Today, Fender makes some of the world's best Telecasters available, and being guitarists, we would all have been dreaming to own one at some point. In USA, there are plenty of options; it's the country of origin after all. But in Singapore? Well, not that many choices then.
I am a guitarist, I know the importance of sticking to roots, I know how desperately I am in need of guitar reviews before I buy one. Today, I'm gonna talk about the best value Telecaster you can get in Singapore.
For many, you could have already guessed it. But for the minority, I'm talking about the Squier Classic Vibe (CV) Telecaster in Butterscotch Blonde today.
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| This is a picture of my own Squier CV Tele |
I remember looking into Swee Lee's catalogue and wondering when is the CV Tele ever gonna be in stock? I remember floating around Carousell only to see used ones going for almost the price of a new one. Just why is this particular model so popular? Let's find out.
First and foremost, the Butterscotch Blonde colour is the half the reason why people are addicted to this model. The first ever Telecaster ever to be made was in the colour of the Butterscotch Blonde. With that in mind, the Butterscotch Blonde, coupled with the black pickguard and maple neck, does make the guitar look very sexy. In simpler terms, black and yellow is a symbol of "Warning! Look here!"
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| Deluxe Ash Telecaster |
Side-tracking a little, if you look into Fender's range of Butterscotch Telecasters, coming in cheapest is the Special Edition Deluxe Ash Tele. Being Special Edition, chances are, Swee Lee doesn't really have those stock. Furthermore, the control plate is reversed, so it doesn't really follow the traditional Telecaster design.
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| Road Worn Telecaster |
Next comes the Baja Telecaster. Some are turned away from the fat neck, others because of the pickups. In the similar price range lies the Road Worn '50s Telecaster. Of course, people are turned off by the artificial ageing of the guitar. If you don't mind any of these, then these 2 guitars are pretty much awesome guitars.
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| American Special Telecaster |
Next comes the American Special Telecaster. Wow made in America right? So awesome. Yeah apart from that, the "American Special" range is a sandwiched range. You want an American made guitar, but you don't wanna spend too much. To be honest, any guitar beyond this point would be labelled as "Expensive".
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| American Elite Telecaster |
At the higher end lies the Elite Telecaster, renamed from the Standard Telecaster before 2017. The neck and fret size differs from the American Special, and so are the pickups and bridge. There are also more colours to choose from, although I am only talking about Butterscotch today.
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| 1952 Reissue |
Last but not least, the Vintage '52 Reissue Telecaster. Fender claims that this model is the closest one to the first Telecaster ever made. It is. Everything was created to make it exactly like how you would see it in 1952. Except that these are now made in the 21st Century.
Of course, there are tons of Custom Shop guitars with the Butterscotch colour. But for simplicity's sake, and for Singapore's available choices, our limit is the 1952 Reissue.
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| Affinity Telecaster |
Now, for you who wanna compare value to money, we will have to look into the Squier range as well. Squier is a company managed by Fender directly, so their products can be exactly the same. Cheapest in the range is the Affinity Telecaster. I would advise you to stay away from that model if possible; they spoil easily.
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| CV Telecaster |
The only other choice for a Butterscotch Telecaster is the Classic Vibe.
Up till this point, I have discussed many Telecasters, but only 2 sticks to the roots of the first Telecasters: The 1952 Reissue and the Classic Vibe. Standing at $569 (Swee Lee), the Classic Vibe Tele is tough to beat when the 1952 Reissue is going for more than $2000.
The Classic Vibe itself have vintage tuners. These tuners don't do string-through machine heads. They are open-headed, which means you poke the string into the tuner before you turn, whereas string-through requires you to poke through, not poke into. Open-headed are tougher to restring, but it gets the job done, especially in vintage terms.
The neck itself is a comfortable thin neck, a whole lot thinner than the neck of a Les Paul, which has its own purposes. Its made of maple wood and it really gives the neck a good shine, especially with that lacquer, Medium sized frets makes it play good.
Body is made of pine. Being the only Telecaster in Fender or Squier range that is made of pine, it does feel pretty light and I can guarantee you it won't hurt as much when strapped around you for long hours. The wood grain is clearly visible on most CV Butterscotch Teles, which is a pleasing sight.
The pickups are vintage pickups, true to the vintage tones. Based on this video, it is clear that the CV Tele's pickups can stand up pretty well. (*Note that the CV Telecaster comes in Vintage Blonde as well, however with slightly different pickups. So that is not really true to the original Telecaster anymore.)
Knowing all these specifications, I knew I had to get this guitar. It's simply too much to just keep hearing people talk about them but not get to play them. When it got it, I couldn't really put it down for days. It sounded so heavenly in my palms; and it looked so hot.
Some says that this guitar beats the Vintage Reissue, but I don't wanna start a fight here so I'll leave that to your own judgement. Sad to say, if you want one, you will have to wait for Swee Lee to stock up.
I remember going around all of Singapore's music stores to ask if they sell the Squier Classic Vibe '50s Telecaster. Most of them don't, some carry 2nd hand ones, but I am firm that I want a brand new one. Swee Lee was my only hope. I waited few months for them to stock up this CV Telecaster. They informed me via email, I bought it ASAP. I remember going back to the website a few days later and it was out of stock again. "Selling like hotcakes" is super accurate on this one.
So today, if you are looking for one, unfortunately, you will have to wait patiently for Swee Lee to bring them in. Or you could take a plane to the US to buy it and then come right back. :)
And if you ever own it and wants to sell it away, the value retains quite well for this model. It is super popular so even if you post it at $500 used, you are sure to receive more offers than you think. Of course, you can always sell it to me because I don't mind having a few more extras of this Classic Vibe Telecaster.
With that, that's about all for this post. If you really want a Butterscotch Telecaster in Singapore, I think I have covered everything related to this issue.
Hope you enjoyed reading this post!
***Pictures are not supposed to depict what you get in real life. Every guitar is a different beast.
