A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

I have been wanting to buy a cheap telecaster style guitar for some time and have been looking at Rondo and the offerings from Squire. I like the looks of the natural or close to natural finishes that Rondo offers with the ash wood. I liked an orange guitar that squire had but I think those are sold out now except for E-Bay or that sort of thing. I think I would prefer something close to a traditional Telecaster. My other guitars have humbuckers so the traditional single coils are what I would prefer. I like the dark fretboard on the squire but also want something different from my mostly Gibson styled guitars.

Here is the Furian. There is a B-stock there but it says it is sold out. Not sure why it is still there.

https://www.rondomusic.com/furrianmnash ... #collapse4

Here is the Hadean.

https://www.rondomusic.com/eg491n.html

Here is the Squire.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/124889455811?c ... 390e939e93

Is their much difference in any of these guitars other than the wood on the Squire and the names on the headstock? Also, if any of you own or have owned any of the three guitars I would like to hear your take. I am not expecting a top end guitar by any means but I was pleasantly surprised with the Agile 3100 I bought back some time ago.

I've owned both a Hadean and Squire Strat's and SX Strat and Tele and all are good guitars I prefer SX out of those three but the best budget Tele I've ever owned was a Harley Benton TE-52 and here's a link to one B-stock https://www.thomannmusic.com/harley_benton_hbt1952.htm


HERE"S THE HB

Guess what?... I love teles! I also love ash, so the SX gets my vote.

The HB guitars are really nice, but the freight is a drag. You will need to buy 2 or 3 or more to bring the cost (per guitar) down.

I have a Furrian MN Ash, but not the others. I think in the range you're discussing, electronic upgrades are in the future for any of these. The arm contour on the Furrian is a great difference. It's just more comfortable than my other teles for that. The only Squiers I have are Classic Vibes, but for that series I have great respect. CV are very well made, but you didn't ask about those. I only ever once bought a Harley Benton and it came with a twisted neck. Thomann made returning it an epic nightmare so I don't ever buy HB again.

Sounds like it is hard to go wrong on any of the choices. I dunno what if any difference the woods make other than I like the look of the ash. I do not think that I have ever seen or touched a Harley Benton guitar in person. I am guessing it is something along the lines of a Jay Turser or maybe better.

I wanted to play a classic vibe and have looked for them for a couple of years and cannot find a traditional one locally. The only one I found had a humbucker and some other type of pickup in it and I did not get on with it very well.

I would throw in another vote for the SX Tele.
I paid $60 for mine new from Rondo & it wasn't even a B-stock!
When they changed the headstock design, Kurt blew out all the old type for $60 each.
I would also add that I like the "feel" of the SX Tele neck in my hand better than that of a Fender Tele neck.

You guys were lucky to get a lot of the deals that you got back in the day for sure. It sounds like the consensus is the SX or a Harley Benton for the low end stuff. I am not expecting much here in terms of hardware and electronics.

As a very low end wanna be musician I do not need much.

I would go for SX over Hadean due to Hadean having basswood. Tone aside, ash or alder will dent less, and hold screws better.

Another vote for the SX. Ash body and far better than the price might indicate. I have one of the much older SX STL-50 Teles. Really nice guitar. Also have an SX ash Thinline Tele that I like a lot.

The older one now has Fender Original Vintage pickups and the Thinline has a set of Fender Vintage’64 pickups. Over the years both have upgraded electronics (not that they were needed just because they were good enough that I thought they deserved it.

It is too bad SX stopped making the ash series with the thin finish neck and bodies.

Of those, I'd go SX, they are a known commodity and other than pickups will be as good as any Squier, though I have not played the newest Affinity series.

I would 2nd the HB 52 style that was referenced as the best deal in a tele at the moment and after ~$75 shipping is about the same total cost as the SX at under $225 shipped.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

I just ordered the SX. The Harley Benton was a fortune to ship to my address. I wish those were widely available in America.

I was pleased with the Agile 3100 and hope to be with this guitar as well. Hope I get a nice grainy looking piece of lumber for it and playable action although with the roundabout of shipping there is no telling what the guitar will go through by the time it gets to me. I will try to post some pics and maybe a sample play when I get it. I am assuming the strings will be a mess.

One thing that I liked with the low end Squire's was the smooth neck on them. It was like a piece of smooth sanded wood with a coat of sand sealer or something similar on it. I expect the SX will probably have a thick coat of poly on it. I am hopeful that the fretboard will not feel sticky like some maple necks tend to be when new.

[img.]https://www.rondomusic.com/photos/elect ... a5.jpg/img]



Furrian Alder natural.
139$ at Rondo this morning.

if this were a few years ago I get this 209$

ash, HH, with tremolo


[img]https://www.rondomusic.com/SX_Furrian_M ... .html#[img]

I ended up ordering the SX Ash with Maple neck. I wanted to go with the single coils as my other guitars are humbuckers except for an under sound hole pickup on my Jim Dandy that I added after purchase.

I have the ash sx and an affinity tele. Had the douglas as a thinline but never a hadean. I sold the doug but all of these are good guitars. In a way the sx is both the best and the worst. It's gourgous and comfy. The frets and finish are great. But like so many sx the nut is a bit high. I took it down a bit but could use some more. It has good electronics and a nice tone BUT is is a generic tone. Not very tele at all. Same as the douglas.
Now the affinity is a very different beast. Also very pretty with its blinding blonde maple neck but vintage tones body. Like a hot rodded vintage. I've played few and Iiked most. What I can say about the affinity is it's fun. It is a bit smaller not toy like but tossable. The vol is more like an on off switch and the neck squeals now. One time somehow the bridge high e lowered while playing?!? Maybe I left it loose but wth all this I still really like it. And I like that cheap tele bridge pickup. It's very twangy but raw. I call it a trash tele tone.
Sometimes I think I should put a proper sounding tele pup in the sx but it's so damn good as it.
So the sx is a very nice guitar and if you like wood it'll give you wood. I never had a proper tele but to me the sx is the untele. It's comfortable so it doesn't feel like a tele. It doesn't sound like a tele. And maybe it's a little too pretty to be a tele. Also mine has a thick finish on the neck some people don't like that I used to hate it but it's OK for me now. The affinity has that thin matte finish neck that I really like. The affinity was great playing day 1. The sx needed nut tweaking.

I hate to break it to you but they are very different guitars and you probably need both.

I didn't respond to this thread because I too, have never played a Hadean tele, although every other Hadean I've played was well worth its price. Congrats on the Ash SX, IMO there's no real loser between the SX and the Affinity (in the middle, top row).

Stoli wrote: ↑Sun Apr 17, 2022 9:00 am I ended up ordering the SX Ash with Maple neck. I wanted to go with the single coils as my other guitars are humbuckers except for an under sound hole pickup on my Jim Dandy that I added after purchase.

Well then nevermind.

Seriously check out my review. It's not too late to get the affinity too.
Really you'll love the sx and decide on not just if you like the pickups but if they sound the way you wat in a tele.

Careful , it was a cheap cheap red affinity, $50 and I sort of fell in love w it except I ilike the classic black guard look so I sold it when I found my butterscotch blonde bsb. Then I found an inlaid unplayable but beautiful train wreck of a tele. Then the douglas Then the sx. The doug played best out the box but comparing I liked the sx better.

Here's my tele family. It's changed a little

https://photos.app.goo.gl/X6BigZjf7TcDewSv8

The affinity can be pretty sexy
https://photos.app.goo.gl/V2ksekkMcK47N8ov5

I just can't get a picture to show how pretty the sx is.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/m3weUZhHKpB3dYGV7

https://photos.app.goo.gl/V2ksekkMcK47N8ov5

I just had to add the HB TE52 to my order of a Mosrite style baritone

It was $2 less to ship 2 guitars than 1.

Gonna do a death match with my thin skin finish Ash SX Furrian, my boringest looking "Pine" on earth Squier CV 50s, and the Ash HB TE52.



Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

Thank you all so much for your forthright and honest reviews. My guitar arrived in good order and I am pretty happy with it.

Here is my review.

https://aguitarforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3077

I own two Sx telecasters, and this was the good and the bad: 1. stock pickups were very dark. 2. Nut was worthless and stock tuners are mehhhhhhh.
3. The pots are awful. 4. The neck and fret work on both of my Furrians was far superior to telecasters that I've paid over a thousand for! If you can grab one for $100 and put new pots, pickups, and a nut on, then you've got a helluva little road tele for under $200 that you wouldn't care if it got a scratch on it.