Customer Reviews

Squier by Fender Classic Vibe Telecaster 50's, Vintage Blonde

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

i own a 1995 gibson les paul and this guitar out plays my les paul out of the box it even feels better to play best 350.00 i ever spent

I've spent my money on a few top of the line American Tele's thru out my years. They were usually STANDARD's or DELUXE' s... Everyone of them cost at-least $1000 after tax... Anyway, I sold my last Tele in a desperate money situation & can't stand even thinking about it. I've toyed with the idea of buying a new American Tele (something like a 52' reissue) but my finances aren't good anymore & I have to start being realistic. In the last 7-years I made a few bad guitar purchases that either ended up as immediate returns or dissatisfied keepers. A music store clerk that knew me & my situation told me to entertain him just for kicks & persisted to hand me one of these pine-body "Classic Vibe" Tele's. He said, "Have you tried playing one of these yet"?... I decided to entertain him & just play it for a minute or so. To my surprise, I didn't put that guitar down for 3 hours!... I couldn't believe the quality, the feel, the sound, everything... In-fact, I came back the next week & played it for another hour or so. I compared it to some other top of the line Tele's on the wall - and I honestly just can't justify the cost difference anymore. The shame is, I'm so broke now that I really can't afford to treat myself to ANYTHING, including a $375 guitar. Now for some advice; Giving that it's a Squire, many newbies will be gravitating towards it. Allot of these beginners may mistaken the "light weight" feel for being "cheaply made" or having no essence. Just keep in mind that the body is made out of pine - and pine is lighter in weight then other wood materials historically used to build Telecasters. The Pine body is a good thing, not a quality issue. Fender isn't using "Pine" to build this guitar because it cuts cost to build. Fender is using "Pine" because it resonates in its very own way. In my opinion the "pine" brings out a tone that I really favor. If I could afford to buy myself another guitar, the "Classic Vibe Tele" would be at the top of the list. It's not only a fantastic Tele, I have a feeling it has potential of being a collectors item in the future. Although "Squires" have suffered quality issues & reputation issues thru times such as the 1980's, Fender has revamped & improved their SQUIRE line to an exceptional level of quality. It really is a very cool, very special guitar in my opinion. Even if you can afford a high price American made guitar, the "Classic Vibe 50's" Tele is worth checking out. The way it feels & intonate's is a bit of getting use to in comparison to the American Standard's & American Deluxe's I've owned (with their modern style 6-saddle bridge's). The classic style 3-saddle bridge might provide a little bit of a challenge to get exactly right at first, but with a little learning curve & persistence, you'll eventually figure out how to set the guitar up to fit like a glove & resonate in perfect harmony. Even if your fortunate enough to own a collection of guitars, when you own a guitar like this - it's likely you pick it up & play it more often then the rest. Value is more important then ever - and this guitar takes the cake in great value. Built like a champ, plays amazing, classic appeal, incredible value, unique build, sexy as hell. If you're thinking about buying a Telecaster - and your fortunate enough to have a job, buy it!...

Bought this because I wanted a pine body tele on the cheap and figured this would be a good project for upgrades. To my surprise it rivals my 2 MIA Tele's and the plus is the pine body gives it woody tones I don't have in any of my other 40 plus guitars (maybe except for my '69 Gretch). It plays great, sounds great, costs little. Feels like I am playing a vintage axe as which I own many. Some brand name snobs may disagree but this guitar is special. Better get one while the gettins' good.

This little guitar defies the odds kids. I was testing amps at my local guitar store and just reached over and picked this up as it was the closest guitar to the amp section. The feel and the tone blew me away. At first I thought I had picked up an expensive american made tele so imagine my surprise when I discovered I was playing a chinese made squier! First off the neck is to die for. Smooth, fast, beautiful vintage maple tint and the frets are smooth-no pointy ends. The tone on this guitar is versatile-you can get twang and you can get classic rock too. (think bruce springsteen) Its a pinewood body which is odd but apparently early tele's used this same wood. Personally I like it-my ear tells me there is a nice resonance-its a very musical wood. I have since customized mine a bit with a wilkinson bridge and a seymour duncan hot rails pu in the bridge position. Now this thing is my #1 go to guitar-a hot rails pick up in this baby makes it really sing with a heavier rock feel. I love this guitar! For kicks I went back to the guitar store and compared it to a Fender Mex tele, regular squier tele and even an american tele. In my opinion kids this leaves all other squiers back at the starting line and is much, much better than the Fender Mex tele-it rivals the feel and tone of its big american, expensive tele! I love this guitar. I'm thinking of getting a second one in butterscotch! You won't be dissappointed and especially at this low price!! This thing is Fender's little secret....pass it on! :o)

I was a little nervous about buying a guitar without having played it, but I figured this one isn't too much money and I have been jonesing for a tele. Plus, this guitar has been getting rave reviews on various guitar and tele websites. I played a few classic vibe teles in a music store and they played just about as well as most of the other ones and they seemed to be pretty well made. So I took the plunge.

I don't think a tele has to be expensive. They are really simple guitars, and in my opinion Fender's top shelf offerings are waaaay overpriced. A tele is a working man's guitar: simple, inexpensive, and unpretentious. That's the way Leo Fender designed them way back in the 1950's. I think this guitar captures that spirit very well.

Since this guitar carries a "beginner guitar" pricetag, I could see a lot of beginners getting it. Now, hold on just a second... If i were looking for a good general purpose guitar, I don't think this guitar would be the one. I don't care for the round fretboards that most Fender guitars come with. They are not as easy to play as guitars with flatter fingerboards. I have several other guitars that are more comfortable to play that I will choose to play for most songs.

So why did I get this guitar? Because I had a telecaster shaped hole in my guitar collection. I wanted the twang and sparkle you get from one of these. Nothing else sounds like a telecaster. All in all, I am glad I bought it. It's not my dream tele (which is a 72 thinline but with a proper neck) but for the money, it'll broaden my tonal palette. And I can gig with it without having the nervousness that comes with lugging around a more expensive guitar.

Unpacked the guitar, and it was well packaged. Put a set of real strings on it (some 11's) and tweaked the intonation (it was pretty much spot on) and voila, a nice new tele! If you want a tele, and are on the fence about this one, it's a really good guitar for the money. Probably the best bang for the buck I have seen.

I bought one of these for my son-in-law who needed a decent guitar. He loves it! It arrived setup correctly (i.e. with no sharp edges on the frets or off-kilter string alignment). I did a lot of research. This is the only Classic Vibe solid body version that has the Alnico 3 pickups. Alnico pickups come in versions 2, 3 and 5 with varying amounts of metals coloring/emphasizing certain tones. The Alnico 3's are a bit less distorted and have more treble and twang. The body is a pine wood body. Many reviews I found on the web said this gave the guitar a tone and sustain matching more expensive models - it's just less common as a guitar wood. Mind you all my comments are derivative as I don't play guitar (yet) - I play keyboards - and opinions on guitars vary wildly. The Telecasters come in many categories / pricing strata. This "Squire" subset line of Telecasters is made in China. That's not necessarily bad. Originally I was going to get a bottom rung telecaster (the "Affinity" series - they start at around $180 bucks discounted). Decided to go one quality "notch" up after hearing that the tone on the Affinity is somewhat more strained/harsh, electronics, knobs, pickups a bit lower quality and the frets tending to need some end user sanding "touch up". I know that in the keyboard world, most anything below $500 bucks is not a serious instrument. I wanted to get my son-in-law something that would last at a reasonable price and quality. This is it. Telecaster is one of Keith Richards favorite guitar types. Joe Strummer from The Clash used one too. I am going to get one of these when I learn guitar myself.

These are gems of the squier brand, as many others have said. I received mine today from amazon, and its set up great, right out of the box. I tried it on my little VT15 and it sounds great. The stock pickups are great and i've been getting the twang I wanted out of it. You cannot beat the price. These things are better than MIM telecaster and up there with the fender USA's. The neck is to die for. The glossy finish and vintage tuners are great and the fret size is very good. I love this guitar, I needed an upgrade from my 3 year old squier affinity strat and I don't think I'll ever touch that POS again.