Squier CV 60s Custom Tele 3-SB

It's hard to believe one can get this much guitar for so little money. I play jazz with 12-52 flatwound strings and there was no way I could live with the stock skinny strings (09'ths) so I had to do a setup after a string change (truss rod adjustment, string action setting, intonation adjustment). My flatwound string set has a wound G string, so it will also be necessary to get a set of compensating bridge saddles to account for that. But other than that, it plays and sounds great out of the box. Being a Fender, it's design is modular, so it's also an obvious candidate for modding if one is so inclined. I may replace the neck pickup with a Biltoft Charlie Christian pickup, but that's just me. The stock pickups are very much OK. The tuning machines are not top of the line but they do their job. The frets are well dressed though not polished to a super shine - but you can't expect a lot of labor heavy work for that price. If you want high gloss frets, polish them yourself. Actually, I was prepared to get a Warmoth replacement neck for it, but as it turned out, the stock neck is so good that it's not needed.

I can without reservations recommend the Squier Classic Vibe - not only to beginners. Myself, I have been playing for more than 50 years and own a couple of quite expensive archtops. But to be brutally frank, the sheer utility value of this Squier CV is just as good.

This is a great platform for upgrades. It plays better than my Fender Player Stratocaster. If it is ok to make this comparison.

The good:
-Both pickups sounds really good, no really good
-The neck plays better than the neck of my Fender Player Stratocaster, no sharp fret edges, no dead spots, I am impressed with this neck, it did polish the frets myself

The upgrades:
-Gotoh tuners
-Modern 6-saddle bridge
-Orange Drop .47 uF cap
-Switchcraft output jack
-Better neck screws

The not so good:
-The truss rod is a little hard to adjust. Since you have to push the wrence force-full into the rod. Never tried that before. But I don't like that. However now it is adjusted and hopefully I will never need to do it again
-This is a Squier so clearly the looks/visuals is not that good. But don't get fooled by that. This guitar plays as good as my Epiphone Dot that has been an icon for many years.

The guitar arrived in Greece very quickly, in 7 days. The package was very secure and tight. The guitar came with loose strings, and no setup at all. I had to adjust the truss rod, fix the action, pickup height and intonate. No big deal for me, but someone else would pay for this kind of service.

The guitar is just beautiful. Looks like a single piece body, and the overall quality is very high. Frets have no sharp edges, and the indian laurel has a very pleasant interaction with the fingers.

The sound is very nice, for guitar that cost 400 euros, but pickups could be better, as they are very compressed and lack of spark. Bridge is nice, but the neck is too "loose" sounding, very bassy and lacks definition. That affects middle position, also. Pickups sound very good in recordings, but they don't give a good feedback in the finger. No attack at all. I immediately replaced them with a handmade Q pickups set, and the sound was shiny and clear.

This tele has a very high playability. It is very light (around 3300gr) and plays like butter, compared to a MIM one. The C shaped neck is very pleasing in playing. I have large and fat finger, and this type of "slim" neck makes my playing just as easy as breathing. Narrow tall frets, also, help a lot for bending and vibrato. The easiest playing on a "fenderish" guitar, ever, for me.

There only problem that I noticed, and affects my playing, is that the 3-way switch is very very tight and difficult to change position. I lubricate the plates inside, but I found no diffrence. It is very noisy, too.

Overall, I'd say that is a fine guitar, whose value exceeds the price paid. I would recommend it to anyone, without second thoughts.

I have several Teles from USA and MiM Fenders to Harley Benton T styles. They're all great in their own ways. This one I bought purely on impulse. I have always loved the look of bound sunburst Teles and when I saw this at £322 inc delivery, I just bought it. No other thought process than that.

It arrived within the week (4 business days) and was pretty well packed. When I opened the box and took it out, I couldn't believe how much better it looked in the 'flesh'. But then I thought, I suppose I'd better play it and see what I need to do to it. So I tuned it up and noodled around on it for a while. My first impressions playing this were that I don't need to touch anything. It is like it was set up for me in the shop. The neck feels great, the action is perfect, there are no sharp frets, the intonation is as close as you could expect with the vintage style bridge saddles (may well swap them for compensated saddles at some point), it's an incredibly nice instrument to play. The tones are just what you buy a Tele for. Maybe a little bright at the bridge for my liking, but usable and certainly nothing that a few minor adjustments couldn't sort out.

I'm not going to compare this with the USA models. There is no comparison, the USA instruments are better finished in every way and the hardware is much better. It is not a fair comparison. But this does compare quite well with my MiMs. The fit and finish are very similar, the weight is about the same and the playability is spot on. What did surprise me is that I got a guitar that is very close in quality and tone for less than half the price of my MiMs. It might be that the difference may well be due to the hardware. If it is, I don't think paying twice the price is worth it just to have Fender on the headstock.

Overall I have fallen in love with this guitar. It is the best impulse buy I've made in a very, very long time.