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Post subject: Seeking opinions on the Squire Affinity series Telecaster
Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 2:08 pm
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Hi everyone. Newbie here asking questions about a Squire Tele. I hope I'm not deemed as being the scourge of the earth for doing so :)

I typically play classic rock and have several Gibsons that I use for my normal day-to-day playing. However, I have a desire to play some country/bluegrass with a friend of mine and was looking at the Tele's this weekend. I don't have a big budget for this and probably won't be playing it regularly. So I thought I'd come to the experts and get your opinions on the Squire Affinity Telecaster. I understand that I'll get what I pay for and I'm not expecting a top-of-the-line Fender here. But I do want to find out if the Squire series guitars are fairly well built and won't fall apart on me after a year or so. A few months back I purchased a cheap, non-Fender strat and found out that the thing was made out of what looked like pressed board.

The only other affordable (to me) butterscotch Tele that I can find is an FSR currently at GC for around $499. I've got a $75 off coupon so I could get one for $425+tax. That's a bit more than what I want to spend but I don't want to completely rule it out if it's head and shoulders better than the Squire.

Thanks in advance for the feedback!


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Post subject: Re: Seeking opinions on the Squire Affinity series Telecaste
Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 3:59 pm
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Deffinitly do NOT get the affinity they are pieces of junk! Yeah i know this is the fender forum BUT I SAID IT!!! the affinity series SUCK! there. dont buy it. This is perfect for you.

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/prod ... sku=510470

A buddy of mine got it a few years ago and loves it. I got to play it a few times and it's great! This is the guitar for you man. :D

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Post subject: Re: Seeking opinions on the Squire Affinity series Telecaste
Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 4:23 pm
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If you plan on playing the Tele more than once in a while,I would recommend trying to find a used Mexican Tele on E-Bay.It would be a better choice and will have better resale value.


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Post subject: Re: Seeking opinions on the Squire Affinity series Telecaste
Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 8:23 pm
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I bought a Squier Affinity butterscotch Tele a few years ago. It has remained good as new. It has a alder body, maple/maple neck, medium jumbo frets. It's great. The pickups might not be satisfactory to you. They are $179 online now, and are the best deal going. Enjoy!


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Post subject: Re: Seeking opinions on the Squire Affinity series Telecaste
Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 4:17 am
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I've never heard bad things about a Squier Tele. A Squier Strat?......everyone loves to hate on it. What I've found playing dozens of Squier Teles (and mim and US) is that they seem to be far more consistantly good then the Strats. Try out the one you're considering. Something to consider is that if you decide to upgrade and sell it, they do drop in value quite a bit. It's the only reason that I have not bought one. Watch craigslist and you can find a mim or highway one at a price near what a squier goes for. I'm going to look at a year old mim today for only $250. I will also point out that if you're looking for a thinline, the Squiers that I've played are particularly good.

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Post subject: Re: Seeking opinions on the Squire Affinity series Telecaste
Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 8:32 am
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Thanks for the feedback guys. I went ahead and bit the bullet last night and bought the Squire Tele (found a nice butterscotch one with good grain). I tried out the FSR but I just couldn't get used to the glossy fretboard. I'm used to playing rosewood Gibsons so the Squire fretboard had an easier feel for me (I don't care as much for rosewood look on a Tele). I do love the 9's as all of my Gibsons have 10's and 11's.

I can see the day where I'll want to upgrade to an American Tele but for now this one is going to provide some fun for me with my country/bluegrass buddies. Thanks again!


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Post subject: Re: Seeking opinions on the Squire Affinity series Telecaste
Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 12:30 am
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Pics would be great!

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Post subject: Re: Seeking opinions on the Squire Affinity series Telecaste
Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 3:58 am
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Squier Guitars are very nice guitars if are willing to modify them. That means - new pickups, new pots, new input jack, new switch, new cap, coppershielding (if needed), a complete set up and u will need to get a FRETROCKER to make sure there are no messed up spots on the neck (frets). If you are willing to do all this then a Squier guitar will play nice and sound awesome.

Personally I have a squier jagmaster, affinity telecaster, custom vibe strat and a vintage modified jazzmaster. i modified all of them and they sound and play fabulous. I record with them and use them at live shows and they perform perfectly. So if you are willing to learn how to do all the modifying then I would go with the Squier guitar. If you dont modify the squier guitar then it will be an alright guitar at best if you are lucky and dont pick out a lemon. If you decide to take the modify route then check out stewmac, and guitarfetish.com as they have cheap but very well made pickups, pots and ect... I have their pickups in 3 of my 4 guitars (the other being Dimarzio). Think about it and do what makes sense for you. Mexican Fenders are decent guitars as well. A stock mexican fender tele will sound cleaner/better than a stock affinity squier. If you modify the squier it will sound better than a mexican fender.

As a side note I am thinking of purchasing another squier affinity telecaster and putting some humbuckers in it (i already have the butterscotch affinity tele w/ Golden Age single coils) so i'll have a tele with either all singles or all humbuckers. I dunno if that helps with ur decision but i was just giving u my opinion. BEST OF LUCK TO YOU.


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Post subject: Re: Seeking opinions on the Squire Affinity series Telecaste
Posted: Fri May 20, 2011 4:45 am
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Hey man. I have 1989 Squier Affinity Strat. It was when the stuff that came out of china was half decent. Its black with a rosewwod fingerboard, and has got the vintage 70's headstock, where all the news one have the classic strat headstock. It plays really nice and sounds pretty good.

I payed $300 Aus for it 2 years ago, as it was my first guitar. I took my Gibson and my Fender in the other day to be valued, and i figured ill take Squier in as well. WHAT A SURPRISE!!! Turns out the things has a value of $1800 to $2200....


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Post subject: Re: Seeking opinions on the Squire Affinity series Telecaste
Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 8:40 pm
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Oh man. I bought a used Squier Telecaster-Standard made in 2000. I ran a serial number check through Fender, and they could'nt tell me what the body was made of. Their answer was some type of hard wood. I'm guessing basswood, but the grain could be an Asian alder. They also told me the "Nut Width" was 42mm. It was actually 40.1mm, which sucked!!!

Long story short, I replaced the neck with a tele replacement neck from "Mighty Mite" with a "Nut width" of 1-5/8", replaced the nut with a bone one, replaced the crappy tone and volume pots with full size 250k pots, and the crappy pick up selector switch, added a 22 microferret "orange drop" capacitor to the tone pot, and replaced the bridge pick up with a Seymour Duncan "Gerry Donahue" and a Seymour Duncan "Vintage" neck pick up.

Now the thing plays and sounds how a Telecaster should.

Save your money, and buy an American Telecaster. You'll be much happier, unless you want a "project" guitar like the one I bought.

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Post subject: Re: Seeking opinions on the Squire Affinity series Telecaste
Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:53 am
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Here's my Squier Affinity Tele. Cost me $85 at Guitar Center and I spent about $175 in parts plus my labor on it. I would put it up against an American Standard Telecaster any day.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=56646

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Post subject: Re: Seeking opinions on the Squire Affinity series Telecaste
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 1:48 pm
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Well, to keep a long story short I took the Squier Tele back within my 30 day Guitar Center grace period. For a couple of months I didn't even think about it but this weekend I was back in GC and found a used Tele Std MM for what I feel was a good price. It's a dark brown burst with the satin neck and doesn't have a scratch on it (which is more than I can say for the 'new' Tele's that they have). I still don't have an American made Tele but I'm a step closer now.

Does anyone here know how to date these newer models? The serial number is MX11046434 and I can't get the date coder site to recognize that number. I'm guessing it was built in the last couple of years but it would be cool to have an exact date.

Thanks again to everyone for their input.

Chris


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Post subject: Re: Seeking opinions on the Squire Affinity series Telecaste
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 6:26 pm
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Post subject: Re: Seeking opinions on the Squire Affinity series Telecaste
Posted: Wed Sep 18, 2013 8:03 am
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I was browsing in a large guitar shop in Surrey a few weeks ago on a Sunday, which I do about once every few months. I have a Gibson SG which I have owned for about 30 years and never bought another guitar. Anyway, I picked up a Fender Squier Affinity out of curiosity and the butterscotch blonde colour was very visually enticing, but not expecting much being a low prize tag.

However...................................... I started to play around with it, and it felt great, straight from the hanger, and I just loved the twang sound from the Bridge PUP which I could never get on the SG. It was so light in weight as well. Nice action, neck, and pretty well put together for a guitar made in China. Anyway, I was heading back and after to 2 miles, I though, hey, I want this guitar, so I drove around and went back to the shop and purchased it, they even gave me a free gig bag to out it in. £175.

Since then, I have not stopped playing it, and as I bend a lot of strings, I am amazed at how in tune it stays. I put it through a DOD effects processor and into a Fender Frontman 212R, and it sounds amazing. I feel though that the neck pick up could be better in producing a more richer tone.

I would like to change the neck pick up to a Seymour Duncan on future.

Is this an easy task or not ? Never done any wiring on a guitar before.


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Post subject: Re: Seeking opinions on the Squire Affinity series Telecaste
Posted: Wed Sep 18, 2013 9:45 pm
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Spangle6 wrote:
I was browsing in a large guitar shop in Surrey a few weeks ago on a Sunday, which I do about once every few months. I have a Gibson SG which I have owned for about 30 years and never bought another guitar. Anyway, I picked up a Fender Squier Affinity out of curiosity and the butterscotch blonde colour was very visually enticing, but not expecting much being a low prize tag.

However...................................... I started to play around with it, and it felt great, straight from the hanger, and I just loved the twang sound from the Bridge PUP which I could never get on the SG. It was so light in weight as well. Nice action, neck, and pretty well put together for a guitar made in China. Anyway, I was heading back and after to 2 miles, I though, hey, I want this guitar, so I drove around and went back to the shop and purchased it, they even gave me a free gig bag to out it in. £175.

Since then, I have not stopped playing it, and as I bend a lot of strings, I am amazed at how in tune it stays. I put it through a DOD effects processor and into a Fender Frontman 212R, and it sounds amazing. I feel though that the neck pick up could be better in producing a more richer tone.

I would like to change the neck pick up to a Seymour Duncan on future.

Is this an easy task or not ? Never done any wiring on a guitar before.


Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new guitar. I believe you will be happy with it for the long haul. Changing the pickups is not hard if you can solder. I replaced mine...kind of. I broke the new neck pickup. You'll do much better. :lol: Have fun. :D


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