I haven’t watched the whole video as I write this... but wanted to offer an observation. If people want to upgrade their Squier, no problem. But they should not feel compelled to because it’s an affordable guitar. I have a couple of US made, higher-end Fenders, and I picked up a Squier for the first time in 20 yrs the other day and was super impressed by the build quality (equal to or in some cases better than my US Fenders) and the playability and tone. I actually don’t need to upgrade it.
I would have also left it alone. A charmer in its own right. To my ears the pricey pickups did not improve the guitar suffuxiebtky to justify the cost. And I'm a former modder.
Likewise, I have a 1982 Amercan Vintage Re-issue, a 1995 Nashville Telecaster. I recently saw an Affinity Tele on marketplace for $175 so I snatched it up. I was surprised at the quality and tone. I'll leave it as is.
@@MasteringSilence the chinese one i played the other day had me pitching a tent! Indo's are garbage especially with the maple board, the fret pop was everywhere.
A lot of people who play with higher gain like the pickups that come in these. If you look at the construction of the stock ceramic pickups, they are actually closer to a P90 than a traditional Tele Pickup. Thats why they are generally darker and more mid-rangey.(Like a P90)
I got the exact same model and color yesterday and I'm actually surprised with it! what I noticed at first: - the Nut was cut great no need to modify or change it - when I play on the thick Strings E,A and D i feel the vibration from the guitar to my body. I never had that with my fender Strats. - the frets are cut great no need to trim and polish the ends - the tuners are fine until now, maybe i'll change them maybe not the model I got is a 2016 made in China the white pickguard aged naturally, I really like it :D as for the electronics I'm still not sure if I am gonna change them or not. They sound great stock to be honest
As I read your observations I can't help but think about the Fender Tele I bought last year at GC. I paid somewhere between $800-900 for it. I ended up taking it back within a week because the build quality (all the way around) was so bad. I was literally cutting my fingers on the fret ends. My kid convinced me to just buy a squire for a third of the cost (or less) and go from there. I'm happy to hear you got a much better model than I did for so much less.
Thanks for the video! That was FASCINATING to watch! Personally, I have exactly the opposite taste on almost everything you talked about. But that's the fun part about music. There is no right or wrong, it's about artistic decisions. Uncomfortable to play? I think it's interesting if I need to fight a little bit while playing. Teles are SO bright? I love it. Give me all the treble! That's my sound! I LOVE twang! Without twang a bright guitar would just sound fizzy and lifeless. Maple fretboards? I love the look. Every guitar should have them. My only problem with affinity teles? The modern bridge. I really, really adore the looks of the vintage bridge. Black pickguard? You've got a point. Looks sharp. Noiseless pickups? Nooooooooo, they're almost as bad as humbuckers! They kill all the dynamics and sound fizzy and compressed. But again: That's just me. That's my journey trying to find my personal sound. Your personal sound is clearly very different but it's obvious that you know what to do to achieve your vision. I admire the way you're playing. That Baroness riff? Awesome! That Focus lick? Hmmm, we probably have more in common than I was initially aware of.
Thanks so much for your comment! This is exactly the reason why the Telecaster is such a great guitar for just about any application. No matter the style or genre, a Tele just seems to fit. Thanks for watching!
Fantastic video! I ordered one of these and it's great to see what options are available. I'll definitely be buying the TW Loaded plate. Thanks so much for making and sharing this!
Thank you for the video! I have the very same Tele for over five years. After an upgrade I went back to the stock ceramic PUs. I had different Teles, they can sound thin and very trebely. This one is a bit more like a Gibson :-) I think the noiseless pickups sound very good too, but they are also less trebely than most Tele PUs.
That was super interesting, where the upgraded pickups made a really noticeable increase in clarity and fidelity I feel (subjectively - imo) that it actually made the guitar seem even brighter when played clean. Thanks for showing the difference much appreciated! I imagine if your planning on playing with distortion then the clarity would help the overall tone cut through?
Thanks! I noticed a lot more note definition and clarity with distortion after the upgrades, for sure. As other commenters have noted, there's nothing wrong with the stock pickups; I just have a bit of a hatred for 60 cycle hum and prefer noiseless ones.
Great Review! You did an excellent job describing what you had, what you still aim for, and where you are trying to go. Those noiseless pickups sound interesting and might be what my red Tele needs. I will look for your follow-up video if you make it, and I subscribed because of this video.
Great video. thank you! I also purchased an Affinity Tele as a project guitar and I have been looking into Gen 4 pickups. Have you considered upgrading the saddles? The stock saddles don't sound great to my ear. There are a lot of affordable options on Amazon. I grabbed a $20 set of brass saddles for mine, and the difference is astounding! Thanks for sharing this video. I found it very helpful! You play great!
Thanks for the kind words! Yeah, I'd like to upgrade the saddles to brass. The only other saddle swap I've done is to Graphtech saddles on a Strat but that's only worth it for the tremolo. Thanks for watching!
Are you compensating for any EQ differences between stock and upgrade by matching EQ's to eliminate any EQ differences? If the only difference is in perceived EQ then that's no difference at all since most equipment has at least a treble and bass knob somewhere in the signal chain. Don't forget to also match perceived volume or loudness in your A/B testing to allow your A/B testing to have any value.
No post-EQ. I kept all knobs on amps and pedals the same for both sets of pickups. I did match the levels in post but both pickup sets were really close in loudness so I didn't perceive any differences in gain.
Thanks for this. I dig the honesty about learning on the job. You know more than I do! I love my 2009 Squier Tele Affinity. I had the pickups upgraded to some or other Fender set about 6 years ago. But I still need to get a better, more solid control panel. And probably tuners. The neck is great as-is.
See I would have just used the BOSS KATANA and dialed it in with the tele. I found it funny you don't like twang and went out and replace the stock pups for fender tele pups. Did I miss something in that move??
In just the first two minutes of your video you voiced everything that I've been thinking about the Squier Affinity Telecaster that I bought, (except that mine doesn't have the vintage bridge, and it does have some contouring) which boils down to: Why did I choose this guitar? I don't have the cash to keep a stable of guitars, so I wish I'd taken more time to shop around.
Played this one yesterday for 45min at GC and I couldn't put it down. I played the other 3 with a maple fretboard and wasn't impressed but this one has it. It being used I have to wait 7 days to get it so the cops know it isn't stolen but for $140, man it's a killer! Great vid!
Hey, thanks for watching! I'm a big darkwood fan for fretboards, especially on Teles. I actually traded in a fuzz pedal for my Tele and took it home for under $100, new. Enjoy yours when you get it home!
The Affinity has its own charm. Just double check the sharp and jagged fretwires. No need to even change the pickups. Nothing wrong with ceramic pickups. But now you've got a state of the art Tele. Black on silver looks stunning!
I totally agree . The stock pickups can sound pretty good if you play with the height adjustment. I may look into changing the jack and pots assembly to a higher quality unit. I even prefer the sound through my little Fender Champion amp over some of my higher end amps. Great video. Thanks
I see you changed the pick guard but the original has no holes for adjusting the neck pick up. By the way the guitar sounds as good as the upgrade. The standard pick ups are great.
Yeah, it was my mistake for buying the new pickguard without checking the requirements of the new pickup. I bought another pickguard from the same company when drilling my own holes in the guard went about as well as you'd expect. I agree; the stock guitar is a great guitar. The upgrades I made suit me a bit better but out of the box, it punches way above its pay grade.
Bought one yesterday. I think the original pickups have unique tone - somewhat muffled highs, a little dirty overall, but the upgrades have more range and brightness. My guitar is black with white pickguard - will change it to black with all gold/brass hardware (pots, pickups etc).
It sounds like what you need is a Les Paul Special with a 22-fret Stratocaster neck. Totally doable for a whole lot less work. Just add a Badass bridge and adjust it all the way out to compensate for the extra scale length.
That sounds fun! Jericho Guitars makes an LP with a 25.5" or 27" baritone scale length... One day it shall be mine! Strangely, my LTD EC-1000 handles baritone tuning really well for a Gibson-scale guitar.
@@KeithShelley I was reading the comments and bam! You might be part of the strange élite group that knows how the f**k is it possible to tune a regular scale guitar into the LOW territory! 😂 For what I know, though, LPs were created with an acoustic gauge set in mind... That means o.14 to 0.70 no prob... But even with that, I still can't figure out how a regular scale guitar can hold a B standard tuning!
@@doedesjel thanks for your comment! Strangely enough, this Tele is now my dedicated baritone; I tuned my EC-1000 back up. The Tele handles it really well too. It's all a balance between string guage and scale length. I'd love a baritone neck for this Tele but the neck is most of the reason I love this guitar.
great to see you have enjoyed the experience and have enjoyed learning too. I have the same guitar being delivered today. regarding what you hoped to get from the upgrades, it seems you've ended up with only half of what you wanted, but you can always sell pickups on and you're one step closer to knowing how to work on any guitar with ease. I also dont like thee bridge pickup, the distortion thats always present is likely a side effect of the spacing under the strings, but like you said you can adjust it how you like. I think the upgrades have given you a beefier more live sounding tone and i noticed a little more reverb on the upgrade sound, not sure if thats a higher setting or if its just how the new pickups have affected the reverb feed. i think the crunch is great, but youve ended up with even more highs (a boost in 7k and 10k, but the added 4k beef offsets its nicely.) I love the black pickguard but it sure is a fingerprint magnet. overall, well done, nice video and great project. Thanks for telling the truth and being humble and best of luck in your next project. Tom
Hey buddy, good to see you, and getting along with a Fender! 'been a long time! It's Austin. Ive been playing the same Korean counterfeit Epiphone since y2k. Ive gone through a few brands and have a small collection of a bunch of cheap stuff with occasional upgrades. My most recent addition is a nice deep shiny red HH Strat, very fun! If your ever near piedra blanca again, bring that chunky block over n we'll tear up my current line6-15a! 😆
I had a tele that was extremely ice picky bright..it was terrible. I took off the control plate and saw that it had 1 meg pots. I installed 250k pots and a sprague orange drop cap. it tamed it way down and is very useable now.
Thanks for the info I'm gona order these upgrades soon. Im sure that the tone and volume nobs are left handed specific. Unless you dont mind turning them the opposite direction.
i think the stock pickups sound good enough. If you want to play a more distorted sound I would upgrade them. I put emg actives in my metal guitars. Just got my first Tele. Who knows I might get the noiseless. i just don't see it happening.
If you want less twang and more rock tones, probably a hot rails bridge pickup would get you close to the sound you're after. Just saying, or if you want the little 59 style pickup why not try the JB "Jeff Beck" bridge pickup
I did end up going with a Little'59 in the bridge and it sounds incredible. I'm on the lookout for a heavier bridge plate but I'm not sure they make them that fit these Squiers.
DW music, ask for Aaron Armstrong, who is the son of Kent Armstrong, as well as guitar pickups which they sell, if you send your pickup Aaron is able to rewind, or put on a heavier base plate for you, just a suggestion :-)
A tuner upgrade would make a huge difference. You should do a little research online to see if those American tuners will fit the Affinity before you buy.
@@KeithShelley it was a nice metal sounding riff that you repeated a few times. Beautifully done. I recently bought a Squier Affinity Tele, having some buzzing strings. Looking to have some upgrades done soon.
I'm tuned to D standard for the whole video. So, actually, one whole tone. I tuned meticulously with a tuner between takes, before and after the pickup swap, to give an accurate representation of the pickups in the same environment and setup. If you listen to the before and after sections, you'll notice my guitar is tuned the same in both. I may not have used a metronome but I was definitely in tune. I suspect you either tune to E flat or listen to a lot of Hendrix and SRV if you thought I was ONLY a semitone away from standard 😁
Thanks for the info I'm gona order these upgrades soon. Im sure that the tone and volume nobs are left handed specific. Unless you dont mind turning them the opposite direction.
why not just buy a more expensive model using the upgrade $ ...? they are all pretty good nowdays even the cheaper intro models...lot of choice out there...i have owned some expensive guitars through the decades..but i really enjoy the cheaper budget guitars they are more fun
Basic answer: because I liked this one 😁 I most likely would've changed the pickups on any tele I bought and Squier doesn't make one with noiseless pickups (yet). I also wanted the experience of customizing a guitar to my standards. I've since swapped out the bridge pickup to a Seymour Duncan Little '59 humbucker. I play it every day.
The modernized bridge and saddles weren't too bad, but the belly cuts and contouring, to me, just takes something away from the Squier Affinity Telecasters. The new Telecasters look like "Stratocaster wannabes" to me now. Nothing against the Stratocasters, but I'm not really liking the new "upgrade".
I never understood why people buy guitars of which they know the characteristics of it and it doesn't match what or how they play and they still buy them and complain. Buy a guitar that meets your tonal needs. FFS.
I think a lot of people buy with their eyes, and contrarily DON'T know what they're buying ,even when they try it out. They get it home and it sounds nothing it did in the store. Some people are just drawn to a certain style of guitar and it's not really suited for what they're wanting to play. I'm a surf guitar guy and I bought an Epiphone Les Paul Standard PlusTop Pro with coil splitting capabilities and I have Squier Affinity Telecaster that I've been modifying. Neither of the two guitars are common to genre of surf rock ,well Telecasters have been getting more and more popular in the surf guitar crowd....
I haven’t watched the whole video as I write this... but wanted to offer an observation. If people want to upgrade their Squier, no problem. But they should not feel compelled to because it’s an affordable guitar. I have a couple of US made, higher-end Fenders, and I picked up a Squier for the first time in 20 yrs the other day and was super impressed by the build quality (equal to or in some cases better than my US Fenders) and the playability and tone. I actually don’t need to upgrade it.
I would have also left it alone. A charmer in its own right. To my ears the pricey pickups did not improve the guitar suffuxiebtky to justify the cost. And I'm a former modder.
@@adrian_V99 agreed maybe a little on the clean tone but with any distortion, Barley hear a difference.
Likewise, I have a 1982 Amercan Vintage Re-issue, a 1995 Nashville Telecaster. I recently saw an Affinity Tele on marketplace for $175 so I snatched it up. I was surprised at the quality and tone. I'll leave it as is.
I purchased a 2020 Affinity Series Tele today. Thanks for amping my excitement
How's the experience been? Made in China or Indo?
@@saadparvez165 I’m pretty sure the 2020s are made in China.
@@MasteringSilence the chinese one i played the other day had me pitching a tent! Indo's are garbage especially with the maple board, the fret pop was everywhere.
A lot of people who play with higher gain like the pickups that come in these. If you look at the construction of the stock ceramic pickups, they are actually closer to a P90 than a traditional Tele Pickup. Thats why they are generally darker and more mid-rangey.(Like a P90)
Good point re P90....
I also enjoyed the stock pickup sound but those upgrades are certainly nice on the brightness
Dare I say it….I prefer the sound of the stock pickups. I can say the upgraded pickups produce much cleaner notes.
That's fine, sound is personal, that's why people mod guitars.
I got the exact same model and color yesterday and I'm actually surprised with it!
what I noticed at first:
- the Nut was cut great no need to modify or change it
- when I play on the thick Strings E,A and D i feel the vibration from the guitar to my body. I never had that with my fender Strats.
- the frets are cut great no need to trim and polish the ends
- the tuners are fine until now, maybe i'll change them maybe not
the model I got is a 2016 made in China the white pickguard aged naturally, I really like it :D
as for the electronics I'm still not sure if I am gonna change them or not. They sound great stock to be honest
As I read your observations I can't help but think about the Fender Tele I bought last year at GC. I paid somewhere between $800-900 for it. I ended up taking it back within a week because the build quality (all the way around) was so bad. I was literally cutting my fingers on the fret ends. My kid convinced me to just buy a squire for a third of the cost (or less) and go from there. I'm happy to hear you got a much better model than I did for so much less.
Kind of enjoyed the stock pickups. Nice demo by the way.
Thanks! I was pleasantly surprised myself with how good the stock pickups sounded. Not much in the way of hum either, if you've got a good cable.
Great vid. You're right: the Tele is meant to be simple…a chunk of wood with some hardware strapped to it. I'm glad you've found a Tele you like.
The clarity in the upgraded pickups is fantastic. I will say, considering the cost, stock pickups weren’t too bad.
Thanks for the video! That was FASCINATING to watch! Personally, I have exactly the opposite taste on almost everything you talked about. But that's the fun part about music. There is no right or wrong, it's about artistic decisions. Uncomfortable to play? I think it's interesting if I need to fight a little bit while playing. Teles are SO bright? I love it. Give me all the treble! That's my sound! I LOVE twang! Without twang a bright guitar would just sound fizzy and lifeless. Maple fretboards? I love the look. Every guitar should have them. My only problem with affinity teles? The modern bridge. I really, really adore the looks of the vintage bridge. Black pickguard? You've got a point. Looks sharp. Noiseless pickups? Nooooooooo, they're almost as bad as humbuckers! They kill all the dynamics and sound fizzy and compressed.
But again: That's just me. That's my journey trying to find my personal sound. Your personal sound is clearly very different but it's obvious that you know what to do to achieve your vision. I admire the way you're playing. That Baroness riff? Awesome! That Focus lick? Hmmm, we probably have more in common than I was initially aware of.
Thanks so much for your comment! This is exactly the reason why the Telecaster is such a great guitar for just about any application. No matter the style or genre, a Tele just seems to fit. Thanks for watching!
I have the same guitar , when i received it from amazon i got a set-up done on it,changed the nut to a bone one and that's it! I love love my guitar.
Oh dear, it’s even brighter. Did you change it back to stock?
Thanks Keith. The mid range on those pickups would pair well with a Big Muff. This seems like a great hard rock rhythm instrument.
Fantastic video! I ordered one of these and it's great to see what options are available. I'll definitely be buying the TW Loaded plate. Thanks so much for making and sharing this!
Thank you for the video! I have the very same Tele for over five years. After an upgrade I went back to the stock ceramic PUs. I had different Teles, they can sound thin and very trebely. This one is a bit more like a Gibson :-) I think the noiseless pickups sound very good too, but they are also less trebely than most Tele PUs.
Love the intro riff literally tried learning it sounds so good lol good video helped a lot and will be upgrading mines soon
Mine will be here Tuesday, I got the butterscotch blonde. 😎
That was super interesting, where the upgraded pickups made a really noticeable increase in clarity and fidelity I feel (subjectively - imo) that it actually made the guitar seem even brighter when played clean. Thanks for showing the difference much appreciated! I imagine if your planning on playing with distortion then the clarity would help the overall tone cut through?
Thanks! I noticed a lot more note definition and clarity with distortion after the upgrades, for sure. As other commenters have noted, there's nothing wrong with the stock pickups; I just have a bit of a hatred for 60 cycle hum and prefer noiseless ones.
Noiseless pickups have come along way... Good note articulation...
"noticeable increase in clarity and fidelity " or just an EQ and loudness difference?, both of which are easily controlled.
Exactly what I was looking for! Great video
Great Review! You did an excellent job describing what you had, what you still aim for, and where you are trying to go. Those noiseless pickups sound interesting and might be what my red Tele needs. I will look for your follow-up video if you make it, and I subscribed because of this video.
13:05 Reptile - Periphery.
Really great video, this is quality content.
This is exactly what I wanna do.
My first d.i.y. guitar project
Upgrading a Tele
I noticed the original pickups were darker sounding than the upgrade pickups, the upgrades seem to have more clarity and brighter sounding
Great video. thank you! I also purchased an Affinity Tele as a project guitar and I have been looking into Gen 4 pickups. Have you considered upgrading the saddles? The stock saddles don't sound great to my ear. There are a lot of affordable options on Amazon. I grabbed a $20 set of brass saddles for mine, and the difference is astounding! Thanks for sharing this video. I found it very helpful! You play great!
Thanks for the kind words! Yeah, I'd like to upgrade the saddles to brass. The only other saddle swap I've done is to Graphtech saddles on a Strat but that's only worth it for the tremolo. Thanks for watching!
Are you compensating for any EQ differences between stock and upgrade by matching EQ's to eliminate any EQ differences? If the only difference is in perceived EQ then that's no difference at all since most equipment has at least a treble and bass knob somewhere in the signal chain. Don't forget to also match perceived volume or loudness in your A/B testing to allow your A/B testing to have any value.
No post-EQ. I kept all knobs on amps and pedals the same for both sets of pickups. I did match the levels in post but both pickup sets were really close in loudness so I didn't perceive any differences in gain.
Ty dude, I just boosted my Squire Tele with Tex/Mex PU’s. Fun fun fun
You gotta be the only dude who only loves the tele neck pickup. what a legend Ill like the video just for that
Everything he brought up he didn’t like, I love about the tele.
Thanks for this. I dig the honesty about learning on the job. You know more than I do! I love my 2009 Squier Tele Affinity. I had the pickups upgraded to some or other Fender set about 6 years ago. But I still need to get a better, more solid control panel. And probably tuners. The neck is great as-is.
See I would have just used the BOSS KATANA and dialed it in with the tele. I found it funny you don't like twang and went out and replace the stock pups for fender tele pups. Did I miss something in that move??
In just the first two minutes of your video you voiced everything that I've been thinking about the Squier Affinity Telecaster that I bought, (except that mine doesn't have the vintage bridge, and it does have some contouring) which boils down to: Why did I choose this guitar? I don't have the cash to keep a stable of guitars, so I wish I'd taken more time to shop around.
I didn't really care about the upgrade until it got heavier, that's when I was like... Oh Hell Yeah!
I was more surprised by the FSR Bullet models for several hundred cheaper and same or better sound.
Played this one yesterday for 45min at GC and I couldn't put it down. I played the other 3 with a maple fretboard and wasn't impressed but this one has it. It being used I have to wait 7 days to get it so the cops know it isn't stolen but for $140, man it's a killer! Great vid!
Hey, thanks for watching! I'm a big darkwood fan for fretboards, especially on Teles. I actually traded in a fuzz pedal for my Tele and took it home for under $100, new. Enjoy yours when you get it home!
The Affinity has its own charm. Just double check the sharp and jagged fretwires. No need to even change the pickups. Nothing wrong with ceramic pickups. But now you've got a state of the art Tele. Black on silver looks stunning!
I totally agree . The stock pickups can sound pretty good if you play with the height adjustment. I may look into changing the jack and pots assembly to a higher quality unit. I even prefer the sound through my little Fender Champion amp over some of my higher end amps. Great video. Thanks
I see you changed the pick guard but the original has no holes for adjusting the neck pick up. By the way the guitar sounds as good as the upgrade. The standard pick ups are great.
Yeah, it was my mistake for buying the new pickguard without checking the requirements of the new pickup. I bought another pickguard from the same company when drilling my own holes in the guard went about as well as you'd expect.
I agree; the stock guitar is a great guitar. The upgrades I made suit me a bit better but out of the box, it punches way above its pay grade.
Tim Pierce suggests a cure for overly bright or dark pickups: an equalizer pedal.
The upgraded pups sound even brighter which you said you don't like... and neither do i
I picked one of the Affinity's up. I found the switch and jack to be too tight. Shows you what difference in craftsmanship there is. Cool Review
this video is great. i really like your personality !
those pickups are night and day. the new ones have taken out all the muddy from the neck pickup and calmed down the brightness of the bridge pickup
Love that Silver with the Black Pickguard, what areas of the PG did not fit well ? Can you post a link to which one you bought here, thx !
Mine had a white Pickguard when it came, changed it immediately even though I wasn't able to play a single chord :D
Nice colour and pick guard combo.
Bought one yesterday. I think the original pickups have unique tone - somewhat muffled highs, a little dirty overall, but the upgrades have more range and brightness.
My guitar is black with white pickguard - will change it to black with all gold/brass hardware (pots, pickups etc).
How do u not have more subscribers? I subbed. Love the video and keep making videos 👋🏽
It sounds like what you need is a Les Paul Special with a 22-fret Stratocaster neck. Totally doable for a whole lot less work. Just add a Badass bridge and adjust it all the way out to compensate for the extra scale length.
That sounds fun! Jericho Guitars makes an LP with a 25.5" or 27" baritone scale length... One day it shall be mine!
Strangely, my LTD EC-1000 handles baritone tuning really well for a Gibson-scale guitar.
@@KeithShelley I was reading the comments and bam! You might be part of the strange élite group that knows how the f**k is it possible to tune a regular scale guitar into the LOW territory! 😂 For what I know, though, LPs were created with an acoustic gauge set in mind... That means o.14 to 0.70 no prob... But even with that, I still can't figure out how a regular scale guitar can hold a B standard tuning!
@@doedesjel thanks for your comment! Strangely enough, this Tele is now my dedicated baritone; I tuned my EC-1000 back up. The Tele handles it really well too. It's all a balance between string guage and scale length. I'd love a baritone neck for this Tele but the neck is most of the reason I love this guitar.
So what did you actually do with the noiseless pickups, raise them? lower them? compared to Fender specs?
i ordered this ome in blue i hope its good.. first i thought buying maple fretboard.. so i hope this plays good also
A little hocus pocus from focus? That surprised me! Great playing!
I thought I recognized that! Couldn’t put my finger on it until you mentioned it
Awesome tele upgrade vid .
great to see you have enjoyed the experience and have enjoyed learning too. I have the same guitar being delivered today. regarding what you hoped to get from the upgrades, it seems you've ended up with only half of what you wanted, but you can always sell pickups on and you're one step closer to knowing how to work on any guitar with ease. I also dont like thee bridge pickup, the distortion thats always present is likely a side effect of the spacing under the strings, but like you said you can adjust it how you like. I think the upgrades have given you a beefier more live sounding tone and i noticed a little more reverb on the upgrade sound, not sure if thats a higher setting or if its just how the new pickups have affected the reverb feed. i think the crunch is great, but youve ended up with even more highs (a boost in 7k and 10k, but the added 4k beef offsets its nicely.) I love the black pickguard but it sure is a fingerprint magnet. overall, well done, nice video and great project. Thanks for telling the truth and being humble and best of luck in your next project. Tom
Hey buddy, good to see you, and getting along with a Fender! 'been a long time! It's Austin. Ive been playing the same Korean counterfeit Epiphone since y2k. Ive gone through a few brands and have a small collection of a bunch of cheap stuff with occasional upgrades. My most recent addition is a nice deep shiny red HH Strat, very fun! If your ever near piedra blanca again, bring that chunky block over n we'll tear up my current line6-15a! 😆
I changed the string tree with a roller like on my Ibanez. The vintage tuners are good. I seen some complain the suck.
I had a tele that was extremely ice picky bright..it was terrible.
I took off the control plate and saw that it had 1 meg pots.
I installed 250k pots and a sprague orange drop cap. it tamed it way down and is very useable now.
damnthe intro riffs you played, the sounds that I am looking for on tele.
Thanks! It's the Electro-Harmonix Green Russian Big Muff reissue.
@@KeithShelley dang thats really good sounding muff! thanks for the reply!
Thanks for the info I'm gona order these upgrades soon. Im sure that the tone and volume nobs are left handed specific. Unless you dont mind turning them the opposite direction.
i hate to say it , but the stock pups sounded better .
The upgraded bech sounds much better imo. I like how the stock bridge pickup sounds more but I have this guitar and it's definitely a bit too bright
It sounds clearly with the pickupgrade, but loudly too?
i think the stock pickups sound good enough. If you want to play a more distorted sound I would upgrade them. I put emg actives in my metal guitars. Just got my first Tele. Who knows I might get the noiseless. i just don't see it happening.
If you want less twang and more rock tones, probably a hot rails bridge pickup would get you close to the sound you're after. Just saying, or if you want the little 59 style pickup why not try the JB "Jeff Beck" bridge pickup
I did end up going with a Little'59 in the bridge and it sounds incredible. I'm on the lookout for a heavier bridge plate but I'm not sure they make them that fit these Squiers.
DW music, ask for Aaron Armstrong, who is the son of Kent Armstrong, as well as guitar pickups which they sell, if you send your pickup Aaron is able to rewind, or put on a heavier base plate for you, just a suggestion :-)
Really nice!
I can buy used american fender tuners for 25€, do you think it would be a great upgrade for my 2020 telly affinity?
A tuner upgrade would make a huge difference. You should do a little research online to see if those American tuners will fit the Affinity before you buy.
What is the Y for?
Noisless are great pickups.
What riff were you playing (gain, distortion)? Very cool.
Thanks! Which part? The intro riff was one I wrote. I played a few cover songs in the video with some of my own riffs mixed in.
@@KeithShelley it was a nice metal sounding riff that you repeated a few times. Beautifully done. I recently bought a Squier Affinity Tele, having some buzzing strings. Looking to have some upgrades done soon.
Great vid. Who's the first riff by? Thanks.
Thanks! The opening riff is an original 😉
That's the exact guitar I want to buy!!!
You did the whole pickup comparison playing tests with the guitar tuned FLAT by almost a whole semitone.
Don't you have a tuner? 😬
I'm tuned to D standard for the whole video. So, actually, one whole tone. I tuned meticulously with a tuner between takes, before and after the pickup swap, to give an accurate representation of the pickups in the same environment and setup.
If you listen to the before and after sections, you'll notice my guitar is tuned the same in both. I may not have used a metronome but I was definitely in tune.
I suspect you either tune to E flat or listen to a lot of Hendrix and SRV if you thought I was ONLY a semitone away from standard 😁
@@KeithShelley Thanks for the reply! 👍
It's like the upgraded pickups get more info about string movement than the stock ones
Can you get those upgrades for a left handed squire tele
I think the only part you'd have to specifically get left-handed would be the pick guard. Otherwise everything else should work on a lefty Tele.
Thanks for the info I'm gona order these upgrades soon. Im sure that the tone and volume nobs are left handed specific. Unless you dont mind turning them the opposite direction.
why not just buy a more expensive model using the upgrade $ ...? they are all pretty good nowdays even the cheaper intro models...lot of choice out there...i have owned some expensive guitars through the decades..but i really enjoy the cheaper budget guitars they are more fun
Basic answer: because I liked this one 😁
I most likely would've changed the pickups on any tele I bought and Squier doesn't make one with noiseless pickups (yet).
I also wanted the experience of customizing a guitar to my standards. I've since swapped out the bridge pickup to a Seymour Duncan Little '59 humbucker. I play it every day.
The new pickups sound brighter 😂😂😂😂
What riff are you playing at 10:35?
That's "Morningstar" by Baroness.
Whats the tune you're playing at 12:00?
It's a bastardized version of "Hocus Pocus" by Focus.
Cool stuff!!!!
Stock sound kind a flat but... Classic, New ones sound bubbly and tubular, which fine if thats what you like, I prefer the Stock.
The stock pickups sounded much better, imho
Wise words indeed about picking a good guitar.
I liked the stock pickups better.
Sorry, I prefer the stock pickups...;-)
you upgraded to more twang
Get this man a Lay Z Boy guitar so he can play comfortably
The upgrade pickup are very harsh
They are string through & belly cuts now.
FUZZZZZZZZZZZ
Tele without the twang is no telecaster at all.
No more "pretty good for the money" guitars for me. I saved up and got a Fender player strat
Stock pickups sounded better with gain.
Man, why you are tuned 1 tone down?
Personal preference 😁
If you want a lp special just get an lp special! Hahaha
Haha! Truth. The thing is I like the longer scale lengths on Fenders because I always downtune.
Awesome Keith, Subscribed, we kind of do the same interesting stuff on our channels!
Linus tele tips
the new 2021 Squier Affinity Teles have belly cuts
Cool! Looks like they've got some sweet new colors, too; love that Lake Placid blue.
The modernized bridge and saddles weren't too bad, but the belly cuts and contouring, to me, just takes something away from the Squier Affinity Telecasters. The new Telecasters look like "Stratocaster wannabes" to me now. Nothing against the Stratocasters, but I'm not really liking the new "upgrade".
Way too much bass man. It's a guitar, not a bass.
I never understood why people buy guitars of which they know the characteristics of it and it doesn't match what or how they play and they still buy them and complain. Buy a guitar that meets your tonal needs. FFS.
I think a lot of people buy with their eyes, and contrarily DON'T know what they're buying ,even when they try it out. They get it home and it sounds nothing it did in the store. Some people are just drawn to a certain style of guitar and it's not really suited for what they're wanting to play. I'm a surf guitar guy and I bought an Epiphone Les Paul Standard PlusTop Pro with coil splitting capabilities and I have Squier Affinity Telecaster that I've been modifying. Neither of the two guitars are common to genre of surf rock ,well Telecasters have been getting more and more popular in the surf guitar crowd....
You ruined it man,thats about it.
You don't like a Telecaster ? DON'T BUY ONE !