New Squier SSH 3C$ Tele, and Thinline... WOW!

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 16 Apr 2007 5:38 pm

Finally I have enough guitars..

But...

Iff'n I didn't....

I stopped by a local music store today and was blown away by the SSH 3 pickup Fender Squier I found. remotely like the "Brent" setup, without individual pickup switching, and a split bridge PU.

The neck for one was better than half the "top line" Fenders on the rack, and the pickups, and electrics looked to be worth about 300 bucks by themselves..

The Thinline was similar..

The necks were glossy and flawless. The looked more like Custom Shop models.

The only problem I have with buying one is that my G&L ASAT Tele TRIBUTE is "The Guitar", and I can't see buying anything else. Not till I wear out the frets anyhow. When I do, I'll probably just take the flawless neck off my 200$ Custom II Squier.. Worth the 2 bills for the neck alone.

Actually a factory research rep was by the store looking for ideas for "elevating" the Fender "Squier" line.

I told him that the quality I'm seeing is far above the "Main Fenders" that are made in countries that obviously aren't as "quality oriented" as those "across the ocean" is what's elevating them NOW...

Other than maybe calling them "Esquiers".

If you get a chance, try these two new offerings out.

EJL

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 17 Apr 2007 3:09 am

That SSH Squier Tele is the BOMB! If I didn't already have 18 or 20 guitars, I'd be all over that bad boy. I like the way the cotrol plate is reversed, too---Makes it easier to do volume swells.

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 17 Apr 2007 4:13 am

OK, thanks a lot! Now I have to order one and put one of my more expensive Tele's on the chopping block. It's nice to have variety of guitars anyhow and 2 of my Nashville tele's are exactly the same so why not swap this in for one of them? Thanks for posting this.

Greg

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 17 Apr 2007 5:08 am

I saw one and picked it up at GC up in Richmond a few weeks back..

The edges of the frets were so ruff( sharp) by the end of the first song all your fingers would be cut off..or at least bleeding...

Made in Korea by Mexicans without Files I guess...
(not FBI Files)

I also picked up and played two identicle Gretsch Electromatics..one had the frets real sharp like the Squire, the other the frets were smooth as silk.

So I guess if you ORDER one, the frets will be smooth..or sharp ...or maybe in the middle.
Or maybe not...

The sharp fret models are unplayable...maybe thats an option ?

But this Squire does look good and caught my eye for sure...

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 17 Apr 2007 2:57 pm

Actually TP that surprises me. I have no dislike of products made in the USA by illegals, or in mexico where they aren't....

I noticed the opposite up here in the GCs. Some of the 1200+ teles I picked up including a "'52 RI" had the frets that stuck out, and the Squiers I tried, (and a couple that I bought,) didn't.

I think my bottom line on these is that if you're going to take a desk mounted magnifying glass and jeweler's files and manicure frets, I'd feel less nervous about doing it on a 300$ guitar, and I feel pretty put apon to have to do it to a 1200$ guitar.

The SSH Squier I tried at Portland Music here had frets that weren't "sticking out", and all I felt were sharply beveled edges that could be knocked off in a short time, and with no major "hogging".

I had some dork at GC tell me that it was because the necks "shrunk a little bit when they "set" on the "top of the line Teles"....

Anyhow, for the money, I've seen more quality coming out of Korea and Red China.

Probably the prisoners that made them in Red China had, for one, more motivation, and were probably in their country legally...

I actually prefer my GL ASAT Tribute Blueburst for the pickups, and the general build.

If I got a SSH I'd try and do a few mods to the switching, and add a pot for the middle pickup like BM explained on his video.

The Duncan Designed stacked bridge pickup was hot, but a lot muddier than my G&L, and even my Red Chinese Butterscotch blonde that I use by the couch upstairs a couple hours each night.

Also I liked on the SSH, the string through, the 6 steel barrels, (like the 6 brass ones on my G&L, and an "ash tray holder" bridgeplate.

I gotta admit, the bridge/middle combo didn't sound very "stratty", but maybe it was the wiring, or the cheap Line6 amp I tried it through. I'd probably rewire one if I got it anyhow..

Pretty durn nice for 3 bills.

EJL

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 17 Apr 2007 4:28 pm

Tony,

I usually mailorder my guitars and you're right about it being pot luck but I've only ever sent one item back. At this price there's little risk but I guess I just don't like dealing with guitar sales people. This time I think I'll visit my local guitar shop and maybe get one that requires a little less rework, assuming they have more than one in stock to choose from.

Greg

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 17 Apr 2007 7:19 pm

Greg, (and everybody else) Check out my "a different kind of tele" thread.

Bob Ritter · Post by **Bob Ritter** » 17 Apr 2007 9:09 pm

Maybe one of these
http://www.celebrityrockstarguitars.com ... 6119HT.jpg

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 17 Apr 2007 9:10 pm

It's a whole different price point, but if you get a chance check out the Bill Nash relic fenders made from Fender licensed parts. I never got the relic thing, (why buy a guitar that's already beat up?) until I played Bill's- he's really got the wear factor and vibe of old instruments down. I snagged a '63 model with ebony neck, and it's by far the nicest tele I've ever played. The day after I bought it another guy who'd been in the store offered me half again what I'd paid for it- they're that sweet.

Like getting a guitar your favorite uncle played for 40 years and laid on you.

I liked the tele so much I bought a Nash Strat on ebay just for the studio here, and it's the go-to guitar for nearly everybody who comes through here.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 18 Apr 2007 12:47 am

Eric, all..I am not dissing these guitars at all, in fact quite the opposite. Had I picked one up that actually felt comfortable I may have brought one home, or "homie" using the the new lingo...

What caught my eye was the Gretsch Electromatics , Black with the B50 Bigsby..probably made by the same Red Chinese guy in the Korean prison...

I have two Korean guitars sitting alongside my #1 Go to Fenders...both EPI's. A Wildkat and a Les Paul Standard...both gig worthy right out of the gate...

The problem for me with all of these Telecasters that are on the market is that if and when I take one home it is gonna have a very hard time standing up to my #1 "GO TO" 1988 52 RI..They all end up short timers on the rack..

At this point in my life, an older uncool fool, if I decided to go to GC and come home with a reaction purchase it would probably be due to me carrying around $300 in my pocket for the last 6 months and not really wanting anything but buying something anyway. But I would never come home with a guitar that needed to have the frets filed, thats for sure.

I'm looking right now at two extra very nice Tele's on my rack which I haven't touched in 6 months or more...I could gig with either but don't...and probably won't.

My GO TO Strat now is a Honey Blonde Fender HWY 1, made in USA probably by Mexicans or Koreans. This Strat is the closest thing I have played to the trunk full of Strats that I have owned thru the years, actually better than some. I was at a local Guitar show a few years back and a dealer had like 12 of them , He hunted me down near the end of the show and offered me my pick for $450. I couldn't turn that down.

by the way, I still have $300 in my pocket, and no Stephen, I'm not sending it to you

I'm actually thinking about another EPI Les Paul, the Gold Top, or one of those Gretsch Electromatics...

erik · Post by **erik** » 18 Apr 2007 2:18 am

So much for alder or ash, that new Squier Tele is made of cedar!

Jeremy Steele · Post by **Jeremy Steele** » 18 Apr 2007 4:42 am

Tony, I have had an Epi Les Paul for years and just picked up a Wildkat. BOTH are fantastic guitars for the money. I think the Wildkat is sort of a cross between a Gretsch 6120 and a Guild Duane Eddy.

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 18 Apr 2007 8:33 am

I know the feelin Tony, if I'm reading your post right.

For a while now, at a hard lived 53(.9) I've felt the same sadness about my Instrument Collection that I get when my black lab, our midlife protection employee, puts his head on my lap and whines for further fields, endless stick fetching, and hiking the wilds.

They need a "Real Boy".

And, alas, though I haven't been missing many weekend gigs, I'm not one anymore..

It's been really nice though to be able to go out and get the things that I wanted when I was.. and play them a couple hours a day. Til my fingers hurt. (I just put on your RF track and burnt up an hour I should have been doing lawn work.)

And I guess to look back happily at all the years wearing out my Sho~Bud.

You know, TP, it's kinda funny how things work out.

I shoulda been playing guitar seriously 20 years ago. I'd have had to take a lot less grief from a coupla jerks I had to put up with because they thought they could play "Country Boy". I had one of them come up at a friends' memorial and when I told him I'd be getting couple gigs on guitar, he told me how "rough it was" seeing as how the music scene was "way down", and that "HE" couldn't even get any gigs. Well I didn't know what to say, except that it sounded just like what "pedal steel players" used to tell me before I played the last couple thousand gigs...

Considering too, how easy it is to record, and do other projects, there are a LOT more ways to "do it". BTW your site is a great example of that.

These great new guitars sure help out.

EJL

PS TP:

I had a rhythm track to Ramblin Fever, and while trying different things a year or so ago I realised that it's the same chord progression as on the A section of Brad's version of Nervous Breakdown, and it gave me a good low speed way to "work it up"..

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 18 Apr 2007 12:41 pm

Thanks Eric, I think we are thinking the same for sure..

Glad to hear some are getting some value from the RF track..I haven't played over it for a few months, maybe I need to go back and re-visit it as well..

Concerning gigs on Guitar or Steel, I've been doing them either / or / both for decades now, I guess I'm suprised after all this time that the band bosses actually called me back to play additional gigs ! I must have at least been in tune I suppose...

Thanks for the kind words

tp

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 19 Apr 2007 3:01 pm

This is a slight divergence, but for $100 (or less) you can pick up enough files to level, crown and bevel the ends on your own frets AND do your own nut work. Given the "assembly-line" aspect of modern guitar construction, with CNC machines and all, you simply ARE going to run across a guitar now and then with good wood, good electronics & tuners, a well-shaped comfortable neck, sounds great - and with toothy fret ends, or a bad nut. When one of these pop up for 2 or 3 hundred smackers, and you DON'T buy it cause you haven't got a few files, well...

You don't need to buy a whole set of files, boy Stew-Mac will be HAPPY to sell you $1500 worth of tools - some of my favorite files aren't even official guitar stuff, just some little files I've picked up over time. You can even just wrap some sandpaper over a nut blank and sand away, just be sure to tape off the fretboard - blue painter's tape on the wood and regular masking tape over it. The taping is actually the most time consuming part, if the fret ends just need a little love.

Delvin Morgan · Post by **Delvin Morgan** » 21 Apr 2007 11:15 am

I was just at my local Mom and Pop music shop and brought home a Squire standard Tele, $169 and change. and it is blood red like my Williams PSG. It looks and sounds great, plays pretty good too, for under 200 bucks! Not that I needed another gitfiddle, but I didn't have a Tele.

Leslie Ehrlich · Post by **Leslie Ehrlich** » 21 Apr 2007 3:23 pm

At one time I thought of buying a cheap Tele, but I have Mexican-made Fender copy of a '62 Strat that sounds just as good as any stock Tele. The 'twang' factor is definitely there.

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 21 Apr 2007 9:33 pm

Del.

My 169$ "Butterscotch Blonde" Red Chinese Fender Squier is the one that gets played the most upstairs by the TV plugged into my micro cube with a compressor.

When I bought it, I honestly had the kid at GC hand me one at a time, the Mexican, American, and the Red Chinese one without me looking at them. I liked it best, then the American, and lastly the Mex.

At the time, I wouldn't have noticed that it was thinner then "standard", and the neck was a tiny bit narrower, but mainly it was how clear the pickups were.

I played it pretty hard, for the first year, about three hours a day, and the finish was thin, so I wore through quite a few spots on the fretboard, and the frets got a good workout. I swapped necks with the "'51 Squier" I bought for a hundred bucks and they both are nice guitars.

My best guitar playing friend that just died last month used to play a Japanese Squier the years we worked together. He lost the guitar, and somebody gave him a Paisley Burton. He played it, and an Albert Lee Music Man that someone else let him use, but he said they never were the same.

At his wake, his wife propped his Burton up with his picture on it with some of the customary kind words.. Being his best friend, I had to chuckle, because he never liked the Burton....

A couple days after you get any guitar, you find ways to tweak it, set it up for intonation, and even sometimes go to different pots, or configs. Some heretics even get out the jewelers files, and work the nut, or fret ends over..

My G&L ASAT Classic Korean Tribute is the most comfortable, and good sounding guitar I've found so far. The Focused Field Magnetic pickups are hot, but not muddy. Even so, it was 419$ and much less than the Musicians Friend price (by accident). I can see someday getting another neck, but probably never another guitar.

We'll see I guess.

EJL

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 22 Apr 2007 2:10 am

well Eric and friends this is where I clock out from any agreement over how good the very low end Tele's are.

Now I would never in a million years give Fender any credit for consistency whatsoever but when you pick up, find or come across the right USA Tele for you , it will be very difficult to replace it with a Korean born $169 Guitar.

Matt ( band mate ) came home with a Korean so called 52 Orange Guitar, he brought it to the gig, but he also brought his 90' 52 RI and his 83 Blonde...and I brought my 89' 52 RI like I always do...There was an odd man out....no contest..no debate..sorry...no Cigar...Do not pass GO....

The biggest problem with the American Fender guitars has always been consistency , and still is. In my view the best years for the 52 RI's was from the first year out, I think 83 or so up to around 90 or 91...There have been some very good Guitars coming out of California but the problem is they are not ALL good coiming out of California. American Standards are ok, American Deluxe Teles seem much better.

Now I am not dissing these Korean under 200 bucks axes, I'm just saying that in the scheme of the things , side by side with a "quality" West Coast relative , the differences will be obvious.

I have owned and played USA Tele's for over 4 decades and I would agree that in that period I have really only had a handfull that were worthy, but they were REAL worthy and I should have kept at least two of them for dear life. But I didn't. But I was real lucky to come across the 89/52 RI that I have several years back, it is probably the finest Tele I have ever owned and both Matt and I use this one as the reference for any new ones we may pick up and drag home. Matt has dragged home several real killer Tele's over the past couple of years, each a tad different but each really fine players...price ranges at about a grand each...all well worth it in my book..all not just fine axes but quality investments as well.

Now I know I'm right..when it comes to "MY" opinion..

(laughing allowed right here )

but I can't tell you guys what to do..but I can say this, from decades of picking up Tele's all over the place...if and when you see a Tele for sale, pick it up, because you never know, that may be the RIGHT one and price will not be an issue. You will know it in milliseconds....

For me, part of playing a Telecaster is the history behind it, like Sho-Bud, Emmons and old classic MSA's etc...Generally a few pickers will come up and ask to take a look a my Tele which I love to share with other players...Some say the neck is too thin for them, some say it's just right..etc...and the conversation takes off from there...I always run into players where we can talk Fender experiences till the mornin' light...

That comes for free with the Guitar....that says FENDER on the headstock...

that does not come with SQUIRE on the Headstock..and for me, that matters...for me playing nice FENDER Guitars is a lifestlye, it's not just a Guitar...

happy Sunday

tp

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 22 Apr 2007 8:49 am

Well not to split hairs or cause any kind of conflict, but EVERY one of my guitars except my G&L, HAS the unmistakable word "Fender" on the headstock. It isn't as big as the word "Squier", or the word "by", but it's there.

My 169$ "Butterscotch Blonde" was made In Communist Red China, not Korea, by a guy that if his quality isn't what the prison is expecting, will probably get solitary for ten years, and considering there is a world left in 2017 he'll get another shot at it.. I consider that motivation.

I don't know if the little slip of paper with left to right, up to down writing on it says "Inspected by Huang", "Help Me I'm in a Political Prison on a BS Rap" or simply a "Demand for Surrender"..

I have not yet crossed the point where my playing is limited by the quality of the guitar I have, and I'd be kind of embarrassed at buying a top end guitar without having the ability to play it in a "top end" manner. Hell, I've got EIGHT guitars, and still can't play "Harlem Nocturne"..

Kind of like My Sho~Bud ProIII. I just never could justify moving "up", and it turns out, that I couldn't have until Duane Marrs started retrofitting them. I played it into the ground after 30 years.

The Professional I had Duane and Jeff retrofit was probably made by a down on his luck shoe salesman, living in a car, waiting for a Connie Smith road gig.. IN other words, a political prisoner.

Keep this up and I'll have to buy a Real Fender Telecaster.

I think that's what I'm setting myself up for unconsiouc.. unconsu... un...

Well, you know..

I want one.

EJL

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 22 Apr 2007 10:17 am

I have not yet crossed the point where my playing is limited by the quality of the guitar I have...

Gee whiz, I know people with top-of-the-line $6000 custom shop Les Pauls & Strats and they sound like hammered crap - must just be the wrong $6000 Les Paul?

...and I'd be kind of embarrassed at buying a top end guitar without having the ability to play it in a "top end" manner.

Not these guys! Holy Cow, "Smoke on the Water" never sounded so bad as with a $4000 handwired boo-teek amp and Jimmy Page's very own Les Paul... I personally like to have an excuse to sound like crap, even several of 'em....*

*(And you can afford more excuses if you get the cheap ones to begin with....)

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 22 Apr 2007 12:33 pm

I too can play just as bad on any Guitar, but I would rather play bad on a real nice guitar !

At least then they can say, "Man he rots as a player but he has a kickin' axe" !

1 out of 2 ain't so bad

tp

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 22 Apr 2007 12:51 pm

I'll never run out of either..

On the "American Made" thing, I'm a "Harley Guy" (without the tatoos, hokey merit badges on gay looking leathers, shovelhead ear rings, and all the other accoutrements..).

Since it's a 63 90cid panhead, I guess I can be proud that it's "American Iron" "through and through.

The fenders, tanks, lights, and tin all came from Red China. The roller Rockers that Dan Baisley made for me, were made of Korean rocker arms, made into rollers in his shop one by his son. The Di-Isocyanate paint I probably killed myself painting it with probably came from someplace like Borneo. The leather that I cut and made the bags out of came from Mexico. The Carb, assembled in Viola Wis probably out of taiwanese components, the tires, god knows where they are making Maxis' now, the disc brake setup, taiwan. Chain, same thing. Even the kick starter that separated me from the yuppie orthodontists and works at one kick each time came from you guessed it.. Communist China..

However..

A New "Made in America" Harley is probably 80 percent "foreign. Probably 90 percent by sheer number of parts including the electronics.

You can tell two things about a guy that has a "harley clone", like the Honda 1800s, Suzys Yammies, and other V twin Ricers: One, is that they wanted a Harley. Two, is that they couldn't afford one, and Three ( i know I said 'two') that they wanted to be cool, but they aren't..

You might actually find a REAL HARLEY GUY or two that was just tired of waiting for Harley to put out a DECENT RELIABLE and WELL ENGINEERED bike, and sold the last of whatever "Real Harley" ruined their knuckles working on, their knees trying to start, their financial lives trying to rebuild a badly designed oil spewing monstrosity, and FINALLY decided to buy one that started every time, never puked a valve or scattered a rod bearing, or came from the factory with a recall pending..

(In the case of the latter, they probably got a motor that wasn't a "V-Twin", since they were an oddity that if not for the US Govt stepping in with subsidies wouldn't have survived WWI.)

I've NEVER thought there was ANY other kind of guitar besides a "Tele". If somebody told me that I could have a Telecaster if I let them burn the fanciest 30,000$ abalone inlaid LP in front of me, I'd hand them a lighter..

I'll get a Real Telecaster some day,, provided I live long enough, and I'll be learning nonstop in the meantime. God willing.

These "clones" have made it easier for guys like me to feel that they "deserve one".

When I play them on stage, I just wiggle the neck around so they can't see the "Squier".

The G&L, I wiggle a little more so they can't see the headstock design real clearly..

EJL

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 22 Apr 2007 2:23 pm

Eric, it ain't so bad buddy..

Most of us buy Clone Guitars so we can be CLONES of the players we listen to !

At the end of the day this is probably not a terrible thing..

My 52/RI is a clone of the 52 REAL deal..the real deal is 55 years old and my CLONE is now 2 years shy of two decades old.

So does this mean that in another 10 years there will be a 52RI/RI ?

About 10 years back I was at a large local Music store hanging out with a guitar player friend who worked there. We we cruisng thru the Guitar racks,
Jimmy says to me..

"Tony, ya know how I know we are both real old ? The original models of all these re-issues weren't even made yet when we were kids "!

I think if the overseas guitars play well and are affordable, thats a good thing.

Leslie Ehrlich · Post by **Leslie Ehrlich** » 22 Apr 2007 11:14 pm

Tony Prior wrote:
For me, part of playing a Telecaster is the history behind it, like Sho-Bud, Emmons and old classic MSA's etc...

That comes for free with the Guitar....that says FENDER on the headstock...

that does not come with SQUIRE on the Headstock..and for me, that matters...for me playing nice FENDER Guitars is a lifestlye, it's not just a Guitar...

tp

The magic is in your brain, not the brand of guitar or where it's made.

I've played $400 imported guitars that make me sound just as good as if I were playing a $1000+ American made guitar.

I used to have a Gibson Les Paul Standard (now worth $2700 new), and now I have an Epiphone Les Paul Custom (worth about $800). The only advantage the Gibson had over the Epiphone was the electronics, but otherwise I wouldn't play any better on it than I do on my Epiphone.

And nice Fender guitars are NOT a lifestyle, but instead are a matter of personal preference.