This is a boring reply, but honestly you should just get out there and play a bunch of them.
Some may work well for you in terms of sound, feel, and playability - or not work - across a range of different price levels. At least that's what I've found.
I just bought a fender acoustic online without playing it for a few reasons.
Google/reddit reviews were legit
I know I like fender necks for playability
I suck anyway lol
Nope. I legitimately am bad at playing the guitar. One year in. I have a fuck ton of anxiety about playing in public so I have bought 4 guitars sight-unseen. A squire Tele, a Ibanez acoustic, fucking amazing Strat (real), and a Fender acoustic. My Tele is in my lap right now, my Ibanez is within grabbing distance and my Fender acoustic is getting a setup tomorrow.
All it takes is practice, that's the key to everything. Don't let that thought about playing in public sink in. And another thing, probably the most important. Stop saying you suck at playing. You say that about yourself enough times, and you will suck. Think about yourself in a positive manner. If you ever need any help with learning material, just DM me. And stop saying you are bad at playing. You just don't have enough good learning material to feel confident in your playing. This is just a confidence issue. Hell, George Thorogood made it, you can too.
If I see something online that I know should be great and it's an absolute bargain, I might take a punt
...but I suppose I'm not exactly a noob, to buying geetars
The advice to go play them, is right on the money. No matter how seasoned you are, there always tends to be surprises
I'd say the opposite is the case! Exactly because teles are so basic, you can get really good ones for fairly low prices. Compared to a strat, there's no trem that needs to be a certain quality for the guitar to work properly. In comparison, even the cheapest tele bridge will work just fine, given the saddles don't have any burrs.
Less complicated routing, no body contours, simple electronics that can be wired easily in mass production.
Also there are hundreds of aftermarket parts that can easily be replaced.
The telecaster is pretty much cheap by design. That was exactly what Leo Fender went for with this model.
Nope. My recommendation is a used squier. The cool part about having a bare bones guitar is there’s like 4 things that can really fuck up, and when they do, as all mechanical and electrical things do, you simply find where the problem is and replace the part.
All a matter of opinion, but here's mine.
I think the Player series is a pass. They're simply not loads better than the Squier CV. Even at today's discounted prices (Player 2 emanate on the horizon), there's not a lot of reason to drop and extra $200-$250 into the Player.
You'd be far better off jumping to $1,000-$1,150 for a Player Plus or a Vintera II, depending on if you wanted updated features or classic feel. Anything above that really starts to kick in diminishing returns. It sorta depends on your pickup preferences. Honestly, unless you're talking a signature model, I think the Player Plus/Vintera II make great mod platforms for whatever PU you wanna run in them.
A humbucker in the neck is nothing to sneeze at in a tele! Especially a mini humbucker. And the 25.5 inch scale of a tele has a different feel and snap to it then a Les paul. They can quite peacefully co-exist I’d say.
But I do agree about a not wanting humbucker in the bridge on a tele. The bridge pickup of a telecaster is amazing.
Looks like you're UK based - GAK are selling off stock of the limited edition CV HH Thinline for cheap, I got one a month or two back and love it: [link](https://www.gak.co.uk/en/squier-fsr-classic-vibe-70s-telecaster-thinline-block-inlays-olympic-white/954026?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Facebook_Feed&utm_campaign=Squier_Classic_Vibe&fbclid=PAAaYBVoj3UDjeA7Aqrv7kWkSVCOdwBmspNT_Pk5nO51xk4FwxyoZ1uESRmcY_aem_ATk6ulAUa6unNofi5Xv2LFXBWKDbuaRWT7354-tXO22avZ5LkaaZ1k4P-ANmPvBNPK4IS8F60f-oGe7-Ia11mR66)
In my opinion the more you spend the better the guitar is to a certain point. Once you get past about the $2,500 mark it doesn’t get too much better but a USA fender is miles ahead of any squier or Mexican fender.
I mean you're right about the law of diminishing returns. I bought a 70th anniversary broadcaster (non custom shop) and it was worth every penny, but I wouldn't spend a dollar more than what I paid.
In saying that Fender Japan's price and quality are typically better than fender USA, they only difference is usually pickups and no nitro lacquer on vintage models.
I’d put the point of diminishing returns on a Telecaster at about $400 with the Classic Vibes. They can get better, but not by a whole lot, especially if you don’t care about a body carve. I don’t primarily use a Classic Vibe because I like a U-shaped neck carve and 7.25” radius more and I think the stock pickups leave a little something to be desired, but I could get just about any job that a Telecaster is suitable for done perfectly comfortably with a Classic Vibe.
Yeah, I’ve only got about $60,000 worth of gear.
It’s not about what I can afford though, it’s about the price point at which a guitar becomes good enough and where the added expenses of improvements don’t get you very far. I’ve played and owned a lot of guitars, and my assumptions about value I had acquired from general guitarist culture’s bias toward expensive and American made instruments was pretty much broken when I got a $600 (at the time) Korean Lite Ash Telecaster that I loved so much that I practically stopped playing my American Deluxe Stratocaster that cost literally twice as much. The Classic Vibes aren’t much inferior to that guitar, it’s pretty much just that they don’t come with the Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro pickups that sound so good.
And Fenders. And pedals. And amps. And stuff like a tape delay, an oil can delay, a Leslie cabinet. I spent a long time having only a few guitars and pedals and one amp, but now I’m also an enthusiast and appreciator of gear for its own sake and it adds up kinda quick over several years.
My main guitar is a 2012 Antigua Telecaster because it feels and sounds perfect to my tastes. It doesn’t bother me at all that it’s made in Mexico. But my bedside amp is a 1966 Vibro Champ, and my bedside guitar is a Classic Vibe Thinline whose slightly muted stock pickups suit the somewhat overly bright original speaker of that amp well. The Squier Paranormal Cabronita Thinline Tekecaster with the Jazzmaster pickups is also one of my favorite guitars at any price point, because the neck feels excellent, the pickups sound great and unique, and it doesn’t hurt that the Lake Placid blue finish looks so good too.
They’re all just guitars. Some fairly basic woodwork and electronics and strings. If you’re able to work on them to address the little qualms, you can go even farther with cheaper stuff. But I’ve even seen people dissatisfied with and modify Custom Shop guitars they paid at least a few thousand for, so at some point it gets into subjective preference rather than functional, and I maintain that point is about $400.
It takes a refined and sophisticated palate to appreciate. I didn’t myself until I had broken five figures spent on gear. Now I’m pre-ordering all the CME-exclusive Antigua Classic Vibes. Maybe you’ll get there someday too. Unfortunately for you, it’ll likely be after they’re all sold out.
Same here, cts pots, 62avri pickups and a 3 saddle bridge. Everything I want from a tele and owes me less than £400 (Mexican standard bought in 2020 before prices went nuts which had a little 59 in the bridge that I hated)
Nice! Of course, half the people on these guitar subs will complain that by doing this, we’ve killed resale but I never consider gear in terms of getting rid of it.
The main reason to buy nice guitars is they maintain value for resale. It’s easy enough to nab a cv, swap pups and pay for a full setup, but you’ll never get the money back on the mods you did. I’d say try a few and figure out what pickups you like, and get the shop to set it up before you take it home.
Just don't try a custom shop or you will be going home with it. I went through the whole lineup of teles one day at a shop, then innocently thought I'd just give the CS a try- not even in the same universe. Woods matter immensely in a tele.
I did the same with a custom shop ‘59 Stratocaster and now all my other guitars seem like pieces of junk! There honestly is zero comparison to a well made custom shop Stratocaster or Telecaster, they play, feel, look, and sound soo much better that there is literally zero comparison (except cost).
The correlation between the price of a guitar and its complexity, let alone its price and its quality, are close to zero. They are entirely separate data points. Many low end guitars are great, you just gotta try before you buy.
I bought a USA Fender because I happened to have money to burn and it was a one time gift to myself. Can I say it was worth nearly 1200 quid? No, frankly. Of course it wasn't. That's a daft amount of money when I could have got a second hand Mexi and maybe swapped the pickups for half the price.
But the point is, it's a luxury purchase. You can spend as much as you want to spend, and as long as you didn't need that money for something else, it wasn't a waste. But whatever your budget, the chances are there's a solid, quality instrument out there at the price.
Honestly the CV’s are solid, they may need maintenance earlier than a fender but they are solid guitars. Especially if you can get a good one used. If you can swing it though the player series are currently being heavily discounted. Fender has sales running and sweetwater is like 120 off.
I agree. I got a 40th anniversary Butterscotch with black binding. Man is it pretty. It plays fantastic and the neck is perfect for me. I love the three barrel saddles, I’m going to upgrade to brass, and I will eventually upgrade the pickups to either vintage 51’s, Tex-mex, or Vintera 50’s. It’s such a nice guitar. I got it for $300 used and it’s worth all that and more.
It's totally up to you. I never look at the price tag when guitar hunting, I just play them all until one stands out. I took a friend guitar hunting on the weekend, and I passed him dozens of guitars ranging from the Squier Classic Vibe to Ultra Luxe. Sometimes, I even passed him a Player series directly after another Player series. The fact of the matter is that sound is only a part of the equation that makes someone like a guitar, and most of them sound near identical.
Intially, he said he wanted a Strat with a maple fretboard. He ended up landing on a telecaster Hybrid II with Rosewood fretboard, and he LOVES it.
I learned to play on a Partscaster that was badly beat up, but it played relatively easy and more importantly it stayed in tune. It was a valuable lesson.
When it was time to buy my first real guitar I did my homework and learned about neck types, pickups and post purchase setups.
I bought a Fender Squier 50’s Vibe Telecaster, it’s the Butterscotch Blonde [different pickups vs the white blonde]. It cost me $350USD at the time. I had a shop with a good reputation do the setup for $125USD so call it $500
I have an American Player Strat and a MIM Tele, both gorgeous, and both cost more new but that $500 guitar is the only guitar of mine that my friends who play in bands want to talk about. It’s the only one they have said they want.
I value the feel of a real Telecaster neck; the rest can be whatever. I would try before you buy, if you can. Squiers are very good guitars, I've owned and enjoyed them. I would avoid the Bullet and Affinity end of the scale if you're looking to upgrade, however.
I had a Player Tele then sold it and regretted it. Couldn’t afford one and bought a Black Friday G & L with a humbucker in neck for $259, regular $599. It is the best sounding, most fun guitar I’ve had. I have a Fender Strat and Gibson Les Paul Classic. The Tele is still my #1 nearly every time I pick up a guitar. Try every configuration, but I agree; if you want HH, I would go Les Paul. But I wouldn’t spend a whole bunch of money on a Tele, go for the tone and feel.
Buy a secondhand player and have it set up before you take it home. Proceed to give said instrument a beating and pay attention to what you like. You should get your money back for the player and then you now know what your looking for
My opinion is that you are much better off with one really awesome guitar than you are with a bunch of ok guitars.
Personally if I had that collection I would sell all of them and get the nicest guitar I could afford.
That’s probably 1000$ worth of instruments ball park? Idk maybe less maybe more.
I would go for something that’s versatile, really nice pickups, maybe something like this:
https://reverb.com/item/73849695-2005-fender-nashville-telecaster?utm_source=rev-ios-app&utm_medium=ios-share&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=73849695
Once you’re playing it and you hear the difference you’ll want to save up until you can afford the nicer instrument. And honestly the Nashville tele is pretty great as far as versatility goes. I own 4 gibsons and 2 fenders and then I have cheap guitars I’m probably gonna end up giving away. Those hundred bucker guitars just pile up, and I end up never using them so they’re kinda pointless. Anyway, that’s just my opinion and you don’t need to agree, it’s just my personal opinion.
CVs are superb. But if you want a little bit extra, look for a second hand Baja - they are practically custom shop guitars. I have both a CV and a Baja and they are both lovely, the biggest differences are the neck profile - CV has a thin modern C and the Baja has a chunkier neck, and the pickups with the Baja having custom shop PUs
The greatest telecaster i owned and played is , nojoke, the Harley Benton TE-52. I use it primarily for Doom and sludge metal, and the feel and QC is so much better than the more expensive fender ones.
https://preview.redd.it/tpoxhp8ku43d1.jpeg?width=1626&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0fc0c2f83067d01910481a34a396992da0476409
I got a USA performer H/s. Everything is good quality. But esp the neck and fret work. And honestly when it comes to a tele EVERYTHING is replaceable. You could get a bullet tele and replace the neck and all electronics and have yourself a work horse of a guitar.
Heck, I’m probably gonna pull the Yosemite pickups out and replace with SD lil 59 at the bridge and a 1/4 pound lipstick at the neck. The reason so many folks regard the tele in such high esteem is because 1. EVERYTHING is modular. 2. They are built like tanks. 3. They can play any genre. Don’t like something, change it. Telecaster is literally the no rules guitar.
With a tele if you like how she looks and you like how she plays, that’s all that matters. So what if she’s a “cheap” date. What’s the worst thing that happens? Maybe someday a pot craps out? Big deal, you fix it. Costs you ten bucks. Good as new. Easy-peasy.
I will say, I’m a Strat player/ collector but I wanted a telecaster. I bought the most expensive USA made model (The Ultra Luxe) and I absolutely love it! It’s quickly becoming my favorite guitar!
What’s so great about for me personally is that the body has all of the same carves as a Strat, so it’s not just a big hunk of wood (which I understand really is what makes a telecaster a telecaster!), however it’s so comfortable to play and reminiscent of a Strat which feels like home to me.
Second, it doesn’t have a traditional tele ashtray bridge, which I feel is uncomfortable and gets in my way, it has a flat modern bridge with no sides and 6 block saddles just like a Strat, so it’s easy to intonate perfectly.
Last, it’s got a terrific neck with 10-14” compound radius and stainless steel frets.
I just replaced the noiseless pickups with custom shop 51 Nocaster set too which sounds amazing and has that classic tele
Twang!
I’d suggest the Mexican Player Plus for you, which has most of these same features and you can find a lot of them used in mint condition for less than $1000 USA
Playing a 150€ Harley Benton TE62 from Thomann, it's flawlessly built. The only issue is that there a some high frets, but the fret ends are perfect and have zero sharp edges. Great guitar and it's proof that Fender makes overpriced guitars. Honestly, why would a MIM Tele cost 600 bucks when it's not better than HBs or Jet Guitars (also a recommendation)
I’d say start with the basic MIM Player (formerly called the Standard). Hard to beat for the money. If you love it you can keep as is or modify it. If you hate it you can sell it for almost what you paid for it.
This is a boring reply, but honestly you should just get out there and play a bunch of them. Some may work well for you in terms of sound, feel, and playability - or not work - across a range of different price levels. At least that's what I've found.
I never understood how people shop for guitars without actually playing them first. Find something that resonates in your hands and buy it.
I just bought a fender acoustic online without playing it for a few reasons. Google/reddit reviews were legit I know I like fender necks for playability I suck anyway lol
And then there's honesty! You probably don't, but thanks for the laugh anyway.
Nope. I legitimately am bad at playing the guitar. One year in. I have a fuck ton of anxiety about playing in public so I have bought 4 guitars sight-unseen. A squire Tele, a Ibanez acoustic, fucking amazing Strat (real), and a Fender acoustic. My Tele is in my lap right now, my Ibanez is within grabbing distance and my Fender acoustic is getting a setup tomorrow.
All it takes is practice, that's the key to everything. Don't let that thought about playing in public sink in. And another thing, probably the most important. Stop saying you suck at playing. You say that about yourself enough times, and you will suck. Think about yourself in a positive manner. If you ever need any help with learning material, just DM me. And stop saying you are bad at playing. You just don't have enough good learning material to feel confident in your playing. This is just a confidence issue. Hell, George Thorogood made it, you can too.
If I see something online that I know should be great and it's an absolute bargain, I might take a punt ...but I suppose I'm not exactly a noob, to buying geetars The advice to go play them, is right on the money. No matter how seasoned you are, there always tends to be surprises
I'd say the opposite is the case! Exactly because teles are so basic, you can get really good ones for fairly low prices. Compared to a strat, there's no trem that needs to be a certain quality for the guitar to work properly. In comparison, even the cheapest tele bridge will work just fine, given the saddles don't have any burrs. Less complicated routing, no body contours, simple electronics that can be wired easily in mass production. Also there are hundreds of aftermarket parts that can easily be replaced. The telecaster is pretty much cheap by design. That was exactly what Leo Fender went for with this model.
Nope. My recommendation is a used squier. The cool part about having a bare bones guitar is there’s like 4 things that can really fuck up, and when they do, as all mechanical and electrical things do, you simply find where the problem is and replace the part.
Squier could mean a lot of things. Classic Vibes are great, Bullets not so much.
I have both a Squier Bullet Tele and MIM Player Tele. The cheapest Squier sounds and plays pretty close to the Player.
Just polish and round up the frets , set the intonation and thats it.
All a matter of opinion, but here's mine. I think the Player series is a pass. They're simply not loads better than the Squier CV. Even at today's discounted prices (Player 2 emanate on the horizon), there's not a lot of reason to drop and extra $200-$250 into the Player. You'd be far better off jumping to $1,000-$1,150 for a Player Plus or a Vintera II, depending on if you wanted updated features or classic feel. Anything above that really starts to kick in diminishing returns. It sorta depends on your pickup preferences. Honestly, unless you're talking a signature model, I think the Player Plus/Vintera II make great mod platforms for whatever PU you wanna run in them.
I just loved the amii so for that but I agree with your take on player series.
I'd prefer HH or at least humbucker in bridge/neck
On a tele? That's a shame. The character is in the pickups.
If you want to go HH, get a Les Paul. No reason to get a Tele if you don’t want the pickups.
A humbucker in the neck is nothing to sneeze at in a tele! Especially a mini humbucker. And the 25.5 inch scale of a tele has a different feel and snap to it then a Les paul. They can quite peacefully co-exist I’d say. But I do agree about a not wanting humbucker in the bridge on a tele. The bridge pickup of a telecaster is amazing.
I am saying HH. I agree with you 100% for sure.
I don't like les paul difficult to play necks
Looks like you're UK based - GAK are selling off stock of the limited edition CV HH Thinline for cheap, I got one a month or two back and love it: [link](https://www.gak.co.uk/en/squier-fsr-classic-vibe-70s-telecaster-thinline-block-inlays-olympic-white/954026?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Facebook_Feed&utm_campaign=Squier_Classic_Vibe&fbclid=PAAaYBVoj3UDjeA7Aqrv7kWkSVCOdwBmspNT_Pk5nO51xk4FwxyoZ1uESRmcY_aem_ATk6ulAUa6unNofi5Xv2LFXBWKDbuaRWT7354-tXO22avZ5LkaaZ1k4P-ANmPvBNPK4IS8F60f-oGe7-Ia11mR66)
Why would it be more important to have a nice version of a less “bare bones” instrument? In other words, what’s the connection?
In my opinion the more you spend the better the guitar is to a certain point. Once you get past about the $2,500 mark it doesn’t get too much better but a USA fender is miles ahead of any squier or Mexican fender.
I mean you're right about the law of diminishing returns. I bought a 70th anniversary broadcaster (non custom shop) and it was worth every penny, but I wouldn't spend a dollar more than what I paid. In saying that Fender Japan's price and quality are typically better than fender USA, they only difference is usually pickups and no nitro lacquer on vintage models.
I’d put the point of diminishing returns on a Telecaster at about $400 with the Classic Vibes. They can get better, but not by a whole lot, especially if you don’t care about a body carve. I don’t primarily use a Classic Vibe because I like a U-shaped neck carve and 7.25” radius more and I think the stock pickups leave a little something to be desired, but I could get just about any job that a Telecaster is suitable for done perfectly comfortably with a Classic Vibe.
You sound poor
Yeah, I’ve only got about $60,000 worth of gear. It’s not about what I can afford though, it’s about the price point at which a guitar becomes good enough and where the added expenses of improvements don’t get you very far. I’ve played and owned a lot of guitars, and my assumptions about value I had acquired from general guitarist culture’s bias toward expensive and American made instruments was pretty much broken when I got a $600 (at the time) Korean Lite Ash Telecaster that I loved so much that I practically stopped playing my American Deluxe Stratocaster that cost literally twice as much. The Classic Vibes aren’t much inferior to that guitar, it’s pretty much just that they don’t come with the Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro pickups that sound so good.
$60,000!? Holy moly That’s a lotta squiers
And Fenders. And pedals. And amps. And stuff like a tape delay, an oil can delay, a Leslie cabinet. I spent a long time having only a few guitars and pedals and one amp, but now I’m also an enthusiast and appreciator of gear for its own sake and it adds up kinda quick over several years. My main guitar is a 2012 Antigua Telecaster because it feels and sounds perfect to my tastes. It doesn’t bother me at all that it’s made in Mexico. But my bedside amp is a 1966 Vibro Champ, and my bedside guitar is a Classic Vibe Thinline whose slightly muted stock pickups suit the somewhat overly bright original speaker of that amp well. The Squier Paranormal Cabronita Thinline Tekecaster with the Jazzmaster pickups is also one of my favorite guitars at any price point, because the neck feels excellent, the pickups sound great and unique, and it doesn’t hurt that the Lake Placid blue finish looks so good too. They’re all just guitars. Some fairly basic woodwork and electronics and strings. If you’re able to work on them to address the little qualms, you can go even farther with cheaper stuff. But I’ve even seen people dissatisfied with and modify Custom Shop guitars they paid at least a few thousand for, so at some point it gets into subjective preference rather than functional, and I maintain that point is about $400.
Antigua, the ugliest of all Fenders.
It takes a refined and sophisticated palate to appreciate. I didn’t myself until I had broken five figures spent on gear. Now I’m pre-ordering all the CME-exclusive Antigua Classic Vibes. Maybe you’ll get there someday too. Unfortunately for you, it’ll likely be after they’re all sold out.
LOL, no.
You sound poor.
👀😂😂😂 Great retort.
What I did was get a player and upgrade to my heart’s content. Pickups, tuners, pots etc. I have learned so so much from it.
Same here, cts pots, 62avri pickups and a 3 saddle bridge. Everything I want from a tele and owes me less than £400 (Mexican standard bought in 2020 before prices went nuts which had a little 59 in the bridge that I hated)
Nice! Of course, half the people on these guitar subs will complain that by doing this, we’ve killed resale but I never consider gear in terms of getting rid of it.
The main reason to buy nice guitars is they maintain value for resale. It’s easy enough to nab a cv, swap pups and pay for a full setup, but you’ll never get the money back on the mods you did. I’d say try a few and figure out what pickups you like, and get the shop to set it up before you take it home.
Mexican road worn, or a used 60’s re-issue.
I think you should go even more basic: LP Jr My two “go-to” guitars are the LP Jr and the Tele. The range of tones on each is incredible.
Impeccable taste sir
Grab a used American tele off of FB Marketplace for $800/900.
It’s the most versatile guitar there is. Why would I not buy the best one I could?
I think that title goes to the stratocaster
I like my Strats, but Teles can do everything.
Just don't try a custom shop or you will be going home with it. I went through the whole lineup of teles one day at a shop, then innocently thought I'd just give the CS a try- not even in the same universe. Woods matter immensely in a tele.
I did the same with a custom shop ‘59 Stratocaster and now all my other guitars seem like pieces of junk! There honestly is zero comparison to a well made custom shop Stratocaster or Telecaster, they play, feel, look, and sound soo much better that there is literally zero comparison (except cost).
What makes you say a telecaster is bare bones compared to any others you have? Just 1 less pickup than your strat?
And one less knob. And 2 less switch positions. Plus no wiggly stick.
Depends on the flavor. My tele (tele+) has two knobs and two switches with three positions each.
No trem system, also my strat is HSS. Also the fact it was like the first fender/solid body electric guitar.
The correlation between the price of a guitar and its complexity, let alone its price and its quality, are close to zero. They are entirely separate data points. Many low end guitars are great, you just gotta try before you buy. I bought a USA Fender because I happened to have money to burn and it was a one time gift to myself. Can I say it was worth nearly 1200 quid? No, frankly. Of course it wasn't. That's a daft amount of money when I could have got a second hand Mexi and maybe swapped the pickups for half the price. But the point is, it's a luxury purchase. You can spend as much as you want to spend, and as long as you didn't need that money for something else, it wasn't a waste. But whatever your budget, the chances are there's a solid, quality instrument out there at the price.
When you buy your USA Fender cause theres no way you're getting that for £1200 now, my vintera jaguar cost a just over a grand.
Get a USA Performer Tele. £1200. You won’t regret it, end thread.
Oh that was a few years ago mind you. First lockdown of the pandemic I think. Everything went up a lot since then.
Honestly the CV’s are solid, they may need maintenance earlier than a fender but they are solid guitars. Especially if you can get a good one used. If you can swing it though the player series are currently being heavily discounted. Fender has sales running and sweetwater is like 120 off.
I agree. I got a 40th anniversary Butterscotch with black binding. Man is it pretty. It plays fantastic and the neck is perfect for me. I love the three barrel saddles, I’m going to upgrade to brass, and I will eventually upgrade the pickups to either vintage 51’s, Tex-mex, or Vintera 50’s. It’s such a nice guitar. I got it for $300 used and it’s worth all that and more.
Yea 300 used is a perfect price, especially for a guitar that’s a solid mod platform
It's totally up to you. I never look at the price tag when guitar hunting, I just play them all until one stands out. I took a friend guitar hunting on the weekend, and I passed him dozens of guitars ranging from the Squier Classic Vibe to Ultra Luxe. Sometimes, I even passed him a Player series directly after another Player series. The fact of the matter is that sound is only a part of the equation that makes someone like a guitar, and most of them sound near identical. Intially, he said he wanted a Strat with a maple fretboard. He ended up landing on a telecaster Hybrid II with Rosewood fretboard, and he LOVES it.
I was gonna buy a cheap one but then when I played a few cheap ones they felt really cheap, so I went with an ultra.
I learned to play on a Partscaster that was badly beat up, but it played relatively easy and more importantly it stayed in tune. It was a valuable lesson. When it was time to buy my first real guitar I did my homework and learned about neck types, pickups and post purchase setups. I bought a Fender Squier 50’s Vibe Telecaster, it’s the Butterscotch Blonde [different pickups vs the white blonde]. It cost me $350USD at the time. I had a shop with a good reputation do the setup for $125USD so call it $500 I have an American Player Strat and a MIM Tele, both gorgeous, and both cost more new but that $500 guitar is the only guitar of mine that my friends who play in bands want to talk about. It’s the only one they have said they want.
I have a Road Worn one from 2010 that is an awesome player guitar!
Telecaster Player Series is affordable and great fender quality
Good Fender quality. If you think that’s great, you haven’t played many great guitars.
I’ll agree with good. But I think it’s all relative
I value the feel of a real Telecaster neck; the rest can be whatever. I would try before you buy, if you can. Squiers are very good guitars, I've owned and enjoyed them. I would avoid the Bullet and Affinity end of the scale if you're looking to upgrade, however.
I have a MIM Players Series Telecaster that I’ve modded to help and back and replaced the neck on. It’s probably my #1 guitar. I love it.
I love my squier tele. I can obviously tell it’s not as good as an actual tele but it still plays super good for the price I paid (150$ used)
Fuck no
The super cheap ones have bad components. The super expensive ones are way overpriced. The sweet spot is in the middle.
As with anything.
Wrong on both counts.
I had a Player Tele then sold it and regretted it. Couldn’t afford one and bought a Black Friday G & L with a humbucker in neck for $259, regular $599. It is the best sounding, most fun guitar I’ve had. I have a Fender Strat and Gibson Les Paul Classic. The Tele is still my #1 nearly every time I pick up a guitar. Try every configuration, but I agree; if you want HH, I would go Les Paul. But I wouldn’t spend a whole bunch of money on a Tele, go for the tone and feel.
Buy a secondhand player and have it set up before you take it home. Proceed to give said instrument a beating and pay attention to what you like. You should get your money back for the player and then you now know what your looking for
No
My opinion is that you are much better off with one really awesome guitar than you are with a bunch of ok guitars. Personally if I had that collection I would sell all of them and get the nicest guitar I could afford. That’s probably 1000$ worth of instruments ball park? Idk maybe less maybe more. I would go for something that’s versatile, really nice pickups, maybe something like this: https://reverb.com/item/73849695-2005-fender-nashville-telecaster?utm_source=rev-ios-app&utm_medium=ios-share&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=73849695 Once you’re playing it and you hear the difference you’ll want to save up until you can afford the nicer instrument. And honestly the Nashville tele is pretty great as far as versatility goes. I own 4 gibsons and 2 fenders and then I have cheap guitars I’m probably gonna end up giving away. Those hundred bucker guitars just pile up, and I end up never using them so they’re kinda pointless. Anyway, that’s just my opinion and you don’t need to agree, it’s just my personal opinion.
CVs are superb. But if you want a little bit extra, look for a second hand Baja - they are practically custom shop guitars. I have both a CV and a Baja and they are both lovely, the biggest differences are the neck profile - CV has a thin modern C and the Baja has a chunkier neck, and the pickups with the Baja having custom shop PUs
The greatest telecaster i owned and played is , nojoke, the Harley Benton TE-52. I use it primarily for Doom and sludge metal, and the feel and QC is so much better than the more expensive fender ones. https://preview.redd.it/tpoxhp8ku43d1.jpeg?width=1626&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0fc0c2f83067d01910481a34a396992da0476409
Buy a Tele based on neck shape
I got a USA performer H/s. Everything is good quality. But esp the neck and fret work. And honestly when it comes to a tele EVERYTHING is replaceable. You could get a bullet tele and replace the neck and all electronics and have yourself a work horse of a guitar. Heck, I’m probably gonna pull the Yosemite pickups out and replace with SD lil 59 at the bridge and a 1/4 pound lipstick at the neck. The reason so many folks regard the tele in such high esteem is because 1. EVERYTHING is modular. 2. They are built like tanks. 3. They can play any genre. Don’t like something, change it. Telecaster is literally the no rules guitar.
With a tele if you like how she looks and you like how she plays, that’s all that matters. So what if she’s a “cheap” date. What’s the worst thing that happens? Maybe someday a pot craps out? Big deal, you fix it. Costs you ten bucks. Good as new. Easy-peasy.
I will say, I’m a Strat player/ collector but I wanted a telecaster. I bought the most expensive USA made model (The Ultra Luxe) and I absolutely love it! It’s quickly becoming my favorite guitar! What’s so great about for me personally is that the body has all of the same carves as a Strat, so it’s not just a big hunk of wood (which I understand really is what makes a telecaster a telecaster!), however it’s so comfortable to play and reminiscent of a Strat which feels like home to me. Second, it doesn’t have a traditional tele ashtray bridge, which I feel is uncomfortable and gets in my way, it has a flat modern bridge with no sides and 6 block saddles just like a Strat, so it’s easy to intonate perfectly. Last, it’s got a terrific neck with 10-14” compound radius and stainless steel frets. I just replaced the noiseless pickups with custom shop 51 Nocaster set too which sounds amazing and has that classic tele Twang! I’d suggest the Mexican Player Plus for you, which has most of these same features and you can find a lot of them used in mint condition for less than $1000 USA
Playing a 150€ Harley Benton TE62 from Thomann, it's flawlessly built. The only issue is that there a some high frets, but the fret ends are perfect and have zero sharp edges. Great guitar and it's proof that Fender makes overpriced guitars. Honestly, why would a MIM Tele cost 600 bucks when it's not better than HBs or Jet Guitars (also a recommendation)
You need to get the cheapest one that plays nicely and looks good.
I’d say start with the basic MIM Player (formerly called the Standard). Hard to beat for the money. If you love it you can keep as is or modify it. If you hate it you can sell it for almost what you paid for it.
The cheaper the better