Hi all, I am looking for a new Guitar and looking at the whole Fender range, I currently have an Affinity Telecaster which I love and think it is a very good guitar for the Money.

However I am now looking to upgrade, my budget won't let me stretch to a USA Fender, but it will allow a Mex or Asian Made Guitar.

Considering my Affinity Tele has a really good fit and finish e.g. the way the neck fits in the neck pocket, the quality of the paint finish, and quality of frets etc.

My Question to you the experts is, quality, does it differ from made in Mexico, to made in Indonesia to made in China, (models I am looking at include, Black Top Tele, Modern Player Teles or Squier Teles).

the ones I have seen in the shops all look to have a very high standard of finish and QC but can anyone give feedback from owning one or several.

Thanks in advance.

Jon

the guitars you've mentioned are all pretty good at the price point. with squier though, id only buy the classic vibe line, they are a cut above the rest of the squiers.

i own an indonesian made guitar, the JA-90, and i cant really fault it. im not a huge fan of the pickups, but thats personal taste, the pickups are seymour duncan, so not low quality rubbish, they just arent to my taste. the volume and tone controls are a bit rough and ineffective. the electronics is where most of the cost is saved compared to more expensive guitars (aswell as labour costs of course).

i would put the JA-90 on par with my MIM strat for fit and finish, but the controls on the strat are definitely better. but then id say the JA-90 pickups were better quality, again just not my cup of tea.

my friend has a modern player tele bass, and i tested the modern player thinline tele before i found the JA90. his bass is very nice indeed, couldnt really fault anything on it again, but im no bass player. felt and looked nice though, as did the thinline tele i tried out.

the affinity you have is the lowest of the low, the bottom rung of fender/squier ownership. anything you buy is going to blow it out of the water - exciting times for you !!! you need to try as many as you can, no amount of advice is as good as playing the guitars yourself.

but, from my experiences id have no concerns buying a fender made anywhere in the world. as i said, electrical companents are the cost saver, and these can be swapped out. and just because labour is cheap doesnt mean its crap. fender have a brand name to uphold and cant afford to send out thousands of crap guitars. odd ones slip through the QC, but warranties should cover you there.

Why only the classic vibe guitars, I was looking at the Vintage Modified range, the Telecaster Deluxe specifically

??

i have no experience with the vntage modified guitars, but i played a couple of the classic vibe, and most people on here will tell you that they are seriously good for 'just' a squier. maybe the VM series is similar in quality, i dont know ive not seen any. they do look interesting though.

dont rule out buying used, as long as you keep your wits about you and make sure you buying what you think youre buying, theres some bargains to be had. i dont know if its being shallow, but having fender on my headstock instead of squier makes a big difference to me. for me if a used fender is a similar price to a new squier, id take the fender every time.

i see there are actually 4 very similar teles in the vintage modified range, all loosely based on the '72 custom. i think 2 of them are a newer addition to the group, so may be better. the ones named 'telecaster' as opposed to 'tele' i think are the newer ones. i remember the 'tele custom II' being introduced way back when.

why do you want the deluxe ? do you want the look, or the twin pickups ? i think those widerange humbuckers are a love it or hate it thing. i have a MIM fender '72 custom with that humbucker in the neck, and its an acquired taste, assuming its the same pickup.

i like the look of the vintage modified thinline telecaster. Duncan Designed pickups, and that grey finish is very nice. good looking guitar. its the one id go for from that range i think.

I think as Squiers go the Vintage Modified, Classic Vibe and Artist series are all roughly the same quality.
I have to say, I really like the look of the new Vintage Modified Mustang.

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Rated "M" for meaty.

I want Humbuckers for more rocky stuff, I am soon to upgrade my Affinity tele with more traditional Pups and I love the tele style and feel so the two would compliment my small collection and suit my musical taste and playing styles.

TBH my fist choice is the MIM Fender Graham Coxon signature tele but when I am due to make my purchase (towards the end of the year) I expect they will be mostly gone (in the UK anyhow). I also like the Jim Adkins signature model too as its has the warmer P90's but they are hard to come by too.

I have tried quite a few of the Squire models and the quality on most look very good, the only quality issue I had with a Fender was the pup selector on a Black Dove I tried but I think it had been molested by another person trying the Guitar.

thanks for the feed back folks

Jon

That very point made me post, I heard from my favored Fender dealer that the only real QC issues they have are from the Mexico Fenders, I have nothing against products made anywhere in the world (we are a Global society after all) but I like to research any prospective purchases to ensure I am making a good choice- hence I would never by a Guitar off the Internet.

I am really after a Tele and Short scale is a bit cramped for my monkey arms

i have a Jim Adkins tele, as i mentioned. the pickups are beyond warm hahaha, theyre pretty hot. ive not played it much yet as it needs a set-up, but i think its going to be a bit of a one trick pony. the controls dont affect the sound too much, and switching pickup positons is no huge shift in tone either. i didnt find any on ebay, then 2 came up in the same night and i brought one of them. i didnt have any trouble finding them new though, and my 'local' shop was happy to order one in for me (im in the UK aswell). the JA90 has a 24.75" scale, shorter than standard teles.

have you tried a guitar with the fender widerange humbuckers ? the neck postion on my '72 custom is quite 'muddy' and bassy, like i said its a sound you love or hate i think. i love it, for slow clean blues it sounds super warm, but cranked up and dirty is gets a bit mushy.

have you looked at the modern player teles ? the deluxe thinline comes with 2 p90's, i tried one and liked it before i found the JA90 which i liked more, though more for aesthetic reasons. the modern player tele plus has a bridge humbucker and 2 single coils. i think the prices of these in the uk is just over 400 quid. then theres the blacktop tele, which i think looks great in silver with a maple neck.

i was talking specifically about the JA90, which im assuming you havnt played ?

i have 2 other teles, an '02 MIM '72 custom and an '85 MIJ '62 custom. and as you say, they both have very distinct tones when wanted. the JA90 doesnt. its a one trick pony - which if you like its trick, its a totally killer guitar. a guy on here wasnt happy with his and spent $80 changing the pots and said it was like a new guitar, which did give him the tonal changes he wanted. i'll probably change the pups.

also to 'counter' your points my '72 custom is flawless. the bridge pup is a bit pants, but thats not QC thats just what they chose to put in it. and the '62 custom is quite frankly apocalyptically good. i also tried out an epiphone 'dot' 335 before buying the JA90, and it felt cheap and crap. the fingerboard was dry like 50 year old bark and it just wasnt inviting to play. i also have no QC problems with my '04 MIM strat.