PricePaid: 250 EUR (New)
Purchased From: N/A
Model Year: 2005Features: [8]
This Squire Tele has the Fender Telecaster shape with the nice twist of using P90 pickups. These are Seymour Duncan designed but built in Korea rather than the USA to reduce costs.
The other diversion from standard tele fare is the use of 2 volume and 2 tone controls. This obviously gives full, independant control to each pick up.
I've gone for the blonde finish although it is also available in black. Personally I prefer the contrast between the black scratch plate and the PUPs rather than having a nearly all black guitar.
It has a 6 string saddle bridge with strings through the body style.
The neck is all maple with a quite chunky C-shape
Sounds: [9]
These P90s really rock... and well really mellow too. I really can't believe the diverse sounds I can get from this guitar. You can get clean jazz type tones right up to a raunchy blues overdrive if you crank your amp up. Sure, being single coils they are open to a bit of noise but as a single coil fan it comes with the territory Action, Fit & Finish: [7]
I am not sure if the shop did any setting up but it was a pretty good player from the rack. When I got the Tele home I did set it up a bit better - mainly the intonation with no truss rod adjustment necessary. The finish is great - the blonde is nice but is kind of a muddy blonde - perhaps it would be nicer if it were lighter but that is just personal preference. You can see the wood grain below which is nice.
The neck is unfinshed i.e. no laquer - To be honest I am still a bit undecided on that one.
Reliability & Durability: [9]
It's very solidly built with no visable flaws. I treat my guitars like babies but I am sure it could withstand a few knocks with no problems. The electrics all seem sound and only time will tell how their fare.
I'm sure you could gig with this with no problems at all. Many users may like something this good as the second guitar too. Overall Rating: [9]
I have quite a few guitars with many of them being high end. In with that lot are 5 Fender guitars two of which are Telecaster's. I really liked the idea of a P90 equipped Tele and just had to look out for one of these. I was blown away with the quality for the price I paid. Sure, they are not up to the spec of the USA Fender's but proportionally they are incredible value for money.
I just wish things like this were available when I started playing 20 years ago.
Normally I would shy away from the supposed lesser name - however, this really is a great guitar.
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Tele Custom II P90
