opinions on affinity tele?

[ibanezjunkie]

i need a backup guitar, and ive always sort of wanted a tele, so how is the squier affinity tele for its price of £115?

[ibanezjunkie]

come on guys...i know theres 5 of you in here =]

[birv2]

I don't have one, but I've had my eye on one of those for years. My next guitar will be a BSB affinity tele. I've played one at GC, and actually demoed it for another customer, A/Bing it with an American made tele. It sounded pretty good!

[street music]

I have played on several and found it to be a hand selection on the Squier Tele-each felt a little different and the sound varied. Yes, I felt they are worth the money.

[ibanezjunkie]

a whole bunch of these end up going for sub-£100 on ebay, could be worth it.

Robert, i know you got one, or had one, you played it with the heatseeker head. How do they play? neck, stock pickups etc?

[sollophonic]

I have a few Squier Teles and heres my thoughts on them.

The newer Affinities are thinner bodies, slightly narrower necks, and dont have through body stringing. My newish one is OK, but I have done quite a few mods to it to make it right.

The older Affinities are a bit better IMO. I have a 1998 one, it has a BSB body with a rosewood fingerboard. Hotter pickups, thicker body, string thru, nicer neck feel as well.

I esquired mine
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k7/andys_01/EsquiredBSB1.jpg

But heres something else to think about. With many folk now buying Squier Classic Vibe Teles, I have seen a lot of Squier Standard Teles selling used. These are unsung Teles IMO, they have Alnico pickups, lovely necks, made in Indonesia, well built, and can be bought used for the price of a new Affinity.

Heres mine, all Ive done is changed the pickguard and added a 4 way switch.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k7/andys_01/SquierSunburstPearlPlate1.jpg

[Duff49]

I have a walnut stain Squire tele standard that is an awesome tele. I have several Peavey Generation X teles that are equally astounding.

My Squire standard is undergoing some minor modding: I put in a Fender Custom Shop Texas Special bridge pickup 10.5k output, after I noticed a set of new replacement Squire pickups on MF for 15 dollars. I said, holy ^&*^, these must be some really GREAT pickups for a whole fifteen dollars. Hence I found a bridge excellent Texas Special for thirty five dollars from a guy I replace the pickup in his Fender with a GFS 'lil Puncher. Now I'm getting a neck Texas Special for it.

I played the butterscotch affinity tele at GC and was totally amazed by the tone. Sounded as good as the Fenders. Excellent build quality. I want one. Only 169 dollars, new. Maple fretboard. Throw some great pickups in that and some American electronics and it would be really a nice guitar.

I picked up a used Squire affinity strat for twenty five dollars and hot rodded it into an expensive guitar, comparitively speaking, something I won't part with. It's called "Black Pearl", has a black oyster shell pickguard and black Seymour Duncan pickups - a bridge hot rails in the neck, a bridge '59 in the middle and a JB Jr in the bridge, all American electronics, Fender locking tuners, black body and black controls. The sound is incredible, as you might guess. It is thin and light and of excellent quality. The neck is flammed maple every quarter inch from the bottom to the top of the headstock, horizontally. One beautiful naturally reliced guitar that has been around the world with missionaries and came to me in poor shape with no tone controls, wide open with just a volume control. I immediately hot rodded it and am glad I did. It is probably one of my best sounding and built guitars and I have some expensive ones.

There is just something about hot rodding your own guitar. It gives it an intrinsic value that is priceless and if it sounds super great you know you did your job well. I would say, don't skimp on the pickups. They are the main source of the guitars sound. I use GFS but definitely prefer Seymour Duncan for the premium price. I use GFS though in some applications.

Good luck. Hope it works out.

Duffy
Winfield, Pa.