Fender Standard Telecaster – Modded to the EXTREME!

00:00 – Introduction
00:47 – Summary Report
02:45 – Good Bones
04:09 – My Observations
10:15 – Final Thoughts
14:16 – Sound Sample – Neck Pickup
14:40 – Sound Sample – Both Pickups
15:02 – Sound Sample – Bridge Pickup
15:24 – Sound Sample – Bridge Pickup/StewMac IHOO
15:49 – Sound Sample – Neck Pickup/StewMac IHOO
Fender Standard Telecaster – Curiosity got the best of me
Curiosity got the best of me, and I finally broke down and purchased one of the new Fender Standard Telecaster guitars.
I have been using an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool to watch market sentiment on guitars that I cover on the channel. I use AI to scan forums, reviews, and websites to provide me a report about what people are saying about the new Fender Standard guitars. It is pretty cool because it scans hundreds of websites in minutes. If I tried to do this manually it would take me hours if not days.
When Fender first released the guitars the initial feedback from folks (including me) was negative. People were resistant to purchasing the guitar.
Here’s a general summary report showing what the current feelings are about the Standard line of guitars.
• Many buyers appreciate that the Indonesian-made Fenders offer a more accessible price point with the Fender logo. This is a key factor in the positive reviews seen in shopping sites, where the value for the price is highlighted consistently.
• Some players have reported minor issues with fretwork, nut quality, and hardware but this has not been the overall norm.
• There are a few highlighted opinions that some of the components are of a lower quality than those used on higher end models. For the price point generally, people feel this is expected.
• However, most buyers are reporting that the overall build quality to be quite good, especially for the price.
• The “Modern C” neck shape is generally well-received for its comfort and playability.
• There are some opinions that the pick-ups are low output, and some people are not happy with the tone of them.
• Comparisons are naturally being made between this new model and the Mexican-made Fenders and Squier models.
• There’s still ongoing debate about where these Indonesian-made models fit within the Fender lineup.
• Some people feel that these new guitars will replace the Squier classic vibe models. This is conjecture without any support from Fender.
Pretty interesting stuff.
I am a fan of guitars that have “good bones.” A guitar with good bones is a guitar where the neck, fretboard, frets, and body are at a quality level that make it worth the time and money to invest in upgrades.
To me this is the definition of good bones. The wiring harness, nut, tuners, bridge, saddle, and pickups can all be upgraded.
This is the reason I purchased the Standard Telecaster is that I wanted to see if the guitar has good bones.
Before we dig in on my observations while performing the upgrades. I want to make something clear.
I did not buy this guitar to play samples in the video of the factory electronics and pickups. Meaning I am not going to do a before and after comparison. My intent of this video is that I wanted to see the quality of the components and then to see what I can actually upgrade and with what parts.

My observations
The neck is the center of this guitar. It is a very nice neck to play. I have to say I am impressed with the neck. If a Classic Vibe telecaster had a neck like this I would be a happy man. Don’t get me wrong. I like the necks on most of the Classic Vibe guitars – just not as much as this.
The nut on my guitar is okay. It is a plastic nut and delivers what you would expect from a properly cut piece of plastic.
The edges of the fretboard are smooth and not sharp. I found fret rocking on the 5th and 17th frets. Both on the treble side of the fretboard and easily fixed. The tuners look like the Fender modern sealed tuners. They are not. They are inexpensive copies.
I like the feel of the satin back of the neck and the C chape is easily played and a nice fit to my hand.
The body and neck fit together tightly.
The body’s finish is good. I am very glad I purchased the blue finish and appreciate the metallic flakes.
Initially in the video when I am removing the strings, two of the string ferrules fell out. When I was attempting to reinstall them the remaining four fell out. Off camera I superglued them back in. The sides of the ferrules are smooth, and the ferrule holes are just a hair too large for there to be a tight fit when pressed in.
I decided to upgrade the following. Here are the parts I selected.