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Squier Obey Graphic Collage Telecaster

 

Review of the Squier Obey Graphic Telecaster by The Man in the Jar

 

Features of the Squier Obey Telecaster

Tuners - Sealed unbranded mini-tuners in a "worn rustic" finish. All the hardware is in this finish and it adds very much to the "urban" vibe. The tuners worked well.

Headstock - Standard "come-and-have-a-go-if-you-think-you're-hard-enough" Telecaster six-on-one-side headstock. Lovely!

Nut - The white plastic nut is a set-in-slot type and is tidily cut.

Neck - The maple c-shaped bolt-on neck is again standard Telecaster fare, slim and very playable. The traditional Tele skunk stripe on the back of the neck is in rosewood.

Fretboard - The medium dark rosewood fretboard has a nice grain and lacked the dryness apparent on some guitars that come out on Indonesia. Traditional white dot-markers complete the picture.

Frets - The medium-fat frets are nicely finished.

Action - The action is very good from the box and the Fender 9 gauge strings that are fitted ensure easy playability.

Body - Classic Tele shape in agathis. The front of the body bears the Obey graphics that give the guitar its name. The back and sides are finished in an antique violin stain that allows the grain of the agathis to show through in a very attractive way. 

Bridge - As this Telecaster has a humbucker at the bridge, the standard Tele bridge plate is missing. This is replaced by a simple rectangular bridge plate with individual saddles and through-body stringing.

Pickups - Duncan-designed humbucker at the bridge and an alnico single-coil at the neck.

Controls - The "worn rustic" control plate holds the usual volume, tone and three-way selector.

Strap-buttons - Medium buttons live in the usual places.

Output Jack - On the bottom edge in the trademark Telecaster bucket.

Finish - Very good throughout.

 

Sound of the Squier Obey Telecaster 

This is no ordinary Telecaster. Personally I love the shape and vibe of Telecasters and this one is no different except it's a really serious little rock axe. The Duncan-designed humbucker gives up some scorching heavy rock tones that would compete with an Epiphone Les Paul on equal terms. The neck pickup retains familiar Telecaster characteristics but I'd urge you to force-feed the guitar more overdrive than would be considered normal for this type of instrument. The rewards are considerable. Running the two pickups in tandem is very chunky and satisfying, but I found the individual voices of the pickups too intriguing to stay in the middle of the selector for long. 

 

Overall Impressions of the Squier Obey Telecaster

The overall vibe of this little guitar will make you play the stuff you know with a bit more aggression and grit than before. It is by no means a traditional Telecaster, but it retains enough Tele character to win a place in my heart. As an all round gigging instrument it would certainly compare favourably with a Fat Strat. The only improvement I can think of at this price would be the addition of a coil-tap on the humbucker. The graphics do look exceptionally cool and when added to the sonic goods on offer they make this an exceptional guitar for the money.

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