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Squier Master Chambered Telecaster

 

Review of the Squier Chambered Telecaster by The Man in the Jar  

This pretty little thing has the air of a Telecaster Custom but with a touch more class... 

Features of the Squier Chambered Telecaster

Tuners - Sealed minis with a Satin Platinum finish. This distinctive finish extends to the rest of the hardware and gives the guitar an "antiqued" feeling.

Headstock - Classic Telecaster headstock. The best design ever, so why change it? 

Nut - Black plastic set-in-slot type.

Neck - Classic C-shaped maple Telecaster neck. A big difference to the Tele norm is this neck is set rather than bolt-on. 

Fretboard - The fretboard is of dark rosewood with delicious cream binding. The fret markers are very unusual and very attractive, rectangles of white pearloid are jazzed up with a diagonal stripe of rainbow abalone across the top left-hand corner. 

Frets - Medium fat, well-rounded and highly polished. Excellent for easy string bending.

Action - Good from the box but could easily be coaxed slightly lower.

Body - Another break from Telecaster tradition is the mahogany slab body. The weight of the mahogany is made manageable by tone chambers routed in the body which also shape the sound of the guitar. The edge binding is cream.  

Bridge - Tune-o-matic with stoptail. A Gibson-inspired set-up which looks well on the Tele body.

Pickups - Two Duncan-designed humbuckers sit in black plastic mounts. These mounts are staggered in height like on a Les Paul which means the neck rakes back slightly, another new experience for a Telecaster-type guitar

Controls - Two volume and two tone controls give individual pickup control. The three way selector sits in  the top horn where Gibson tradition would dictate. 

Strap-buttons - Quite small, but adequate with a new strap.

Output Jack - On the lower edge of the body in an oval plate.

Finish - Very good. The walnut stain makes this a lovely looking instrument.

 

Sound of the Squier Chambered Telecaster 

Plugged in to a clean amp the effect of the tone chambers was immediately apparent in the sound. The bridge pickup delivers a crisp high-end edge that sits well with the Telecaster image. The neck pickup has a deeper timbre suitable for blues or jazz chording. Mixing the two together gave a beautiful rich, ringing, chiming tone that held on and died gracefully thanks to the mahogany's sustain.

Overdriven the pickups delivered good vintage rock tones. They won't take you to metal-land, but this is a Telecaster after all. 

 

Overall Impressions of the Squier Chambered Telecaster

If you play blues, jazz or country music and want the looks of a Telecaster with the control flexibility of a Les Paul and a distinctively different full humbucker voicing, then this is the guitar for you. As a bonus you get a gorgeous eyeful of beautifully finished guitar loveliness to coo over.

Ironically this guitar will appeal to Tele owners as an addition to their sonic arsenal as well as appealing to people who don't like the full-blooded Tele sound, preferring a mellower humbucker vibe. A real cross-over Telecaster success.    

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