standard squier tele users

[leonard d rock]

am planning to get a squier tele and the standard model feels and sounds right for me and the closest to the fender. i looked at the opinions here and everybody seems to be playing bullets, affinities &classic vibes. why?

thanks

 

[Treadplatedual]

Price, availability, color, and they like the specific feel or pickups. Personal preference.

 

[nicod98]

I think it has a lot to do with price setting and colour selection of Fender for the Squier range. IMHO the Standard should get the hip colours. The Bullets should be standards, and the Affinity should be cheaper, and only available in limited colours.

The Standard has a not-so-standard pickup sound. It is hot, and I happen to like it very much. I like the pickups better than the CV BSB pickups, but that's personal preference. They are overwound, and I like that very much, but not everybody does.

On the other hand, the quality is about the same as the Bullet/Affinity (but wil a full thickness body), and for just a little more you get a Classic Vibe. I suppose that counts as well in the standard not being so popular.

 

[Ricky D.]

I'd suggest playing the next more and less expensive models just to calibrate where your preference is. I ended up with a standard about ten years ago, clearly superior to the next step down. OEM pickups weee hot and muddy, I swapped them out for a used set of OVs.

 

[scottser]

I had a 20th anniversary standard tele that I bought new in 03. Played it for 15 years and traded it for an Epi Les Paul. Big mistake, that Les didn't touch the tele for playability. My partscaster in my avatar pic has a standard body with Mexican fender neck. That guitar will hold it's own against any fender under a thousand bucks I reckon.
Standards are still made in Indonesia in the Cort factory, I believe so at their price point they can't be touched.

 

[el cheapo]

My Standard has been modded a little...

If I had to keep one electric guitar this would be it. 4 way switch, amp knobs, the best neck ever and some great sounding Rose "Westerlands" tele pickups. The Standard bridge plate is thick, and the stock pups are overwound and sound almost P90ish. If you like that you're in business! The neck pup especially can be dark sounding, but the Fezz Parka mod cleans it up nicely. These are well made and a great bargain especially if you pick one up used. Get it set up right and play the heck out of it!

I like the versatility of vintage wound pickups and auditioned several in my Standard, with the Rose set sounding the best to my ear. Actually, if you have tele pickups that sound thin and weak they would probably work great in a Squier Standard because the chunky bridge plate really thickens up the sound.

 

[Hokyjoe]

Think about it. Tele's are the most copied guitar out there and made of many species of wood and come in a plethora of colors. I have a Modern Player Plus and it's a very good guitar with a nice pickup variation that suits me just fine. I also have a modded bullet that is my every day player loaded with Dragonfire vintage tele pickups and swapped the rosewood neck for a maple GFS xgp neck along with stainless saddles that sound better than an American Standard I flipped a few years back. I've spent money and time looking for "the one" and realized over time that what's the biggest part of my sound is in my hands. Play a bunch of guitars and then get what tickles your ears. Pay more attention to the guitar and not whats printed on tha headstock. Two identical teles can sound a little different and moreso with ones abilty to transmit whats in ones hands to the instrument. These are good days and there's some good stuff out there that can be modded to make one very happy with such an effort to achieve their concept of the tele sound. My bullet after modding.

 

[vanr]

My older Squier Std. Tele has a humbucker in the bridge now. It's been around, but I still play it alot. It goes to every gig. The only one of my guitars that goes to every gig.

 

[jvin248]

...and the standard model feels and sounds ... the closest to the fender. ...

The Standard I have has a too skinny neck, the Affinity I have is closer to MIA/MIM. There seems to be no pattern of which model (mostly because it's by which factory) has a skinny or chunky neck.

Squier Tele necks are all over the map for thick/thin carve (often the width and depth are the same or within 1mm but it's the wood chewed off the rear shoulders that makes the circumference of the neck feel thick/thin).

I've pretty much given up on Squier necks because they tend to be skinny with the rare chunky neck. Many other copy-brands make necks that more closely match MIM/MIA.

Other than the neck, the rest of the guitar is fine. I usually swap pots and caps, switch and jack but leave pickups and tuners which I might spend $15-$20 on. Others feel a need to swap pickups and tuners at much higher cost. I can push around the guitar's tone with the pots and caps swaps.

.

 

[Hokyjoe]

My older Squier Std. Tele has a humbucker in the bridge now. It's been around, but I still play it alot. It goes to every gig. The only one of my guitars that goes to every gig.

Man, that is one nice Squier tele!

 

[vanr]

Man, that is one nice Squier tele!

Thanks. Notice the scar where the router got away from me when I routed for the humbucker?

 

[Hokyjoe]

That's not a scar, it's a "character mark". LOL!

 

[Old Deaf Roadie]

I say if it plays, play it & don't worry what others are playing. Each person/guitar combination is unique and their reasons for playing may very well be irrelevant to how you play. If you like how it feels, sounds, & looks, go for it.

 

[Mechanic]

I have 2 Std Teles, both colors. The yellow is my fave and the red burst is at my sisters in SoCal. Both play and sound great.

 

[vanr]

I have 2 Std Teles, both colors. The yellow is my fave and the red burst is at my sisters in SoCal. Both play and sound great.

Both colors! I remember when they also came in RED and BLACK.along with the Vintage white and red sunburst. Think I also remember them in green.

 

[Sollophonic]

I don't find them as commonly for sale, certainly not as many as Affinitys and Bullets.

Also they made them in a limited range of colours that for many folks are not that popular.

Some of the cream ones had a banana yellow colour, some looked even worse. The antique burst, which I actually like in colour, is not to everyones taste either.

They also have a rosewood board neck, which not everyone wants.

Plus while the bridge works very well on this Tele, unlike the MIMs it cannot be easily swapped for a traditional bridge so maybe folks buy more Classic Vibe Teles.

Needless to say, I like the Squier Std for what it is, a solid, well built, reliable guitar with a nice neck and personally I like mine over any of the Classic Vibe Teles I have owned in the past.



Apart from the pickups, the switch, the pickguard and the nut, mine is pretty much stock

 

[nicod98]

I have 2 Std Teles, both colors. The yellow is my fave and the red burst is at my sisters in SoCal. Both play and sound great.

The Squier Standard made in Indonesia (let's not talk about previous incarnations) was introduced in 1999 with a maple neck with the following colours:

In 2000/2001 a Fat Tele was added, and the colours changed:

Note that the neck transition form maple to rosewood happened in 2 steps, first there ware maple necks with 22 frets, and later the rosewood neck was introduced (in 2000-2001)

Around 2004 a few new colours were also introduced. Antique burst is one of them, but the Walnut Satin should have remained in production.

That same year, the black and chrome (not metallic black) was also introduced:

Since then the only thing that really changed was the introduction of the Indian Laurel fretboards instead of rosewood, and the colours were dropped one by one.

 

[vanr]

Never seen a Purple Standard.

 

[Sollophonic]

Never seen a Purple Standard.

I saw a used one once in a guitar shop, it was a pretty strong purple colour. Looked quite odd with a maple neck.

 

[MonkeyJefferson]

The Squier Standard made in Indonesia (let's not talk about previous incarnations) was introduced in 1999 with a maple neck with the following colours:

View attachment 613476

In 2000/2001 a Fat Tele was added, and the colours changed:

View attachment 613477

The Indonesian Standard line began in 1998.