Squier Contemporary Telecaster R H DESIGN FLAW Watch this before buying
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Non conductive finish on the bridge causes this guitar to have no ground. It hums loudly when played with any amount of gain. Normally the bridge is grounded to a wire underneath it that connects to the electronics. By touching the strings or the bridge the player completes the ground there by stopping the hum. There is a wire under this bridge but the non conductive finish on it renders it useless. I fixed it but at this price point should you have to? Do you want to?
I bought mine brand new a couple months ago. Absolutely no issues. No hum, Nothing. Plays great and sounds great
@@josecabrera9268 That’s great. I’m pretty sure they caught this and remedied it. 95% of the people commenting report no issue. Guess I was just lucky. lol
Solid video, thanks! I picked up the Shoreline Gold version on Black Friday for $199. For that price the guitar could come without a bridge at all and I would be happy. Mine doesn’t make any offensive ground noise, maybe I got lucky.
That’s great!
Crank the gain all the way up
@The Indecisive Musician I already had a gunmetal one I really liked and was looking at a duplantier charvel but it’s basically the same mods for 200$ I was able to replace the pickups and electronics for less than retail. It absolutely rips with and invader and hot rail .
Just to let you know I have one of these, there is nothing wrong with the guitar it's the nut doing this article for the price it's amazing you can play this guitar anywhere in the world.
Thanks for pointing out this issue, thinking about picking one of these up- you’re the first person I’ve seen who has pointed this out! Thanks!
I noticed the hum breaking through when my noise gate was open. I thought maybe the pickup was a little noisy (which it was) so decided to put the Duncan in. It was a lot quieter than the original but I noticed the hum didn’t stop when touching the bridge or strings like on other guitars. Got out the tester and diagnosed the problem. I love the thing now.
@@WickedFesterBand I ended up finding a used one in mint condition yesterday, gunmetal colour. Plays great, sounds great and no humming issue whatsoever but at least I was prepared to expect it haha plays much better than any other Squier I’ve tried.
@@cf7477 That’s great! Others have said they didn’t have hum as well. I wonder if they changed the bridge at some point? I’d be curious to see if it’s conducive.
Thank GOD.. This is an absolute deal breaker.. 60 cycle hum?!
Judging by my experience and a few of the commenters, I think maybe you just ended up with a poorly ground example. Although your video is - at the time of writing this comment - a year old, I bought one of the contemporary Squiers in the same finish and I've had no humming issues with it. I'm glad you've sorted the issue out - these guitars have wonderful necks to play with.
All the best and Happy Christmas!
Lots of guitars out of China are showing up on UA-cam that have the painted bridges. I think Squier caught it and fixed the issue. I’d say people saying they had the same problem are a vast minority. I think maybe three others have told me they had my issue. Most are like you and their Squiers are fine. This is a good thing! Merry Christmas!
Thank you for the information I really appreciate it. I've had mine for about a month now I bought the gold one and I have no problem with any humming so maybe I just got lucky with the one I bought. It plays beautiful the action is amazing the pickups are great wouldn't change a thing. That's just my opinion.
I have two of these. No humming on either of them.
I have the gold as well and no problems.
9:16 oh god this gave me a nice chuckle hahaha!
I've had this guitar for a couple of years now, bought to have it for recording in the studio *only* but barely used it because of the hum
(even though I had someone work on it, also taping it with that special tape inside but it didn't seem to help).
Will try to do this even though I'm usually too scared to work on guitars myself, appreciate the video!
Also I feel like this guitar has a veeeery annoying mid register, had a hard time getting a good distortion sound even with top-of-the-line audio plugins and a DI-box..
I'm into more of a "produced" modern sound when I record & mix songs so mids are already annoying to deal with.
Was thinking of changing the pickups but I'm honestly pretty clueless when it comes to guitars and don't have a guitar/music store nearby to try out different things (small town in Sweden :D)
Do you have any suggestions for good bridge pickups that could help me achieve a modern, warm & smooth distortion rythm sound?
I don't play any solos or much lead at all, mostly play very easy and basic rythm stuff so not any real riffs just drop-D one finger chords pretty much.. Heh.
I have an ESP LTD Viper-100FM that I LOVED before my ex bandmate broke the neck..
Everyone said fixing it would be too expensive and to get a new guitar instead but I still have the
- Neck: ESP Designed *LH-150N*
- Bridge: ESP Designed *LH-150B*
pickups in it.
Would these fit the Squier contemp tele? Or do you know of anything similar soundwise?
Sorry for the long message, I suck at writing/explaining stuff but really wanted to ask you!
PS. A song called "Legs" by the band 'Ghost Atlas' has a rythm sound I absolutely adore, maybe something like this?
@@eyeslikeoceans I put a Seymour Duncan Hotrails for Tele in mine. I like the way it sounds. Thanks for watching!
Man, thank you, I was going crazy with the fucking noise the guitar makes..... Now I understand why. Genius
I think they fixed it because most people comment that theirs is fine. Mine wasn’t. lol Lucky me.
Will be getting it this weekend. My local store has it as a B-stock in their inventory. To me I always like to tear apart and give lil upgrades to it with the switch, pots and rewiring. Honestly, the playing time has become so less when you always do hands on work to guitars but it's also fun to do like experiments.
Picked mine yesterday before watching your video unfortunately and guess what? I have the same problem. It is not a cheap guitar for the squier brand. Unfortunately I do not have brushed metal sadles to make this fix possible. The guitar is beautiful but the hum is driving me crazy. I will try to fix this on my own. Thank you for raising this issue.
I’m sorry you got one with the painted bridge too. 😕
@@WickedFesterBand I guess, as you said there might be people not realising that this is a problem either because they do not use high gain pedals or they just starting out. Again, it is such a beautiful guitar and it is a pity that it got out with this flaw. I hope they fix it in the future.,
I have this guitar but there seemed to have been a bit of tha finish missing where the ground wire contacts. Bigger issue with this guitar for the kind of player it is marketed toward is that there is very limited intonation adjustment with regard to thicker strings, due to the placement of the string ferrules relative to the saddles and nut. I replaced my bridge with a Babicz FCH Original Series bridge and actually had the body redrilled for new ferrules (using a brass ferrule block, so routed for that) and now I can use big strings, 12-60. With the factory bridge the fattest you could use is a 54. I didn't need to drill new ferrules (the Babicz can be strung as a top loader) but I wanted it string-through. Great guitar now, the neck is great.
Glad you made it work for you!
Great tip!!!
Thank your for an honest review. Immediately subscribed
Thank you! They don’t all have this issue. Fender fixed it so if you can try before you buy you might be fine.
@@WickedFesterBand Will do!
That's a bummer I own one and love it even thinking about buying another maybe I got lucky but those are awesome guitars take care stay safe my wicked brother
Only a few others have had the issue. I think it was caught and fixed. I love it now that I fixed it. Stay wicked! lol
Got one the other day and on my amp it buzzes like heck.. Thanks for this upload. I now know what I have to do.
I love the guitar. Someone just did a stupid thing painting that bridge.
I put a hardtail bridge on a Stratocaster body that I’d blocked-in the cavities with solid wood blocks.. with the lovely bent steel Fender saddles.. and the conductivity problem solved with a brass strip cut from an old empty rifle shell, snuck under the bridge to the nearby pickup cavity.
@@philliplee1193 Great idea!
Thank you very much for this critical information you have shared. I just picked up a shoreline gold during the Black Friday sale. I have yet to plug it into a real amp because I have been using the mustang micro headphone amp for practice. I have not experienced any noise or hum. I if I experience any noise or hum when plugging into a real amp, I will know what to do. Thanks a bunch.
Just to let you know I have one of these, there is nothing wrong with the guitar it's the nut doing this article for the price it's amazing you can play this guitar anywhere in the world.
My bridge is grounded just fine. No issues at all!
Seems to be the case with a lot of folks. Must be the issue was corrected. I only have a few commenters with my issue.
Thanks for pointing this out! I still wanna get one.. such a nice lookin axe. I love Tele's and Humbuckers
Love mine since I fixed it.
Just to let you know I have one of these, there is nothing wrong with the guitar it's the nut doing this article for the price it's amazing you can play this guitar anywhere in the world.
Just curious Ive watched a dozen different reviews of this guitar. I have never heard about the problem with the ground. Is it possible that yours is a defect? I have seen others bought with various defects. In which case Fenders guarentee would allow you to return it.
I’ve had a lot of “mine is fine” comments but also some “mine hums too” comments. I did get mine cheaper than a lot of places had it for. I suspect there was a run with these bridges and it was discovered and rectified. I fixed mine and did mods as well. Duncan Hotrails for Tele (I already had) and CTS pots with push pull coil split.
@@WickedFesterBand If you could imaging ive heard that there are now fake Squire guitars just like fake Fenders. I guess thats what happens when you start making decent guitars. Even Fender as well as Gibson put out a lemon or two these days. Factories just dont have the same quality control as a custom shop I guess.
Just to let you know I have one of these, there is nothing wrong with the guitar it's the nut doing this article for the price it's amazing you can play this guitar anywhere in the world.
Hey, thanks for this video. I was looking at one of these to make a Franken-caster. I wanna drop a boutique single coil in the bridge and a PRS humbucker in the neck. Is the routing suitable for this in your opinion? Just wanted info from someone who has operated on one of these. They are very good looking guitars
I would think there is room although not sure of the single in the Tele pickup route. I just don’t know how they match up. Love the guitar now that it’s fixed.
@@WickedFesterBand When you pulled the bridge pickup out, it looked like there might be room. I'm assuming (hoping!) they kept the same profile because i just ordered a used one!
Thanks for your videos. Mines in transit was it shielded inside?
No
Just to let you know I have one of these, there is nothing wrong with the guitar it's the nut doing this article for the price it's amazing you can play this guitar anywhere in the world.
Thank you for the heads up! Of course mine's already in transit. May I ask- does the paint just stop the humbucking, or is it actually worse than single coil?
Hums about the same as a single coil does. On a side note, when I did my upgrades I added a push pull to split the coils. The pickups are 4 wire and can be split. The bridge railed pickup was pretty good. I just had the Duncan sitting in a box. I thought the pickups were to blame for the hum so decided to use the Duncan so it would be less noisy. It was but that is how I discovered the ground issue.
@@WickedFesterBand Thank you! That's a lot of valuable information to know going in... Much appreciated!
Also humming on my Telecaster. I notice that the screws that hold the pickups in place it does complete the ground. Touching the intonation screws on the bridge increases (?) the humm. Could it still be the problem with the paint on the back of the bridge? Do I need to solder it to fix this issue? Thank you for your response!
Might be something else. If it’s the paint on the bridge touching it should have mo effect at all.
@@WickedFesterBand Found the problem, the ground under the bridge was pressed into the wood, so had bad contact with the back of the bridge plate. I did scratch the paint just to be sure. After I put everything back together the hum is now gone. Thank you for your help, because the humm was so bad that it ruined the pleasure of playing.
I did not notice it in the store while testing because they got a different guitar from the warehouse.
Thank you for making me a happy guitarist once more!
@@vrankbeer Glad you fixed it. They are great playing guitars. Love mine now that it’s fixed!
Thanks for the video, I have the same problem, but I didn't understood how you made the little screws on the saddles made contact with the plate, dou you removed the paint under the saddles too? or only the paint in the downside of the plate?
I scraped paint under the little screws. I tried to just do small areas so it wouldn’t show too bad. I just scraped the underside where the ground wire made contact.
@@WickedFesterBand thank you!
Hey im pretty new to guitar and im wondering whats the difference between this and a normal squier telecaster? I dont know any fancy terminology or parts would you mind shedding some light on this please? Just like dumbed down whats the main differences? Are are they better or worse?
@@Kevin-du6xo Standard Telecasters usually have unique “Telecaster” pickups. These are both humbuckers. Some models do have humbuckers though. The neck on this is roasted maple and the fingerboard has a 12” radius. Flatter than a standard Tele usually 9 1/2”. Fingerboards have a slight curvature. Telecasters come in many versions. This is a modern style, less traditional.
@@WickedFesterBand hey also another random question do you know much about squier teles and strats? I'm stuck between 2 and I'm wondering if you can help me decide
@@WickedFesterBand I want a guitar that can play broad genres of songs and also has a more bright clean tone and I'm stuck between these 2 (squire classic vibe 50s stratocaster and squire classic vibe 70s telecaster deluxe) which would you reccomend?
@@Kevin-du6xo A good bit of advice is to go to a music store and try both. See which one feels better in your hands. That is important.
@@WickedFesterBand would you have any advice to help without that? I don't have any music store options where I live so ordering is my only option
you made it perform as nice as it looks! I don't know why some guitar manufactures do the crap they do.
Makes you wonder don’t it. lol
Just to let you know I have one of these, there is nothing wrong with the guitar it's the nut doing this article for the price it's amazing you can play this guitar anywhere in the world.
Does this hum only happen with some of them? Mine doesn't seem to have this issue.
@@ShidavTheVedmak yes. I think they caught it and fixed the problem. I would say a majority of the people on here are commenting that there’s is fine.
@@WickedFesterBand Do you figure they used a new special paint to fix the issue? I can't imagine what else other than having some sort of hidden ground wire.
@@ShidavTheVedmak the finish on mine is non-conductive. Every other instrument I own with black hardware the hardware is electronically conductive. I’m not sure what the process is if it’s some kind of electroplating or what, but obviously my telecaster didn’t get that treatment. lol
@@WickedFesterBand gotcha; I'll keep an eye out.
I'm grabbing another in the Pearl colour because I heard they may be discontinuing this model and aside from the price shooting up they play well and look great.
No problem with mine . I tested it in a shop . It’s always risky to buy guitars on line
Would changing the bridge and saddle do the work?
Absolutely! Some folks are saying theirs doesn’t hum so I wonder if at some point they changed the bridge.
@@WickedFesterBand or the paint type. 🤔
Might go down in history is one of the best choir Telly's ever made! Then again it might not. The only thing I'm not really happy with is that they went to a 12-in radius on the neck still having trouble getting used to it. And I don't think it's going to be an easy neck change so I'm not going to bother. But I'm wondering can you take a pickguard for a telecaster with a humbucker at the neck and put it on this thing? At least it'll keep the finish pretty and it would make it look awesome. Anyone have any ideas?
Mine did this intermittently when I got it, once I realized what the problem was, I fixed it. It is pretty crazy that they would let luck, dictate whether you have a problem or not.
Gotta say, had mine for coming on a year and a half. It’s silent, no hum.
That’s great! Lots of people saying that. Gotta feel they changed this bridge at some point.
😟 Please tell me, have I lost my mind? Or has this upload been shortened a bit? I was so sure there had been a new strap lock or quick-release system mentioned, and I came back hoping to check it out... now I'm thinking maybe it was a dream 🤦♂️
I have Dunlop Strap Locks on it but I added those. It came with standard strap buttons. Video is unchanged to the best of my knowledge. Thanks for watching!
@@WickedFesterBand Thank you for the reply! Somehow I was never notified of it. But once again I found my way back to this video, because no one else seems to even be acknowledging this issue! I can't believe I need to scratch up my new guitar. I figured by now there would be conductive replacement parts kits out there, specifically for this issue. But I guess there's a lot of customers who don't care if their humbuckers buck hum. Anyway, thank you for the solution, and sorry for the rant!
@@Rompler_Rocco I have gotten so many “mine is fine” responses. It’s not a loud hum. It’s the same hum you get if you’re not touching the strings or bridge on other guitars. Noise suppression hides it but I could hear it breaking through on my amp. I found it not acceptable. If you don’t have to have black, they do sell chrome bridges. Still, shouldn’t have to buy anything. It should have been grounded out of the box.
Maybe I missed it or it maybe a stupid question, no disrespect..but where is the hum in this demo?
I had already fixed it so it was gone. Hence the demonstration with the multi tester.
Just to let you know I have one of these, there is nothing wrong with the guitar it's the nut doing this article for the price it's amazing you can play this guitar anywhere in the world.
And still it is stunning
Should have done a before and after comparison.
Yeah, first thought was to fix it. Spreading the word was an afterthought. I believe they fixed it and only some had this issue.
You can get them for 400 all day at GC, 360 on sale
Nice Crocs.
I’m a nurse. Crocs gave me a free pair for working the pandemic. They are comfortable.
Haha. I thought RH meant right handed. 😂
Weird I don't have this issue on mine
Lots of people don’t. They must have fixed it. 4 out of every 5 commenters here seem to have no issues at all. Rock on!
LOL, RH maybe right handed>>>>>>.
This is the nitpickiest guitar “flaw” video I’ve ever seen. It actually bothered me.
Compared to the REAL flaws in guitar manufacturing in the last few years, this is nothing.
Instead of being a negative Nancy, this could have been a great opportunity to be a “Make Your Guitar Sound Better”, not Don’t Buy.
Wouldn’t say it’s nit picking. as someone that works in a guitar shop doing repairs, we’ve had multiple guitars from this range brought back because of the same issue
Nope. Mine no hum. Me have gold un'. Just play it.
It really seems it was an issue that was caught and fixed. That is great!
I snagged the storm trooper from BF on pro audio star for 209