Been thinking about picking one of these up for a while. The only thing I love more than a good guitar is a good, cheap guitar.
Of course for an extra $100 or less i could probably find a used MIM Tele, so that's the angle I'm going for, how's it stack up to a MIM?
I have a pro-tone Squire Tele that I had to buy for $150 because it showed up at the music store where I teach. It has a super flat and thin neck. It is fast, sweet and very twangy. I think the pro-tone series were the "nice" Squires. I use it for all my recording of country songs. Mine is a cool plank but ...guitars are like snowflakes my friend.
Here's my Squier Affinity Tele-- The fit and finish on mine was great, except for 2 things:
1)rough fret ends-- a little file work and they're fine now. The neck itself has a great feel-- it's not a baseball bat, it's thinner than most vintage tele necks. It has a satin finish that feels really comfortable. Also, most of the ones I've seen have pretty pale whitish necks. I'm thinking about staining mine, but I haven't decided to go to the trouble yet.
2) cheapo jack and jackplate. I replaced both.
Some people have complained about the tuners and the stock nut, but I suspect that they don't know how to properly wrap their strings-- I've never had any problems with the stock tuners or the nut.
I've also modded it with GFS Fatbody pickups, a 4-way switch mod, and a few cosmetic mods. The stock pickups are OK, they just lack a little twanginess and "oomph". On the other hand, the GFS Fatbodies are absolutely awesome Tele pickups! With the mods, I'd stack it up against a MIM any day of the week.
My biggest beef is the extended import bridgeplate. I would love to go string-thru-the-body and install a vintage style ashtray bridge, but a vintage style bridge is substantially shorter than the import 6-saddle plate. Therefore, installing a vintage bridge will leave a very visible gap showing the bridge routing underneath. Until someone comes up with a decent ashtray style bridge for these, I'm stuck with the stock bridge. But at least the stock bridge IS ferrous, so I still get the classic Tele "twang" with the bridge pickup!
I've got one. The only thing I'm disatisfied with is the neck. Frets are low and the neck is thin. But the pickups sound great and the body is built like a tank. It's been to Tucson and back and survived the baggage handlers (without a case) and even made it to the middle east and back.
Soon it's going to go to Japan. And just to get it out there, I'm not as nice to it as I am to my other guitars. It doesn't go anywhere in a case. It actually gets taken apart and put in a suitcase with all my other luggage and it's getting chips in the finish and a little chunk missing from the body, but I'm liking it more and more. I'd just like to replace the neck with a Warmoth neck with a Jimmie Vaughan neck shape and BIG frets.
Also look for the new Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster.
I'm getting one as soon as I sold some stuff.
NICE pickguard Tarts!
I think the extra bucks for a MIM Tele are worth it. Nashvilles are the best deal for a solidbody on the planet. The middle Strat pickup makes it a very versatile guitar. The tuners are OK, but I did replace the bridge on mine.
Good luck.
