I recently retired a worn out blonde '76 Telecaster and wanted something with a little more aesthetic pizazz.Enter the Squier Custom Tele...Not only is this guitar truly beautiful, it has the slender neck I now require because of an injury to my left wrist last year.To be brief, this guitar does NOTHING to diminish the well-deserved reputation of Squier's Classic Vibe series.It sounds fabulous. The neck pup is a little subdued but that's the nature of Tele neck pups. The bridge pup is bright without being shrill.The neck and frets were immaculately dressed and the Indian laurel fretboard is nice and smooth. The tuners seem sturdy enough to last a long time.The full-sized Alpha pots and selector switch are smooth and static free. The socket jack was loose but a quick twist of a socket wrench fixed that.The alder body is light and has a nice resonating quality when strummed unplugged which, so "they" say, promotes sustain. Open chords do ring out nicely...Out of the box the intonation was perfect. The action was a bit on the high side but that's usually the case with guitars made overseas.My only complaint with this instrument is purely due to cosmetic reasons; the mint green pickguard "didn't do it for me". A parchment pickguard would look better, IMHO. (I remedied this by buying a black pickguard.)In terms of "looks", this guitar is really pretty. The tinted headstock stands out nicely and the cream colored body binding makes the three color sunburst finish stand out.I gave this… read more guitar five stars across the board because for the money I feel it represents one of the best "value buys" out there. If you're hung up on labels then feel free to pay 50% more and get a Fender but for those of us who reside in Real World, USA, the money saved can be used to buy a case or... ...another guitar. That's what I did, a Squier Vintage Modified Mustang. I'll be reviewing that one next.

Musical Background:
Former semi-pro now a stay-at-home jammer.

Musical Style:
Rock, rock and rock. read less