Squier is doing the right things. They have only gotten better over the last 20 years. My dad has the '51 Squier which came out in 2005 I believe. The pickups on that guitar are awesome. It was only a $150 or $200 guitar at the time. Now those things sell for $600 on eBay. I'm always watching Squier reviews and I read the comments. It's crazy the number of people who say things like "My new Squier is better than my (enter expensive $1k+ guitar here)." Squier is practical. It's a practical build with a practical price point. That's what people want from a guitar. I'm looking at Fender Tele's and Strats and I'm thinking "Man I really like that color or setup, but I'm not paying $1k for an axe". If you have a $1,500 budget for a guitar, sure you can get one of the "better" Fender Strats or Teles. Or you can go out and buy 3 really good Squiers. I think most people would pick 3 Squiers. I recently bought a Limited Edition Ice Blue Metallic Squier. Guess what? I still have money to get this Classic Vibe 60s. And guess what again? I can buy another one after that!
I like how Squier CV gives you the look, styling and mojo of the classics but with the sensible improvements that have stood the test of time, like the truss rod adjustment at the headstock, the 9.5" neck radius instead of 7.25", and with the Stratocaster, a 5-position switch instead of 3. Bravo.
Excellent, no-nonsense and very helpful review. I like the simple and wide range of playing choices that you used to show us how this guitar can sound.Thanks for all the links to those useful tools/toolkits, too. If I hadn't just purchased a Squier Olympic White '70s Classic Vibe Telecaster Deluxe, I probably would have bought the one you showed in this review, which looks and sounds awesome. The one I bought has only humbuckers, but it, too, is a pretty sweet guitar at a great price.
Just bought this last night! Absolutely love it. I have an M Musi Tele and an Eart tele both made in China with extras like stainless steel frets & locking tuners … and super inexpensive BUT when I plugged this Squier in I immediately packaged up the other 2 to send back. This Squier just cuts through the mix and plays smooth as butter. Great guitar.
thanks for the video review. I bought exactly the same one.. and am very pleased. I haven’t realized its full potential yet, but I feel like there’s a lot of it. !
I remember seeing your 50s tele video and buying and returning it pretty quickly. For some reason the 60s tele is better in my view (after changing out the pots and saddles.
Great review! I just ordered a used one of these today from Chicago Music Exchange for a whopping $390. And for exactly the reason you described with the truss rod. I currently have a MiJ '62 Tele Custom reissue that I love but just keep dreading having to adjust the truss rod when the season changes. I don't want to have to take the neck off just to do that. Plus, there's just something just so much more relaxing about playing a guitar you didn't pay an arm and leg for. Can't wait for it to get here!
The first e guitar i bought where i have no intension of changing anything, hangs together so well, mine has full size pots and great pu's, all it needed was a setup 😁
Just brought home the Sonic Blue. At first I thought they gave me the wrong color because it looks more like a Sea Foam Green. I have the Sea Foam Green Lipstick Strat (2020 I think). But I checked back online and there isn't a Sea Foam Green. This is my first "legitimate Tele". So I paid $349 plus tax and it was at my local GC. Bside dude, you are spot on with everything you've covered. Thank you for boosting my confidence in this guitar. The shade difference threw me off but I'm Rock steady now.
I could not agree more with you on the truss rod access in the heel of the neck (Thumbs up)... The fenders 60s series and the Eric Johnson model... both I have wanted to pull the trigger on but no way do I want the hassle and risk of messing with the neck removal -even though I have built or assembled many part-o-casters. In addition, when considering to be a truthful reproduction - I find it very odd given that the EJ model as the radius is a 12... I guess thats what he prefers??? (head scratcher)
Same pups on the CV50's. Not bad at all. I swapped in some Lindy Fralin Blues Special and took out the tone control for the neck pup and the guitar sounds amazing.
Great job on this, thank you for posting this. I do have a couple of questions if you don’t mind. Can the tone be dialed down while in the bridge pickup? What kind of Fuzz pedal did you use?
Tasty tones. Love the look, too. Makes me wonder whether this might suffice, or rather I really „need“ the Fender Custom Jason Isbell I’ve fallen in love with…. The JI costs 3+ times the price. That said, I want a light guitar, or at least not a heavy one. I wonder how the weights of the two compare.
Great review. Is there a difference of sound (different pick-ups) between this Squire Classic Vibe and another Squire Telecast type like the Affinity and the Bullet Tele.
There is. The affinity and bullet ones are definitely a bit more harsh. You may like that but they are different. You could buy the bullet and some new pickups and still be less than the Classic Vibe though ;)
Or you can drop the pickup height on the Affinity / Bullet takes away that harshness, in fact any pu sound can be drastically changed like this, experiment with the height !
? I have read where the 60s Fender Telecasters tone control only worked for the bridge and bridge/neck, but not for the neck pickup alone. Is this this also true for this Squire 60s Tele? Thank you for your review.
Are you sure the reason you don't own a 60s original isn't because.... they're like, $14k? lol. jk - Great video! I did a lot of research before buying this guitar and this video was part of what helped! Cheers!
I bought a players series telecaster. The first string would pop out of the nut all the time. It wouldn’t stay in tune well enough to even be useable. The pickup selector fell off the first time I played it. I returned it. My friend bought two American made strats. He had issues with both and the one was the top model. I tried a Fender Squire for the heck of it a few days ago. The A string tuning peg had so much play you couldn’t even tune it. Picked up another one same thing. I think I’ll stick to my Ibanez presige guitars.
Would you rather Buy???? 1.). An American Standard 2,000$ Tele 2.) 4 Squier Classic Vibe Telecasters 3.). 3 Squier Classic Vibe Tele's with minor upgrades 4.). 2 Clsssic Vibe Teles with high end Pickups with high end upgrades? ME???? Id Take 3 Classic Vibes with a few minor upgrades.
This is the best philosophical telecaster question I have heard in a while. I would take two Squier CV Telecasters with primo wiring, pickups, jack, and switch. As long as I loved the necks and they weren’t too heavy.
@@redprism5522I can’t speak for the commenter but I’ve never felt a good Fender Pau Ferro board. Laurel has a far better feel under the hand than PF in my opinions
