Run of the mill Affinity Tele...

aon

aon

Well-Known Member
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So I got this today. My plan is to set this up so that I can take it with me traveling, as in neck and body detached in suitcases, when necessary, and not have to worry about it too much. The plan is to at least put threaded inserts in the neck and switch to locking tuners. Not sure what else. Would be nice to be able to lock the bridge saddles up a bit somehow. Need to think about how much and how. The Babicz bridge would be one alternative but feels a bit expensive and not available as a lefty single-coil model. Might just put loctite on the height adjustment screws so that they don't fall out.

Brand new, from a what I consider reputable (but not necessarily knowledgeable) vendor. Strangely enough it cost a bit less locally than from Thomann, and Thomann didn't have any in stock (neither did the other local places I checked).

When I got it out of the box my son was probably more excited than me ("guitar" seems to be the first three-syllable Finnish word he is learning... we checked out some Charvels in a music shop window earlier today). But I think he's right handed so in the end he agreed to let me play with this one.

IMG-20200429-WA0013.jpg

While deciding which guitar to get for this purpose, I watched reviews of the 2019 Affinity Tele. Some things seem to be different on this:
  • strings go through the body instead of from the back of the bridge. for my purposes the top-loader would've actually probably been better, but whatever...
  • the jack plate is metal instead of plastic
  • the neck pickup is mounted to the pickguard
  • the headstock says "Telecaster" instead of "Tele" and the Squier logo is gold instead of black
  • the shop claims the body is basswood, I don't know about that...
  • the tuners are the schaller / gotoh style with the mounting screw hole in an angle. I got a pretty good deal on some Fender locking tuners so I'll have to drill new holes no matter what.
None of that really matters for my purposes.

As far as the overall finish goes, fret ends could do with some slight work and the low E won't intonate. I think it's something either to do with the nut or the neck relief. But I'll work on those once I'm back home again and have put my preferred gauge of strings on it. The neck feels strange since I'm used to the Ibanez Super Wizard, but that used to feel strange as well..

I also got this monster of an amp to go with it. Sounds better than I expected through the speaker, the headphone output with the AKG K-240's at least is like farting in a tin can though if you crank the gain. But as for how the guitar sounds, I can't really tell yet:

IMG_20200429_203438.jpg
 
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Congrats on your sharp looking new tele. This body colour with a black guard & maple fretboard just look "right" to me when it comes to teles.
Regarding the 6th string not properly intonating (saddle won't move back far enough), this is not too uncommon in 6 saddle teles, hardtail Strat type guitars etc. Does it have a shorter length spring behind the 6th saddle than the others?. If not, they are available. Either way, hope you get it sorted. Enjoy. Cheers
 
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My Jimi Strat is like that. Low E needs to come back just a hair to be perfect. I was gonna take the wire cutters to the saddle spring but i never remember to do it .i just run it a hair flat no biggy.
 
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Hackmaster said:
You just can't go wrong with a Telecaster.
All this Telecaster talk around here lately has me gassin' for one now.

Maybe it's time.
Click to expand...
@Hackmaster .................perhaps a USA Peavey Tele will scratch the itch --- that other FENDER ones havent.......................................................



said the spider to the fly..............come on in ..........have a seat............. ;)
 
eSGEe said:
@Hackmaster .................perhaps a USA Peavey Tele will scratch the itch --- that other FENDER ones havent.......................................................



said the spider to the fly..............come on in ..........have a seat............. ;)
Click to expand...
Not likely this time.
I want to create my former early 70's Tele from my high school days.
It will have to have the following.
See thru butterscotch blonde body, white pickguard, maple board, ash tray.
Like so...
ftfbca3dgcyys8gqcyfy.jpg
 
Hackmaster said:
Not likely this time.
I want to create my former early 70's Tele from my high school days.
It will have to have the following.
See thru butterscotch blonde body, white pickguard, maple board, ash tray.
Like so...
Click to expand...

Oh man... That looks so nice. I've always been a sucker for the early CBS looks.

I'm really liking mine - sure it's a bit rough around the edges but I guess you can't expect everything to be perfect when a guitar costs less than a proper night out ;)

I'm wondering why I never even tried a Tele earlier, despite always being intrigued by them. Don't think there were that many lefties around in guitar stores when I still visited them occasionally. It's very comfortable despite the lack of the upper cutaway and body contours... Of course the body is thinner on this but i doubt the extra 0.25" would make much difference. Already dreaming of getting a second nicer one but guess I shouldn't get too carried away :D

WRT the intonation problems - I already tried cutting the spring, and then took it completely off... still not quite there. I think it's the nut - looks way too high to me. But I think I'll just have to live with it for a few days more.
 
aon said:
Oh man... That looks so nice. I've always been a sucker for the early CBS looks.

I'm really liking mine - sure it's a bit rough around the edges but I guess you can't expect everything to be perfect when a guitar costs less than a proper night out ;)

I'm wondering why I never even tried a Tele earlier, despite always being intrigued by them. Don't think there were that many lefties around in guitar stores when I still visited them occasionally. It's very comfortable despite the lack of the upper cutaway and body contours... Of course the body is thinner on this but i doubt the extra 0.25" would make much difference. Already dreaming of getting a second nicer one but guess I shouldn't get too carried away :D

WRT the intonation problems - I already tried cutting the spring, and then took it completely off... still not quite there. I think it's the nut - looks way too high to me. But I think I'll just have to live with it for a few days more.
Click to expand...
If the intonation is off enough to annoy you, and you get the action acceptable at the 1st fret, there may be an easy 10 minute answer.
If moving the saddle back helps, so would moving the neck forward.
If you want to try this, detune the guitar but leave the strings on, loosen & remove the neck screws.
Then tilt the neck forward and slide a piece of business card or beer box under the end of the neck heel.
Between the body & end of the neck. Not behind the flat part where the screws go.
You're not raising the heel of the neck, your extending it.
Reattach the screws and tune up.
What this will effectively do is shove the neck about .010 north, now readjust all the saddles and you should be there.
Plenty of room in the screw holes to accommodate this small adjustment.
 
ivan H said:
Congrats on your sharp looking new tele. This body colour with a black guard & maple fretboard just look "right" to me when it comes to teles.
Regarding the 6th string not properly intonation (saddle won't move back far enough), this is not too uncommon in 6 saddle teles, hardtail Strat type guitars etc. Does it have a shorter length spring behind the 6th saddle than the others?. If not, they are available. Either way, hope you get it sorted. Enjoy. Cheers
Click to expand...
I had a similar problem on a hardtail Strat. I removed the saddle, spring and screw and cut the saddle spring in half with a pair of side cutters. That gave me enough extra movement to get the intonation correct.

Note that you may also have to shorten the screw as it may extend far enough to contact the string where it comes through the saddle hole.
 
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