Squier Paranormal Offset Telecaster SJ Unboxing, Review, Sounds, and a Look Under the Control Plate

[@jonathancalhoun4853]

After I posted this video and was setting up the guitar to my taste I tested the nut and it is indeed bone.

[@bbrexuk]

I got a couple of indonesian made squiers, real bone seems to be a standard feature now, which is great. The quality control and the overall feel of the frets and even the intonation, straight out of the box is so much better than what I experienced unboxing my first guitar, a squier strat from Korea E9 series. That needed nut replacing, fret levelling and ends filed, a shim, a whole list of things to make it play right. I've got a japanese Bullet from 1984 and I think the new Squiers are back to the same level of quality as in the early mid 80s. I was considering getting this one, I went for the Gold troublemaker instead. Have fun!

[@jonathancalhoun4853]

@@bbrexuk I’m still tempted by the Troublemaker myself.

[@Warrnan52]

I’m sure you’ve figured this out by now but for those who are watching and haven’t, the tone knob is a phase switch. The volume knob is series/parallel switch.

[@jonathancalhoun4853]

@@Warrnan52 that mentioned later in the video.

[@Warrnan52]

@ good. Haha. Just watching. Hadn’t finished totally yet. Thanks for the review. I picked one up Black Friday. Jonsing to play it.

[@jonathancalhoun4853]

@ it’s a great guitar. I hope you enjoy yours. I love mine. I ended up “upgrading” the pickups and honestly the stock ones are so good I’ll probably switch them back. The Seymour Duncans might be slightly better, but not so much to justify to the cost.

[@Warrnan52]

@ awesome. Thanks for all the insight. Would you call the pickguard mint green or parchment white?

[@jonathancalhoun4853]

@@Warrnan52 opinions may vary, but it looks close to parchment white to me. I have a Strat with a mint green pickguard and this definitely has less of a green tint.

[@ak2112]

Good video. Really interested in these... such a cool thing. Really love what Squier is doing.

[@thruthenever]

Thank you very much for the in-depth review! I always want a Tele-style guitar in the mix, but I much prefer offset bodies. This is the perfect blend for me. Fender just added a Charcoal Frost metallic model to their website, and I jumped on it as soon as it became available.

[@TheInstantClassic86]

It’s like the best of both worlds.

[@PatrickGeneLeBlancHardy]

Sweet 🎸 Thanks for sharing 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶

[@peterwilson8039]

The PCB switch on my older Affinity started acting up, but I gave it a good squirt of switch cleaner, and that fixed it. My Classic Vibe thinline Tele has a bad habit of high frets, but fortunately the store I bought it from has a policy that if you bought it there, they will fix it free, for as long as you own the guitar. My personal feeling is that there is no noticeable difference in quality between Squier Affinity and Squier Classic Vibe, but the Classic Vibe series have better pickups and sound better. They also have the faux-vintage components, which I'm not particularly a fan of, but a lot of people love them. It's a really good tip that if you have a sticky tuner, you put some vaseline on toothpick and push it through the little hole in the back.

[@DredgenX]

almost looks like the Smells Like Teen Spirit Mustang

[@thecolorhero1078]

THanks

[@peterwilson8039]

It was bugging the heck out of me that you didn't seem to know that you pull out the volume knob to get the pickups in series. I'm glad you figured that out. All that 60 cycle hum on the jazzmaster pickup is bugging me too. That being said, I want that guitar - badly. I think I want it in white though. You have to be careful with a white pickguard on a Squier because you might find that when you take off the red label, that the rest of the pick guard will have turned yellow with exposure to light, leaving a very white circle where the label used to be. It's very annoying. I'm also thinking about a Player series Tele, which is on sale right now, at a local store - now that they're discontinued they're off-MAP. We'll see, not that I need another guitar!

[@jonathancalhoun4853]

@@peterwilson8039 watch the whole video. It was stuck.

[@PatrickGeneLeBlancHardy]

I been looking at this guitar for sometime now. Are you planning on upgrading anything on it or keep it as is???

[@jonathancalhoun4853]

@@PatrickGeneLeBlancHardy I am in the process of upgrading the pickups and hope to have the first video on that posted soon (so far I’ve only done the bridge pickup). I’m still not sure that is necessary, though, because it seems like a minor upgrade. I think the guitar is excellent in stock form and any upgrades would only be incremental.

[@PatrickGeneLeBlancHardy]

@@jonathancalhoun4853 Thank You for the information & take care for now ✌️

[@PatrickGeneLeBlancHardy]

@@jonathancalhoun4853 Oh, For darker a Fretboard. I been using that UK (Monty's Guitar Montypresso) It not only darker the fretboard, it also make the fretboard feel like silk to the touch & smell good too! Thanks again

[@GamerPastHisPrime]

Great video. I just got one of these. I have a question for you. Is there a position where either the out of phase or series/parallel switch is out (can’t remember which), where no signal goes to the amp? I can’t remember if it was position 1 or 3, there was no signal when I pulled out one of the knobs. I know they are intended for the middle position, it just felt odd and I wanted to make sure mine wasn’t wired wrong. Thanks!

[@jonathancalhoun4853]

Yes, mine does the exact same thing in position 1. I do not claim to know enough about the technical aspect to say for sure, but I do think this is normal based on the nature of the switching options.

[@GamerPastHisPrime]

@@jonathancalhoun4853 thanks for the response! I did find out it is normal, or at least likely normal, so since both of ours do it, I think that confirms it! I appreciate your response!

[@TheInstantClassic86]

Not gonna lie…I also want to try a Seymour Duncan pickups with a J Mascis pickups but damn. I don’t know if I want to tbh.

[@jonathancalhoun4853]

@@TheInstantClassic86 I have a custom shop Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound I thought I’d put in this with an Antiquity in the neck. I might still end up doing it for the channel but it is not necessary since the stock pickups are so good.

[@TheInstantClassic86]

@@jonathancalhoun4853do you think it’s a guitar that you can gig to or record songs with?

[@michaelbugler9452]

When is fender/squire gonna realize that the input on theese offset teles is in the wrong place . Sometimes people play sitting on the couch. They can sell a lot more.