[ker1227]

being the broke college student that i am, names like fender and gibson are a little out of my price range. i was curious though, if i bought a Squire tele, is it gonna have the "tele" sound??

[shakedown_04092]

being the broke college student that i am, names like fender and gibson are a little out of my price range. i was curious though, if i bought a Squire tele, is it gonna have the "tele" sound??

I feel your pain, I was there about 6 years ago. How much are you thinking of spending? And do you have an amp to play through? If not, I would'nt bother buying an electric until you have an amp.

My advice: if you're thinking about spending $300 for a Squire, how long will it take you to save up another $300? If that amount of time is do-able (and you are a good saver and won't spend that $300 on something else), then save and get yourself a decent Tele or Gibson for around $600-$700. It'll be worth it, and you'll be able to play it forever, rather than spending money now to get the Squire, then spending more money later to replace it.

There's no shame in starting out, though. Know that. The important thing is that you have the motivation to do it, so if it's going to take longer than you want to save up $600 or so, then yeah, go get that Squire and start playing!

They're not great guitars, per se, but they get the job done, especially when you're just starting out. Hell, my first guitar was an Ibanez I bought for $75 off a co-worker of my brother, and that did me fine for 2 years until I was ready to invest "seriously" in another guitar. It was perfect because I didn't want to blow a lot of money if I wasn't going to be playing for the rest of my life. I bought the Ibanez to "test" myself and get myself going, and once I knew I was hooked, then it was time to upgrade. Hey, you gotta start somewhere, right?

My recomendation for an amp would be a Fender Hot Rod Delux for around $400-$500. You won't have to buy another for a while.

Good luck!

ps - Squire is made by Fender, so you're getting solid stuff. It's kinda like how Nissan makes both the Infiniti line of cars and the Nissan Maxima line of cars. The Infiniti is the better & higher performance of the two, but the Maxima gets you around just as good, you know? You still get from point A to point B, just not as comfy or luxuriously. So yeah, if you buy a Squire, it's still gonna have that "tele" sound, it just won't be the Infiniti sound.

Hope that helps.

[ker1227]

thanks, thats good advice. right now i have a squire strat and i think that the 600-700 dollar idea is something that i should do. What sort of gibson can i get for that price?

[shakedown_04092]

thanks, thats good advice. right now i have a squire strat and i think that the 600-700 dollar idea is something that i should do. What sort of gibson can i get for that price?

Gibson SG JR P-90, a Gibson Faded, or a Gibson SG Special, which are nice guitars.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/home/nav ... =gibson+sg

[zoppenheimer]

I bought a Gibson flying V a few years ago with my bar mitvah money for around $600. It sounds great, but wasn't made very carefully. And they're not good for sitting and playing. But you can get that fat, zepplin kind of sound with the right amp settings.

[LazyLightnin]

i would smash that squire first chance i got

[Indy]

I'll cast a vote for the first reply. I bought a used Squire Tele for my son for his birthday- an older Korean-made model, vintage-style finished maple neck & fretboard, killer Tele sound for the money ($130 at the local independent guitar shop). He's lucky I love my children or he'd just get a card and the chance to touch my latest guitar acquisition. That said, I have a newer Squire Strat (2002) that I'm ready to trade off- it's OK, but the quality just isn't all there (maybe I'm spoiled by the '60's reissue Tele).

So, the lesson here is, shop around, and keep an eye on the used gear market. Yeah, save up for the more expensive guitar (Fender probably made a marketing mistake in carving off the Squire name- its a budget Fender no matter how you slice it). Start with something inexpensive- you'll find out if you can get reasonably decent noise out of the thing, and whether you like playing enough to make it a real pastime. You don't need $600 to do that, and a Squire Tele is perfectly good for that (you might check out some of the other clones, as well- Indiana Guitars makes a Tele clone, and I think they are U.S. made- there are other decent low-budget clones as well). If you can find one of the Squire '51's, I'd suggest that as a starting point as well- Tele neck, Strat body and neck pickup, coil-tapped bridge humbucker- lots of fun and now at close out prices-- around $100 at the big chains. Once you move up you can always keep the '51, put it in open G and take off the low E string.... You can also upgrade some parts on the budgets -like tuning machines- for not a lot of $$ but for a noticeable difference in play.

If you don't have hang-ups about the name on the headstock, all that matters is how it feels when you play it (and don't buy anything without doing that). Good advice on the amp, too, by the way.

[JordanL]

Go used, check out the fleamarket on the TDPRI.com,a page devoted to tele enthusiasts. The Made in Mexico Teles are sometimes surprisingly good, and a pickup upgrade can work wonders.

[LazyLightnin]

dude dont buy the squire, unless its for a beginner like a kid. just save a little more. i have a samick/valley arts strat copy. my newer one was $150 used, has much better tonal quality and craftsmanship than any squire ive ever played on. dont buy the squire just cuz it says fender on it, thats just a facade. youll be sorry in a year or two that you bought that squire. much much better guitars out there for cheap than a squire.

[pfarrell615]

the squire is for 13year olds who go thruogh that i want to play gutiar phase, you can find a used gutiar for a few hundred that will do the job, or at least a mex made strat. spending 600 on a gutiar that may sit in the corner of your dorm room seems like a waste,

[acidrain30005]

the squire is for 13year olds who go thruogh that i want to play gutiar phase

Aw man, that hurts. Jk. But I'm 13 and have been playing for 2 years. Anyway, a squire is a good guitar to START with. But, if you plan on playing for a long time, I'd go with something of better quality. An Epiphone Les Paul might bee good. A bit more expensive, but worth it. Or a mexican strat. I have one and it has great craftsmanship and tone.[/b][/u]

[augustwestpete]

bad idea bro, all squires i've ever seen or played (strat or tele) were made of pure cheese and wont stay in tune.
check out the ibanez artist series. not to pricy, and quite a nice work horse
happy hunting
best to all
pete

[broomhead]

the squires not quite as bad as some are stating. Generally they came set-up VERY poorly. Mis cut nut, poor intonation. Occasionaly neck bow..it's a long trip from Korea..lol

After that the problems lay in the hardware, the tuners are notoriously poor quality and the pickups are low end and prone to rf. However, those are replaceable. That said a squire can be "made" into a pretty decent players guitar. But for what it would cost you'd be better served saving for a higher quality instrument.

A proper set up, well strung and intonated correctly most guitars will sound pretty decent.

If you live in a large city, shop around for a mexican fender. Their quality ranges wildly (imo), but if you find one thats just right they are a real bargain.

For my money the Gibson Faded SG offers a lot of bang for the buck as do many of the ibanez models. But only a tele sounds like a tele..
Best of luck!
jb

[augustwestpete]

MUST AGREE WITH BROOMHEAD!

[razmablues]

my first guitar was some old epiphone standard sg, and i got it for about 200 used. i can safely say, it was a great guitar! if you're going for the cheaper line of guitars, go epiphone, they are a little more, but they are more of a guitar than squiers will ever be!