A great guitar for very little money.

Sound
Well, the sound is awesome, after finding the sweet spots after adjusting the height of the pickups. The bridge pickup sounds great. Classic Tele bridge pickup sound. The neck pickup sounds a little mushy when playing with higher gain.Clean, both pickups sound great. Each pickup by itself have a long note sustain, and sound really full and clear, even with using neck and bridge together. Tone and volume controls work really well, and change the sound throughout the entire rotation of the knobs.

Features
For the most part, the hardware on this guitar are pretty good. I had to tighten the tuners a little bit in order for them to stay tuned once adjusted.The bridge has six individual saddles, and as such, deliver a finer adjustment to the intonation. The saddles are better than what usually comes on a Squier. But be careful, as they can strip easily when adjusting the action.I would recommend that you define the string, prior to raising the saddle height. Less chance of stripping the screw holes that way.

Ease of Use
There is going to be a learning curve with these guitars, if you are not accustomed to setting up guitars.The truss rod seems to have a bit of a delayed reaction when making adjustments. If you have to make a big adjustment, let the guitar sit overnight before checking the relief in the neck. Mine actually had a flatter adjustment… read more the day after I set it, and I then had to loosen it a bit.

Quality
The guitar is actually made very well. Mine had the tightest neck pocket I have ever dealt with on a Fender product. That is a good thing. I won’t have to be worried about realigning the neck. However, as the seasons change, it may be more prone to getting a finish crack at the pocket. Just F.Y.I. Keep the temperature and humidity relatively constant during the year and this can be avoided.Also, check the levelness of the frets with a rocker before you change the strings. I discovered five frets that were sticking up. After tapping them down, they were all level.I did have pokey feet ends on this guitar. There is a special file used for addressing this, and if you aren’t a repair person, you probably don’t have one.

Value
This guitar is really good at its price point and should serve you well for many years to come.As it is less than 250 dollars, one would do well to get a pro setup done before making any judgements about the playability or build quality.

Manufacturer Support
I have had to deal with Fender customer service only once in the 40+ years I have been using their products. If you have a concern with your Fender product, reach out to Zzounds first as they can usually facilitate getting any problems resolved, and have good relations with manufacturers reps.

The Wow Factor
I am really impressed with the quality of this guitar at this price point. The issues I had with it are typical of any electric guitar, at many even higher prices. I was really impressed that the guitar sounds as good as it does. This probably isn’t going to be the best pickup configuration if you play with really high gain. It’s not going to get the tone you want for death metal or doom. But it has a classic tone great for classic rock, jazz, country, or many other genres. I play through a Mesa/Boogie Mark V head. With the gain between 12 and 2 O’clock I can get some really great Rock tones.

Musical Background:
Playing and repairing guitars since 1983

Musical Style:
Classical and Rock read less