It’s been a while since I have put anything on the CGL blog about the new gear I have been bought and sold lately. One of my latest purchases is the Squier Joe Trohman Telecaster. As you can see by the pictures, this is no ordinary Telecaster. It is some where between a Telecaster, Stratocaster and Les Paul. So lets get going.
Firstly, I had never heard of Joe Trohman or this guitar from the Squier artist series before until I saw it in a sale advert. The thing that grabbed my attention was the Tele body with the Strat neck and head! This is the second of the new higher tier Squier guitars I have bought and I have been blown away the quality and price of these instruments.
So here are some of the specs: As I mentioned the guitar is from Squier’s ‘artist series’. It is an alder body in 2-tone sunburst with a polyester finish very smooth and slick looking. The neck is a C shape maple with a rosewood fretboard, as you may know most telecasters have a maple fretboard. It has a 12″ radius fretboard, with 22 jumbo frets that are great for bends, very smooth. One of the many great visual aspects of this guitar is the fender 60’s style large Stratocaster headstock; it’s definitely not something you see every day. The neck has a vintage tint lacquer, which looks and feels incredible. The guitar came out of the box with a really good setup, super low action with gauge 9 strings on which I quickly changed over to gauge 10’s. The bridge on the guitar is a standard Stratocaster hard tail style bridge, seems good so far.
Telecasters traditionally have two single coil pickups and a three-way selector. This Tele is a HSH Tele, meaning it has two humbuckers with a single coil pickup in-between them. It has a rotary 5-way switch, disguised as one of the volume knobs. The pickup selector on the shoulder of the guitar that you may think is the pickup selector is actually a kill switch, allowing you to get some of those Tom Morrelo (Rage Against The Machine) sounds going. One of my only niggles with the guitar is the pickup selector is pretty stiff, I imagine in a gigging situation this would be a little hard to change quickly. I have just ordered a small chicken head knob to see if this makes it a little easier.
Now on the good stuff, the pickup positions:
Pos. 1: Bridge Pickup.
Pos. 2: Bridge and Middle Pickups.
Pos. 3: Neck and Bridge Pickup.
Pos. 4: Neck and Middle Pickup.
Pos. 5: Neck Pickup.
This gives you a huge range of tonal options, it’s more versatile then any other guitar I own. The stock pickups are already really good, although I am already tempted to upgrade them to make this guitar into a real beast.
Overall as you can tell I am pleased with my purchase. I think a lot of people are obsessed with brands in the guitar world these days and forget that the majority of a guitar player’s sound is in the hands. We really are spoilt for choice when it comes to gear. I am definitely guilty of getting caught up in the brand buying and I always want to try new products in the hope of finding something that’s going to sound better. It can become an expensive hobby. But this Squier really shows that you don’t have to spend a fortune to get a well-made guitar. The new higher tier Squiers are really up there with the ‘made in Mexico’ Fenders, I can honestly say that as I currently own two ‘made in Mexico’ Fenders myself. It’s exciting times with gear like this being made at an affordable price. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for more of the new Squier range and I suggest you do too.
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