Building a Tele... sort of

Hey folks. Don't post often, but love to browse. Anyway. Thinking of piecing together a tele for myself and have some questions. I know exactly what I want in a neck, no problem. But when it comes to the body, I want to make sure I'm getting a good deal.

There are tons of bodies, some loaded, some not on ebay. Obviously, the better the wood the better the tone. But surely some of the ones from China and who knows where, when paired with a good neck, decent pickups and a Bigsby will be alright. RIGHT??? It's more for the fun of having a project guitar and having something else to play in my rock band. I like the idea of not spending a ton on a guitar and learning how to put one together. I've owned my tele for years and don't have a clue how to fix it.

Also. What about these Squier Affinity Teles? I see some that have been reliced, part upgrades, etc. and have been interested in picking one up. Are they decent guitars? Is it just the tuners/neck that cause tuning issues or does the body have anything to do with that? Can they be turned into a decent player guitar easily?

Dumb questions, I know. Thanks in advance for the help.

i think youd be amazed at what you can do for very little money. Lots of the real guitar experts here seem to rate the neck and pickups as the two major contributors to 'tone' and 'feel' of a guitar.

You need to check out Rob DiStefano's affinity tele at http://www.frettech.com

After owning many budget guitars I say just spend what you have to get quality parts. (This doesn't mean you need to get the most expensive parts)

Understood about quality. But I have to wonder... if a cheap Squier is made "un-cheap" so to speak. Can it still be considered a cheap guitar with some new tuners, bridge and pickups? Same with buying a body. If you find one you like the look of and put it with a neck you dig and some decent hardware, does it matter that the body is some Korean/Chinese/Pan-Asian/Third World sweat shop knock off? I mean, how much better is the body on a 52 reissue or my American Standard compared to a MIM or a Squier?

Seriously trying to learn what to watch out for.

Many people here swear by Squiers. There are memners here who own a squier tele as their #1.

IMHO, you're not going to hear a whole lot of "tone improvement" from getting that super expensive, curvy-grained, super-alder body. Though wood types tend to have different sonic characteristics, I doubt that it would make enough for 2 bodies of the same type of wood. The several hundred dollars for the beautiful, gold-leaf, 700-year old bog wood would probably be better spend on nice pickups, nice neck. Cause no matter what kind of body you have, it's sound like crap if you have bad pickups in it.

I am also saying this beause my #1 is my #1 because of the feel of the neck. I tried dozens and dozens of different guitars (none of them teles, this was before I was a member here) until I picked up what was to be my strat. Before I plugged it in, once the neck slipped into my hand like it was meant to be there, I knew this was what I wanted.

If you can tell the difference between a 2-piece body and a 1-piece body, you should go out and get the best hung of alder you can possibly find(it is extremely rare to find a 1-piece body, even on an american made-guitar). Otherwise (if you're like the rest of us :grin:), You'll probably be fine with any ol' body. Just remember that the Squier Affinity bodies are slightly thinner than your average tele's.