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Fender Squire Vibe Telecasters?


Pieman

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I have a 2016 MIC butterscotch tele - a little brickish (8.5 lbs) but it sounds good and plays well.  The previous owner swapped in a set of brass Glendale saddles and Fishman Fluence Gristletones so I can't say how the original pickups were (the original parts were included in the gig bag).  It is certainly giggable as are the other MIC or MII(Indonesian) tele variants around here (72 Thinline, Cabronita). Even pickled up a red metalflake Squire Bullet tele for $119 new that would be giggable other than the cheap pickups (but the beauty of the tele is that pickup swaps are easy - there's a set of used GFS Cool Rails going in on the next string change).  Vintage frets on an Indian Laurel fingerboard with a lightly sealed maple neck.  Also a brick-o-caster, but the metalflake is cool and it plays great.  Wish cheap guitars had been that good when I was learning.

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Indian Laurel feels 'lighter' and has longer grain; seems like it's not quite as fat sounding as rosewood (an analogy might be how korina sounds not quite as punchy/sharp as mahogany - maybe a little less highs or upper mids).  I'd guess it's sorta in the middle between balsa and pau ferro if you  can imagine that (the paulownia of rosewood).  It takes a little off the the brightness of the heavy (poplar?) body.  I really like the smaller vintage frets though and the maple of the neck feels like bare wood. 

Fender builds the Bullets down to the MSRP prices around $179 - if it retails there they aren't paying much for that fingerboard blank.  If they expand that to the mid-line guitars they're probably just saving cost. 

If I were looking for a '62 double bound tele, I'd hold out for an older one with a rosewood fingerboard.  That's the original recipe.  I had a really nice MIJ '62 that I traded for a Washburn N4 back in the days when I wasn't into teles.  Should have kept that one and just bought the N4 outright.

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