Onyx Telecaster

Direct copy of a classic Fender Telecaster, Butterscoth coloured Alder three peice body, hardware a bit inferior to what the great Mr Fender specified, but hey, its made to a price 200% percent cheaper to what the present Fender folks ripp off us. Cheap tuners, cheap pickups and a copy of those (six vintage) strange barrel saddles.
There's not much to a standard or copied Tele, everything is copied off a vintage Tele, its just more econically put together.
It gets a high rating because because it is loyal to the traditional style and it is responding to the development programme I have put it on with a brass nut, high class saddles and vintage Gotoh tuners.
next is string through body with proper ferrule for a professional looking job and eventually vintage noiseless pickups by Fender.
For $500 and a bit of fiddling about it will be a good as a $1500 Fender Tele, how much is our music suppossed to cost us ?

My style is Albatross and other slow, moody, soft music which soothes the soul and eases stress, a bit of blues and the occasional crunch such as Rust Never Sleeps(Niel Young distorted)just for fun.
Most Teles are a bit too twangy for my tatses but as I move more towards country and blues solo's, it should suit well, as it seems only slightly weaker that genuine Tele's, which we usually test through great sounding amps, not the little pracice amp that is often usedin homes, so it may even be better for what I currently play.
The normally dry, edgy Tele tones are there, just not as full or rich as a Seymour Duncan pickup or Fender pickup would be. Dont forget that many Prffessional musicians use a wide variety of "no name guitars for different sounds. Once again, the following rating is based on the cost, this is not a $3000 guitar so it should be assessed against its cost and intended audience/user.

It worked very well when I got it, but in modifying it, I am having to redrill holes or alter hrdware as I go, but this is all a learning experience and I would not do it with an expensive guitar.
Strangely, the one flaw is that it followed the Fender style and put a piece of laminated plastic on it to look like the original Tele's.
The Onyx does not have a route for wiring, the wiring is concealed and when you take the scratchplate off, the body looks great apart from the tiny drill holes to hold on the scratchplate. With a buterscotch body I have been able to patch the tiny holes and the all wood body looks really good, though when you hold the guitar you can see where the tiny holes were. Again, genuine Tele bodys have a nasty trench carved into the body top, so you I dont think you can do this with a genuine Tele, unless you were starting new trend for Trenchtop Tele's......

As sold as a rock, it has quite a few knocks and comes back for more. Guitars are like cars, they need maintenance, the strap button was loose, a tuner was loose and there was an odd tuner, neck had a buzz which seemed because the truss rod was too tight, but its a used guitar and these things need adjustment. The guitar is very dependable, it doesnt go out of tune apart from string expansion and contraction due to temperature variations where I live in the mountains. I'm not keen on "bolt on necks", which are actually just held together with big screws for fixing wood to wood, I tried weighting the neck to get a moaning sound, but I have stopped this, as its not a reasonable way to treat any guitar if you expect it to stay in good shape, when its just held together with screwws, not bolts.

The local Music Shop is good, they have lots of support and accessories. The Onyx Company does'nt seem to exist, probably because it is an alias for another high quality guitar maker who is supplying the market with very good beginner instruments which are made in China, much like the cheaper Fenders etc. The following rating would probably apply to most second hand music shops if you buy a guitar from them.

I have been playing for over ten years and beleive it or not am the proud owner of a G&L Legacy, yes, a stunning Strat if ever there was one. I love my G&L and did'nt hesitate when I tried it out after a lot of Strat searching around a big city (Sydney) over many months so I beleive I am comparing a Fender copy with the benefit of knowing a true Fender classic by "The Man". In short, I like the Onyx Tele copy enough to try to buy a real Tele by G&L or even Fender Inc Ltd, but may never have ennough cash again for another classic! I would use live, most muso'sow use copies and keep their original locked up and insured at home. I think that Onyx are every bit as good as Squire, I beleive I am creating a hotrod guitar which will be as good as a second hand Mexican Tele, as in Australia, they are being sold with three peice bodies and the majority are old style, old technology, old sounds, and they (and we) call it vintage. Im not complaining.
I just think making music is better than playing CD's and hotrodding a guitar is better that polishing a guitar. We learn a lot when we question why, how, when, what if, etc