NEW! Squier Classic Vibe 50's Telecaster! - Page 11

RotelliCaster · June 13th, 2008, 12:23 PM

I know this much, $299.00 U.S. = Squier by Fender Classic Vibe Telecaster 50's Electric Guitar(Vintage Blonde)!!!

I Just ordered one from Musicians Friend. They show them to be in stock, so I hope to have it next week.

I went to three different local fender dealers and inquired about this line of Squiers and they didn't know anything about them. The Fender Rep made his rounds here on Wednesday and the dealer closest to me didn't order any of this line. What the Heck????

Oh well, I'll have one before you know it!

sculptor · June 13th, 2008, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hiflyer

Good old UK: Apparently not in stock yet, but to me £225 is a fair price for this serie !! Anderton's Music:

http://www.andertons.co.uk/cgi/ss000...ION&PR=-1&TB=A

If they are available at this price in the uk, which i agree is fair, then i would consider buying one, lets see if the price is correct when they are in stock, ive seen prices change before!

Blues Hurler · June 13th, 2008, 01:47 PM

I just went to Steve's in Toronto (large retailer here in Canada) and they'd never heard of them, nothing on their computer. They had a VM Tele there for $299, but that's as close as I got.

emailhot · June 13th, 2008, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blues Hurler

I just went to Steve's in Toronto (large retailer here in Canada) and they'd never heard of them, nothing on their computer. They had a VM Tele there for $299, but that's as close as I got.

how about Long & McQuade? my cousin works at LM in Calgary, and he says they are on their way, just not in stock yet

Blues Hurler · June 13th, 2008, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emailhot

how about Long & McQuade? my cousin works at LM in Calgary, and he says they are on their way, just not in stock yet

Probably won't get a chance to drop by any of their shops till next week, but I'll be checking them out. That's who I usually do business with these days.

Mhat · June 13th, 2008, 07:00 PM

I stopped by Strait music here in Ausitn on my lunch break to try out this tele. I played it for probably about 20 minutes plugged in.

Hard to tell how much it weighs. Probably around 7.5lbs? Not heavy, not super light. It needed a setup, but other than that I really like it. It's nice and twangy like a tele should be. The bridge looked a little cheap and I'd replace it, but the pickups sounded nice. The tuners would probably go too, had to re-tune while playing. The body was most definitely semi see through. The pine looks really nice under there. I like the striped look of it. I believe it was a 4 piece body. I'm very very tempted to pick one up.

PJ · June 13th, 2008, 08:05 PM

Varakeef...I suppose the Stronger Euro might make for a cheaper
Squier, thoeretically. But, I found many of the costs related to selling a US product there, are generally higher. So, you have to ship it there, have higher dealer margins, duties, VAT and all those to contend with, which are higher due to the stronger currency. When I lived in the UK, I found a British Pound (which I believe is close in value to the Euro), spends like a dollar does here. A pint of beer is a pound there and a buck here. But that beer costs an American 50% more. So, when you put a $300 guitar in a UK Guitar shop, it's going to be priced somewhere around 300 Pounds, Right? When you convert that back to USD its a $450 guitar, right? So, if you start with the US dollar price and just convert it to Euros, your thinking is it should be cheaper, right? But a $30K car costs about 30K Pounds in the UK. And that's what the difference in currency does to product prices in European markets. When you convert most European products back to USD, they look more expensive. So, you can't really divide a $300 US guitar by 1.5 to come-up with what the selling price should be. Maybe I'm wrong, since I wasn't selling guitars when I was there. Maybe the European guys will tell us how many $130 Affinity Squiers there are in the European guitar shops. The more expensive currency makes every movement of that product from Fender to the dealer to the consumer more expensive. It just does. At least for a US company's products.

PJ · June 13th, 2008, 08:21 PM

That's the way to do it. When I lived there, I used to buy my shoes from LL Bean, and have them shipped Parcel Post. Sometimes I'd get snagged for duty and sometimes I'd squeak through. Either way, those shoes were 1/3 what they' cost me there.

alexpigment · June 13th, 2008, 08:56 PM

I went to Strait music and played around with the tele today. Here's my thoughts on it so far: The setup was pretty decent out of the box (they told me they hadn't adjusted anything on it), a little too high action for my tastes, but they generally always are from the factory. Pretty good intonation. As far as the weight goes, I wouldn't call it extra light, but I have to say it was one of the lightest teles in the store. I know the one-in-each-hand maneuver doesn't really work, but it seemed about the same weight as a 72 thinline. Less weight than an MIM. It was light for what I'm used to on my guitars.

Then I plugged it in. Initial thoughts were that the pickups were not noticeably bad, not noticeably good. Pretty average vintage-sounding pickups for my first impression. After more testing, the neck pickup lacked low end and character in general. It seemed more like an inbetween position sound on a strat. Conversely the bridge pickup was very well balanced. Some people like a good range in their teles (really low on one end and really biting on the other); this one seemed like you could leave it on the bridge all the time. It wasn't hot and beefy like a MIM standard pickup. Less low end, but altogether more balanced in sound (in my opinion better). The mid position was also pretty nice, just a little less highs and a little less lows; not very distinct from the bridge tone though. I think it might be a lot nicer if there were a more present neck pickup.

The tuning pegs were fairly loose. I don't know what that says about them, but they were looser than the pings on my strat and the fender official ping replacements on my tele deluxe (those are very stiff). I don't think that really has any effect, but I figured I'd report it.

The pickguard is a pretty thick 5 hole. Large angular bevel on the sides. It seemed like the height of a 3-ply and it met the side dot markers on the upper frets.

The electronics seemed really good. Hum was as expected or less. The vol/tone knobs were fairly tight (not great for on-the-fly 0-10 adjustments). The tone knob really has a lot of range. All the way down was a back-position of a wah kinda sound; I personally like when I can take that much tone off.

That's my thoughts. To sum it up, definitely worth the $300; no question there. The only thing I might replace is the neck pickup

mikethebike500 · June 14th, 2008, 12:44 AM

before I write this.....I'll give everbody the disclaimer that myself have certainly been guilty as charged also....I'm sure I've have bought a product that was produced by some well underpayed third world country dude..or even worse..child......and I'm sure I will do it again...and even knowingly........................point is.................

where are THESE squires being made..who's making them...and do we care?......myself...I do care....I hate buying MIM...made in china.....and made in Korea...or indonesia...or where ever....I've bought guitars from each...and personally I dont like to do it......but for whatever reasons I have.

but hey.......when my 10 year old boy wanted a flying V....and I bought a Dean flying V for a price this American Dude could afford given everything...it probably kept another 10 year employed huh!!!!!!

I'm guilty too dudes...I just dont like it:(

alexpigment · June 14th, 2008, 12:58 AM

MIKE; if you scroll back a few pages, there's a guy from china (something shoes, i forgot) who was a part of making the classic vibe guitars. he clearly has internet access and was able to learn english at some point in his life; and he didn't seem too discontented. i'm not justifying cheap third world labor, but i think you're overgeneralizing. also, people in the fender mexico plant (ensenada) are not slave laborers. i've seen videos of the people working there. that's more a situation where the american dollar goes a longer way in mexico, not where people are being paid the bare minimum.

i can't really speak for the people in the factories, but i think there's a big difference between doing a fairly skilled job like building guitars and doing some sort of textile work like gluing the soles on a pair of shoes... i don't think there's much child/underpaid labor in guitar-making. my two cents

mikethebike500 · June 14th, 2008, 01:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexpigment

MIKE; if you scroll back a few pages, there's a guy from china (something shoes, i forgot) who was a part of making the classic vibe guitars. he clearly has internet access and was able to learn english at some point in his life; and he didn't seem too discontented. i'm not justifying cheap third world labor, but i think you're overgeneralizing. also, people in the fender mexico plant (ensenada) are not slave laborers. i've seen videos of the people working there. that's more a situation where the american dollar goes a longer way in mexico, not where people are being paid the bare minimum.

i can't really speak for the people in the factories, but i think there's a big difference between doing a fairly skilled job like building guitars and doing some sort of textile work like gluing the soles on a pair of shoes... i don't think there's much child/underpaid labor in guitar-making. my two cents

..thanks Alex....I wasnt' trying to step on anyone's dick for buying foreign made guitars..I've done it.....and will probably do it again, but sometimes I think about how there less expensive....and there less expesive for a reason......and it pretty much boils down to labor....IMO. I appreciate the price levels that we are offered for our guitars and amps....depending on what we choose or can afford....I like to buy american...cause I'm an american...but the pocket book makes me look for other choices at times.......I could own and play 3 times as many guitars if I took the overseas road.....but theres something about buying and playing a guit fiddle that was made by a dude just like me...even if I have to pay more......I think he's worth it!!!....just my opinion...Mike

alexpigment · June 14th, 2008, 01:50 AM

completely respect your opinion there. i would prefer to buy american myself, but MIMs are generally my sweet spot. in fact, pretty much all of my electrics are high end MIMs. yes it comes down to labor, but like i said, it's really about how far the US dollar stretches in mexico. go down to mexico and see how much money you spend; it won't be that much.

mikethebike500 · June 14th, 2008, 03:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexpigment

completely respect your opinion there. i would prefer to buy american myself, but MIMs are generally my sweet spot. in fact, pretty much all of my electrics are high end MIMs. yes it comes down to labor, but like i said, it's really about how far the US dollar stretches in mexico. go down to mexico and see how much money you spend; it won't be that much.

speaking of ur High end MiM's....I think I would dig ur 70's artic white strat.....my only strat right now..is a MIM Robert cray....I once made payments on a refinished 76 strat....it was really cool, but needed more work than I could see being worthwile for my desire of a player.....regardless...Rock on

alexpigment · June 14th, 2008, 03:44 AM

yeah, i dig the acoustic sound of my 70s RI but i hate the pickups. it's a guitar i play in bed because it just sounds so good unplugged. i've just gotta find the right pickups and i've gotta find the right time to lay down the money. i hear the robert crays are really nice. kinda like a 60s RI, right? anyway, rock on to you as well :)

Scotland · June 14th, 2008, 04:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikethebike500

I hate buying MIM...made in china.....and made in Korea...or indonesia...or where ever....I've bought guitars from each...and personally I dont like to do it......but for whatever reasons I have.
I'm guilty too dudes...I just dont like it:(

Just curious, how many of your televisions at home are MIA ?
I'm glad that we do buy them from China etc. or these people would be out of work and we would be paying a lot more for them.

mikethebike500 · June 14th, 2008, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scotland

Just curious, how many of your televisions at home are MIA ?
I'm glad that we do buy them from China etc. or these people would be out of work and we would be paying a lot more for them.

oh yeah...I hear ya...and I dont think any of my tv's are MIA, but then I honestly dont know if there are any being made in the US anymore either, but I know they USED to be, and I suppose the Americans that built them were put OUT of a Job, when the companies moved overseas......so I'm not THAT glad about buying them from China.

when I buy my work boots...I have choices to make...I can spend 100 dollars on boots made in china...or I can spend considerably more on boots made in the US....I may only be able to afford to own one pair of boots at a time, but as long as I have the choice to buy boots made in the US, I will pay more, and I'm Glad that I can still do that......

sorry for taking it off topic guys, and I checked out the guitar on the computer.....but I'm just turned off by where there made and thats as bout as simple as I can put it......but thats just my opinion...and to each their own..I'm always cool with that

mikethebike500 · June 14th, 2008, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexpigment

yeah, i dig the acoustic sound of my 70s RI but i hate the pickups. it's a guitar i play in bed because it just sounds so good unplugged. i've just gotta find the right pickups and i've gotta find the right time to lay down the money. i hear the robert crays are really nice. kinda like a 60s RI, right? anyway, rock on to you as well :)

yeah, I suppose it is like a 60's reissue....except this is a hard tail...which is fine by me, cause I usually tightened down the tremelo anyway....the neck pocket isn't that great of a fit...so I had to shim the neck over abit...cause the low E was a wee bit close to the edge of the fret board, but it's a nice playing guitar

Scotland · June 14th, 2008, 09:59 AM

It's for sale here in the UK and at a good price. http://www.andertons.co.uk/acatalog/...medium=Froogle

Hiflyer · June 14th, 2008, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scotland

It's for sale here in the UK and at a good price. http://www.andertons.co.uk/acatalog/...medium=Froogle

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hiflyer

Good old UK: Apparently not in stock yet, but to me £225 is a fair price for this serie !! Anderton's Music:

http://www.andertons.co.uk/cgi/ss000...ION&PR=-1&TB=A

Yup ;)

PJ · June 14th, 2008, 10:24 AM

If I were in Scotland or the UK...I'd say a web-shop like Scotland found would be the better deal than a store front shop. 225 Sterling
seems like a great price.

June 13th, 2008, 12:23 PM	#401 (permalink)
RotelliCaster Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Bethany, Oklahoma Age: 41 Posts: 437 13 Photos	I know this much, $299.00 U.S. = Squier by Fender Classic Vibe Telecaster 50's Electric Guitar(Vintage Blonde)!!! I Just ordered one from Musicians Friend. They show them to be in stock, so I hope to have it next week. I went to three different local fender dealers and inquired about this line of Squiers and they didn't know anything about them. The Fender Rep made his rounds here on Wednesday and the dealer closest to me didn't order any of this line. What the Heck???? Oh well, I'll have one before you know it! __________________ " Trust me, I saw this in a cartoon and I'm pretty sure I can do it! " http://www.myspace.com/bmwsteve Guitar Photos

June 13th, 2008, 01:47 PM	#403 (permalink)
Blues Hurler Tele-Holic Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 653 6 Photos	I just went to Steve's in Toronto (large retailer here in Canada) and they'd never heard of them, nothing on their computer. They had a VM Tele there for $299, but that's as close as I got. __________________ The blues ain't about theory, they's about therapy.

June 13th, 2008, 08:05 PM	#407 (permalink)
PJ Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,077 4 Photos	Varakeef...I suppose the Stronger Euro might make for a cheaper Squier, thoeretically. But, I found many of the costs related to selling a US product there, are generally higher. So, you have to ship it there, have higher dealer margins, duties, VAT and all those to contend with, which are higher due to the stronger currency. When I lived in the UK, I found a British Pound (which I believe is close in value to the Euro), spends like a dollar does here. A pint of beer is a pound there and a buck here. But that beer costs an American 50% more. So, when you put a $300 guitar in a UK Guitar shop, it's going to be priced somewhere around 300 Pounds, Right? When you convert that back to USD its a $450 guitar, right? So, if you start with the US dollar price and just convert it to Euros, your thinking is it should be cheaper, right? But a $30K car costs about 30K Pounds in the UK. And that's what the difference in currency does to product prices in European markets. When you convert most European products back to USD, they look more expensive. So, you can't really divide a $300 US guitar by 1.5 to come-up with what the selling price should be. Maybe I'm wrong, since I wasn't selling guitars when I was there. Maybe the European guys will tell us how many $130 Affinity Squiers there are in the European guitar shops. The more expensive currency makes every movement of that product from Fender to the dealer to the consumer more expensive. It just does. At least for a US company's products. __________________ PJ "I don't know if it's art, but I like it."

June 13th, 2008, 08:21 PM	#408 (permalink)
PJ Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,077 4 Photos	That's the way to do it. When I lived there, I used to buy my shoes from LL Bean, and have them shipped Parcel Post. Sometimes I'd get snagged for duty and sometimes I'd squeak through. Either way, those shoes were 1/3 what they' cost me there. __________________ PJ "I don't know if it's art, but I like it."

June 13th, 2008, 08:56 PM	#409 (permalink)
alexpigment Tele-Meister Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Austin TX Posts: 333	I went to Strait music and played around with the tele today. Here's my thoughts on it so far: The setup was pretty decent out of the box (they told me they hadn't adjusted anything on it), a little too high action for my tastes, but they generally always are from the factory. Pretty good intonation. As far as the weight goes, I wouldn't call it extra light, but I have to say it was one of the lightest teles in the store. I know the one-in-each-hand maneuver doesn't really work, but it seemed about the same weight as a 72 thinline. Less weight than an MIM. It was light for what I'm used to on my guitars. Then I plugged it in. Initial thoughts were that the pickups were not noticeably bad, not noticeably good. Pretty average vintage-sounding pickups for my first impression. After more testing, the neck pickup lacked low end and character in general. It seemed more like an inbetween position sound on a strat. Conversely the bridge pickup was very well balanced. Some people like a good range in their teles (really low on one end and really biting on the other); this one seemed like you could leave it on the bridge all the time. It wasn't hot and beefy like a MIM standard pickup. Less low end, but altogether more balanced in sound (in my opinion better). The mid position was also pretty nice, just a little less highs and a little less lows; not very distinct from the bridge tone though. I think it might be a lot nicer if there were a more present neck pickup. The tuning pegs were fairly loose. I don't know what that says about them, but they were looser than the pings on my strat and the fender official ping replacements on my tele deluxe (those are very stiff). I don't think that really has any effect, but I figured I'd report it. The pickguard is a pretty thick 5 hole. Large angular bevel on the sides. It seemed like the height of a 3-ply and it met the side dot markers on the upper frets. The electronics seemed really good. Hum was as expected or less. The vol/tone knobs were fairly tight (not great for on-the-fly 0-10 adjustments). The tone knob really has a lot of range. All the way down was a back-position of a wah kinda sound; I personally like when I can take that much tone off. That's my thoughts. To sum it up, definitely worth the $300; no question there. The only thing I might replace is the neck pickup __________________ 72 Tele Deluxe RI walnut, Powerhouse Strat LPB, Palomino V32, Pathfinder 15

June 13th, 2008, 07:00 PM	#406 (permalink)
Mhat TDPRI Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Austin, TX Age: 27 Posts: 87	I stopped by Strait music here in Ausitn on my lunch break to try out this tele. I played it for probably about 20 minutes plugged in. Hard to tell how much it weighs. Probably around 7.5lbs? Not heavy, not super light. It needed a setup, but other than that I really like it. It's nice and twangy like a tele should be. The bridge looked a little cheap and I'd replace it, but the pickups sounded nice. The tuners would probably go too, had to re-tune while playing. The body was most definitely semi see through. The pine looks really nice under there. I like the striped look of it. I believe it was a 4 piece body. I'm very very tempted to pick one up.

June 14th, 2008, 12:44 AM	#410 (permalink)
mikethebike500 Tele-Meister Join Date: May 2008 Location: eau claire Michigan Age: 37 Posts: 245	before I write this.....I'll give everbody the disclaimer that myself have certainly been guilty as charged also....I'm sure I've have bought a product that was produced by some well underpayed third world country dude..or even worse..child......and I'm sure I will do it again...and even knowingly........................point is................. where are THESE squires being made..who's making them...and do we care?......myself...I do care....I hate buying MIM...made in china.....and made in Korea...or indonesia...or where ever....I've bought guitars from each...and personally I dont like to do it......but for whatever reasons I have. but hey.......when my 10 year old boy wanted a flying V....and I bought a Dean flying V for a price this American Dude could afford given everything...it probably kept another 10 year employed huh!!!!!! I'm guilty too dudes...I just dont like it:( __________________ "day-care center's and nightshcools, Handle ME with care"

June 14th, 2008, 12:58 AM	#411 (permalink)
alexpigment Tele-Meister Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Austin TX Posts: 333	MIKE; if you scroll back a few pages, there's a guy from china (something shoes, i forgot) who was a part of making the classic vibe guitars. he clearly has internet access and was able to learn english at some point in his life; and he didn't seem too discontented. i'm not justifying cheap third world labor, but i think you're overgeneralizing. also, people in the fender mexico plant (ensenada) are not slave laborers. i've seen videos of the people working there. that's more a situation where the american dollar goes a longer way in mexico, not where people are being paid the bare minimum. i can't really speak for the people in the factories, but i think there's a big difference between doing a fairly skilled job like building guitars and doing some sort of textile work like gluing the soles on a pair of shoes... i don't think there's much child/underpaid labor in guitar-making. my two cents __________________ 72 Tele Deluxe RI walnut, Powerhouse Strat LPB, Palomino V32, Pathfinder 15

June 14th, 2008, 01:50 AM	#413 (permalink)
alexpigment Tele-Meister Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Austin TX Posts: 333	completely respect your opinion there. i would prefer to buy american myself, but MIMs are generally my sweet spot. in fact, pretty much all of my electrics are high end MIMs. yes it comes down to labor, but like i said, it's really about how far the US dollar stretches in mexico. go down to mexico and see how much money you spend; it won't be that much. __________________ 72 Tele Deluxe RI walnut, Powerhouse Strat LPB, Palomino V32, Pathfinder 15

June 14th, 2008, 03:44 AM	#415 (permalink)
alexpigment Tele-Meister Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Austin TX Posts: 333	yeah, i dig the acoustic sound of my 70s RI but i hate the pickups. it's a guitar i play in bed because it just sounds so good unplugged. i've just gotta find the right pickups and i've gotta find the right time to lay down the money. i hear the robert crays are really nice. kinda like a 60s RI, right? anyway, rock on to you as well :) __________________ 72 Tele Deluxe RI walnut, Powerhouse Strat LPB, Palomino V32, Pathfinder 15

June 14th, 2008, 09:59 AM	#419 (permalink)
Scotland Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Aberdeen, Scotland, Yewrup Age: 54 Posts: 6,502 3 Photos	It's for sale here in the UK and at a good price. http://www.andertons.co.uk/acatalog/...medium=Froogle __________________ All those who believe in psycho-kinesis, raise my hand !

June 14th, 2008, 10:24 AM	#421 (permalink)
PJ Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,077 4 Photos	If I were in Scotland or the UK...I'd say a web-shop like Scotland found would be the better deal than a store front shop. 225 Sterling seems like a great price. __________________ PJ "I don't know if it's art, but I like it."