This is a deep-dive review of the Squier Affinity Telecaster. A guitar I have owned for around 12 months. Is this really the only guitar you’ll ever need?
What is the Squier Affinity Telecaster?
The Squier Affinity Telecaster is a budget-friendly modern workhorse Telecaster guitar, which sits between the entry-level Sonic series and the still-budget-conscious but more vintage-inspired Classic Vibe series. It currently has an RRP of £240. Standout features are modern block saddles, powerful ceramic pickups, a belly cutaway, and a thinner, lighter poplar body. Full official specs:
Specs & Features
(from the official Fender page)
Body
Material: Poplar
Shape: Telecaster
Finish: Gloss Polyurethane
General
Series: Affinity Series
Model: Affinity Series Telecaster
Color: Lake Placid Blue
Orientation: Right-Hand
Electronics
Pickup Configuration: SS (Dual Single-Coil)
Bridge Pickup: Ceramic Single-Coil
Neck Pickup: Ceramic Single-Coil
Controls: Master Volume, Master Tone
Switching: 3-Position Blade
Position 1 – Bridge
Position 2 – Bridge & Neck
Position 3 – Neck
Hardware
Bridge: 6-Saddle Strings-Through-Body Tele
Tuning Machines: Sealed Die-Cast with Split Shafts
Hardware Finish: Chrome
rol Knobs: Knurled Flat-Top
Pickguard: 3-Ply White
Neck Plate: 4-Bolt Squier
Pickup Covers: Neck (Chrome), Bridge (Black)
Strap Buttons: Standard
String Trees: Dual-Wing
Switch Tip: Black
Strings: Nickel Plated Steel (.009–.042)
Neck & Fingerboard
Neck Material: Maple
Neck Shape: “C” Shape
Neck Construction: Bolt-On
Neck Finish: Satin Urethane (Gloss Headstock Face)
Fingerboard Material: Indian Laurel
Fingerboard Radius: 9.5″ (241 mm)
Number of Frets: 21
Fret Size: Medium Jumbo
Scale Length: 25.5″ (648 mm)
Nut Width: 1.650″ (42 mm)
Nut Material: Synthetic Bone
Position Inlays: Pearloid Dot
Side Dots: White
What made me choose the Squier Affinity Telecaster?
Historically, I’m not a Telecaster person, having spent 10 years exclusively with my Gibson Les Paul Studio. Later on, I’ve learned to appreciate the more direct, simpler vibe that only a Telecaster can bring, so I gigged my beloved Squier Telecaster Custom II for a few years more recently, and couldn’t have asked for more. Then COVID hit, and gigging took a back seat for me, before in early 2025 I began to get the itch again. At the time, I had fallen in love with the Fender Stratocaster again, but as rehearsals developed, and the frustrations of living with a Strat started to grate, I found myself scrolling again, looking for the answer….
…. And as fate would have it, a pricing error on BAX Music caught my attention. A beautiful Lake Placid Blue Squier Affinity Telecaster for £118! I would’ve been a fool to pass this one by, so I bought it there and then, and never looked back. Little did I know this was to become my new #1.
Looks
I’ve said it before, despite my previous (and incorrect) reservations on the tone and playability, the Fender/Squier Telecaster is the best-looking guitar ever made. It’s timeless, simple, functional, and looks right from all angles. For this guitar in particular, the combination of the brass saddles (an upgrade I’ll explain later), the rosewood-like fingerboard, and the Lake Placid Blue finish with a hint of sparkle offset by the white pickguard is one of the best looks for a Telecaster, in any era, at any price point. I fell in love with this guitar at first sight.
Upgrades
The Squier Affinity Telecaster is a fantastic guitar out of the box and, as I’ll explain later in the article, doesn’t need upgrades. However….
Obsidianwire 3-way
Who was I to turn down the opportunity to test one of the best Telecaster control plates money can buy? Not only does this feature a useful treble-bleed circuit, but the solderless design also opened the door to easy pickup upgrades. Having said that, as I’ll cover later, there is not a single thing wrong with the stock control plate.
Gotoh In-tune bridge
Same for the bridge, which came with 6 solid block saddles and a thick, heavy bass plate. But I couldn’t help it, I needed to investigate the traditional 3-brass saddle setup. The result was a surprisingly lighter and narrower baseplate, with intonation-compensated saddles that gave more of that classic Tele twang and sustain, plus an unexpected bonus: looser string tension. Lookwise, the nickel and brass bridge against the Lake Placid Blue body applies the finishing touch to an already beautiful instrument.
Support the blog by purchasing the Gotoh In Tune bridge through my affiliate link here
Tonerider Hot Classic Pickups
If wax-potting is out of the question, a bridge pickup is the only upgrade you would need in practice. I will cover why next.
Squier Affinity Telecaster Build Quality
Out of the box, all seems perfect. Construction and finish are flawless, and the neck is almost unfinished but feels ultra smooth. Flipping the control plate reveals a lovely surprise: full-size pots! Along with solid feeling controls with the only concession seeming to be the PCB as opposed to machanical switch. Absolutely fine for this ridiculous price. The fretwork and nut, usually the Achilles heel of budget instruments, reveal no issues whatsoever, which bodes well for playability (which I’ll cover later). To sum up, the string height at the (abliet plastic) nut is correct, and the frets are level. Who would’ve thought?
Digging a little deeper and putting the pickups through their paces reveals a microphonic bridge pickup under heavy gain, which is a shame and brings me back down to Earth. For the practical out there, it’s a £10, 20-minute job to wax-pot a pickup. For me? Because I already upgraded to a solderless control plate,I took the opportunity to upgrade the pickups too.
This Squier Affinity Telecaster features my favourite style of tuners, the split shaft, where you cut the string to length first, push it vertically into the tuner housing, and the unit self-locks as you turn. They’re great, making for much faster string changes and better tuning stability. These particular tuners are slightly different in that the housing is the modern ‘pin’ arrangement as opposed to the more traditional two screws. Truth be told, they aren’t the smoothest in operation, but they get the job done. A potential easy upgrade here if need be.
Squier Affinity Telecaster Playability
Three things that elevate the playability of this guitar above every other guitar I’ve had in my hands. Weight, action and string tension.
Some will say that it isn’t really a proper Telecaster because of the thinner poplar body and the belly contour, but who cares when you have a guitar that weighs just over 6 lbs? Nowadays, when I pick up a heavier guitar, I’m immediately disappointed because playing a lighter guitar makes everything better. I played Les Pauls for years, and playing one back to back against this feels cumbersome, slow and exhausting. This guitar presents no playing impediment at all.
To sum up, light weight is HUGE!
Now to the second of the potential playability impediments: Action. As a non-luthier, on this guitar, I have achieved 1.1mm at the 12th fret high E, and a little more on the low E, with no choking out or nasty surprises on the high frets. Of course, that’s too low for a lot of players, but it’s comforting to know this guitar is capable of it. A low action is something I’ve sought out, researched and worked on throughout my 30+ year guitar-playing life, so who’d have thought I would find it on a £118 guitar I didn’t need, made in China?!
As for string tension, those high E string bends below the twelfth fret have always been less string snap fear-inducing than usual, but with the upgraded vintage saddles, even less so.
Let’s make no bones about it, all things considered, this is the nicest playing guitar I’ve ever owned.
Squier Affinity Telecaster Tone
Nothing punches through a mix like a Telecaster bridge pickup, and this guitar is a classic example. Although we have the microphony of the bridge pickup under heavy gain to negotiate, these high-output ceramic pickups can cope with anything from country to metal, and are especially and surprisingly well-tuned to high-gain lead sustain. But don’t take my word for it. Hear how these stock ceramic pickups sound in comparison to Fender’s Legendary Texas Specials (costing more than the entire guitar!) in the video below.
If fat and punchy is what you’re looking for in your Tele tones, then the stock pickups will do the job, once you’ve wax-potted the bridge pickup. In fact, I A/B’d this guitar with my Epiphone Les Paul 60s Standard, with the conclusion being that the extra weight really wasn’t contributing to extra sustain over and above what this Telecaster can deliver. And that’s just the bridge position! Check out the video here.
Don’t expect full-on flutey Sweet Child o’ Mine from a Tele neck pickup. What this can deliver is subtlety and a change of pace. Something less aggressive and in-your-face. Something nuanced, warm and pretty, especially with the gain dialled back, which is an important factor in the Telecaster’s legendary versatility. Do you want funk? The middle position jumps out at you with a surprising POP.
Pickup upgrades?
I’ll say it again. There is nothing a Telecaster, including this Telecaster, can’t cover. It is, and always has been, the perfect blend of power and clarity. Swap out the pickups for different flavours, be my guest, but the fundamental tone, snap and sustain always shine through.
- If you want to veer into rock, stick with the stock ceramic pickups; these have the most output and sustain.
- For a touch more subtlety and class for cleaner tones, go Alnico V, e.g. Texas Specials.
- For classic Telecaster twang that can still bite with the best of them, go for Alnico III, which I did (Tonerider HOT Classics).
In hindsight, I would say stick with the superb-sounding and versatile stock pickups and fix any issues that occur, especially if you are covering rock and pop, because pickup upgrades bring negligible tonal differences.
Gain Range
One final note here is the gain range. Some guitars (like the Fender Stratocaster) favour clean tones and need to be pushed unwillingly into higher gain territory using outboard gear. But it’s not natural, and always a bit of a struggle. On the other hand, Gibson Les Pauls thrive on gain and have trouble with the cleaner, clearer side of things. But Telecasters have more oomph than Strats and more clarity than Les Pauls (I’m generalising to make a point here, I know), meaning they sit in the sweet spot of the usable gain range. Telecasters can do clean and gain very well in equal measure, and that’s why people say they can do it all.
Check out my full video review here:
Value For Money
Let’s forget about the £118 for a moment (as that is ridiculous) and take this guitar at its RRP of £240, which still represents astonishing value for money. Looks. Playability. Baked-in reliability. Timeless design. Versatile, legendary tone. The first question to ask is: What more do you need from a guitar? The next question is, how does the Squier Affinity Telecaster compare to other models in the Squier / Fender food chain and beyond? I’ll detail this later, but in essence, this feels like a great modern Telecaster, a budget Mexican Player II if you will (3x the price).
I’ve actually sat in a music store and played them all: Sonic, Affinity, Classic Vibe, Player II, Vintera II, Pro II, and even a nice made in Japan model. Honest opinion: The Affinity series holds its own, with it has to be said, only the £1500 Japan model presenting an obvious uplift in quality.
That’s right. The Squier Affinity Series Telecaster really is that good, and it’s thrown the whole you get what you pay for debate up in the air.
Squier Affinity Telecaster Competition
You have £200-£300 (ish) to spend on a Telecaster. What are your other options?
Sire T3
If you’re willing to forego that name on the headstock. Sire offers more bang for your buck in terms of spec at least, with a mahogany body, bone nut, rolled rosewood boards and more switching options.
Purchase links:
Squier Sonic Series Telecaster
Those on a tight budget can still own a real Tele if you can turn a blind eye to the top-loading bridge and standard (not split shaft) tuners.
Purchase links:
Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster
A significant price uplift, but is it a significantly better guitar? What you are gaining here is more vintage and correct Tele spec: The full-size body. Traditional saddles and bridge (chrome, not brass though). What you are losing is the lightness. In a back-to-back test, I preferred the Affinity.
Purchase links:
Conclusion
I love this guitar. It came with no expectations and rapidly became not only my #1 guitar, but the best I’ve ever owned. Is it the most expensive? No. Does it feature the best hardware? No. Is it constructed with the finest woods? No.
Let’s start with what really matters. Does it play great, and does it sound great? Absolutely. Now, let’s take the design and the ergonomics. Many would say Leo Fender got it right at his first attempt. I would agree, that’s another tick in the box.
Would I care if it didn’t look as nice as it does? Probably not. But again, £118 bought me a timeless design classic. The most beautiful guitar ever made? Probably.
I’m reaching now, what about build quality and versatility? No, neither are chinks in the Telecaster armour and never have been for over 70 years.
But now I’ll tell you the real reason I love this guitar, it’s not any of the above, which are all true, and all would make it the best deal in the world. No, it’s this: For years, I’ve tinkered with guitars. Tried to make them work for me. Tried to get the action down to my liking. Tried to make them sound like the ‘sound in my head, and lately, I’ve become frustrated with the guitar in general. I’ve had band disappointments, guitar disappointments and things, for whatever reason, felt like they weren’t working out….
….Then one day I saw this £118 guitar advertised on BAX Music and everything changed. I didn’t need to tinker anymore. It all came together, and now I spend my time doing what I’m supposed to be doing all along: Playing guitar!
That’s why I love this guitar.
Please support the blog by purchasing through my affiliate links below:
She’s a jackhammer! ❤️✨💯