Squier Vintage Modified Telecaster Special – Squiers First Telecaster with a Jazzmaster Neck Pickup

On the bench today is the Squier Vintage Modified Telecaster Special.

Recently I released a video on the new Squier Limited Edition Paranormal Offset Telecaster® SH. It is a new Squier release that is mostly Telecaster but in an offset body with a Jazzmaster pickup in the neck position.

This was not the first time Squier released a Telecaster type guitar that was mostly a Telecaster but with a Jazzmaster pickup in the neck.

The Squier Vintage Modified Telecaster Special is the guitar I am featuring today. It took me a long while to find one in the Butterscotch Blonde and in good or better condition. I finally found this one in the UK. It cost me a premium to get it shipped to me in the US, but it is not very often I see these guitars come on the market and in the exact configuration I was looking for.

The Squier Vintage Modified Telecaster Special is a Squier guitar that has a Duncan Designed Telecaster Single Coil pickup in the bridge position and a Duncan Designed Jazzmaster pickup in the neck position. It features a 25.5 scale Jazzmaster style maple neck with 21 medium-jumbo frets, a telecaster vintage style 3-barrel string-through bridge.

The Duncan Designed single-coil pickup models are a TE-101B in the bridge and a JM-101N in the neck, both with Alnico 5 magnets.

The guitar has standard Telecaster controls, including a three-way pickup selector switch, master volume, and tone control.

The Squier Vintage Modified Telecaster Special was produced from 2012 to 2019 and was available in white blonde and butterscotch blonde.

The body is made of basswood and came in two colors: White Blonde (501), Butterscotch Blonde (550)

The neck is made of maple and has a C-Shape.
The neck has 21 Medium Jumbo frets.
• Fretboard Radius: 9.5″
• Fretboard Material: Maple
• Nut Width: 1.650″ (42mm)
• Scale Length: 25.5″

The guitar’s original MSRP was $499.99.

Used the guitar – when you can find one is $242 to $539.

Measuring pickup impedance. The bridge pickup measures 6.42 k ohms, while both pickups together measure 3.291 k ohms, and the neck measures at 6.65 k ohms.

My guitar weighs 7 lbs and 10 ounces or 3.478 Kilos.

Sound wise and I am sorry to say this. I think this guitar sounds better than the new Paranormal Offset Telecaster SJ. Even though the Vintage Modified does not have all of the offerings of tones that the Paranormal Offset offers with the two push/pull pots the three pickup configurations are in my opinion cleaner and more concise with better lows and highs. If I was to modify anything on this guitar all I would do is build out a US component wiring harness and I would add a four position switch so as to add the series pickup configuration.

Looks comparison between the two guitars is they are each in their own category. The Paranormal Offset in the Blue with matching Headstock is gorgeous. The Vintage Modified with the blackguard and Butterscotch Blonde is a beautiful looking classic.