NGT Squire Affinity FSR Telecaster

skinfreak

Got trigger happy on eBay at the beginning of lockdown. This was originally for my partscaster but I didn't have the heart to split it up...yet  This was gonig to be the body originally of the reverse strat headstock, and I used a £10 eBay vouchjer which got it to me for the princly sum of £100. But it only arrived today. 

It is to all intents brand new. There are still places where the protective plastic is still on the hardware. It's superbly orangey and sparkley...as evidenced by the sparkley orangey matching headstock...

Really good finish on it. No scratches - immaculate. Fretboard is dry as toast.
The obvious corners being cut are present - the tuners are junk and a couple are rough - they seem to be Fender 2 pin fitting as there are no screws on the back. This being the first example of a telecaster I have strung up I noticed how inconvenient the larger buttons are with a tele headstock. Might consider swapping them for something a bit better and remove a string tree. 
One of the pots seems quite rough - I think it is actually rubbing on the control plat so will pop it off and try a washer. Haven't plugged it in yet but will do so later. 

I am slightly intrigued by the neck humbucker mount though. They have put the humbucker surround inside the pickguard. I've never seen this before and I'm not sure what the bloody point of it would be? Wouldn't it be cheaper to just mount to the pickguard itself?

Anyway...better come up with a plan to explain the extra telecaster that will be floating around the house now... 

dazzajl

What a lovely wee beastie that is. I hope it does win you over and stays as it is. For a little while
anyway 

skinfreak

I bought so many bloody pickups recently that I'm reasonably sure I'll end up keeping it around and doing it up. 

Bidley

That's incredibly cool for a tele.

Funkfingers

Black and orange? Ideal for fans of Ian Dury & The Blockheads.

The machineheads will probably be Jin-Ho or Ping Well. The pickups, pots and selector switch will be dogbreath cheap rubbish.

Fancy selector switches will make all sorts of interesting pickup coil permutations possible.

skinfreak

I might chuck those Alegree prototypes in there. Although not black, they might work well. 

dazzajl

Funkfingers said:

Black and orange? Ideal for fans of Ian Dury & The Blockheads.

Love a guitar that matches my car. 

Philly_Q

skinfreak said:

I am slightly intrigued by the neck humbucker mount though. They have put the humbucker surround inside the pickguard. I've never seen this before and I'm not sure what the bloody point of it would be? Wouldn't it be cheaper to just mount to the pickguard itself?

That's really weird.  I've seen scratchplate-mounted, I've seen pickup rings on top of the scratchplate, but never that.

I suppose it means you can have it without the scratchplate if you want - assuming there's no visible wiring channel and you don't mind the screw holes.

skinfreak

Philly_Q said:

I suppose it means you can have it without the scratchplate if you want - assuming there's no visible wiring channel and you don't mind the screw holes.

That would spoil the look a little though. It's all lovely and clean looking at the moment ;-)

skinfreak

OK. I could not resist! Pickguard off:


I'm starting to wonder if Squire changed their minds about this part way through? 
The laquer aint great under the pcikguard:

Whoever put the scratchplate on wasn't concentrating either!

Interesitngly, the tuners, which are really not that impressive at all have 2 pins to secure them. But no...not not Mexi/US spec as they are quite a bit smaller. Will probable have to go down the road of drilling new holes if I replace them.

Other bits I've noticed: by the humbucker surrounds you can see the white undercoat. They pushed the surround right to cover it up but its very fainlt visible. Also, this was dropped at some point as there is a ding by the jackl socket. Looks like a "oops I wish I had strap locks" and "phew my guitar bounced" sort of ding...

Philly_Q

skinfreak said:

Philly_Q said:

I suppose it means you can have it without the scratchplate if you want - assuming there's no visible wiring channel and you don't mind the screw holes.

That would spoil the look a little though. It's all lovely and clean looking at the moment ;-)

I agree.  Looks better with the scratchplate.

Funkfingers

Undercoat ought to appear matt and lower than the colour and clear coats. The white you are seeing could be polishing compound.

The chipped paint around one pickguard screw hole is caused by a combination of brittle finish, lack of countersinking, lack of thread lubrication and the use of a powered screwdriver.

Allowed only one minute per guitar to tighten eight screws, most of us would probably make mistakes too.

Try buffing out the matt looking area that is normally covered by the pickguard.

thegummy

Great looking guitar with the matching headstock.

In my silly head I think "shame it says Squier" but for anyone not suffering from that senseless bias, must be a great looker without any caveats.

drofluf

Looks great. Regarding the rough spot; had a similar problem, the knob had been pushed too far down the shaft/the shaft was too short. 

PonchoGreg

Oooh, I would actually say pickguard off on this one (totally realise that's not feasible though with the screw holes and rough finish). Got a cool charvel/schecter vibe going on.

Good score in any case!

DrJazzTap

For £100 you can't go wrong! Love the colour, congratulations 

skinfreak

It is a real shame they put a pickguard on it. It's like they did all the hard work then changed their minds at the last minute.

Maybe a clear pickguard might be an idea? That one chip would bug me if on display though.

Re the squire label, I agree. I'm fortunate to be able to afford some nice guitars (PRS, Proper Fender) and it's very easy to be snobbish. But thisbisbat the end of the day a really nice instrument. I can improve some of the bits but it looks fun and puts a smile on my face.

Let's look at my box of pickups and get new tuners on it... 

usedtobe

Looks really cool, and I don't even particularly like orange..!

Philly_Q

skinfreak said:

Maybe a clear pickguard might be an idea? That one chip would bug me if on display though.

No, they always look manky.  It makes the colour look uneven because the plate is tight against the top in some places (e.g around the screws) but not so tight in others.

Maybe get one in a different colour?  A different shade of orange?  Aged white pearloid?

Daiganzen

I have the black one and it quickly become one of my favourite guitars. 

skullfunkerry

That looks super cool, nice score!