, but I have no complaints. Basically, I've set the tones for each to achieve the maximum separation. The neck pickup is set nicely rounded with just a touch of country twang when played clean. The bridge is set a lot brighter and with a touch of distortion you get a sparkling, shimmery kind of sound. Between the two, it's possible to get a gutsy, slightly dirty 'bark' - think White Stripes v Franz Ferdinand.

I'd say this is definitely an indie-bluesy-punkish kind of wedge. If you're into metal, shop elsewhere.

I bought the guitar used, but in 'as new' condition, so it was pretty much as it left the factory, with plastic over the scratchplate and the original strings which I swapped straight off for some Fender 9s.

So, any faults? Naah not really. The toggle switch was a bit loose so I simply tightened up the locking ring. At the back of the guitar, where the body's been drilled to allow the strings to pass through, it looks as though one of the holes is slightly out of line with the others. Not enough to make any difference though. The 'witch hat' knobs are a bit cheap looking, but hardly worth replacing.

Overall the thing looks the business. The gloss black finish is very smart, it has a good weight to it, and it just feels like a much more expensive guitar. I compared it to a 'genuine' Fender Tele Custom in a store today and it stacked up well in terms of build quality.

As far as the set-up goes, the action was already pretty low, low enough for me as a rhythm player anyway. The truss was set to textbook tolerance. Intonation was slightly out, the worst offender being the G string, but not so bad that it couldn't be rectified.

The neck's a dream to play, quite narrow with low frets. No rough edges, but around the 3rd fret there was a trace of glue or varnish, which will probably polish off.

So far so good. After a few months concentrated playing the finish has a few marks from handling and the scratchplate has a few, well, scratches...

It certainly seems durable enough and I'd happily gig with it.

No need as yet.

I've been playing for less than a year, but I've played drums for over 25 years, I'm very picky about my gear and I know quality when I see it.

What's great about this guitar is that it looks and plays like it should have cost a lot more. I imagine the version with the Seymour Duncans must have a bit more clout, but I'm more than happy with this one.

One other plus point - it has an identity of its own. It's not a sunburst Strat. Not that there's anything wrong with them - I have a Squier Standard Strat too. But this feels a little less like a budget guitar, and, you don't see too many of them around.

My mate, who plays an Epi gold-top Les Paul, absolutely loves this guitar. I virtually had to club him with a mike stand to get him to let go. I've not been playing too long, but I'm sure I'll keep this baby for a good while yet.

Every reviewer has listed the standard features, so I will mention some oddities:

* the volume control is all or nothing. Doing volume swells does not work for me on this guitar - going from 0 to 1 is like going from 0 to 7 on a more gradual scale.

* I keep breaking strings on this guitar, i.e. every ten songs or so. Much more often than on my strat. I play 11's and may go down to 10s to see whether they last longer because they won't be stretched so tense.

* tuners: they feel very solid, but they can be a little unresponsive for minor tweaks.

I love the sound. I wanted something that would give me a jangly, chiming sound like The Sundays, Radiohead and early Rush PLUS decent rock sounds for hard rock/cheap punk.

This guitar gives me all of those. The sound I like most is clean through heavy chorus and delay a la Sundays, Cocteau Twins, Belly. Excellent. With more distortion, you get a great Clash sound like, oooh, say Train In Vain. Or anything off London Calling. Great stuff.

I was particularly pleased with the quality of the top strings, i.e. E and B. Bell-like, chiming and up front without being tinny or diminishing the middle. Great.

My only small gripe about the sound is that it can sound a bit middle-y and nasal for good hard rock leaning to heavy metal. But the lead/solo sound is great.

All of this is coloured by the amp I guess: Marshall Valvestate 100W.

The shop was set up well enough. Perhaps by the factory, perhaps by the shop. No idea. I will get it set up properly sometime, just to lower the action a bit, but it's fine really.

The neck is great. I have only played a strat before. This Tele neck is a bit fatter but very very smooth - that was what struck me the most in the shop, how fast and smooth it felt. Better than guitars I've tried three and four times the price.

I haven't gigged it yet, so can't really say. The frequent string breaking means I wouldn't gig it without a back-up.

not tried.

I've been playing 20 years. I own a 19-year old Squier Strat, Marshall 100W amp, and the usual range of effects: Rat distortion, Boss V-Wah, Boss Hi Band Flanger.

2005? Crafted in Indonesia. H/H. Maple neck. This guitar is basically a Gibson SG in the body of a Fender Telecaster.

I play punk rock and blues and this guitar is perfect for both those styles. The bridge pickup creates a full distorted on my Marshall Valvestate VS100 - ideal for modern punk a la Green Day, Yellowcard etc. The neck pick is full and thick for clean blues. Combine both pickups and it sounds great on a crunchy amp setting - ideal for a garage rock sound a la The Strokes or White Stripes. I don't use any effects, but when I tried this guitar in the shop it sounded awesome with a clean delay on a Line 6 modelling amp. A truly versatile guitar. No dislikes with the sound.

Here is where this guitar falters. It was semi-setup when I bought it, so it played OK in the shop. Not sure if it was a factory or shop setup. First thing I did when I got home was change the strings from the bullets to EB Regular Slinky's, and set the intonation accordingly. Action needed adjusting - it was too high for my taste. The hardware seems solid enough. Bridge is good, but I may replace the tuners further down the line. The neck and headstock were typically squier unfinished maple, so I slapped a coat or two of clear polyurethane on it and it came up nice. Pickups didn't need adjusting. This is probably the first fender I'll own where I don't replace the stock pickups - they sound _that_ good. The input jack was faulty so I had to gut it and sort that out. Turns out a contact wasn't making contact. May replace it.

Guitar is built like a rock.
Sort out the above initial flaws and I am sure this guitar will last a life time.
I don't gig with this guitar because I play bass in my band, but I would take a backup - always take a backup.

Has a 1 year warranty but I probably voided it after gutting the guitar and refinishing the neck and headstock. The shop I bought it from would probably repair it if it was faulty, and if this input jack continues to play up I may just put that to the test.

Been playing for about 7 years. I am a bass player primarily, but bought this guitar to write with. I compared it with the Squier Custom Tele 2 with the P 90s, but this guitar sounded fuller and the finish was better. I also tried the Mexican Fender Tele Custom, and let me tell you, this Squier is a better guitar for the $$. If the Mexican Tele was the same price, yeah I would have bought it, but I wouldn't pay 5 times the price for the only difference is the Fender logo on the headstock. I have owned other squiers in the past (strats maily) but this is easily my favourite. Overall this really is a great guitar and it suits my purpose (writing and recording) nicely. It just needs a little adjusting out of the box and afterwards its a beast. I do recommend refinishing the neck. Aussies, Cabot's Gelclear satin run free polyurethane does the job nicely.

Twin Humbucker tele made in indonesia - see other reviews for features

The humbuckers fitted to this guitar are slightly different to those fitted to thinline teles (the ones on the Squire are standard sized). Both pickups were quiet and I have no hum. I am quite happy with the sound of the stock pups, the bridge can be a bit sharp but gives pleasing jangle on open chords. The neck pickup is a little muddy. I will probably fit a treble Bleed cap on the volume control as the treble gets lost when the volume is turned down.

Whenever I think about buying a guitar I check this web site - so I new what to expect when I tried a couple of these guitars out - e.g they need setting up and screwing together!!. The bridge saddle screws needed grinding down to the right height to stop them cutting into your hand if you rest on the bridge - setting the intonation was quick. I found one of the 5 screws holding the bridge to the body has a stripped thread (will fix with a toothpick in the hole). several of the tuners were loose and the string trees rattled until screwed down. The truss rod adjustment is stiff. Cheap pup switch but works OK. Nut.
is well cut but very shallow fitting in the neck. Fretting is quite good but a fraction uneven at 18,19, 20th fret. Neck is very nice and feels great - controls all work OK. Fit an finish elsewhere is good and overall the guitar looks smart. I threw the old strings away and use 10's

Time will tell - but cant see why it shouldnt last

Dont expect to use customer support

Been playing for over 35 years and own 14 guitars - bought this was a comfort purchase in 2005, just to try something different - at these prices my collection will get bigger!!. The market for sub #200 guitars in the UK has changed in recent years with some great guitars like the Yamaha Pacifica range - taking into account inflation you couldnt get anything like this 20 - 30 years ago. This is a cheap guitar - by all means upgrade but that means spending more money and its not a cheap guitar anymore - its just a pity that a little more time couldnt be spend setting it up or doing a quality check, I didnt see any tags that showed a final factory check. Try more that one before you buy, but I didnt find one that was ready to gig straight off. Be prepared to spend some time setting one up (which is satisfying) or get a tech to do it if you can.

New, made in Indo. 22 frets, solid body mystery wood. Nice maple tele neck. Two humbuckers, 4 knobs, p/u selector switch, fender-style hard tail. Black w/black 70's era custom/deluxe pickguard, mini-rotomatic style tuning machines. Usual tele scale.

The sound is unique to this particular melding of tele and gibson styles. Full humbucker sound with a surprising tele snap left in there. Very nice, and not what I was expecting. Great blues and jazz tones to be had from the neck position. Snappy country licks and good straight up rock n' roll tones from the bridge position. Nice fat blend in the middle. The pickups are generic gibson size humbuckers, not the Fender "high output" pickups. They are about what you'd expect from a budget guitar. They sound much weaker (less output) than those on my Alleykat, although they seem to be well shielded, as no excessive hum was heard. I've heard better and I've heard much worse.

The set-up on this thing was horrible. It seems as though the parts were slapped on at the factory, it was boxed and thrown out the door (which is probably what really happened) but again it's nothing I wouldn't expect from a cheapo budget guitar. It needed some work to get it feeling and sounding good. I had to adjust the action, give the truss rod a little tweak to get rid of the sag in the middle of the neck and file the fret ends on every fret up and down both sides of the neck to avoid slicing my hand open. I then strung it with 13's, adjusted the height of the pickups, fixed the intonation and gave every screw a once over to tighten it all up. For all of its set-up flaws, this guitar turned out to be a really good player. It feels so much like my old tele, only with taller frets. I may file the frets down some, but then again maybe not. The pickguard has a not-very-noticeable flaw in the treble horn area. The bottom layer seems to be missing, but it's a black pickguard on a black body, so it's very hard to see. All of the hardware seems to be of good quality. My biggest beef is with the cheapo knobs, but good quality replacements are inexpensive. This is a great guitar to trick out as the neck and body are probably from the same stock real fenders are made from. For the price I paid for it, it's worth dropping another $200 or so in replacement parts to turn a cheapo into a really good feeling and sounding axe for slaying the foes of the gods of rock.

As mentioned, the body and neck are of surprisingly good quality and finish, as are most of the other components. It stays in tune reasonably well, and has nice secure strap buttons. Always bring a backup.

I have no experience with customer support, as I usually fix most problems myself.

I've been playing punk, blues, jazz, rock, bluegrass, etc. for a long time. I also own a few basses, a few acoustic guitars, a mandolin, and a few electrics. I've played many, many different electric guitars - one of my favorites being the telecaster because of its feel. After a thorough tuneup of this guitar, I have been reconnected with that beloved tele feel. The very low price and good quality of the neck and body make it one of the best guitar bargains I think I've had. If you buy this guitar with the intention of upgrading it with better quality hardware, and you enjoy working on guitars, it really can't be beat. I'm rating it low however, b/c of the work it needed to get it playable. Lots of potential with additional $$ and work invested.

If you've got this far you probably already know. MII, Telecaster Agathis body, Maple one piece neck, Dual Humbuckers. Generic sealed tuners (gotoh style?). Mine is black.

I play through a Fender Blues Jr with the volume set around 9 and the bridge pickup delivers nice well rounded tones with some very pleasent bite, very well suited for punk. Open and barre chords don't get lost in the mud. If your a fan of The Clash guitar sound you would definatley like the custom. For blues lead work the custom falls a bit short in my opinion. It lacks the bite of a tele, nor does it have the balls of a Les Paul, some people compare it to an SG, it sort of reminds me of a lower end PRS. As others have mentioned, there's not a lot of difference between pickups, other then the neck being a bit darker and muddier.

Factory set up was pretty good. Action was where I like it (on the medium high side). Finish is descent. All electrics work properly. The high E was a a bit sharp at the 12th fret, but that was an easy fix. Quite a few of the frets are razor sharp on the treble side. I recieved this guitar as a gift and it was still NIB, I would have picked out one with better fret work, but it's nothing a swiss file won't take care of, but it's something that should have been taken care of. My MIC Affinity Tele has much nicer fret work, and it was even less expensive guitar, so the price thing is not a reasonable excuse. The fretwork is by far the worst I've played on a Squire, Epiphone or other comparable guitars. Hopefully it's not a reflection of the whole line.

Still fairly new, but it all looks solid. Tele's can take a lot of abuse (Ask Pete Townsend). I'm not worried about it breaking or anything.

I've never had to deal with a guitar company for support. I don't think it came with a warranty, but not sure.

I've been playing guitar for 15 years and some change. I've got some studio experience and a few shows under my belt. Over the years I've owned a some really nice guitars, and some better suited for firewood. The Tele Custom is definatley one of the cooler guitars. What it lacks in fit and finish it makes up for in utility. The issue's it has are minor and easy to fix. For the music I play and write nothing sounds as cool as a Tele with buckers.

Made in Indonesia. Solid-body 6-string guitar with two humbuckers, Les Paul-style controls. Telecaster body made from ash-like wood, glossy black with black pickguard. Satin finish bolt-on maple Tele neck with maple fingerboard, steel jumbo-frets. Unbranded chrome hardware including Grover-style tuners, string-through-body non-ashtray bridge. The main differences from a real CBS Tele Custom: the neck is a Tele, not a Strat; the body isn't contoured; the neck bolts on with four bolts instead of three.

Sounds a bit like an Epiphone SG, which is a comparable guitar. I DI straight into a computer (sacrilage, I know) so I'm not sure how it would fare through a proper amp. It's quiet as you'd expect (they're humbuckers), but there's a little bit of noise from the pots when the gain is high. There's a bit of fret-buzz, but that's probably a lot to do with my crappy technique, plus the fact that the guitar needs to be set up by someone who knows what they're doing. It's not capable of awfully varied sounds- not as fat as a Les Paul, not as cutting as a Strat. I attribute this to the average-quality PUPs and poor passive electronics it ships with. One major gripe- the tone controls have little effect on the sound. As is it's OK for bluesy chords and dirty lead sounds.

I got the guitar 2nd hand in as-new condition- I'm not sure if the previous owner fiddled with the set-up, or if it was just awful straight out of the factory. It stays in tune relatively OK, but the action and intonation needs work. Finish is suprisingly good for a Squier, with only a couple of minor blemishes. The scratch-plate screw holes don't align quite right with those in the body, so the screws aren't dead-flush with the plate. Everything else is OK. I really like the feel of the satin-finish neck- your palm won't stick when it gets sweaty. It came with medium-gauge Fender strings which bend really easily, which I like because it allows a lot of expressive playing.

I haven't gigged this guitar, but I lent it to a friend who did once. I think it would easily withstand heavy gigging, although the finish might suffer after a while. In fact, unmodified it's probably better suited to being a gigging guitar or backup than it is to a strictly recording usage.

No opinion.

I'm not much of a guitarist, but I've played nicer guitars than this. My previous guitar was a borrowed Japanese Les Paul copy from the 70s, which was a different-sounding beast with different strengths and weaknesses. I'd have to say the Squier Tele Custom is very good for the price. It would make an excellent candidate for modification. The main things I would modify would be 1. The electronics, 2. Swap the knobs for real CBS Fender ones (instead of the plasticy look-alikes), 3. Upgrade the PUPs. Then I reckon it would stack up well next to a Mexican 72 Custom re-issue. I'm sure mine would also improve with a decent set-up.

Asian made. Essentially a Les Paul style layout. 2 Humbuckers, 3 way selector. You know.....

Good, but standard (but we love it don't we?)

I play mostly alt pop-rock to hard rock (think anywhere between the Dandy Warhols to Shihad to The Darkness) and this is a great guitar.

Not a huge variety of tones but still very nice. I've played this through a Laney VC30, Fender Hotrod Deluxe & 100w Marshall Valvestate (with preamp valve) & sounds great through all. In fact, it sounded even better through my amps than the store's amps!

You can really get a ball-tearing hard rock or heavy alternative tone through the bridge pickup. Not really bright but very thick & Les Paulish with the gain cranked. Pickups seem to have a high output which is great for controlled feedback as well.

More of a "rock" guitar. Probably not fantasic for Jazz or Blues but hell, Jazz/blues guys try it out you may like it!

Does not appear to be quite as well made as my other guitars, which are American made, ie standard of parts a bit lower, but quality was still very acceptible for the price. No real "flaws" in its construction at all, aside from perhaps when I hold a vibrato note for an extended period of time (20-30 seconds) getting & manipulating controlled feedback, the string starts to "scrape" the fretboard, perhaps due to a cheap laquer? This doesn't happen on my Les Paul or strat.

One thing to watch out for is consistency of construction. The shop that I bought it from had several of this model on the shelf. I tried them all and the one I bought was superior in every way to the others, so perhaps test/play throughly before you buy as there may be consistency issues from guitar to guitar.

I use this as my backup to the Les Paul when gigging. When In play seedy places, this becomes the main guitar (I don't take the expensive ones into the jungle). It has always kicked ass. No problems at all. You could play this without a backup even though I don't.
For the price I give it a 10.

Such a good guitar I've never needed to call Fender.

I've been playing for 13 years and would buy this again in a heartbeat if lost or stolen. I had wanted to find the 1970's Fender version of this for a long, long time but they were very hard to find, and then when they started appearing on the 2nd hand market they had become "vintage" and people were asking around AUS$3,000 which was a little out of my range.

When I saw that Squier were releasing a budget veersion of this guitar I jumped at it. They usually retail at about AUS$500 but the shop I got it at had them on sale for AUS$329, which is a true bargain for what I bought. I've never bought such a good value guitar before.

Yeah, it seems that on this website people only ever praise stuff highly, but in this instance I think its deserved. I highly recommend this guitar.

I play heavier louder music, and once set up for .11s this guitar can deliver absolutley brutal sounds while retaining an amazing amount of clarity. The tone controls need no adjusting and I have mine taped down at 8.5 and 10 respectivley. However with a little tweaking this guitar sounds great playing any style. The guitar can make the classic "Tele" sound, while the humbuckers allow much more flexibility and quality of tone. Absolutley fantastic.

While all in working order, the first thing I did with the guitar was lower the action and tighten the truss. One of the saddles was put on UPSIDE DOWN. However, a novice such as myself could fix the problems without so much as breaking a sweat. Room for improvement.

Fender must be devolping forcefield technology. This guitar would outlive cockroaches in a nuclear winter. However, I have broken it- having never owned a guitar with the telecaster lead jack i put it down with the lead still in it ripping all the wiring inside the guitar. That cost me a fair amount in repair bills. Also the plastic covering for the pickup selector has snapped off (I broke this mid-set). However the guitar has never stoped working, never been unplayable. Not only can this guitar withstand gigs, it can withstand MY gigs.

Bought this from a dealer. They were nice.

I have been playing this guitar for 9 months and cannot live without it. I prefer this guitar to my genuine Fender Strat. I wish I'd bought a proper stand for it before putting it down on the floor with a lead in, which led to a painful period of seperation. If it were stolen I'd replace it without delay. The sound of this guitar is mind boggling, somewhere between a classic tele and a Les Paul. The only bad thing I can think about (when pushed) is the classic tele head. The Strat headstock is much more attractive in my opinion. In the shop I played a whole range of more expensive guitars (PRS, Epiphone, Gibson, Ibanez, and other squires) but they couldn't hold a torch to this guitar. Thanks Keef, for attatching your name to this.

Two Humbuckers, threeway switch, agathis body, maple neck, chrome hardware and black finish. They say it's a 7.25 radius but it plays more like a 9.5. Through the body stringing. I've had mine for five months now so I have had time to give it a good evaluation with a variety of amps and effects.

I really agree with the last poster that the Custom really has some nice sounds in her. I have played her with a variety of amps and effects and with a little adjustment on both the amps and guitar, it really sounds good. No noise at all. Pots function very well as does the threeway.

I had to do a setup for intonation, pickup height and string height but other than that she was in good shape. Very tight neck pocket. Finish is very nice. The neck is unfinished maple and is on the thick side with unrounded edges but easy to get used to. Overall, the materials and construction are very good. It's just amazing what's coming out of Asia these days!

Very well made. I replaced the stock strap buttons with Fender/Schaller locks but other than that the hardware seems fine, on a par with the MIM's. Time will tell.

Have not used them.

Very good sound and build quality for the price. An outstanding value and that's why I give it a 10.

2004, Indonesian made, 22 medium jumbo frets, two humbuckers with volume and tone controls for both, three way switch. Agathis body with one piece maple neck, chrome hardware, standard ping tuners and through the body stringing. They come in any color you want as long as it's black! I wanted a Tele type body with something other than single coils. I had looked at both the MIM Tele Deluxe and Custom but really didn't want to spend $700.00 so I started looking the Squire Custom and Custom II

I am really impressed with the overall sound of the Custom with the stock humbuckers. It's a little harsh with everything on 10 but roll the tone down to about 7 and the volumne to 8 and it sounds as good as many high end humbuckers. They don't have the WHAM! in your face power of a Les Paul but have enough umph for good ole rock and roll. Sounds good with all of my setups which range from practice amps (Pathfinder 15, MicroCube) to the big guy's (Bad Cat's) I use a variety of effects ranging from a Eventide rack unit to pedals. Again, overall a very good sound.

Setup was all right out of the box but I always do a complete setup myself with any guitar. Intonation needed adjustment, new stings and a little tweak on the neck. Other than that it was good to go. Finish was excellent. The neck is one piece unfinished maple and does not have the rounded edges like some the higher end Fenders. It's a chunky "C" shape, which I happen to like. Neck pocket is very tight. The nut is all right but sometime down the line I will replace it. Pots are quiet and the three way switch seems to be OK. The little hardware things can be addressed later at very little expense.

Very well made with attention to detail. Strap button are solid.

N/A

If you have noticed, I have not made statements like "For 149.00 or "At this price what can you expect" and the reason is that the Custom is a very well crafted and gigable instrument and I?m talking about stock with no replacement parts. I own some very high end axe's, which of course have better overall materials and fancy inlays, but this Custom holds it?s own in the sound department. It used to be that anything made overseas or at a really low price point was a piece of junk. Well, things have changed! If you can get over having the ?Squier? on the headstock, which I have, then I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the quality and sound of the Custom.

2004 Indonesian made.. you know the rest

I play mostly emo/hard rock like Hundred Reasons, Copperpot Journals, Reuben etc and this guitar is perfect for it. Partly why I bought it is because it is basically a cheaper version of the guitar Larry Hibbit from Hundred Reasons uses, and I'm not disappointed. However, I have a really wide music taste, and also play indie stuff like Bloc Party, Coldplay or The Bees, and its fine for that too. Basically, you name it, it'll play it. I'm not really one for effects, but it sounds awesome with some distortion, and is suprisingly loud. Slightly limited tone-not much difference betwen pickup settings, although I find it's difficult to play with distortion and both pickups up because the sound gets muddy. Generally pretty rich sound, would probably sound much better with a better amp than mine (nasty Watson little one).

Factory set up was great-didn't change a thing. Nice low action, good sound, no aesthetic flaws, although one of the tone knobs is a little wobbly and just recently I've had problems with the jackplug coming loose. However generally no real complaints.

Definitely play it live-built like a tank. Hardware doesn't sem too bad bar points above. Finish is beautiful-I have knocked it pretty hard on several occasions and can't find a ding or scratch anywhere! Strap buttons are very solid, although I will be replacing them with locks simply for my own peace of mind. Undoubtedly I would gig with it minus backup.

Never dealt with them, though I might be contacting them over the jack plug and loss of sound.

I would definitely consider buying another one if it was stolen- I love it. It looks fantastic and plays beautifully. Big thanks to Steel City for some great customer service-they chucked in a discount card plus gigbag all in with the price.

I just bought a black one (tele) custom made in indonesia. med frets 4 control knobs(2) volume (2) tone 3 way selector very nice finish very nice neck.string through rear body vintage like

I played it at the local shop on a full stack line six. and it sounded great.. both clean and dirty. no noise. very rich sounding and bright. It doesnt seem to make a whole lot of varition in sound! but, I love the sound it produces. like the others had stated very keith richards sounding.I love the guitar

The guitar was set up fantastically I dont need to do nothing. maybe raise one of the pickups as a prior reviewer suggested. that's it. the frets were smooth everything appears tight. alright" let's move on.

Will see about that

I have called fender awhile back (many moons ago) and they were superb then.

I give this guitar a 10 I was at another guitar store just prior and the sales offered me a mexican strat maroom color new like, with a gig bag. for $200,00 bucks. I passed it up... I had a hard time because of the name (fender)but The mexican strat was not as well built as this squier nor did it have the looks& sound.So I said hell with the name and bought the squier it's better made.Heavy!!! this guitar!! the tele custom is "heavy" it was alot heaver than the mex strat. for the price looks and sound I will rate it high.You know what I really love about this tele is you get a strat feel without the knobs continually getting in the way knocking my volume down.

Black finish, 2 humbuckers, 2 volume controls, 2 tone controls, 3 position toggle--this is more of a Tele Deluxe than a custom, really. I also own a black '72 Fender Telecaster Custom re-issue, with the neck humbucker and bridge single coil pick-ups, so the 2 humbuckers and Strat-type bridge definitely make it more like a Deluxe.

It's a great sounding guitar, very powerful and Les Paul-like, again like a Tele Deluxe. A bit limited on some of the traditional Tele tones, but hey, that's why I own 5 Teles!

Set up pretty well coming from the factory. I only needed to make a few minor adjustments.

I am literally amazed that $200 can buy this much guitar! It seems very durable, well made and compares quite favorably to my Fender Tele Custom, which was over 3 times the price. It seems like it will be very relaibale and that it could be used without a backup, no problem.

I've never needed to call Fender for anything, and I have owned Fenders for over 25 years.

I have 16 guitars, and 5 of them are Telecasters. I have been performing and recording professionally for over 20 years. My style is similar to Keith Richards and Rich Robinson, very open G oriented. In fact, I decided to dedicate this guitar to strictly open G tuning. Through my Marshall half stack it sounds killer. The Squier Telecaster Custom is a great value for the money.

My Tele Custom is a 2004, Black, 22-fret, One-Piece Maple neck(which seems unusually cool. It means they had to do a specific run of necks that were solid, instead of the usual being capped after the truss was put in.)It's your basic Les-Paul tone/volume/switching set-up, which I like, as I only play teles it broadens my arsenal considerably. The pick-ups are a little on the weak side, but very usable. Circuits are of course passive. The bridge is a strat type hard-tail string through body. I would like to change it to a standard strat two-point tremelo. I haven't worked out the posibility of that yet.

I tend to go for as much twang as humanly possible, but I thought this guitar would be nice for non-twang stuff. And it definitley has no twang whatsoever. It reminds of a Gibson SG sound-wise. Which is cool. If the tremolo installation is too difficult, I will probably put in a tele three-barrel bridge with a sinlge-coil pick-up. Making it a little truer to the original Tele Custom. The neck goes perfectly with the intended sound of this guitar, I absolutely love the feel also. It's thick and you shredders out there won't like it.
If this neck were rosewood capped it would just be way too dark sounding. But the solid maple really adds to the cut. It really helps where the humbuckers start to give out. The main problem with this guitar is that there is just not enough tonal difference when switching between pick-ups. I've found if you lower the neck p/u and make it level, then raise the bridge p/u and angle it to where the highest part is closest to the high strings....that is about the widest variant in the tonal range. It is truly a quiet guitar, which is so strange from a tele purest point-of-view. I use a DanElectro echo pedal running through a little Fender 15R. It sounds great. I'm not into tons of effects. Most of the stuff I play is real minimalist.

I play mostly old country(Merle/Waylon/Etc.). The action is well-suited for that stuff. It's a good guitar for striclty backing music for a vocalist. It's really not the best squier for leads. Although it can scream if needed. When I bought this guitar I compared it to an actual Fender(Mexican) that was exactly the same, and construction wise this guitar showed better craftsmanship. The finish had a little more luster and was more even. I also have a Squier Standard Tele. Both guitars are from Indonesia and in my opinion, they are making the best over-seas Fender product. Nobody can beat the Fender standard for book-matching the body pieces. The hard-ware looks great, I will be curious to see if it stands the test of time.

I have professionally guitar-teched for bands and have seen all kinds of guitars. This guitar will totally hold up in live situations. I've finally gotten over the Squier stigma and wear it proudly. Not having my Squiers very long, I just don't know how durable they will be for the long term. They certainly seem to be well crafted instruments. I would definitely trust this guitar enough to go without a back-up. I may go a week without playing it, pick it up and it's still in tune. And it stays in tune when I play consistantly.

I do my own repairs, but I know Fender/Squier have good warranty programs for defective equipment.

I've played on and off for about 15yrs.. Both of my Squiers were gifts from my wife. One for Christmas(Standard), and one for Valentines Day(Custom). She thought I needed a creative outlet. And I must admit that I love playing both guitars. It's great that Squier has up'd the stakes in budget guitars. I would just never spend $1000 on a guitar to sit on my couch and play. But I've always wanted a Custom Tele. Both of my guitars are basically vintage re-issues, with a few modern appointments. And it's just cool as hell to get the guitars I've always wanted and not break the bank. I'll leave my e-mail for anyone who has modification suggestions. I got both guitars for around $475 with tax and new strings. You can't beat that with a stick.

Right, Indonesian tele, deluxe/72 custom hybrid, one piece hard maple neck/fingerboard, black gloss solid agathis body (I think theres a blonde version) thru body stringing, squier tele standard chrome hardware with 2 buckers & a hardtail bridge... read previous reviews etc etc. I think squier are doing really well here feature- wise, compared to a normal tele theres alot going on, and with the solid wood, thru body strings, and high quality neck and good finish they're starting to make a mockery of #500 mexican 72 customs and the like.

Bought this guitar for its drop dead looks (Oi, Keef!) to be honest and and i bought it mail order too, which i NEVER normally do! I think the previous reviews get it more or less right when it comes to the sound, the stock pickups aren't perfect abit muddy/hummy but, its a #170/$200 guitar and theyre about what i'd expect. The electrics are a bit cheesy too, yet don't show any signs of letting me down though. More importantly the guitar sounds great acoustically - loud and resonant - i'm binning the pickups anyway and getting some quality 'buckers. The neck quality is excellent, nice matt satin finish, no fret issues, stays in tune etc etc.

No REAL issues problems with this, niggles include; the ferrules sometimes come out when changing strings (not really a problem -glue?). Nut isnt great but this isnt as bad as some reviewer's guitars, it just doesnt bother me, the pickguard plastic is a bit flimsy, this doest bother me either (Its a scratchplate for gods sake) More importantly the body and neck finish are great. i e the basics are right. Upgrade everything else and you've got a very tasty guitar.

Withstand live playing? (it does) Will the hardware last? (Definitely, the bridge is particularly high quality)Finish robust? (Yes, where it matters)Strap buttons solid (Yep) Can you depend on it without a backup? (Strange question, a million dollar 50s tele can break strings cant it? If you can afford a back up, great)The pots & switch look a bit cheesy but work absolutely a1 so far.

Not bothered.

Playing for about 10 years,Owned a 74 fender mustang, 97 rick 330 12, Ibanez artist & various lumps of firewood. Ive always been a Keith fan (Open G "start me up..ne ne ne etc") and after playing 72 customs against this there was no way i was going to fork out for another three four or five hundred quid for the various mex/Jap/USA combinations - Sorry, but as a previous reviewer has mentioned, the difference in quality just isnt there. I'm interested in tone, not what type of grain swirls are in the neck maple. Teles are rightly famous for being the first affordable, mass produced solid electrics, they were intended as tough workaday tools not expensive ornaments and i think the squiers are probably the inheritors of that tradition. This guitar aint perfect and im replacing the pups (possibly with regular tele bridge s/coil assy) becase the stocks ARE cheesy, the electrics maybe oneday too..mmm perhaps some sheilding, it'll cost about #70 to make this into a s*** hot guitar thats about #240 in all, brand new (including postage).Blimey!

Indonesian made Tele, maple neck, dual humbucker, les paul style knob controls.

I use this through a grip of effects: guitar, Vox wah, Keeley comp, Boss OD (Keeley mod), Fulltone 2, Rat 2 (Keeley mod), Boss CE-2 (Keeley mod), Danelectro trem, Line 6 DL-4, MXR Micro amp, Fender HotRod Deluxe amp. The sound is reasonably good after being setup properly. The pickups are not the greatest but what do you expect for a $200 guitar. There is not a lot of clarity but I will soon remedy that by switching these for a Bill Lawrence L-450N and L-490B. The guitar is very quiet and easy to play, I think it's a better idea and investment to buy a guitar like this which in IMHO has comparable quality and spend a few hundred customizing it to your liking. Then you end up with a unique guitar that is to your liking without having to spend a ton of cash.

I picked this up from my local Sam Ash and the intonation needed adjusting but other than that it felt great and played very quiet. The quality of the neck and body/finish is very nice and well worth the cash.

I wouldn't try to cut down a tree with it but I think it will last. I don't baby my gear but I don't trash it either. After having it professionally setup I would gig this guitar without a backup and I don't foresee any problems. I replaced the tuners with Sperzel locking tuners and put a Graph tech bridge on it as well.

never dealt with them and don't plan to.

I have been playing for about 8 years and I have a Master's Degree in Classical Guitar Performance. I have been playing electric for about 3 years and I absolutely love it. If you are even thinking about this guitar and can scrounge up the dough I would highly recommend it. This guitar is worth every penny. After all is said and done I will have put in about $500 (including original cost) and I can guarantee that it will compare to any $1000+ American strat out there.

I've been playing this guitar for a few months now & I'm digging it for the most part. It has dual humbs, a volume control for each, a tone control for each, and a three-way selector switch (bridge, neck, both). It's a one piece maple neck that is unfinished & I like that a lot. Super smooth and the fretwork is good. Not sure what kind of tuners it has, but they stay in tune pretty well & the bridge is adjustable enough. I did have to spend about 25 minutes setting it up a little better than it was from the factory. Pups weren't level & the action was a bit high. Other than that, she was a beauty off the showroom floor. It looks pretty bad ass too.

It sounds pretty good for a $200 guitar. I play a lot of stuff, but mostly indie rock bordering on punk. Pussy punk if you will. haha.

I'm plugging it into my bass rig right now through a Peavey Maxx 100 preamp and it rocks pretty well. I like the sound a lot aside from the massive pup buzz.

My buddy has a Fender DeVille 4x10 combo that I played it through last night & clean channel it sounded good but when it started getting dirty it kind of came through a little muddy.

The only big gripe is the massive amount of buzz and fuzz I get from the pickups when my fingers are off the strings and when they're turned completely down. I'm guessing I'll swap out the pups and electronics when I have some extra cash, but really it does just fine for now... It could just be better. For $200 what do you expect though?

As said, I spent about 25 minutes setting it up when I got home. Otherwise it plays and feels nice. I particularly like the neck and the body rests well under my belly. The only thing I don't really like is the switch placement. I like to play both pups full on & when I'm strumming hard I sometimes flip the switch. Really, that's more of a technique problem, I guess. :-)

I'm sure that if I treat it well and upgrade some of the parts it will be a good guitar for a long time. I dig it.

It will have to stand live playing... It's my only working guitar. I'll most likely replace the hardware pretty soon. I have another Squier Strat that I've had for 9 years now and it's completely fallen apart, so I don't want to take any chances. I'll be proactive with this one. If the finish wears off, that will be pretty punk rock. It doesn't seem like it will though. I'll be putting straplocks on it as soon as I start gigging again, but the strap buttons it comes with seem solid. I'll have to depend on it & I'll have to use it without a backup, so yes to both of those I guess.

Haven't had to talk to them.

I've been playing bass for 14 years & guitar for 9. I have another Squier Strat that doesn't work, a Squier P Deluxe that doesn't work, and a Reverend Rumblefish that kicks a ton of ass. I needed a $200 guitar just to have a working one & this one actually felt and sounded the best of all the other $200 guitars I played. I was super reluctant to buy another Squier after previously owning two that fell apart, but this one seems a lot more solid than the ones I have. I'm not sure if I'd replace it if stolen or lost. I'd probably just get something for $200 used on eBay. I probably should have done that anyway, but whatevs. I think the thing looks cool as hell, has a surprisingly great neck, and has a lot of potential with some new hardware and electronics thrown on it. I played (the $200 models from each & I don't remember exactly which models) a BC Rich, Ibanez, other Squiers, a Schecter, an ESP, a Yamaha, and a Peavey. I just think this Tele Custom sounded and played better than the others, not to mention it looked better too. I with it had better pickups and electronics and I wish the stock pickups didn't make so much undesireable noise, but otherwise I think it's a pretty darn good cheap guitar.

Made in Indonesia, Humbuckers, Alder body, Black color, Thin Maple neck, etc.

For Rock and Punk it is great. The pickups are aggressive. I use it with a Big Muff and a Vox Pathfinder for practice and a Marshall Combo otherwise. The humbuckers are adjustable to produce both warm and clean sounds, although I usually use distortion from the amp. I rarely play the guitar clean. The pickups do buzz when the volume and tone knobs are on high.

Action needed work. Something rattling inside the body that does not affect playability. One major complaint is the plastic protective sheet over the pickguard. The plastic ran under the tone and volume knobs, the pickup selector switch and the neck of the guitar. I had to remove all knobs and switches to get all of the plastic off. This is very disturbing because it is easy to scratch the guitar when trying to remove tiny bits of plastic underneath the knobs and especially the neck.

The Telecaster seems reliable enough. I think it will last at least a few years without needing any major adjustments or replacements. I play it constantly and nothing has failed. Overall I think you get what you pay for. A $200.00 guitar is going to have issues that have to be dealt with.

No experience with Fender.

Played for 5 years. I would buy the Fender version not the Squier if it got stolen. Since I am in college money is an issue. I would save up the extra cash for the extra quality. The best thing about it is the way it looks and sounds. The maple neck and black body are gorgeous together and the pickups add a touch of variety in the black body.

Yeah its a Squier Tele Custom Humbucker-Humbucker. Indonesian made. 22 medium-jumbo frets on a one piece maple neck. The finish on the neck is thin and a lil dull, but has a thin shape and its smooth to the touch. The body is agathis, its black and lustery. 6 saddle string through body bridge w/ no tremolo. 3 way switching, and independent vol. and tone controls for each pickup (nice, like a les paul, the switch is even similarly placed). Tuners are pretty generic but they wind smoothly. Nothing came with this but the strings, and it was very close to being in tune (is that weird for buying off the internet?)

I love the Rolling Stones, especially Keith. This is as close to the '72 RI tele that I can get. I keep it always in 5 string open-G tuning. My amp is a Crate 30 watt. When played clean, it has that sweetness you'd expect from a humbucker (in either position). I mostly play Stones style, heavy one finger bar chords and small chord voicings laced with twangy fills. Overdriven, its nice for that sound, hot but deep, it has a heavy bottom end that doesnt drown out the top end like on cheap humbuckers, and the top end is bright but not bitingly so. The lack of variety is a bit apperent, because the neck and bridge pickups are so similar. If you play the bridge humbucker but near the neck, it sounds the same as the neck pickup. the middle position is a bit darker, more bottom end, deep and a bit mid-rangey. messing around with the volume and tone controls can provide interesting tones, but not a lot of variety, turning down the tone and volume kind of makes it a lil muddy through my amp.

Factory set-up was a lil off. The first thing I noticed was the switch was in need of tightening. Action was good, but intonation was jacked. I dont play with a bottom "E" (in my case "D") string on it, and I'm glad I dont cause when I did have it on there tightened the saddle all the way down and still it was off. The nut needs to be worked on at the 6th string, and the other strings were off a bit too, but I adjusted those to be ok. Neck was good, no gaps or anything wrong. Pickups seem at a reasonble height and tilt, maybe the bridge pickup could be tilted up at the treble end for more brightness, I dunno. The finish is shiny, and dent-resistant but easily scratches.

I'm not in a band as of now but If I was playing live this would be my main guitar for sure. It should withstand years of playing, although heavy road use could hurt the thing. The strap buttons are solid, the hardware is great. Gig without a back-up? Well, If I absolutley had to I wouldn't be afraid of anything going wrong. The thing is a tank of a guitar.

I've been playing about 2 years. I also own an Ibanez GRX-40, its like a strat but S-S-H, a kind of cheap knock-off but decent in it's own right. This guitar is good beginner's guitar, and perfect for novice to intermediate because it has features but nothing that makes you sound any better than you can actually play. I like it because it looks and sounds similar to Keith Richard's main tele from the 70's. I don't like the nut, and that the pickups can be muddy at times, but thats most likely 'cause of my amp. The best thing is the killer looks, and the pickup and controls arrangement. It's the best real tele you can get for that price.

Made in Indonesia. In my opinion, a far better reproduction than the Mexican made versions. No need to list the features again here. Mentioned many times over what this guitar is about.

Mine was flawlessly put together.

I play all styles of music and this guitar can do it all. Really. I play through a Peavy Classic 30 and/or a Fender Twin depending on the size of the stage or venue. This axe sounds great in either amp. Not much variety when switching between pickups. Probably because they are identical. Usually one of the two pickups is different on more expensive guitars. But hey, I can change one later or install a tap switch. The way it is, this guitar just sings in a tube amp. Period.

In my Twin, the brightness comes through as good as a Standard tele custom. In my Classic 30, the guitar is very bluesy in a midrangey sort of way. The difference in sound of this guitar compared to the American or Standard version is the wood. But hey, for under $200 bucks, it is a steal compared to over $600 or over $1000 for the other versions. So I am not picky about wood. I have an amp and guitar modeller (Digitech and Roland) if it came to that in a studio situation.

After setup was done by a tech, something wonderful happened. The guy played a few jazz and classical chords through his Twin. The guitar and his playing had a sound that made everyone in the store stop and come to see. The tech was impressed and said it sounds as good as his '72. I was impressed the way he made the guitar sound. Reminded me of what someone said long ago. It's not the axe, but what the person can do with it.

Unfortunately, the one I bought was not in tune and the intonation was WAY off. The nut has to be filed to lower the 6th string more, intonation set, and the toggle switch screw tightend snuggly.

Otherwise, the paint and hardware fit and finish was superb. No flaws anywhere in the paint, tuners, knobs, neck, etc.

This is my second Indonesian built Fender authorized product. I think Fender will find that the Standard line should be built in Indonesia, not Mexico.

I will never buy a Mexican Fender product. The quality is not there. The wood tone is good, but I looked at several Tele Customs from Mexico and all had neck alignment problems, AND bridges that could not be adjusted properly without a total redo. Sorry, for over $600, there is no excuse Fender. None. I learned my lesson from the two (yes, two) Roland Ready Strats (made in Mexico) that I bought new direct from Fender that had neck problems and defective electronics.
I dumped them quick.

I believe this guitar will hold up fine. I cannot see anyone bashing one of these around. They will be collectables one day. I bought a molded case for it as I feel a gig bag is just wrong for this guitar. Low priced Strats and Teles are a dime a dozen. But this design is not.

But there are people out there who don't give a damn, so those will be the ones who'll say the guitar is cheap and junk.

I never gig without a backup, and I have a few choices to use.

Never had a problem with Fender Customer Support. Always helpful even when I was pissed about the Roland Ready Strats. They do have people there that are passionate about the products. When you get such a person, it is a joy.

Been playing for over 30 years, all styles of music with a variety of artists. I own wonderful guitars and this one is a new favorite.

I ordered and paid for one from Guitar Center and they still can't get it for another 2 months from Fender. Two weeks later, Sam Ash had a sale and had received a few. They must have purchased all the stock Fender had at the time. So, eventually, I will have two.

Because I am proud of this purchase and the sound, It will be in my rotation of axes on stage. You cannot beat it for the price. It seems that the American and STandard versions are hit-and-miss when purchasing them, so why spend the extra money? If Fender can establish quality with the price points of each line, maybe, just maybe I would consider buying American. For now, this Squire version is smart money spent.

Made in 2004, crafted in Indonesia.22 frets, agathis body in stylish black. Two high output humbuckers. It has yer standard tele body shape with a unusual pickguard shape. Fixed string thru body Fender style bridge, no tremolo ofcourse. No brand tuners which do the job quite good. Has I think a C shaped thin neck, thinner than an average strat. No xtras on this one. Just a cardboard box.

Sounds quite loud and rough. Suits my blues rock style good. Pickups can be a bit noisy. But this baby is made to rock and I mean ROCK! Just hit it and you'll know what I mean.

Set up was quite ok, had to do some tiny adjustments. Nut was cut kinda sloppy so that had to be adjusted.

Gigging?Yes. Built like a friggin'tank but then again it IS a tele. Strap buttons may have to go in the near future in favour of straplocks. I will gig with it! And without backup.

dunno.

This is one of Squier's latest line of "Standard" gold-line offerings right out of Indonesia. I bought this new just after their release and, I see, they are still as hard to find as that proverbial needle in a haystack. The spec is as follows:

* 22-fret maple neck
* solid-body (I can't remmber the type of wood, see the other reviews) - it sounds great! But only available in black at the moment.
* telecaster-style body crossed with an SG or Les Paul, somewhere between the telecaster '72 and deluxe.
* two high-output humbuckers with chrome covers.
* two controls for each pickup - seperate tone and volume plus Les Paul-mounted pickup selector switch above the neck on the shoulder.
* String-through-body fender bridge.
* tuners are Squier's famous no-name but they're sealed-back and outlast a two-hour-long set and I don't play lightly! so pretty impressive!
* thin(ish) telelcaster neck with what I'm assuming are medium frets - nice and easy to play on.

This guitar is everythign I've been looking for - just not in a Les Paul! :) In temrs of features, the only thing it misses is a coiltap, but we'll get to that. So it gets a 9.

This is where this gutiar fails slightly. Another user mentioned a buzzing whenever your hands aren't in contact with the strings. mine has taht too, but I've worked out how to fix it now, it's just poor grounding work under the plate. My main suggestion for this is to get some alu-tape and shield the inside cavity and make sure the bridge is grounded - mine wasn't!

I play what we often hear reffered to as "indie with a twist of everything"; basically we don't push our distortion up too high, we play with a lot of bluesy tones and at some points go a bit old-Oasis-ey or Strokes-y. For this, I coudn't ask more, It does sound absolutely excellent, although when you push the humbuckers too high they do start to break up slightly, but since I don't ever push it that high (well, not usually..), it really isn't an issue.

I play through two Laney 100watt pure-valve amps on stage and one 50-watt Laney for home/studio use. Laney amps are very picky when it comes to what guitars it makes sound good and what guitars it makes sound bad (it used to hate my original 62 Fender Stratocaster, and my Black beauty Les Paul), but it loves this.

The stock pickups are pretty good, overall the sound produced was pretty similar in tone to the Epiphone SGs, just slightly birghter and with mroe definition to the tone. However, the pickup selector switch barely makes any difference - both pickups sounded the same so I've exchanged the neck pickup for a Seymour Duncan Jazz II, but that was more for personal prefernace than fault in the original. It does give it just a little more edge on my scope of sound.

I'm going to give it an 8 in this section, just because the buzz drove me absolutely bonkers for ages and the tonal variety you would expect isn't quite there. But it does sound great! I think it's more suited to the more old-rock, indie, blues, jazz style (think Radiohead - the Bends era, it's stunningly close) than anything else. If your'e looking for a humbucker gutiar to play Metallica riffs through, this isn't your guitar.

When this came out of the box I was expecting to atleast spend a little time droping the strings, setting the intonation but none of that needed doing at all! It was ready to play right out of the box (it was even in tune!). The only thing I will say abotu the setup is that the nut had a few little stringy bits (somebody else mentioned this too). It's nothign to worry about, you just need to take a tiny file down there when you next string-change otherwise it'll bond with the string and you'll lose your tone, sound, and strings!

The pickups were at the right height, the black finish looks good - I compared this to one of the "actaul" Fender telecaster '72s (I was gong to buy oen until I saw this!) and the finish coming out of the Mexican factory is truely terrible. It's like rubber but the finish on this Squier is brilliant, it's not too thick, it's not too thin, it just lets the tones out.

Again, this section gets a 9 - the nut is the only fault, and it's not even really a fault, it's just there! Most peopel would never even give it a thought.

I have been playing guitar professionally for almost 20 years now and I've spent the entire past year on the road across Europe, and now I wish I'd had this gutiar with me then. I would use this live without even a secound thought - I already have been doing (before and after the pickup replacement) and it behaves really well! The only problem I had was a snapped string that whipped across my face but that's nothign to do with the guitar!

In gigs I always carry a backup, it's nothing to do with the reliability of my guitar, or anything like that, it's just a matter of principle - i don't get paid if I don't play! But I would still feel confident playing this one without.

The hardware would last, I'v eno doubt about that, especially when you consider how good the "no name" tuners are. The strap buttons seem solid to me (what does that mean anyway?) And I can definatly depend upon it, I already do!

CBS Fender. I wouldn't even bother trying... If I ever have a problem with this gutiar, it's got a year warranty which is useful and I know the shop I bought it from would respect that, no questions asked; but it's easier for me just to get my technician to look at it, or give it a bash myself.

Apart from being an excellent gutiar, there is another thing you have to consider here - these were released late last year and are a brand new line of gutiars from a fairly respectable manufacturer. How many have you seen around? apart from just looking unique, there really aren't all that many of these around, certainnly not like the Stratocasters and Telecasters that dominate everywhere. If you're going to buy one, do it in confidence because it's a fantastic gutiar but do it now, because these are almost certainly going to become collectors pieces if kept in good condition!

The sound of this guitar is great, and considering I nearly bought a Mexican Fender for three times the price, it's fantastic value. Would you rather buy a top-of-the-range guitar from a slightly cheaper company or a "budget" gutiar from somewhere like Fender where the only thing they've got going for them is their famous name? I tried this against the Mexican Fenders and absolutely everything about it was better. Even the finish is of a better standard than those gutiars comign out of the Mexican factories.

There was a point where Fender's Japanese Squiers actually out-did their own USA-made Fenders... I've no doubt that Fender will never let that happen again, but this is about as close as you're ever going to get, and for a price difference of #400, need I say more? :)

This guitar isn't going to suit everybody - if you're going to play metal, buy a Ibanez or a Jackson, but if your'e going to play anything else, this is going to be a fantastic investment. The only problem is the buzzing, but that only seems to have happened in some of them, and if you're going to play at volumes where it's going to be noticable, then you really shoudl have it shielded anyway!

As a collector of guitars (highend and budget), I was very keen to obtain a Squier Custom Telecaster and bought mine in early December 2003. It had only just been delivered and hadn't even been taken out of its delivery box. It was however well set up without the need for any trussrod or action adjustment. I paid #195 for it, it was made in Indonesia, has 23 frets and like most other Telecasters it has no tremelo system. There is a three way selector that switches between the two high output humbuckers - this is sensibly placed above the fretboard as opposed to below where you can inadvertantly hit it with your fretting hand whilst playing. You are effectively forced to play using the neck pickup as it can get a bit unconfortable on the knuckles if you favour the bridge pickup as the saddles tend to be a bit prominent. I have found it does go out of tune very quickly as the tuners are made of cheap materials. Compared to a cheaper Squier tele, the maple neck feels much inferior, the finish is very poor which lets it down badly - the lack of satin finish is a bad ommission. This would have taken it to a level unsurpassed on instruments of similar class - bad move by Squier. The overall look however is very high and given its shortcomings it is still pleasant to play.

The action is fairly low and the humbuckers give a very satisfying rock sound, switching between the two however does kittle to change the tonal range. It definitely does not have the range of the Squiers that have single coil/humbucker configurations - and if you are in the market for a Telecaster - I strongly advise you to go for one of those unless the look of this one is something you cannot live without. It is very noisy, with ample sustain/

As covered in the previous sections - well set up, but let down by the finish of the neck that made it feel cheap. Everything else was well made and adjusted - nothing loose.

I would use this to gig with and yes the finish seems capable of holding together through several years of heavy use but of course this is a speculative opinion as I have only had it for 8 weeks.

12 months warranty - told to take it back afetr 3 months to be checked - but having done that with previous instruments - all that is done is it is looked at and nothing is done. Never had dealings with Squier.

4 years playing - @ 45 guitars - too numerous to list. I would not replace it if stolen - I like the look more than its playability. I did not compare it to anything else.

This is a maple necked telecaster with 2 humbuckers and the same switch / pot configuration as a les paul. They were issued in 2003 but very difficult to get hold of in the UK. I wanfed one because it had 2 humbuckers (My other guitar is a normal Squier Tele) but liked the idea of a Maple neck.

Very good sounding guitar acoustically. The pickups are bright and perfectly acceptable although the bridge pickup can lose definition so I will probably Kent Armstrong it. Good sound through a Marshall TSL will get lots of use on the rockier stuff that we do (Wildhearts, Mott)

Best guitar I have ever received. Plays like a dream and pickup balance is perfect (Well done Academy of Sound)

Only had for 3 Weeks but seems a well made solid instrument to me. Will get lots of live use and I would gig with no backup if I had to

Never had any proble with Squiers. Good solid reliable guitars

I spent 6 months tryng to get one of these and am very happy with it. If it got nicked I would get another. This is a well made quality guitar at a budget price. I used to have an american strat but it did not suit what I play (The Pirates to Motorhead) and I started using Squire Teles (Indonesian). You can leave them overnight in pubs and not get to worried. To be honest I don't think there is that much difference in quality and I think this is a superb guitar. My only change will probably be a new bridge pickup but that is more habit than anything else (I would probably do the same to a PRS!!). If you like maple necks, Teles and fancy the 2 Humbucker option this is worth a look if you can find one.

I believe everyone has commented on the features of this guitar already, giving it an 8 for the individual tone and volume, but there's nothing else much to it

i LOVE the sound this guitar has, the neck pup is really bassy and bell- like, and the bridge makes this radiohead like sound I really like, when you switch to middle position it goes a little bit thin but you can fix it cutting the tone down on the bridge pickup
I give it a 10 because it exceeded my expectations

the action is perfect for me after I put .10's on this baby, a little string buzz when I drop D but I am a heavy handed player so I give it a 10 cause I really like low action

haven't had any problems with it yet, everything looks really solid and the finish has no flaws that I have noticed

I already played live 3 times with it and aside from a small problem with a faulty cable, it played beautifully

never dealt with them

I have been playing for about 4 years I haven't owned any other guitars but I have played many, and this sound is more to my liking (very warm) I love the feel of the maple neck and the telecaster vintage body if it were stolen I would cry a lot, I look forward to spending a long time playing this baby.

This guitar is a 2003 model with two covered humbuckers "crafted" in Indonesia. It has a bolt on 22 fret maple (non-lacquered satin finish) neck and fingerboard with medium/jumbo frets. The controls are 2 volume and 2 tone like a Gibson and the colour of the body and pickguard are black. The pickguard is a 3 ply shaped like a 70's custom tele. Pickups are selected with a 3 way toggle like a Gibson. The tuners are good and the bridge is a standard 6 saddle Fender string through the body style. I give this guitar a good rating for features because it does what I want it to do and I feel it gives the best of both worlds between a Gibson and a Fender. It plays like a Fender yet has smooth double coil sound, good for jazz as well as blues or rock. I also like to be able to blend both pickups using the volumes while the pickup toggle switch is in the middle position.

This axe suits my playing style just dandy! I play blues and some light rock as well as 60's & 70's soul and I don't use effects. I am currently using this guitar through a Roland BC 30 and it sounds pretty darn good to say the least. I have no complaints about the pickups or the the controls. Everything works fine and the pickups on my model are not noisy at all even with the Roland at full blast. If a guitar has good pickup output and can give me a variety of tones then I am satisfied and this baby does it. One reviewer posted that he had to change the pickups on his because of excessive noise. I don't seem to have the same problem so I guess he had a lemon...?

Set-up...? What set-up? The neck was in need of adjustment and the strings where 9's yet I really liked the neck shape and the frets so I new that with a minor truss rod tweak and 10's this guitar would play wonderfully which it does(I'm playing it right now). I can't believe how well this thing plays. I owned a 1987 American Std tele for 10 years and this guitar is pretty darn close in play-ability and neck feel. I like it even more that my Fender Japan Foto-flame tele that I also used for several years. The hardware and machine heads are good and the pickups and bridge saddles are easy to adjust. The controls are smooth in a good postition on the body and I don't have a problem accessing them. Suprisingly the factory intonation set-up was good. The guitar plays and stays in tune quite well. Overall, a very well built guitar. For the price, I don't think you will find a better one.

I have used this guitar on a couple of gigs already and at one rehearsal. I would not hesitate using this guitar live or in the studio. The neck is tight to the body and the body is not too heavy. The finish and paint job are brilliant. It lives up to Fender quality standards. The hardware is solid and I forsee years of enjoyment from this guitar. I would highly recommend this instrument to any working musician.

Never had to deal with Fender. Their stuff is always good.

I've been playing for 25 years and I also own a Jay Turser DC-134 an Epiphone Les Paul JR. a 1970's Univox Les Paul copy and an Art&Lutherie acoustic guitar. I bought this guitar because I really liked it's looks and the sound of two humbuckers. For years I used noisy single coil strats and teles (because I like the way they played) but for some reason I have become a convert to humbuckers and like I said this one has the best of both worlds. If my Squire was stolen I would try to replace it right away. It is worth it and right now it is my main guitar. I really like this guitar and it does inspire me to play.

This is an update of an earlier review.

First: Ignore the "3" rating under the "features" category.
As I say in the text, the ratings template in this section
is messed (can't see any numbers) so apparently the features
got rated a "3" by default. I'm repeating my "9" rating here.

Well, this was where I did my griping, so here's the good news:

The noise present with the stock pickups was driving me to
distraction, so I bought a pair of Stewart-MacDonald Golden Age
humbuckers, and their "How To Wire A Gibson Guitar" (this Tele's
electronics are more Gibson-like than Fender-ish.) I haven't
wired a pickup in 20 years, and I was formerly the world's
worst solderer, so for ten bucks extra it seemed like a smart
thing to do. It was -- everything went smoothly. Now to plug
it in...

Well, the noise is gone. The pickup switcheroo reduced the
buzz-'n'-hum by about 85%. And my speculation about lack
of a ground wire belies not only a poor grasp of guitar
electronics but also merits a big "duh" for my having made
such a judgement based on a partial removal of the pickguard
in a dimly-lit room. Black-on-black, anyone? So anyway, the
noise seems to have been coming pretty much entirely from the
stock pickups. Plan on replacing yours, at least if you plan
to record.

Sonically, the Stew-Macs are darker, or perhaps "sweeter"
than the cranky-sounding originals; the guitar now sounds
more like an older Les Paul than a Tele. I'm still toying
with the notion of replacing one or both with TV Jones
TV 'Trons (now that I somewhat know what I'm doing) but
the Stew Macs sound very classy, particularly thru my silver
Princeton Reverb. I find that my a Rocktron Austin Gold
overdrive brings forth a bit more "bite" to the sound as
well, so I'm going to stick with the 'Macs for now. They're
quite good for the price, and they look dead-stock.

Even factoring in the price of a set of replacement pickups,
this Tele is still an excellent deal. I do think, however,
that Fender should have used better electronics to match
the overall build quality of this guitar. A $179 Yamaha
RGS 121 I bought a while ago (also Indonesian, and quite nice)
is dead quiet when using the humbuckers. So it can be done...

Nonethesless, a really nice player if you can afford new
pickups on top of the price of the guitar, and highly
recommended -- now I really can't put it down.

(Just using this sectio to add the price of the new
pickups, and source of supply)

Indonesian version of a very cool '70's Tele variant.

Two humbuckers, w/ 4 control pots, like a Les Paul.
Strings mount thru ferrules from the back of the guitar.

Hardware is similar to most post-'70's Teles (6 modern-style
bridge saddles, non-slotted tuners) so aside from the
Gibson-like electronics, much like any other Tele. I've
never been a big fan of either the Les Paul's or the standard
Tele's control layout, but having used both I'd say
I prefer this Gibson-ish setup -- at least the toggle switch
is not at a 90 degree angle. (The ratings button on this
review template don't register, so I'll put my rating
here.) 9

Surprisingly spanky sound for humbuckers. I prefer
single-coil definition, but this Tele has a good deal of
bark and clarity, for a dual-coil design. Clean, but
well-balanced; no shrill treble, no honking mids, no
bumpy bass.

Sadly, however, the pickups do not "buck" the hum at all.
This guitar emits a ferocious amount of noise. I compared it
to my (very noisy) stock '78 Tele, and the '78 is quieter.
Rolling down the volume makes it hum even worse, and if you
take your hand off the strings, you can actually hear
the noise surge while you're changing hand positions.
It sounds as if it may not be grounded properly, or at all.

I took the pickguard off, looking for any evidence of a
ground wire runing to the bridge, per a wiring diagram
for an original '70's Custom, and I did not see one.
I didn't study the wiring to death, so it's possible that
the electronics are grounded elsewhere, or that the
wiring scheme is different overall from the older model.
All of that having been said, my single-coil standard '78 Tele
did not have a ground wire as-built either (I had one added)
so it may be that this baby doesn't have one either. I'll get
a better look during a string change, when I can completely
remove the pickguard and get a good look at the wiring scheme.

The last reviewer before me said his guitar was quiet, so
I'm going to see if I can test-drive another to see if mine
is not typical, or if there's a manufacturing flaw present.

Whatever the cause, the noise level is unacceptable for a
humbucker-equipped guitar. I like the sound of the pickups,
and would like to keep them if the noise can be brought
down to a reasonable level. 8 for the pickup sound, minus
3 for the excessive hum and buzz.

(The above sounds pretty negative, but I'll say here that
I still really like the guitar. Just give it a good listen
during your test drive, and let us all know what you think
when you do your own review.)

I needed to tweak the action down (half a turn with the
truss rod) but otherwise the setup was good. The hardware
is of decent quality; it felt positive and solid as I
adjusted the bridge height and saddle distance. The tuners
are unremarkable but they seem to hold pitch, with no
apparent slippage.

There were some slivers of plastic hanging from the
slots in the nut. If you see these, then smooch them with
some 600 wet-dry sandpaper at your 1st string change
so they don't find their way back into the string slots,
where they could cause binding.

The fretwork, neck installation, and other important
physical characteristics are all excellent, especially
in this price range. I am becoming a big fan of these
Indonesian Fenders -- I think they're the best bang
for the buck of all the foreign-sourced stuff. Setup
rates a 7, workmanship a 9.5. I weigh workmanship
as being the more important of the two, so overall a 9.

It's not quite as fortress-like as my old '78, but it's
still typically Fender-solid.

The pots and the toggle switch seem to be the only "cut
corners" and may not survive forever, but I'd expect
a long overall service life from this Tele. I like the fact
that the pickups are covered to keep out most sweat and crud;
a lot of inexpensive guitars have uncovered pickups.

I'm going to see how my inquiry into the electonic
buzz 'n' hum situation is handled before making a judgement
here. That will probably end up being resolved at the
dealer level, rather than thru Fender. Daddy's is generally
pretty good w/ customer support, so we shall see. I'll
post an add-on if anything ridiculously good or bad happens;
otherwise assume that things went well enough.

I wish the store had had fewer competing instrumentalists
present so that I would have picked up on and asked about
the hum situation. Always better to road-test a guitar
at 11am on a Tuesday if you want to spot all of the
sonic warts, but who has that luxury? Noise is, in any case,
fixable one way or the other. If it's a simple matter of a
ground wire, then cool. If I need to replace the pickups,
then less cool, but how great would this Tele sound with
a TV Jones TV Tron pickup (or two?)

However the noise situation ends up being resolved,
this is a really nice playing guitar, regardless of
price range -- it has a "vibe" that makes me really
enjoy picking it up. I have about 15 other electrics,
many of which are cool in their own ways, but I keep
reaching for this one. That says something. Overall,
I'm really pleased.

My bud had a '75-ish Custom. I still have some great-sounding
recordings I made in '82 using that for the rhythm tracks.
I've wanted one ever since, but the upward price spiral left me
on the sidelines until this little gem popped up out of
nowhere, in the pocket-money range. Best surprise of the
year, so far...

And if it wasn't at least a little noisy, it wouldn't
be a real Tele anyway, would it? Highly recommended.

This is a new model introduced by Fender/Squier in 2003. I pre-ordered it from Musician's Friend and it arrived earlier than expected. Specs: Agathis body (I believe the early specs listed it as alder but it's definitely agathis), bolt-on thin maple neck, 25-1/2" scale length, maple fretboard, 22 medium-jumbo frets, 2 humbuckers with separate volume/tone knobs, and black finish with 3-ply black pickguard. The hardware seems like a 'lite' version of what you'd find on a Fender Tele, but everything works and seems solid enough. The input jack, bridge, strap buttons, and pickup selector feel solid enough to keep stock. The tuners have a little problem keeping tune but nothing major. The only changes I plan to make to this guitar are cosmetic - replacing the pickguard with a red tortoise shell (has to be custom-made because of the unique shape) and the plastic knobs, which look a little cheesy, with dome knobs.

I play through a J-Station (limited to strictly headphone practicing with people around me) and it sounds great. Virtually no noise at all from either pickup, although the J-Station has a noise gate setting. While the pickups lack a distinctive character, they are not at all bad. I think they would sound pretty impressive played through the right amp and speakers.

I play mostly modern rock. The double humbucker design is what sold me on it without first playing it. I've owned a regular Tele and a Fat Tele in the past. This one has less of a twang to it; still with a nasally sound, but with more midrange. If you are into that Bends-era Radiohead sound (copied and modified a little by Coldplay) then this does it pretty well. It's pretty bright so it might not be everyone's cup of tea (e.g. for metal, even though it's all black and has two humbuckers).

Played perfectly out of the box (first Squier I've bought like this), I didn't have to do a thing. I know this is a luck of the draw thing, especially with cheaper guitars. However, I've never had a Squier that couldn't play well after a basic setup. Also, the stock strings (9's) were pretty limp, so I replaced them with D'Addario EXL110s and this made a difference.

Finish and fit were good. Frets were cut well and the bolt-on neck is tight.

I would definitely use it in a gig, if I could get one :-(. Nothing about it seems flimsy or loose at all. It looks like it will last for years.

Great guitar for the price, I strongly recommend it if you're considering it. The only thing I wish it had were more color options - black with a black pickguard is the only one currently available. My other electrics at the moment are a Fender Toronado and an Epiphone Sheraton II, and this one plays and sounds about 95% as good as them. Considering they cost 2x as much I consider this to be the better bargain.