budget Teles

[dc]

what are good values in budget Teles these days? was the VM line any good?

for reasons that are unclear, a friend just asked me about these kits...

https://www.solomusicgear.com/product/s ... -sunburst/

... which i know nothing about, but i assume from the price point would be impossibly cheap and shitty all around. i guess my question for him will be, whether he's looking for a guitar, or just looking for something to do. if the former, my inclination is to steer him toward a budget Tele from Squier or something. comments?

[MKR]

i would totally try to score a used mid line squier tele. I'm sure there are tons around on the used market and can be had for a very good price. I definitely recommend the VM line and even the standard squier teles. They're quite decent.

[Larry Mal]

what are good values in budget Teles these days? was the VM line any good?

for reasons that are unclear, a friend just asked me about these kits...

https://www.solomusicgear.com/product/s ... -sunburst/

... which i know nothing about, but i assume from the price point would be impossibly cheap and shitty all around. i guess my question for him will be, whether he's looking for a guitar, or just looking for something to do. if the former, my inclination is to steer him toward a budget Tele from Squier or something. comments?

I think there is a chance that you would be pleasantly surprised by that kit!

It's a very slim chance and the chances that it would be complete garbage that you would have to address at every level is much higher.

I think Squiers suck but you at least know the quality of that before you get it. You can make a real decision.

[Telliot]

Just my $.02, but I’d bet money it would need work by a luthier to make it a decent player, so why not spend the extra money up front and buy a real Fender? At that price point you can easily find a used MIM (or even MIJ if you’re patient) and you‘ve got a solid, usable guitar. I don’t have any experience with Squier Teles, so I can’t speak to them, but I’d steer away from any DIY kit like that, personally.

[MKR]

for sure i would advocate getting a mexican made fender, but with a budget comparable to the price in the link, good luck finding a mim or japanese made. where i live (toronto), you are extremely lucky if you can find a MIM under $400.

I think a cool score would be a korean made squier tele although those are getting pretty rare now. at least over here.

[Telliot]

Just to clarify, I meant the cost of the kit in addition to taking it to a luthier to making it playable. I'm guessing it would need a fret level and dress and full setup at a minimum. At that point you'd probably be somewhere in the neighborhood of ~$300.

[dc]

Just my $.02, but I’d bet money it would need work by a luthier to make it a decent player, so why not spend the extra money up front and buy a real Fender?

no argument from me, but i guess some lessons are learned the hard way

he seems insistent on trying a kit, although he's going to get the one from StewMac instead of whatever that other outfit was. i suppose they probably both came from the same factory in China, but whatever. dude gave me his kidney a few months ago, so i'll cut him some slack

[mulesing]

I think the squire classic vibe 50s is pretty good, if a bit heavy.

Even a basic affinity tele is probably fine and found for plenty cheap used on craigslist.

Is it your friend's first guitar? If he's excited about the assembly aspect he can always upgrade the electronics.

[dc]

Is it your friend's first guitar? If he's excited about the assembly aspect he can always upgrade the electronics.

he's been playing for quite a while. he used to have a top of the line Tele until it was stolen, and now noodles around on a vintage Gibson acoustic handed down from his dad, and a Fender acoustic 12.

i think he's mostly interested in this for the "project" aspect and seeing if he can do it, and i'll try to steer him toward better pickups and hardware at some point as i can't imagine the stock stuff won't suck. although i guess there's nothing talismanic about a Tele control plate -

[andy_tchp]

i think he's mostly interested in this for the "project" aspect and seeing if he can do it, and i'll try to steer him toward better pickups and hardware at some point as i can't imagine the stock stuff won't suck. although i guess there's nothing talismanic about a Tele control plate -

Just a thought, depending on how adventurous/mechanically minded he is - a more interesting (IMHO, but also a bit more expensive) project might be to piece together a hand-selected collection of good parts from sellers like 'Stratosphere' or the like on eBay/Reverb?

Bit more interesting than 'here's you kit, open box, tip out contents on bench, 2-3 hours assembling and done'.

Would give a nicer result, and also offer the option of choosing a body with a more interesting finish than 1.5-tone sunburst on basswood. I'd go for this one myself...

[Ceylon]

I've been thinking about getting one of these kits for some time just for the experience of building my own guitar, but I know in the end I'd be stuck with a choice of sinking much more money into making it something nice or ending up with a guitar I'd most likely never play. Plus there's no resale value, and I imagine not that big of a market for ex-kit guitars.

Better get some nicer components to start with.

[timtam]

he seems insistent on trying a kit, although he's going to get the one from StewMac instead of whatever that other outfit was. i suppose they probably both came from the same factory in China, but whatever. dude gave me his kidney a few months ago, so i'll cut him some slack

The Stewmac body is unfinished. The first one is finished. And says the frets are levelled and dressed (FWIW). Stewmac expects you do to that. Getting a decent finish is probably the hardest thing unless you've done it before and have considerable patience.

Generally Stewmac stuff is good quality, although I always assume their price for their own-label stuff is possibly double what anyone else would charge for much the same thing.

[secretroutines]

In regards to kits; unless you're willing to invest a lot of time, then don't do kit. You'd be better off parting a tele together. But honestly, just get a classic vibe tele if you want a low-cost, great tele. You can mod them easily, and they're great stock.

[RuffiansFC]

In regards to kits; unless you're willing to invest a lot of time, then don't do kit. You'd be better off parting a tele together. But honestly, just get a classic vibe tele if you want a low-cost, great tele. You can mod them easily, and they're great stock.

having built a tele kit, it took a lot of work. a lot of work. if you aren't confident about doing your own fret work, i would avoid the kit. between the kit, upgraded pickups and electronics, fret work, etc. it'd be better to put the money into the finished article unless you are adamant about having a crazy custom guitar.

[threewordname]

The squier 50s classic vibe is great. I almost bought one before I built my own.