It's 2020. How much should a "good" tele cost

I said $500 - $700, which up until March would get you a nice used Classic Series or American Standard, or a brand new Player Series. At least for me, a "good" Tele would be roadworthy and have decent sounding pickups.

 

I chose $300-$500, by which I meant that with proper research and a little patience, there's no reason you can't get a great Tele (either the whole package or a base + mods to your liking) for that price, especially if you can do your own set-up and mods, if applicable.

Fine Tele's can be had below $300, but I feel like luck plays more of a part in that.

And, of course, there are more expensive great Tele's.

EDIT: This does not take into consideration very specific preferences one may have that will necessarily jack up the price. By "good Tele" I mean a perfectly serviceable guitar that does the job and does it well.

 

Should, or does?

I think good Teles do start at $700-900 for a used Baja if you must have Fender brand.

If not, the best Tele you can get for the money will be a Partscaster which could be less than that.

 

Used? It's that 2010 American Standard Tele that's hanging on the wall at Unicorn Pawn for $120.

For a new guitar, it depends a lot on the player, their goals and desires, their ability to make mods and some other factors.

Below $300 new, the Squier Affinity and Bullet aren't bad, especially for a beginner or modder. The same can be said of some of the off brands like SX, GFS and Glarry. I enjoy modding so I might pick up a cheapo to mess with just for the fun of it.

$300 to $700, things get much better out of the box as you get into the upper end Squier models and the MIM Players. It's mainly finding one that has a good neck feel and feature set you like. For example, I like the Player better than the Classic Vibe due to the neck feel but someone else might like the CV's feel better.

Above $700, expectations should rise. If you're spending in this range, don't settle for something you don't like.

 

300-500 gets you a Classic Vibe, which in my opinion is a pretty big step up from the Squiers and whatever other imports below that bracket, and again my opinion, is as good or better than many Fenders that cost more.

For my money, only a Baja is clearly better than a CV until you start getting into the $1000 (used) or more range. But the CV is a very good guitar, I’m confident in that 300-500 range. Not so much below that.

 

A used Baja 50s will do it. Excellent value and quality.

 

A Tele ,the only one available, cost USD 1858 in 1952 btw in today's money according to online inflation calculators.

(USD 189 without a case in 1952)

We have it REALLY good these days.

 

Couple grand? I mean, I want people to have nice things.

 

I'm embarrassed for not knowing this...

What is the difference between a Baja and an MIM? Is Baja just another term for MIM, since Ensenada is in BCN MX? Or is/were there specific tele models referred to as Bajas?

And $300 is my target for 2000 to say, 2010 MIM strats and teles. There are still a few out there at this cost. Tons for more. But I'm not convinced they're selling quick. A good'n in that price range is fine by me.

 

The Baja is a specific model of MIM Tele. Pretty cool one too, it had 4-way selector with a phase switch on the volume. I prefer a more classic Tele neck pickup over the Twisted Tele it came with, but the Broadcaster in the bridge is the goods.

 

Sweetwater has Telecasters from 229 to 7000 dollars. Anyone complaining about guitars being to expensive has no idea what we had to pay for guitars in the early 70's. The selection and quality available today at almost any price point far exceeds anything in the so called golden age.

 

300-500 I think.

Buy a 2 piece raw Telecaster body, finish it with tru oil.

Maple roasted neck, and pickup + pickguard is not that expensive.

It takes less than a full day to complete this way and you'll have a really good tele.

 

My number one Tele is a partscaster I found used in a shop for about $350. I put in pickups of my choice and it is a great, great guitar. Best Tele I've ever owned, and I've had at least a dozen in my life.

If buying used it should be very possible to get a great gigging and recording guitar for under $500, Fender brand or otherwise, presuming you are a) patient, b) know what a good guitar is when you have it in your hands, and c) know how to do a basic setup and adjust wiring/pickups yourself.

If buying new then maybe go up a couple hundred bucks.

If you don't know so much about guitars, then have someone you trust, such as a good guitar teacher or musician friend to help you find a winner. Or maybe even the Sweetwater guys-- they seem pretty fair to me.

 

Telecasters aren't that complicated. 300-500 should get you a good playing, good sounding instrument. Are we talking used value or new?

 

I couldn't find the 5k option.

 

In my experience if you want something that looks good and plays great and sounds fabulous you couldn't go wrong with the Squier CV line for about 4 bills. The downside is a lack of variety in finishes but they have alnico pups and very nice necks.

After that there's a gap in price, at least for me, where the option is a nice playing guitar, a number of finishes but the pups gotta go (the discontinued Modern Player line was a nice in-between option...oh well)

The Player models(used to call em Standards) MIM and nice looking finishes for about $7. The downside is ceramic pickups that aren't so nice unless you have a liking for them.

The happy medium imo would be a Vintera model. Eight different models all in a more trad design, all very acceptable types, with lots of color options and nice pickups of different varieties also.

But you can replace pups in any and all of the above so it comes down more to what you want to spend on a finish you like.

Good luck

 

Player Teles have Alnico V pickups.

 

I agree OP,. 5 - 7 is realistic for a good used right handed USA Fender Tele.

 

Personally, I think the MIA Telecasters should be around $650, Especially in light of the mods that are installed almost immediately by many people. I mean really...How often do we see something like "I just paid >$1,000 for a brand new MIA vintage spec Telecaster, but I hate the pickups" or "I hate the neck on my new custom shop tele." Well you just blew a thousand dollars, don't you wish you had bought a cheaper one that you actually like?