Somehow one of these just followed me home yesterday

Checked out a large music store in "the city" and they just happened to have one of the new Squier Vintage Modified SH Tele's, so I had to give it a try to report to my fellow Fretters.

Loved the neck right away. Nice comfy C shape and 9.5 in radius. No fret sprout, everything seemed nice and tight. Heard so-so reports of the Duncan Designed p'ups, but I found them to be quite good. Stacked "hum cancelling" in the bridge is quite spanky without the single coil hum. The neck humbucker is quite smooth and creamy - very vintage I imagine.

I picked up a Fender Standard Tele ($700) and a Baja Tele ($950) to compare. I liked the VM's neck better than the baseball bat on the Baja. I wasn't impressed with the fit and finish on the Baja either. Certainly not worth the $600 difference IMO. I liked the Standard Tele fine, but again preferred the neck on the Squier. Both sounded good through a Fender Deluxe Reverb, and that neck 'bucker was giving me some sweet tone.

Now, I don't consider myself much of a player but folks were stopping by to check out what guitar I was playing and no one could believe it was a "cheap" Squier. A guitar teacher even came over to check it out! Hey, if any axe can get me THAT much attention, there must be something to it.

Long story short - for 350 bones I brought home an honest to goodness Tele. My Peavey will be heading for consignment sale at my local music store. It's been good to me, but time to move on.

I'll post pics and (hopefully) clips if I ever get the chance - the house is a mess while we're prep'ing it for sale. No room to jam