Sub 1000€ T style recommendations?

Oh damn, make the GAS stop. I was perfectly happy with my prs and helix for 5 years. Then I discovered the tonex pedal and redid my board, then I bought the tele, then a fender fr10. Now I’m gassing over an affordable p90 guitars (epi special or gretsch g5210)…when will it stop? Everything up to this point has seemed logical upgrades (well, the tele was just a second guitar, I’ve wanted a good one forever) but I don’t need a p90 guitar
 
782369 said:
Oh damn, make the GAS stop. I was perfectly happy with my prs and helix for 5 years. Then I discovered the tonex pedal and redid my board, then I bought the tele, then a fender fr10. Now I’m gassing over an affordable p90 guitars (epi special or gretsch g5210)…when will it stop? Everything up to this point has seemed logical upgrades (well, the tele was just a second guitar, I’ve wanted a good one forever) but I don’t need a p90 guitar
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Careful with the budget P90 guitars. The pickups are all.over.the.place. The Gretsch is a thing of beauty and plays fantastic, but also muddy as all get out for me. Wasn't pumped about doing a pickup swap on it given the price and the fact that no after-market p-90s would look like those.

For me, unless you REALLY love the guitar, pickup swapping on sub-$800 guitars is a loosing game...you spend 25% or more than you did on the guitar to roll the dice on a pickup swap, and its money you'll never see a penny of on resale.
 
Congrats on the usa standard tele! The great thing about teles is that you can usually swap out any of the parts to tweak it to your preferences. My favorite guitar is a parts tele that contains only 1 fender part (bridge baseplate but the sides are shaved so I don't whack them while hybrid picking) and is a total mutt. Gigged it enough in a country band and replaced every part that pissed me off over the years.

[Edited to add: +1 with the warning that some of the cheaper guitars may not have standard (vintage spec) parts. It's not hard to see where import manufacturers shaved a couple pennies off the build cost using some cheesy 'close enough and 'cosmetically similar' components. Glendale guitars has a different vintage style bridgeplate that matches the American Standard teles, some of which have a different relationship between the string holes and the mounting screw holes. I would play and enjoy the new tele for a while, and only change things when you feel there is a need to change if at all.]

+1 on the Fishman pickups; i bought a used Squier CV 50's tele for $375 that had the Gristletones and Glendale saddles installed with the original parts in the gig bag. The pine body is a little brick-ish but it sounds and plays great. It was my backup if the mutt broke down at a gig. Those pickups really sounded great in both modes. If I only had 2% of Greg Koch's musicality lol...
 
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Eagle said:
They are not totally compatible with USA fit parts so not the easiest mod platform. The MIM models are though.
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That's true, but parts should still be available easily. And modding won't do the resale value much harm, which is nice.
 
Jarick said:
I ended up with a used Fender American Special. It’s between the old Mexican and American Standard ones. Upgraded the bridge, pickups and tuners and it’s a killer guitar.
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+1 for this - I had one in Sherwood Green - the texas specials were quite versatile and I also liked the Greasebucket tone circuit on it as well
 
dronerstone said:
That's true, but parts should still be available easily. And modding won't do the resale value much harm, which is nice.
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Squire have been built in numerous factories over many years and they vary from literally nothing is standard size to ones that are almost entirely compatible. I’ve had some that you can’t even fit a set of Kilson style tuners on because they are spaced differently. As a rule the most budget Chinese ones are the most problematic.
 
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