Fender Squier Telecaster

this is a 2002 standard telecaster which states on the neck plate "20th anniversary model", "crafted in indonesia", "freedom of expressoin scince 1983" the usual tele setup with a rosewood board 22 freets, "skunk stripe" maple neck. this gets a 10 just because i think it is cool to have an anniversary squire.

i have played the blues for over 30 years, this guitar is very nice for certain tones i can't get from other guitars i have. i have several amps, but use a 100w univox 1011 tube head thru a highway 61 cab with old cts speakers in it. noisy? well it's a fender with single coils. the pickups are fine as is and i get the sounds i want from this guitar. i love tele's and have had lots of them, this is as good as any of them, yes, i like it.

here is where this thing really shines! i don't rate "factory setup" as i adjust all my guitars to suit what i like. the pickups are right on and sound excellent. the neck is perfect, the frets are perfect, and the finish? stunning!!! it is a beautiful candy apple red metallic that is one of the best finishes i have ever seen on any guitar at any price.

everybody knows how long tele's last, longer than anybody reading this. the only reason i have another guitar with me on gigs is if i break a string.

i have had countless fender pruducts over the years. i didn't get a warranty card with this and don't care. i have never had any trouble with any fender products. i have never contacted them so i can't say on this one.

i have been playing 43 years, i have a stratocaster and this guitar. let me say it is my belief that just about any guitar that will stay in tune will do the job, amps are where the tone comes from. without a good amp i dont care if you have an original 58 V, you won't sound good. this is a great time in guitar history when a man can get a guitar that has remained mostly unchanged for over 50 years for this almost giveaway price, some makers want 200 just for the case! i love this guitar and would get another one pronto, if i had to. i knew what i wanted, so i didn't compare. i think that tele's cost around 200 in 52, so you figure what 200 could buy then and what you get for 200 today. incredible value. fender has got it together. one last thought here.. it is the man holding the guitar that makes it great.

Made in Indonesia around 1999/2000. It has a maple neck. String through body, standard Tele controls, 2 single coil pickups. The original pickups were adequate but an upgrade elevated this guitar to a whole other level.
It's a Tele, what a standard electric guitar should be.
Steve's included a gig bag in the deal.

I have played everything over the years and on this guitar it has been used for Rock and Roll, R&B, Blues and Country and has delivered a great sound through Marshall and Fender amps. The original pickups were adequate but after changing to a Dimarzio Twang King pickup in the bridge it sounds great. (Think Roy Buchanan)

The setup was fine on this guitar. Everything seems okay but I will upgrade the saddles eventually.

I've been using this without a backup and it has been fine

never contacted

I've been playing for over 25 years. I own numerous other guitars including a '72 Tele, Strats, Ibanez, Epiphone, Yamaha, Dobro, Acoustic and Bass guitars. Marshall, Fender and Yamaha amps. A pile of effects which I don't use. With the Dimarzio Twang King, this guitar sounds great plugged directly into the amp and is versatile enough to do everything I ask. I would hate to lose this guitar
It has been close to perfect as a working guitar.
For the price this has been fantastic.

Squier Standard Telecaster. Made in Indonesia.

Everything a Tele should have. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Passive 2 single coils pups. One volume, one tone control. A 3-way pups selector switch. Strings through body. 6 adjustable saddles.

Fast, thin neck, good turners. Stays in tune well. At least on par with Fender Standard Teles in sound quality. In fact, neck is a little narrow for my taste. But works fine.

I started playing guitars in 1965. A single coil's sound fan since 1966. Ownded more guitars and amps than I care to list here.

I currently own 7 guitars. Including Fender USA.

Killer Tele sounds. Better than some Fender USA Teles that I have played. At a fraction of the costs.

Don't complain about twany , trebley sound, or thin sounds. Don't get any single coiled guitar if you want warm, muddy sound. Get a humbucker for those.

If you want the Tele sound. This is it!

Plug it straight into a Vox tube amp, with just some OD. The sound is just intoxicatingly beautiful.

Also, sounds excellent with Behringer Vintage 30 amp as well.

Ity's a much better buy than any Teles with the Fender name on it.

This is the real thing.

Action and finishing are excellent. Eerything are tight and properly set-up.

I just change the strings to D'Addriao .11 1/2 ground; re-adjust the action and intonation to my own perferences. (I like medium high action, and bigger strings. The factory setting was too low for my taste, and intonated for .09 strings.) That's it.

The guitar is actually ready for action, right out of the box, other than just need tuning.

Eerything are tight and solid. Wood works and paint job are fabulous.

The only complain is the output jack socket, it is loose, and can easily be pulled out from the body, when pulling out the instrument's cord. But this is a quite common fault with many Teles, not just Squier. Can be fix not too difficultly.

Not have to deal with it yet.

Highly recommended for beginners and old timers alike.

You will not be sorry. It's a great guitar.

Squier Standard Telecaster, made in Indonesia...2 Single Coils. Volume, Tone knobs. 3 way-selector switch, and bolt on neck. Not contoured like the strat. If you're reading this and it's new to you then you should definitely do some Fender research.

I can't give it a 10, it's no Variax, but it's got the goods.

I LOOOOOVE this guitar. I got the Special Rolling Rock Model that they only produced about 200 of, and It's green sparkle on back and a Rolling Rock Grapic Series on the front. It's a simply amazing guitar. I love it more than my Gibson SG Standard, as strange as that may sound. It feeds back musically and nicely, and it gains-up nice through my Marshalls and my Orange. The medley of tones on it is GREAT. On ZERO tone (tone knob all the way back, muddy sounding), neck pickup, it sounds mellow and muffled, like good tone knobs do. Some guitars geared towards edginess don't have the mud tones that some people like for jazz...IE the Tom Delonge Strat.

On the bridge pickup with the tone on treble, it sounds twangy and tight, just like good teles do.

I can't say enough good things about this guitar. I just made a Strat and Bought a Strat, but there's something about this guitar that makes it just magical.

Factory Setup was average. I won it in a Beer Store Contest...and the set up was a little high for a telecaster.

The pickups were adjusted quite well, and needed no fine tuning.
The intonation was off, however, but I fixed that without incident.

The Finish was flawless.
Absolutely Flawless.

The Strap Button on the Neck area of the guitar came loose and since I have tightened it.

No serious flaws. No minor flaws really. I treat this guitar like my baby, and a tool. Its the kind of guitar that you can't help but baby.

It will withstand live playing, piece of cake. Hardware is DURABLE and chrome...really nice. Finish is DEEP. Strap buttons not quite solid...I had to add wood splinters around the threads to make it take again. I would play without a backup. This guitar is as solid as any other guitar I've ever known.

Waranty Card was present, hadn't had to deal with them yet. But since I love this guitar so much, and I know fender has a reputable staff, and the waranty was for 3 years, I think I'll ten the sucka.

Even without the Guitar Finishing on it, the Squier Telecaster is an amazing deal, and anyone that is thinking of going to the roots of classic rock and bluegrass should seriously consider picking one up for 200 or 250. I think I would have paid 500 for this. The way it plays and the way that It looks, it's worth its weight in gold.

This is an update on the review I already put up..
I've had a chance to really get to know this guitar.. and probably voided the warranty in the process.

But.. like I said before, I'm keeping it, so I don't mind.

The first problem with this guitar was the neck pickup. the pickup was very slanted.. not level at all..
I removed the pickguard and retuned etc.. leaving the guard off.. and messed with the pickups height. no doubt about it.. leveling it alone was an improvement, but matching it's power via height adjustment really helped everything.. better balance with the bridge pu and a better middle pos. on the three way.

What was wrong? The pickups two mounting screws were drilled in too far back, toward the bridge, of the cavity. This forced the pickguard to tilt the pu when you put it on..
I took out the screws.. I put a piece of foam under the pickup.. this made it too high, but level.. and it would fit the pickguard hole, too.
but.. too high.. so I took two humbuck mounting springs *one really, I cut it in half* and let the pu magnet hold them in place.

Then, I put the pu back on.. and voila.. the right height and no wobbling or microphonic creating problem and it now fits the hole.

this was a major pain in the ass. The neck had to come off four times before I could figure out a way to correct this problem. I left out the fact that I still had to slightly file the inside of the pickguard a bit to keep it from tilting the pu.

A simple mistake created a major problem.
Lucky I like to mess with things.

It also needed a new nut.. which I put on. Bone, Fender replacement part. fit perfectly. sounds good.
The neck has a few high frets.. not bad, but there they are.
The neck also doesn't have very good fretwork in general. which you expect, really.
this guitar has fairly high action, I'm sure, for some.. but it's fine by me.
The pickups now sound much better.. and this guitar really does go from country to blues to rock to jazz with comfort.

That leo.. he really did a job, eh?

So if you're interested in one.. take a good close look at the neck pickup.. the nut.. *for my money the dealer should replace this free before selling it to you.. maybe they can hit fender up for the work?*.. the fretwork, too needs checking out. Be sure the neck is even arched from one side to the other.. mine is a bit flatter on the high string side when you tweak the rod .. and make sure the high fret problem is not horrible.

Tuners.. the more I use them, the more convinced I am that these have a pretty low ratio.. they are probably as good as cheap ones get.. useable. but not easy or pleasant if you're in any kind of hurry.

An investment in tuners and roller string trees is probably in my future.

the pickguard screw holes were a little ragged.
The neck had a shim in it. placed near the nut side of the neck pocket.
But fit and finish in every other way were very good. A little dust here and there inside things.. no biggee.
The plate discoloration I talked about cleaned off. I was surprised, I was sure it was in the chrome. Nope. Looks spiffy.

I paid too much.. but I bought locally. On the web and probably at Guitar Center you could get one for two hundred.. and only ten bucks more for the tri color sunburst like mine.

This should come up right next to my first review.. so I'll leave the rest blank if I can.. and that's all I have to say.
Nice little guitar.. good sound.. if Fender would just get serious about the details I can't see any reason this guitar wouldn't be very very popular.

I bought this april 9, 2003. It must be the newest model.. I don't know when it was made for sure.

This is: a rosewood fingerboard, 22 fret, maple neck, three color sunburst telecaster with string through body. I don't know what the body wood is.. seems a little dramatic in the grain for alder.. but it's definatley four pieces. some of it reminds me of ash.

Standard pickups and controls.
It has the six saddle bridge, and it's really nicely made.
The tuners are smooth.. not stiff and hard as hell to use like the tuners on a crappy Cort strat I once had.

Everything about this guitar was nicely done, and good stuff.. I was surprised.
I'm giving it a ten for features, because all teles deserve that. *s*

I bought this for the scale length and the pickups. It bends way different than my Epiphone Sheraton II.. and it sounds way different!
I play rock and blues and country and I guess some pop.. and as you all should know, teles do all of that and more.
I'm using it through a fender hot rod deluxe.. but I haven't even plugged it in yet. I played via a fender blues deville at the store..but at home I've just used my little cheap Zoom GM200 and headphones. *it's new.. I'll re review a month or two down the line*.
It sound great.. lots of fender quality. a little stinger! I like it a lot.
The GM200 is an amp modeler with rev. del. vib. and cho. and I can get a very wide variety of sounds with this little tele.
Typically it produces some noise when you use only one of the two pups. But.. that's single coils for you. These aren't bad at all.
It's got tone.. make no mistake. And it's got nuance, the pups are nice with the vol. rolled back, and right there when you crank it up.
Satisfaction!

The factory set up was just a bit off. I took a bit of the relief out of the neck via the truss rod. and I adjusted the strings, a bit lower, and that was it.
Plays fine. Typical fender, I think... a little funky and hard to keep the rattle out. But I've rarely seen or heard one that wasn't.. let's say.. unique as far as set up goes.
I adjusted the bridge pickup, and the neck pickup was a bit tilted.. a common thing with teles.. and to my surprise the pickguard fits the neck and pickup so tight I just left it. Sounds ok anyway so no big deal, I just didn't feel like it today.
The finish is excellent. Sure I would have preferred a two piece body.. but the grain is nicely matched anyway, and the three color sunburst is beautiful.
fit and finish are amazing. the parts are all tight and perfectly aligned. Very well done.. and for this money? crazy!
All controls worked perfectly.
there's a little plate discoloration.. it's not quite shiny.. at the control plate near the back. You wouldn't notice if you weren't looking.. seems the control plate might not have been quite smoothed out before the process. I don't give a damn *s*
The nut.. I almost forgot. I don't know what material that is. I'll probably put bone on it soon. It's fairly well done.. the strings don't bind or anything, but I have to say they stopped a little short cosmetically, it looks kinda rough. *who cares?*
action fit and finish.. it's a ten. I've seen guitars that cost twice as much and they didn't measure up to this.

This isn't my first tele. And I know this guitar would not only take live gigs in stride. it would sound great and look great doing it.
Every nut and screw was tight.
I would gig with this, no back up, anytime. It's a peach!

I compared this to a St. Louis Music Supply 'Austin' telecaster. *several, in fact* and the action fit and finish on the Fender were much better.
I also compared it to some Samicks and other brands.. and really, you had to spend at least a hundred bucks more to find something comparable. Fender seems genuinely to have improved the quality of this guitar and the quality control as well.

I know nothing about Fenders customer support. I've never had a problem with any Fender gear so.. I guess that figures.
I didn't even ask how long the warranty was. Why would I? This guitar will outlive me.
Seems worth a ten!

I've been playing since about 1964.
I also currently own an Epiphone Sheraton II, loaded with Gibson Humbuckers.
A Taylor 310 Acoustic.
An ESP LTD B 50 four string bass.
My Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp.
The aforementioned Zoom gm200.
A digitech rp7.
(and some other stuff, but it's really not pertinent.)

I feel I would replace this guitar if it were lost or stolen with another, probably even the same finish. It's impressed me quite a bit. This is a wonderful time for inexpensive guitars, and Fender is competing very well.
I like the neck, I like the scale length, I like the telecaster sounds it gets. This puppy feels great around your neck and in your hands.
I compared this to everything I could find at and under 250.00 and it was the best of them. Peavey had a less expensive strat type guitar that was competitive, but I dont need the whammy, and strat volume knob position bugs me.
If you want a rock solid, good sounding, nice playing guitar.. don't worry about big bucks or big names.. go try the Fender Squier standard models.
I wouldn't hesitate to customize or modify this guitar. If there was a neck I really really liked better, I'd spend nearly as much on it as I did the guitar.
Same with pickups.. if I knew the replacement had strong qualities over and above what these do. and that's no small task even if it isn't an espensive instrument.. I'd buy them, no problem.
Gonna get me a musicians friend gig bag and I'll be all set.
Thanks Fender..you did a good job.
PS: I'm going to rereview this guitar in a month or two.. after I've had a chance to really play it through all my gear and record with it. So far.. I'm as pleased with this, pound for pound, dollar for dollar, as I am with any guitar I've owned.
*which includes, guild, g & l, fender, gibson, rickenbacker, taylor, alvarez, yamaha, even Framus!
PPS:
a word about sioux falls music.. I couldn't get a price reduction on this.. but the price was commensurate with what everyone on the web charges. Just no haggling.
They have a 30 day return policy, which is very handy.. but I doubt I'll be using it.
I do feel the guy could have been a better salesman.. for instance, he didn't try to sell me a case or bag, or mention truss rod and bridge wrenches, extra strings.. but that's ok by me.. I can get them anywhere if that's how they like to do it.
It's a good store, lots of nice fenders and others.. taylor, prs. if you're near them, drop in.

You know the features. 2002 Standard series Squier Telecaster, Vintage blonde. I fell in love with that color, and you cannot get it in a Mexican or American Tele. I paid $190. brand new, which I thought was a good buy. Musician's friend wanted $219. plus shipping for the exact same axe.

I love the sound. Typical Tele twang, no complaints especially for the price. I play blues, through a Blues Junior or a Vibro Champ, basically at living room volumes. There's a little noise, which is typical for a non shielded Tele. I might get some copper tape and shield it, but it's not a big priority.

My only complaint. This guitar was unplayable when I bought it, which probably explains why it was so cheap. The neck had too much releif, the strings were a mile off the fingerboard, and the intonation was a little off. Also, the high E string was too close to the edge of the neck. I had to adjust the releif, then lower the strings at the saddles. Then I loosened the neck screws and pulled the neck to the left to get better alignment of the strings. Then adjusted the intonation. Spent the better part of a couple hours working it over. Now if the neck weren't so damn skinny, it would play great. The Fender website gives specs for this model, and states the neck width as 1.65", or 42mm. I don't know what they used to come up with these measurements, but mine isn't even close. Mine measures 1.58", or 38mm. That may not sound like a huge difference, but trust me, this neck is seriously narrow. If you are playing open cords near the nut, it's very difficult to get good clean cords without your fingers interfering with the other strings, and I don't have huge fingers either. I am planning to get another neck very soon. With a playable neck, I will have a great Tele, and I still will only have spent $300. Overall, the build quality was excellent for the price. No flaws in the finish, and the hardware seems perfectly fine. My only beef is with the neck width and the setup. I'm giving it a 6 because the overall build quality is good.

I don't gig, and if I did I probably would have bought a more expensive axe, but I think this guitar is built pretty well, and I have no doubt it would hold up pretty well. I don't think anyone should gig without a backup guitar, because everybody knows....Shit Happens. It's very well suited to my purpose, which is jamming in my home.

I have no idea, but I doubt they would give a rats ass about customer support on a $200 guitar.

I think it's a good value, providing you don't mind the skinny neck, and if, like me, you are capable of doing a proper setup. I've been playing 23 years. I certainly did a lot of comparison shopping before buying, and had decided on this model and color. There are some really crappy guitars out there in this price range, and you really need to do your homework and play a lot of different ones before buying. I bought this one because the price was right, and I don't mind spending a little money to upgrade it to suit me. If I wanted it to be perfect for me off the rack, I would have had to look elsewhere.

Standard tele set up. sealed tuners, string through body bridge and satin finished saddles. guitar is a 2003 model made in Indonesia. Solid alder body. with maple neck and rosewood fingerboard.

Sound is absolutely incredible. Could not believe the tone and kick the guitar produced. Played guitar through 68 Vox amp and did not have feed back or any hum . The guitar produced a beautiful twang sound as well as a sreeming lead sound. This guitar stays in tune as well as or better than any high end guitar.

The guitar was set up a little high from the factory. I adjusted the action down. The pickups were positioned well. The guitar had perfect intonation. The finish was top shelf as well as the hardware. Only problem i experienced was with the jack. It fell out of the guitar twice while playing. I am searching for a way to keep it in .

This guitar will do fine with live playing, just watch your jack. The guitar is built well and looks as if it will hold up under live conditions.

no experience with this.

I have had this guitar for a month and am utterly impressed by it. It produces a brilliant powerful sound, stays in perfect tune and is built well. The guitar is not sloppily put together. Frets are polished and not jagged and all the pieces fit with tight accurate tollerences. Hard to believe such a good guitar can be bought for around 200 bucks

My Tele is a squire and i think it was made in Japan but im not sure. I bought it for 100 quid off my m8 with an amp which was a good deal.
It has 22 fretts, 3 way pickup selector (which cuts out the pickups when switching sometimes which is well annoying!)the neck is quite nice but the guitar is so heavy it snapped my leather bit which holds my strap...grrr.

Its fairly decent for rock but doesent give out a harsh enough THUMP THUMP when string muting but its good for solos etc. i use a crappy 15watt kustom amp, which gos up to 40watts i think, and has built in distortion. i also have a bf-2 flanger but its bollocks combined with built in amp distortion...
the sound is twangy but cool on the back pickup selection and toney on middle and neck pickup.
you can get some decent strong WOoOoOs and stuff out of it when bending the B string @ the 15th frett or make it screaaam full bending the E string, 22nd Frett!
I like the sound and its an easy guitar to start learning on, but its too twangy and the guitar is SOLID and too heavy so i wanna get a kramer or something with sum decent humbunkers and alder body

The guitar woz set up well and the action was brillant. the only flaw is the neck pickup which is loose

Ive played live with it before and its good!
The hardware seems itll last but the front pickup is abit dodgy and the finish sux. u knock it a lil bit and itll leave a huge dent in it which makes it look rubbish

i got it repared at Mansons guitar shop in exeter they were really helpful. The plastic thing that holds the jack socket snapped to bits so i had to get it fixed! ive never got it repared at fender though

ive been playing for around 10 months and can finger tap well etc. Playing my guitar is 1 of the main things i do i love doing it.
I wouldent lose it and if it was stolen id buy something better! hehe
1 of the things i hate about is the weight its well heavy!!!

My guitar is a 2001 Squire Standard Telecaster (not a 'Tele', which is the cheapo one - so cheap that they even scimped on the name!).
It's metalic purple.
I don't know where it was made (how can you tell?), or what the body is made of. All I know is that it's the heaviest telecaster I've ever played! It also has a maple neck, with a skunk stripe up the back, and a rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays.
It's got chrome hardware and a six sadle bridge.
As far as electronics goes, it has the usual Telecaster stuff - two single coils, a tone and a volume control, and a three-way switch.
I've rated the features as eight because a Telecaster isn't meant to be complex. I don't believe it should loose too many points because it does what it's designed to do.

I bought the guiar because I wanted a strong Telecaster 'twangy' sound with loads of sustain on a budget as I can't get this sound on my Tanglewood Chicago (see separate review). In the shop I thought that this was what I was getting, so I bought it, however, after a few weeks I realised that it didn't fit the bill. The sound was, at best, edgy, at worst, hollow. The neck pickup was the most disapointing.
Why did I keep the guitar then? Potential. The guitar sounds and plays wonderfully when unplugged. The sustain is awsome (I usually play semi's so I expect a lot of sustain), and it's loud for a solid.
I have fitted a Seymore Duncan Little '59 mini humbucker at the bridge and now it sounds great as a lead guitar, and, when funds allow, I'll be replacing the neck pickup and maybe adding a middle pickup too.
I use a Huges and Kettener Blonde Edition amp and Danelectro, Electroharmonics and Marshall effects.

The guitar was generally setup well, except for one major problem - some of the frets were far too high. The G and B strings buzzed on the thirteenth, forteenth and fithteenth frets, and changed pitch on the second and third frets depending on how hard you pressed the strings down. Playing in solved the fret buzz, but I had to have th second and third frets ground down!
The finish is faultless and the guitar looks stunning.

This guitar is very solid and seems to stand up to minor knocks well. I'm never rough with my guitars as I use hollow bodies a lot, so I wouldn't know what would happen in the event of a major blow.
It stays in tune well.
I do use this guitar live in part of my set and I would rely on it without a backup.
The strap buttons are very good and I don't feel the need to fit straplocks.
The tone control is getting a little crackly already.

I haven't used the support as one of my workmates helped with the frets.

I have been playing for ten years and have owned a variety of guitars, amps and effects including Washburns, Gibsons, Tanglewoods and Crafters. I've also played far too many others to mention.
If it was stolen I would probably get a Fender Thinline Telecaster and fit a Little '59 to that.
I love the finish and sustain; I hate the neck pickup.
I didn't compare this to any other guiatrs because I wanted a Telecaster and there were no other options.
If you want a good quality, off-the-shelf Telecaster save a little harder and buy a Fender. If, as so many of the other reveiwers below, you want a well built solid guitar and are prepared to play about with the electronics to get the sound that you really want, this is a good place to start.