the Squier Sonic Tele project that rekindled my guitar tinkering addiction

[Midnight Wine]

After a long lull in my guitar playing, I woke up on 1/1/24 and decided I'd get back in the swing of things. So I went out and bought...an Epiphone Casino. But then a month after that, the mom-and-pop store in my wife's hometown announced it was closing down and liquidating inventory, so we stopped in when we were visiting. Everything was very much priced to move, and the very last viable electric guitar they had was this:



I figured I'd see how much I could do to it for how little money. Having not engaged in any sort of guitar tinkering in more than a decade, I knew there'd be some mistakes. And there were a lot, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out:

What I added:

• 3-ply "aged white" pickguard ($11, Amazon)
• Chrome-colored Strat-style knobs ($7, Amazon)
• Bridge saddles from a Fender Standard Series (MIM) Telecaster bridge ($23 for whole bridge/saddles, Guitar Audio)
• "Vintage Voiced" GFS Tele pickups with pre-wired "Kwikplug" system control plate ($65 all-in on sale from GuitarFetish)

What I did:

• GOOD: Took my first-ever crack at fret levelling/polishing. The fretwork actually was pretty decent for such a cheap guitar—very few sharp edges to file. Still, they had some high spots and that dull scratchy feeling, so I taped the board, used the fret rocker, and sanded/filed/crowned/steel-wool polished to completion. And it turned out...great! No buzz, no snags, crisp action, great mirror shine. This neck really plays now.
• AMAZING: Replaced the stock saddles with those from a Mexican standard bridge. The ones that came on the guitar were the 20mm type, with really long intonation screws. They looked goofy and felt weird, since I usually have my hand there when playing. Sonically, adding higher-quality 24mm saddles (and shorter screws) made a huge difference. The guitar sounds much more full acoustically and sustains a bit better now.
• BAD: Attempted the old Kiwi shoe polish neck tint to darken up the bone-white, satin-finished maple. This turned into a whole boondoggle. I liked how it looked. I hated how waxy it felt. So I took the finish back down with steel wool, leaving a little glossiness and color, having wasted a good bit of time and shoe polish. I also left the headstock, front and back, with the coloration—giving them this weird fake tan look compared to the rest of the neck. I think I might strip the whole neck down and try a True-Oil finish to get it right once and for all.
• MEH: Replaced the electronics with them dang cheap Guitar Fetish pickups and their goofy no-solder system. I know, I know—GF, plugs...but this being my first project in ages, I wanted to keep things simple and cheap, and it doesn't get much cheaper than $65 all-in or simpler than plugging in and screwing back together. The stock ceramic pickups just weren't it on this one. The bridge wasn't awful, it kinda had some nice trashcan Tele bite but was a bit too brittle. Stock neck pickup was awful, straight up muddy. These GFS replacements are unspectacular, but they certainly have much more body and definition and less harshness, so they're an improvement. That said, the tone pot in this system does not have very even taper, which I know is a common problem with GuitarFetish pots. You take what you get for the price—I'm an "always on 10" guy, so it doesn't bother me much.

Is it the world's greatest Tele now? No. But it's a much smoother-playing, fuller-sounding, better looking guitar than it was a couple weeks ago. Really fun, light, easygoing guitar to have around.

And I learned quite a bit, and I enjoyed it so much that I think I'm going to turn around and try to do it even better, as soon as the Surf Green Sonic Tele arrives in the mail this week. That one is getting the True-Oil treatment and I think is going to be set up as an Esquire. But for now, here are a couple more looks at this little red thing:

 

[doof]

That looks excellent! I got one of the pink Sonic strats a while back just for tinkering and it's been great.

 

[Billy3]

That's a nice improvement. Looks great! And if it plays and sounds good, even better. Enjoy!

 

[mimmo]

Well done, it looks great!

 

[d barham]

Great looking guitar.

 

[Boreas]

Great job!

Were you embarrassed by the "Squier" headstock decal?

 

[Midnight Wine]

Great job!

Were you embarrassed by the "Squier" headstock decal?

Not at all, brand names don't bother me. I'm gonna buy a CV Strat at some point this year and I think those headstocks look great. In this case it was kind of twofold:

1. I wanted it to have an anonymous, vintage sort of look, and the laser-print-black-ink-on-white-maple wasn't working for that. They're printed right on top of the finish!
2. I considered leaving just "Telecaster" in the small print, but because I'd screwed up my initial neck recoloring attempt so badly, all wordmarks became casualty of the sandpaper.

I'm planning on going back and refinishing the whole neck with True-Oil later in the spring to correct my boneheadedness, though, so this thing has a little more work to go.

In the meantime, I had such a blast with that one and it turned out so good that I ordered a guitar online for the first time. Musician's Friend has this one for $149.99 this month so I gave it a shot:

This Surf Green one is probably half a pound heavier than the Torino Red one. Red feels more like a lightweight throwaround rocker, this has Serious Tele weight. Fit and finish on this is a touch sloppier: neck pocket gap, scratchy pots, gunk on the pickups, slippier tuners.

But the neck is somehow even better—absolutely 0 fret overhang and limited high spots to address. Also this cut of maple for the neck was much darker and better-grained than the other, so it'll probably stay as is unless I blow myself away with the True-Oil on the other. It as well is getting a bridge saddle upgrade today. Surf Green Esquire is the general thought right now.

Plan is to keep refining the two of them into their own unique little things and then, when my friend and old bandmate comes to visit this summer, he can take home whichever he prefers. He finished his degree a decade after dropping out of college, so I owe him a congrats present.

 

[Boreas]

Not at all, brand names don't bother me. I'm gonna buy a CV Strat at some point this year and I think those headstocks look great. In this case it was kind of twofold:

1. I wanted it to have an anonymous, vintage sort of look, and the laser-print-black-ink-on-white-maple wasn't working for that. They're printed right on top of the finish, too contrasty.
2. I had tried to leave it as just saying "Telecaster" in the small print, but because I'd screwed up my initial neck recoloring attempt so badly, all wordmarks became casualty of the sandpaper.

I'm planning on going back and refinishing the whole neck with True-Oil later in the spring to correct my boneheadedness, though, so this thing has a little more work to go.

In the meantime, I had such a blast with that one and it turned out so good that I ordered a guitar online for the first time. Musician's Friend has this one for $149.99 this month so I gave it a shot:

View attachment 1219626

Fit and finish on this one a little sloppier than the red one: neck pocket gap, scratchy pots, gunk on the pickups, slippier tuners. But the neck is somehow even better—absolutely 0 fret overhang and limited high spots to address. Also this cut of maple for the neck was much darker and better-grained than the other, so it'll probably stay as is unless I blow myself away with the True-Oil on the other.

Oh, this surf green one is probably half a pound hevier than the red one. Red feels more like a lightweight throwaround rocker, this kinda has Serious Tele weight. It as well is getting a a bridge saddle upgrade, and Surf Green Esquire is the general thought right now.

Plan is to keep experimenting on the two of them and then, when my friend and old bandmate comes to visit this summer, he can take home whichever he prefers—he finished his degree a decade after dropping out of college and is now in law school, so I owe him a congrats present.

Are both bodies the same thickness? Squier has been flip-flopping model specs for a year or two.

I have one of those green Bullets. Cost me about the same. I believe mine is the full 1 3/4" body thickness. A few years back, the Bullets were full-thickness and string-through construction whereas the Affinities were thinner and not string through - yet were slightly more expensive. Squier finally revamped the model line to make a little more sense WRT features and price point.

I threw a Bigsby on mine with a B-blender. Kept the Bigsby but deleted the B-blender. Just never used it.

 

[Midnight Wine]

Are both bodies the same thickness? Squier has been flip-flopping model specs for a year or two.

I have one of those green Bullets. Cost me about the same. I believe mine is the full 1 3/4" body thickness. A few years back, the Bullets were full-thickness and string-through construction whereas the Affinities were thinner and not string through - yet were slightly more expensive. Squier finally revamped the model line to make a little more sense WRT features and price point.

I threw a Bigsby on mine with a B-blender. Kept the Bigsby but deleted the B-blender. Just never used it.

Let's grab some Teles and see!

I couldn't take pictures while I did the side-by-sides (only two hands) but:

The two Sonic Teles are the same, thinner than the MIM (which is standard depth).

One inconsistency in the Sonics: The edges on the Torino Red are much more rounded-off, whereas the Surf Green's are much more square. I think you can almost see that in this picture, but you can tell right away by feel.

Interestingly, the Sonics have a much thinner finish than the MIM, and they might not contain significantly less wood—or at least the full 1/4" less. The finish on that wine red is like 1/8" alone because it's got a silver flake layer beneath the thick poly.

 

[Boreas]

That makes sense. I had heard the Sonics are now 1 1/2".

BUT, to add more confusion, I got these descriptions from the Squier website. I didn't know the Bullet was still available (old stock?), but all 3 state "Thin and lightweight body". Whereas the CV series for instance doesn't mention body thickness as it should be standard. But none of the pages show the actual thickness dimension. And I assume if you pick up a Special Edition from a big retailer, it may have its own body thickness dimension.

Sonic:





Affinity:



Bullet:



Now it is totally possible that the copy in the advertisements is simply incorrect, but I am more confused now than I was before....

 

[Midnight Wine]

That makes sense. I had heard the Sonics are now 1 1/2".

BUT, to add more confusion, I got these descriptions from the Squier website. I didn't know the Bullet was still available (old stock?), but all 3 state "Thin and lightweight body". Whereas the CV series for instance doesn't mention body thickness as it should be standard. But none of the pages show the actual thickness dimension. And I assume if you pick up a Special Edition from a big retailer, it may have its own body thickness dimension.

Sonic:



View attachment 1219679

Affinity:

View attachment 1219684

Bullet:

View attachment 1219683

Now it is totally possible that the copy in the advertisements is simply incorrect, but I am more confused now than I was before....

This has been the thing with the low-budget guitars coming out of China/Indonesia for some time, right, where they just gave up on listing a lot of specs because there's so much variance?

The new Affinity models have a countoured body, which these do not have. They also, as mentioned, have the string-through body and the more-standard bridge plates, as opposed to the 5-screw ones from the Bullet and Sonic that don't fit anything else.

I'll take the ruler to these two Sonics tonight to see what they actually are. Laid flat on a surface with the neck plates overhanging, I think I noted the Surf seeming a bit chunkier than the Torino, which it feels like weight-wise, but that might be the visual effect of it having harder edges.

I'll also be looking at the routing, electronics etc to see if there's any different practices or components between the "regular" one and the GC/MF-exclusive color. Routing on the red one is pretty...well, I've seen worse.

 

[ChicknPickn]

Yep. You're a goner.

 

[FortyEight]

i kinda liked the black pickguard. but i also like the white a lot. shes a looker!!!!

my affinities neck pup was pretty muddy too. i put a strat pup in it. the stock one was also mounted to the body

isnt it sacrilege to have an esquire with a rosewood neck? lol

thanks for sharing

 

[gip111]

Not at all, brand names don't bother me. I'm gonna buy a CV Strat at some point this year and I think those headstocks look great. In this case it was kind of twofold:

1. I wanted it to have an anonymous, vintage sort of look, and the laser-print-black-ink-on-white-maple wasn't working for that. They're printed right on top of the finish!
2. I considered leaving just "Telecaster" in the small print, but because I'd screwed up my initial neck recoloring attempt so badly, all wordmarks became casualty of the sandpaper.

I'm planning on going back and refinishing the whole neck with True-Oil later in the spring to correct my boneheadedness, though, so this thing has a little more work to go.

In the meantime, I had such a blast with that one and it turned out so good that I ordered a guitar online for the first time. Musician's Friend has this one for $149.99 this month so I gave it a shot:

View attachment 1219626

This Surf Green one is probably half a pound heavier than the Torino Red one. Red feels more like a lightweight throwaround rocker, this has Serious Tele weight. Fit and finish on this is a touch sloppier: neck pocket gap, scratchy pots, gunk on the pickups, slippier tuners.

But the neck is somehow even better—absolutely 0 fret overhang and limited high spots to address. Also this cut of maple for the neck was much darker and better-grained than the other, so it'll probably stay as is unless I blow myself away with the True-Oil on the other. It as well is getting a bridge saddle upgrade today. Surf Green Esquire is the general thought right now.

Plan is to keep refining the two of them into their own unique little things and then, when my friend and old bandmate comes to visit this summer, he can take home whichever he prefers. He finished his degree a decade after dropping out of college, so I owe him a congrats present.

I have the same Sonic Telecaster, purchased it about a month ago. I like the neck on those Sonic guitars and bass guitars I've tried. The only thing that had me on the fence with the Tele were the pickups, they didn't sound too bad but underwhelming and dull. I ran across Hoodrio's YouTube channel were here disables the tone control, very easy, just a matter of clipping a wire, so it's easy to reverse. The tone opened up and definitely an audible improvement.

 

[Midnight Wine]

I have the same Sonic Telecaster, purchased it about a month ago. I like the neck on those Sonic guitars and bass guitars I've tried. The only thing that had me on the fence with the Tele were the pickups, they didn't sound too bad but underwhelming and dull. I ran across Hoodrio's YouTube channel were here disables the tone control, very easy, just a matter of clipping a wire, so it's easy to reverse. The tone opened up and definitely an audible improvement.

That's pretty interesting...you can definitely get some good sounds out of the stock bridge pickup. How does the neck pickup sound with tone disabled?

I had planned to Esquire-out the second Sonic I bought, which is the Surf Green one later in this thread, but on close examination I found the Surf one's neck pocket was routed on an angle so I ended up sending that back.

So I have an Esquire pickguard and a Hoagland Esquire harness here, and that's going to go in the red one at some point this week...and I think I'm going to try it with the stock ceramic pickup that came on it! That will give me the tone bypass option so we'll see how it sounds. My lone concern is how it'll sound in the 3rd position, but we'll just hafta find that out.

 

[Midnight Wine]

UPD: It has achieved its final form. Original stock pickup sounds great behind some higher-quality pots!

 

[gip111]

That's pretty interesting...you can definitely get some good sounds out of the stock bridge pickup. How does the neck pickup sound with tone disabled?

I had planned to Esquire-out the second Sonic I bought, which is the Surf Green one later in this thread, but on close examination I found the Surf one's neck pocket was routed on an angle so I ended up sending that back.

So I have an Esquire pickguard and a Hoagland Esquire harness here, and that's going to go in the red one at some point this week...and I think I'm going to try it with the stock ceramic pickup that came on it! That will give me the tone bypass option so we'll see how it sounds. My lone concern is how it'll sound in the 3rd position, but we'll just hafta find that out.

Bypassing/disabling the tone pot opens the sound on both pickups, you can only squeeze so much out of them. I'm even thinking, just for the sake of experimenting, bypassing the volume pot as well but I think I'll just break down and buy a couple of decent pots. I know the most common pots are 250K or 500K? Which one did you use in your Esquire?

 

[Midnight Wine]

Bypassing/disabling the tone pot opens the sound on both pickups, you can only squeeze so much out of them. I'm even thinking, just for the sake of experimenting, bypassing the volume pot as well but I think I'll just break down and buy a couple of decent pots. I know the most common pots are 250K or 500K? Which one did you use in your Esquire?

They're 250k, I used this Hoagland harness.

Esquire’s Famous “Mike Eldred” Mod Wiring Harness – 3-Way Switching for a 1 SC Telecaster – OD Cap | Hoagland Custom

www.hoaglandcustom.com

Working on my soldering game, I'll probably take a crack at doing the whole thing on a project down the road, but as I get back into the tinkering game I'm letting the pros handle the heavy wiring work!

And yes full bypass makes a huge difference. I bought a Squier Paranormal Esquire Deluxe (which I wrote extensively about in this thread) and it has a full bypass position, humbucker straight to the output jack, and that's the position I use the most. Huge difference when you reengage the tone and volume pots, big drop in brightness and breadth and a small drop in volume. With the bypass you can really push an amp hard and heard every little dynamic detail there. Very liberating.

 

[Kimbpoho]

I have the exact same model and I’ve always wanted to upgrade the saddles I just don’t have a caliper and I have no clue what the old saddles measure for so I don’t know whether to replace them with 10.5mm or 10.8. If you know please reply thank you so much