Great value for the money, good for beginner/semi-intermediate guitarists

Tonally, it delivers sound you’d expect from a Telecaster. The bridge pickup is good for country or indie riffs, while the neck pickup provides a clean tone great for blues or jazz. The pickups are a bit thin compared to higher end Telecasters, and they can sound a bit harsh with lots of gain. But for clean and moderately overdriven tones, they get the job done. For the money, this guitar is hard to beat. It’s not a “pro” instrument, but it’s perfect for beginners, casual players, or even intermediate guitarists who want a Telecaster look and feel without spending big. With a decent setup, it can easily become a solid and reliable guitar.

Great beginner guitar and brilliant modding platform

Body with a really nice 3 tone sunburst finish, the neck feels good and the maple fretboard and frets are solid. The only thing I’d like is a gloss polyurethane finish on the neck instead of a satin one, but it’s no dealbreaker. The electronics & wiring are decent and didn’t need replacing, but I wanted to mod mine with a humbucker in the bridge. I really wish they’d release an HS squier telecaster in a 3 tone sunburst with a maple fretboard and neck, but hey ho. Would recommend.

From Gear Setup

High-quality intermediate guitar with small quality control issues.

I am an intermediate musician. Not an absolute pro, but I do record and produce all of my work by myself, along with releasing my own projects and songs. I was looking for a new and affordable guitar to capture the tones of my favorite artists (specifically Cavetown) while crafting a new tone for myself. After looking through different options, I settled on the Squier Affinity Telecaster that had released in 2021.

I've had this guitar for 11 months, as of me writing this review, and I can confidently say that this guitar looks excellent and sounds great. It captures indie/rock/alternative tones with ease, especially when paired up with a bit of overdrive and chorus. The neck feels excellent, and it's very easy to traverse it without any problem. The guitar stays in tune incredibly well too, just a nice guitar all around.

I will say, there were small quality control issues once the telecaster first came. It seems the second knob (which controls the tone/treble of the guitar's output) is a bit too long or unfinished, as it grinds against the metal on the guitar (that contains the pickup selector, volume knob, and tone knob), especially compared to the volume knob, which turns easily. The output jack has fallen out a few times at first, but two screws were missing from said output jack, so once I put them in, they were fine.

The guitar sounds excellent too. It's a telecaster, it provides a nice indie and alternative sound, something you will be familiar with if you've listened to the likes of indie pop, bedroom pop, etc. It's a bit twangy and mellow, but can bite when needed. It doesn't sound the greatest with fuzz (though that could just be my cheap fuzz pedal), but it sounds excellent with overdrive, reverb, chorus, etc. It is also incredibly versatile for different genres. I have recorded lofi rock, power pop, indie rock, indie pop, bedroom pop, and many other sounds, genres, and ideas with this guitar, and each time they have worked a wonderful amount with those songs. And with the price point (around $260 USD, as of writing this) you would be a madman to not get this if you are looking for an affordable and versatile guitar.

I can't give it a 5/5, since it's not absolutely perfect, but it might as well just be.

4/5

Great first guitar

I mainly bought this thing so I can write guitar parts for songs I'm creating meaning I can get my ideas into notes much easier than getting a friend to do it for me, and as I got mine second hand it has had a p90 slapped into the neck pickup spot which suits my style of tone I like to go for much more than the standard as it is much thicker, of course the iconic looks of a tele is a pro and yeah this thing is a good solid piece of kit

Preferred Settings + Usage:

From Gear Setup

A decent beginner's guitar

Got this back in 2018. It plays pretty well but the guitar has required modification overtime because some of the parts it came with were particularly low quality, specifically, I had to get the tuners replaced a year or two ago because the stock ones somehow had started to wear out and disassemble, and whenever they were tightened, they'd always loosen again. Nowadays it's holding up quite well.

Preferred Settings + Usage:

It's very good for a semi-intermediate player

I definitely have had a very well off experience with this guitar. I got it 2 months after getting my first guitar and since then it hasn't disappointed me at all.

The Neck Is very easy to move up and down on, it's very smooth, good for complex chords and spacious, the neck is easy to wrap your hand around so you'd be doing pretty well with this.

clean tones don't sound bad at all, I much prefer the middle switch or top switch than anything, the bottom selection is very sharp and trebly I find myself using it for heavy distortion channels the other two are just for softer choruses, Despite this I like it It's a guitar I'll find myself using constantly.

one thing though, If you have 40 bucks to spare please spend it on getting the Jack replaced when you plug anything into it and the cord bends it has a chance of being and unintentional kill switch but it's still not a problem and still functions, the problem happens rarely and It's not a major hindrance to your playing experience.

Great!

Let’s be clear, the guitar in and of itself is probably 4 stars. It’s a good solid instrument with some nice features. For this price though- I think I paid just over $200 on sale at guitar center- it’s a steal! Great guitar for mods, I put a nice tray bridge on it, changed the knobs, tuners and etc and it just made it even better for not much more. Strings through the body is a great touch on a cheap instrument as well. I’ve used this extensively for recording and it sounds great! Also extremely comfortable to play with it’s simple style and light weight. Don’t hesitate if you want to experiment with a telecaster!

Alright

Sounds good but I can’t fix the intonation and the screw for the strap fell out.

Awesome beginner guitar

This guitar is the first one I ever bought and I have no regrets whatsoever.

It came in nicely and without complications such as sharp frets, wrong tensions and bad pickups or anything. I did change the potentiometers and pickups for a higher output but that's just to add a personal touch.

great guitar for beginners and pros!

it comed with sharp frets and broken pickup switch, but its still a great guitar