Squier Paranormal Nashville Stratocaster Review 🎸 Fender Telecaster Meets Stratocaster Mash Up! 🎸

[@theguitaristas]

Next Week - Correction: Clocks in the UK go back 1 hour this weekend which seems to mean that (for those outside the UK GMT Time Zone) next weeks film will drop 1 HOUR EARLIER than usual and not later as I say in this film. See you then I hope! 😁🎸 And don't forget that if you want to watch the films even earlier and AD FREE every week head over to the TV channel: theguitaristas.tv and sign up to support this community and help keep The Guitaristas a 100% independent shills free zone 🙏

[@monmixer]

Nov 06 here in the USA.

[@markmoriarty7388]

5 hour difference between the UK and the USA. But we both still fall back 1 hour. Always loved GMT because I grew up in Greenwich Connecticut USA. ....... Who knew???

[@markmoriarty7388]

Someone inserted an EV speaker in that Fender Deluxe Reverb. It would have come stock with a Cellestion speaker. Back in the late 60s we had to go to JBL for real tonal quality.

[@theguitaristas]

@@markmoriarty7388 Do you mean my Deluxe Reverb II?... it's got the high power metal cone EV speaker and I do keep thinking about changing it what are your thoughts?

[@markmoriarty7388]

​@@theguitaristas The amp and speaker sound very good. Today a company like Cellestion has a number of 12 inch speakers to choose from ( Greenback, Creamback and others ) Eminence has fine speakers also. I'm a bassist and know more about my own stage setup. EV made excellent products back in the day. Ii can remember useing the EV 633 mic for vocals as far back as 1967. Your Deluxe Reverb ll sounds fine with that EV speaker but the Cellestion Creamback 12 is really sweet sounding!! After all that I think you might just leave it as is. You're already spending money on getting the Princeton fixed. Love your site. Listening to you reminds me of living in London on 2 different occasions in the 70s when we were both younger!

[@BlueberrieVR]

Kettle on, biscuits out, new Guitaristas video on. Normal service has resumed 😀

[@jonathanhudak2059]

Here here! 😊

[@tylerdurden5122]

Got myself some nibbles and a little sandwich 😂

[@catmandoodoo7903]

Perfect. Chilling with my snoozing toddler daughter and watching Colin and his Crocs playing a guitar she prevents me being able to afford 😹😹 It’s one of my favourite times of the week 😎

[@southboundguitar]

I've got a toddler son. Same boat!

[@iamanovercomer3253]

​@@southboundguitarone day you will be an old fart and the guitar won't be able to help you with things that you did when you were younger, your son can also he might be playing 🎸 with you also, then you can get the 🎸‼️

[@Bikedueder]

THANK YOU for reviewing these. I just ordered a chocolate last night after seeing another couple reviews of it. I like your playing style more than most, and I feel you get more of the actual tone out of most guitars compared to the other guys. I am six minutes in, time to pour some coffee and hit play again. For these Squier Laurel fretboards, nearly every time I hit them with some red mahogany stain, and it makes them as close to rosewood than they will ever be. It also seems to swell the deep grooves in the grain, and smooths the wood out. Usually the laurel has a very dry feel, and look like driftwood. Fretboard treatment alone usually only lasts a week or two, then it looks the same as when they came out of the box.

[@polymorphism1966]

I love my Les Paul, and Epiphones… but I do love a good Strat. What i like about this one is the strat shape with the telecaster hardware

[@johncollins5552]

more hardtail strat options the better

[@murrayguitarpickups9545]

The neck pup has a high dc resistance but its a smaller bobbin with thinner wire. Its a good example of how dc resistance doesn't necessarily correlate with output. You can have two pickups with the same DC but vary wildly. I recently did a Tele set with a 9k bridge and 5k neck but the 9k had thin wire, 5k had thick wire so the amount of copper in the circuit is about the same and the volume is about the same. Looks like they are still not using baseplates on Tele bridge pups, I have one here and they sound good considering but, come on Fender!

[@scottbrower9052]

I like that the control plate is reversed from its "normal" position on any standard Telecaster. This is a mod that many Tele owners do immediately anyway, allowing for easier access to the volume knob (for swells) whilst playing 👍

[@doogledog1740]

The pot brand is "SH", (Song Huei Electric Co., Ltd. (Taiwan). Used in a lot of Squier models.

[@theguitaristas]

Cheers! 👍

[@TexaTim]

Damn....you just made me order one! I did not have a Tele or Strat, ticks all the boxes. My wife will be thrilled! Thanks again for all your hard work to keeps us informed!

[@theguitaristas]

🤣👍

[@tylerdurden5122]

You just have to remind your wife how much money youve saved by not buying a tele AND a strat. Girl math😅

[@buzzedalldrink9131]

@@tylerdurden5122or just grow a pair and tell her you just bought a guitar because you felt like it.

[@queeffersthrlnd1620]

@@theguitaristas is this a good guitar to get if I cant decide between a tele or strat? I was stuck between them or a contemporary tele. This seems to be the mid ground between them.

[@theguitaristas]

@@queeffersthrlnd1620 👍👍

[@mrcurtis73]

Great video. I bought the Squier Custom Strat about 4 months ago, it’s one of my favorite guitars. I’m a Les Paul guy, but I like Fender tones. I think this is a great guitar for LP players that want a little twang once in a while. 😁

[@jeffberg8015]

I kind of like it. I was considering a Nashville Telecaster as a possible future purchase and this ticks those boxes while having a cool character.

[@TheSuperspyk]

Ooh this looks nice, need to get the kettle on and sit down with this one! Also - after you making me want to try an SG, I took an old guitar down to a shop and traded it in, picked up an epiphone SG classic with p90’s in Inverness green. Fantastic guitar! Never would have got the itch for one without watching your videos, so I hope you had a good rest!

[@nellayema2455]

I think that Squier did a good job with that design. It doesn't look like a "cheap" guitar with its gold color and double-bound body. I like that it comes with the vintage style tuners, as well. Is it for me? Probably not, but it would have been at a time when I could only afford to have a couple of guitars. It ticks off a lot of boxes for many, I'm sure.

[@newmanfertig886]

I dig it. Going to get one. My wall of strat, tele, strat, tele, strat, tele needs something new. ;-)

[@JosePineda-jn8jk]

@@newmanfertig886the one guitar to go into the middle and bridge the looks lol.

[@nieko3038]

I do like the gold, binding, old school bridge. No contours. Reversed controls I’d go with a tele shape too

[@jonathanhudak2059]

But then it would just be another Telecaster.... that's what makes this guitar so unique IMHO

[@jfinester]

I really like the design of this Strat/Tele. I’ve always thought a double-bound Strat shape would be cool, and darned if Squier didn’t come up with one! It seems to sound pretty good too. I actually like the “quack” tones available with three pickups, and to me, a Tele bridge and neck pickup with a Strat middle pickup works better than three Strat pickups. I’ve had brass baseplates installed in my Strat, and they helped some, but it still doesn’t sound like a Tele. Probably because it’s not one! If the Squier’s bridge pickup’s basplate is really plastic, that would be a drag. It sounds pretty good stock,though, so who knows? Then you go and show us my other favorite design, the cherry-red Epi SG Custom. I want one, but shipping yours from the UK to thr US would probably eat up the discount you’re offering. Cool guitar, though. I’ve just got to figure out which of my guitars I can sell! My wife would like to see some of them go anyway.

[@jonathanhudak2059]

I like this one too!

[@craigpimlott204]

My wife tried that on ….so I just got rid of the wife …now I’ve got many guitars and less volume out of the Marshall than the volume from the GBH of the earholes I used to get …😂😂

[@jfinester]

@@craigpimlott204 I’m not getting rid of my wife! When I was gigging, she was really cool about my buying guitars as long as I didn’t overdo it. (She plays too, mostly folk-type acoustic.) Now that I’ve retired (for physical reasons), I don’t play anymore, and she doesn’t like that! Truth be known, I don’t either.

[@DaVinci0963]

Thanks for the tips about the saddles and the ashtray. Makes sense for any Squire if you don't like how or what yours is doing. The lack of contour isn't a deal breaker but would be nicer if it was contoured. If Fender contoured the "Nashville" would it still be or could be bound? Sorry, I didn't look. Thanks again Colin!

[@baabaabaa-El]

It'd probably only be single bound on the top mate...l think?

[@DavMcIntosh]

Thanks for this review - have been very intrigued by these guitars. Would also be interested in your opinion on the HS Paranormal Offset Telecaster - not many reviews of that online at all.

[@Poldek.Misiak]

I'd love to see your review of the Epiphone Nancy Wilson Nighthawk/Fanatic someday. A very underrated guitar and offers a lot for the price including a hard case. Cheers 👍

[@aallen7339]

Yes please review the Fanatic!

[@murrayguitarpickups9545]

I think its called a scratchplate in Europe and a pickguard in the US. In Australia we tend to use a bit of both, that goes for a lot of sayings

[@QuantumGamingUploads]

That is preety cool Tele/Strat Squier Colin. I was looking at these a while ago and found them to be very decent for the money. I like the double binding and thats a nice color as well. Sounds preety good. Thanks for showing another one.

[@mikelundquist4596]

Not many new guitars get my blood up at this point, but this is pretty cool.

[@fisterroboto1044]

I'm only at the 10 minute mark as of now but I just wanted to get this in real quick. It would be awesome if Fender and Squier made the option of a toploader bridge standard on their telecasters (I mean the option to string both through the body and topload it). I'm a bit on the fence of a significant difference in sound but I can assure you it feels alot slinkier (I use a 10 gauge set of strings) and the tele plays so well. Ofcourse it's an easy to do modification but I'm just saying (my tele is a toploader only, I chose it because I loved how it played, but having the option to string both ways would have been even more rad if I wanted a change of feel). And great to see you back Colin. I needed some wise words and some rad playing from you today! Cheers

[@JonathanRodriguez-lh5mb]

An interesting guitar but I’m with you Colin. Not for me, I’m team Telecaster all the way. I’d suggest you check out the Squier Paranormal Esquire Deluxe. That looks right up you alley!

[@TheMultijesus13]

Played mine for a good 5 hours last night, so many sounds from this thing. I'm a strat bloke so having a tele/strat in one is a very interesting and fun concept for me. Definitely a 10/10 guitar based on its price, feel and performance.

[@gibgibGG]

Colin, although I'm not a fan of the Tele/Strat mutation I really appreciate what you do in exploring all kinds of Guitars 🎸🎸 I'm a happy supporter of the TV channel for a year now, and love it! 👍

[@theguitaristas]

Cheers man that’s appreciated! 😁🙏

[@sooperheep]

I bought a Fender baritone Strat neck and was looking around at bodies and found this body minus the neck on eBay. The neck fits perfectly, added a shim to get some neck angle cuz I also added a Stetsbar tele vibrato system. I had some Duncan antiquity pickups from a previous Nashville build I did with a 5 way harness so it all came together great! It’s got a very Vegas vibe with the gold sparkle and I love the double bound slab body which balances the longer neck well🤙

[@ejmachuca9355]

I bought a Gold one a couple of months ago and really like it. Added Wilkinson brass saddles, a Tusq string tree, a pearloid pick guard and put a Strat tip on the switch instead of the big round Tele tip. Great content.

[@cptntwang]

Is it heavy?

[@slimturnpike]

He weights it in the video. Have a look.

[@monmixer]

You really should do a buy me a cup of coffee link also. It may not be a lot but every buck in the cup adds up. I may try your TV channel. You are very knowledgeable and you answer real questions for real people and that is very important.

[@FrankJmClarke]

It is really a Nashville tele with an upper bout. I like my Nashville Tele, the neck pickup doesn't sound like a Strat, so it justifies having a Strat too. As if justification is a real thing :). Keep up the good work Colin!

[@Blues-man.]

Another interesting and great video, truth and honesty alone with fantastic guitar playing. Thanks Colin.

[@realdocloco]

I really love mine - so much so that I finally decided to swap the neck and bridge pickups (pretty good from the start though!) with a "twisted tele" Fender CS set that I had in stock. I also put some brass intonated saddles (personnal preference). Now it's the guitar I play the most at home!

[@jevonwhite5193]

Nice! How's the build quality and neck playability?

[@realdocloco]

@@jevonwhite5193 I have many high grade guitars to compare. ( new and vintage). I don't like to talk about perfection but those Zemaitis are amongst the best build ones - Custom Shop level definitely, with lot of hand work.

[@kstaggs87]

I got one in chocolate burst and I love it. It’s exactly the guitar I’ve always wanted. A Strat or double cut Tele body with a Nashville 3 pickup setup. The push/ pull tone knob where you can have the neck and bridge or all three together is very useful and the double bound body is just the cherry on top. I absolutely love double bound Telecasters. I’ve done the following upgrades to mine: Fender bridge Gotoh slotted brass saddles Fender neck plate Fender control plate Fender pure vintage 64 telecaster pickups Fender pure vintage 59 middle Strat pickup Obsidianwire solderless harness w/ push-pull tone knob 2002 Tom Delonge Stratocaster neck w/ rosewood fretboard and big 70’s headstock It’s an absolute beast now.

[@FezzantPlucka]

As a matter of interest did the Tom Delonge neck fit correctly into the Squier? No adjustment required or anything? Thanks.

[@kstaggs87]

@@FezzantPlucka if I remember correctly, I think the neck pocket had to be slightly shaved but not by much.

[@stevegordon7194]

Let's say I am trying to find an affordable axe , 7 tones , built well , good electronics. Great job showing this one. For $450 a great deal. Thanks

[@redlespaul8139]

I hope you enjoyed your week off Colin. Cooking my dinner last Friday without you on whilst cooking felt odd but I’m glad to see you back.

[@norseman61]

This is FAR more Tele than Strat. In fact, it’s just a Nashville Tele with the 2nd Strat horn on the body and a Strat headstock. In other words…. it’s DOUBLE cool! It’s settled. I’ll take it. Another great video, but that goes without saying. Your channel is top notch.

[@jrchanning]

Glad you are back, really missed the weekly video last Friday !!. I thought the guitar sounded fantastic and I really liked all those pickup options, pity they don't do one in the Gold colour with a maple fret board because I'd buy one 😛🎸😄

[@Rico__B]

Excellent review (and playing) Colin. I bought one last month--really enjoy it. I changed the mid-P-up cover to black, looks even better (I think). Cheers from Arizona!

[@jschwam1307]

I like the body of this guitar in the style of it. It seems like a perfect guitar to modify. That being said, every sound clips I’ve listened to of the stock pickups, they sound very compressed. Not exactly a sound that I personally desire, but might suit others to a tee. If I purchased a guitar, I think I would immediately want to go with different pickups.

[@wmkout]

Picked one up and love it. Only rag is the poplar body because its so light and feels hollow. Would be a great project build for a new body.

[@LGuitarB]

I actually thought that was a good quack there in position #2. Better than from an actual Strat, perhaps because of the Tele-style bridge pickup?

[@RobCrawford23]

Good to hear Astronomy Dominie, a necessary thing for every tele demo (pity they didn't do a bridge pickup tone pot bypass switch to get the real tone. Would also say that if you like that Battett sound, see if you can borrow the Thorpy Scarlet Tunic, it really gives that slashing tele tone

[@shamrockd19]

You should check out the telecaster thinline paranormal Cabronita. Fantastic squire guitar with jazz master pickups

[@baabaabaa-El]

Hey Colin!! Good to see ya back fella... Im a bit with you on this, its sorta Tele sounding at the bridge then loses me a bit with the other two pickups (lm not into the quacky hollow sound much) lve got a Twisted in the neck and its got just enough poke. Did like the colour & dbl binding tho.. The plastic under the bridge..sheilding? Good review as per mate, but it ain't for me, unless all my mates wanna start a Pink Floyd rejig!👍

[@tao694t]

thanks for talking about the frets, too . . . I never understood why fender uses Tall Narrow frets on so many of their guitars. . . I think they may be the least preferred style of fret - like speed bumps

[@jonathanhudak2059]

Colin Great review I was stoked when I saw this was the one you were featuring! Never cared for the looks of the Tele myself but they are a unique guitar and I do appreciate some of the sharp and trebly tones they can deliver. For me and for the money this one bridges the gap in delivering Tele and Strat sounds. Love the gold and double bound body and tele controls style layout. I could see myself getting one possibly! 😅 thanks Colin!

[@ces69]

Have just managed to snag one of these used on eBay for only £221! (Immaculate) Plan to put a set of Monty’s Danish Pete pickups in it, (his purple Tele sounds amazing) particularly as you highlighted that the bridge pickup has a plastic base plate which is totally wrong for “Tele” tones! Would also like to fit a Bigsby, think Tele’s take a B5 but need to look into! For not a lot of money it would make a very versatile guitar, the shape and double binding of which I really love!

[@andrewdarnley4608]

Great combo of shape, colour choice and pickup choices. If i got one, I'd spray the neck a more amber colour. And dye the board. Love it !

[@edwardblair595]

Thanks for your review on the Nashville Strat. I love a good solid Telecaster, but at this point I'm looking forward to getting the Paranormal Strat-O-Sonic when the sapphire blue limited edition becomes available again.

[@InfernalStateMachine]

Rory Gallagher loved everything about Teles, but also wanted the sss pickup cofig of the strat. He ended up hardtailing his strat. I wonder how he'd feel about this guitar. If you do another video with this, could you try some rory's riffs in the bridge+mid position? Cheers

[@MichaelIrons-d5v]

i prefer the straight string set up mt, loved the review, and all the tones, hope you enjoyed your hols.

[@MichaelIrons-d5v]

cheers col.

[@mishaerwitt8324]

Hi, I bought the Squire and agree with your review. Since you're an SG fan if you can find a first production Korean PRS Santana SE (2001-02) hard tail I think you'd love it. They're very basic no-nonsense or birds and pretty inexpensive now around $400.

[@lobster4501]

As a Strat player for 1 million years… I understand the trouble with Stratocaster’s… So many times I did not want to turn down the volume… But my pinky finger did lol I’ve also had telecasters I think this would be a blessing to me. Thanks, Collin.

[@e.henrythripshaw4554]

I had to buy one of these as soon as I saw it. It's absolutely fantastic and I love it. If I could only have one solid body electric to get as many sounds as possible from, this might be it. Unlike you, I love the Strat quack sounds, they're one of the greatest electric guitar tones. The Strat middle pickup really does add a lot of versatility to a Tele and the push-pull pot gives you all of the classic Tele sounds, too. You should seriously examine your Strat-phobia and learn to love the quack:)

[@theguitaristas]

😁👍

[@Apollwn]

I wish they had used a more traditional strat body with contours. That would have ticked all the boxes for me.

[@louferraro6976]

Hi Colin , another great review keep up the good work ... couldn't help but notice,, you do realize you were sporting a shit eating grin while playing this guitar .. and I must say it looks good on you ! I bought one ( Sunburst ) for my son , and I just happened to have an old slab rosewood Strat neck sitting around .. swapped it out, then turned the controls around to the normal positions.. and with the tone control backed off to like 3-4 , not bad at all

[@jordanpratt3821]

I have a vintage modified thinline tele. Any given day it might be my fav guitar. Thats among Gibsons, american fenders etc etc. Those guitars were nice.

[@ericterry7117]

u just reminded me why I prefer the gibson, epiphone sound...thanks

[@oldguy5381]

Oh damn I missed this one, been looking at this one. I appreciate your input. Enjoy your day.

[@MrBiggordy]

Another one of Fender's (Squire's) mad ideas - Strat body shape, pick-up configuration and switching (apart from the push-pull tone knob) with Tele bridge and neck p'ups, control set-up and output jack. No wonder you felt confused! I remember those mash-ups from three or four years ago, equally weird, although it's good to hear you enjoyed at least one of them. When talking about the frets, and the slight roughness (although generally positive), you didn't mention "laddering Phil McKnight's tights" once! Well, would they have laddered them?! Another great, honest, straightforward video, for which you are rightly acclaimed and loved. Cheers, Col. P.S. The Strat is a best-selling guitar worldwide, of course the body is 'poplar'. (Oh, dear...)

[@theguitaristas]

You’re on fire today! 🤣👍 I was going to say that (unlike Phil) I don’t always wear tights 😂😂 have to be careful though some people might take stuff like that literally! 🤦‍♂️

[@blueeyedsoulman]

Just ordered one in Fiesta Red mate.

[@khillsy4489]

I hope you had a decent rest on your time off. Good to see you again. 🇨🇦👍

[@wlskyrme2193]

Hope you had a great break, good to see you back Colin

[@carlosdeno]

Nice one Colin and good to see you back at it, fully refreshed! 🤘

[@eakinj]

You know, if that had a humbucker in the bridge I'd be fully into it. I'm just not into singles in the bridge, in fact for my own and only actual Fender strat I replaced the pickguard with the EMG Steve Lukather Signature set. Awesome review!!! I enjoy these videos a lot. thank you for this

[@paulogden27]

Pop an SD hotrail in the bridge mate

[@Randyplaysguitars]

​@@paulogden27I did that with a Wolf/AOI guitar that was a strat style body with tele pickup combo. 👍🤘🎸

[@paulogden27]

@@Randyplaysguitars I've got a reverse headstock strat with just a hotrail and it looks and sounds the business

[@50gary]

I loved it from Jump Street, cool guitar, cool colour (Brit. Spelling don't ya know). I do this all the time, tweeking cheaper guitars to make them different, fun,. and better guitars. My Squire Strat (100.00 pawn shop closet guitar) has 7 way wiring, position 1 is Telecaster neck and bridge, position 2 is all three in series, plus the reg. 5 way switching, good CTS pot and switch, David Allen Tru 54 pickups. Tele sound is valuable and covers. Sperzel locking tuners, and for good measure I converted the neck from wood screws and did a true bolt on neck by putting in metal inserts into the neck and actual machine screws making the neck/body joint much more solid and you can remove the neck without wearing out the holes in the neck. Did this about 2+ years ago, fun stuff. Brent Mason to name one has his Tele with the third middle PU installed, lots of Studio guys do this mod hense the name Paranormal Nashville. BTW I did a bookmatched flame maple top Strat with what I call a "block bodied" non-contour Strat. It had steam bent ebony veneer binding and Seymour JP-4 (bridge) under the wood top pre-amp, push pull pot for coil tap. Talked directly to Seymour and he made that PU for me. That project was back in 1983.

[@KMulby]

Hey Colin! I actually bought the paranormal Starcaster because of your video… now I kinda want to try this one too.. cheers!

[@mordokch]

I have a parallel universe tele strat that's quite similar to this, but with custom shop 69's (stock) - it sounds fabulous but the buggar won't stay in tune. Curiously it doesn't sound like a tele or a strat exactly, but somewhere in the middle. The pups are heaven 😇 So much so that I've fitted them in several strats since. I've thought many times that I'd like a nice nashville tele so this was an especially interesting vid to me. I'm not supposed to be buying any more guitars (lololololol) but this morning I've found myself trying to buy an old ish ibanez gem - never had one but I saw ed wynn from the ozric tentacles playing one recently and it sounded great. Now I must have one lol. Damn expensive. Ramble ramble ... cheers Colin 👍

[@theguitaristas]

Its ok we all understand and are with you all the way! 😂👍

[@2112pjm]

Welcome back Colin. Nice review . I saw Southend music exchange had a SG for sale yesterday for less than the Bonamassa Epiphone 😊

[@theguitaristas]

Yes it's true! 😂👍

[@ToddTheJoker]

I have the Squier Paranormal Thinline Cabronita Tele with the "Jazz Master" pickups and although it is very light, which is good, it is almost too light to get a good tone out of! I think there is a preferred middle ground when it comes to thinline or semi-hollow guitars in regards to weight! Mine is just over 6 lbs and I definitely would not want a guitar any lighter than that...I also have a Squier 51 which has a strat body and tele neck and it is a awesome guitar. ANYWAY, Interesting video Colin! Thanks buddy!

[@oldasrocks9121]

Something about the Strat is just a little goofy, like its trying too hard. I'm amazed they wired the Gilmour switch in stock, that's points. A livlier set of Tele pickups and dark tortie pickguard would help immensely, put a steel backplate on that middle pickup so it can keep up.

[@TheClassicQ]

Excellent review!

[@mikeapplegate5845]

I totally agree with you Colin, I'm not keen on the nasal Strat sounds. The Tele sounds aren't bad, but I have Telecasters. Without the body contours what is it really..?? It's an uncomfortable Strat faced body that's adding Tele sounds. I do like the bridge and neck together, so this was a good nudge for me to add that to one of my Telecasters. The Nashville Strat is just not my cup of tea, so they can keep it! It might be interesting to cut it out for a humbucker in the middle. 😉

[@Youtubemademeaddahandle]

I have one, and It's less about the look than it is about the standing balance. A body contour is useless, but a horn extending toward the 12 fret is essential to balance. This guitar has all that is important in both the Stratocaster (hard tail) and Telecaster. The bridge and middle together setting allows for the best overall output, tone and harmonics. Telecaster pickups sound best when NOT paired. The controls allow for all the pickup possibilities (some of which sound anemic). This guitar is definitely the best of both and far more usable (and comfortable) than the Nashville Telecaster. The most off-putting feature of the Telecaster design is the strap button being too far from the 12th fret. The Strat style upper horn is what I'd been hoping for (and even scoured the internet to find). I'm currently investigating strap button extensions for my Tele style bodied guitars.

[@explorervango880]

I like the gold and double bound. Not a strat guy either. I like Telecasters. In this case I think the look with the three pickups the strat shape works better. I’d buy another SG first-I have a Special, but not a Jr.

[@calsurflance5598]

Not for me. The contour body is what makes the Strat melt into your body. The double binding would give it sharp edges. Nice review! Cheers!🎸🎸

[@davidhamilton7780]

Interesting that you said that you had to do a re-take of your playing on the Nashville Destroyer... the second run through was great. I thought that you'd taken a week off and gone to an intensive guitar workshop! Agree with your thoughts on the Squier (and the JB Epi for that matter). I'd love to see the Squier with a Tele shaped body in gold with double binding!

[@TheRamsberg]

edit: to test the following principle, with no volume/tone controls getting in the way, wire the hot leads of the neck and middle pickups together, and then the cold leads of the neck and middle together and then to the hot lead of the bridge. The hot of the neck and middle then go to the tip of the output jack, and cold of the bridge then goes to the ground of both the output jack and the ground connected to the guitar's metal components/strings/bridge. Effectively making all three pickups just one big pickup. This technique is the simplest to achieve this effect and also gives the clearest tone, due to no losses from the caps and tone pot/volume pot. But, it is most certainly what it is, nothing more or less. But it's a way to get a mostly non Fender tone out of Fender components. One thing the in between pickup selector testing does tell someone, is if they're wired in parallel or in series. With parallel, the DC resistance will be figured by 1 / ( (1/A) + (1/B) ) Bridge 7.03k, middle 5.74k. Plugging them in for A and B in the above equation, the result is 3.159 and that agrees very well with the 3.2k reading you got for the bridge + middle reading, and is well within % of error for such things. If they were series, they'd be added together, for 12.77k. Effectively, the greatest differences between series and parallel are, with parallel, the voltage produced by the pickups is cut down by half, and amperage, the driving force of the voltage, is doubled. In series, the signal will be very "hot", high voltage, like a boost pedal, but have very little driving force, and is then prone to "tone sucking". The latter due to the K of ohms of the pickups being closer to that of the input of the amp/preamp/pedal, which means the amp can eat more of the, well, amps of the pickups signal. My suggestion for that instrument, is to hardwire the middle and neck together in parallel and then wire the bridge in series with those. The maths for that are ( 1 / ( (1/N) + (1/M) ) ) + B. So, the 7.42k neck and 5.74k middle in parallel would give roughly 3.24k. And it would be generating loads of core amperage of the bass component of the tone, like a foundation. Add the bridge in series, 3.24k + 7.03k gives 10.27k total. Effectively, with that setup, the bridge gives the shout, and the neck and middle give the force. Kinda gives the best of both worlds, or the worst of them, depending upon how one's fingers and ears jive with it or not. A lot of the "quack" of Fender instruments comes from the teeny wire used for some of their pickups, which with the number of windings, gives a high voltage output, and very low amperage. Put another way, you've put together shows, basses for the same loudness, require way more watts, power, amps! A lead guitar can easily sound way louder than the bass, to how it hits the ears, while using way fewer watts. So, high voltage, low amperage pickups generally give quacks, no body to them. Humbuckers, which are naturally parallel, give that amperage support for the bass/mid component of the tone and put into the bridge position, can then also grab onto the high notes. The above proposal is a way to get a good dose of both at once, but it's not for everybody.

[@theguitaristas]

Cheers man, see I knew it was worth taking all those readings! 😁👍

[@TheRamsberg]

It is! @@theguitaristas

[@iamanovercomer3253]

I have a strat and just got a Tease SBH-HD guitar ( tele) with a bridge humbucker and it is totally different than my strat. I don't think I want a tele with 3 pickups I do like that color

[@iamanovercomer3253]

If the strat and tele sound get to you. You might like a Tease SBH-HD guitar Alnico V 13.0 Humbucker Bridge Pickup- Alnico V 9.0 Neck Pickup- Full Size CTS .500 Pots -.047 Orange Pad Caps - Pro Series Switch all wrapped up with Gavitt Wiring 22 Crowned & Leveled Stainless Steel Ball End Rounded Frets on a unfinished 12" Radius 305 Modern C Shape (Light Satin) unfinished Maple Neck. 18-1 Tease Guitars Exclusive Locking Tuners 10-46 Strings 8 lbs Factory Set Up puts the Action at 1.75 @ 12th Fret $250

[@CZPavel-c1p]

I have been watching your videos for years, you do very well, I always look forward to the next one. Thank you and greetings, I wish you all the best. Pavel CZ. You are among my top 7 favorite YT channels.

[@theguitaristas]

Thanks that's appreciated! 😁🙏

[@jimmyjames2022]

Thanks for the run down Colin, I was curious if this Paranormal Nashville Strat gets the Nashville vibe. Strange about the lack of reflector plate on the bridge pup, that kind of takes away the whole point of the Tele bridge tone. I also don't like bumping into tall frets. So it's close but not enough to convince me to buy one when I already have a Fender Lead II that is kind of a Tele Strat mashup on it's own.

[@theguitaristas]

🌟 thanks Jimmy that’s appreciated! 😁🙏

[@monmixer]

I have Nashville Deluxe telecaster. Same pick ups ( in color so might be the same material that are in the one you are displaying. It's one of the earlier ones. At least 20 years old. I bought for club gigs so I could leave my retired instruments at home safe. With the 5 way switch I can get about anything from true hard core country to ACDC with a bit of distortion from a vintage big box rat pedal. Mine is a made in Mexico Fender branded model. Wish it was MIJ. don't we all.

[@jeremyroastscoffee2495]

Bought both colors now that the price finally dropped. I can't wait for the Toronado to do the same. The paranormal series and the CV series are some of the best things Fender has done recently

[@doogledog1740]

Thanks for showing this Paranormal model, Colin. If you can't find a Squier Nashville Tele you could try an Aria Pro II Nashville 615 MK2 Tele.

[@TheRandyDowning]

Thanks! Very enjoyable and informative. I'm 66, and trying to be open-minded. My two loves are my '90 Strat Plus and an SG Standard. I kind of want a Tele to round things out, but being semi-retired and semi-poor, I would rather get a "real" Telecaster even if it's Squire or Epiphone. Pay day is Monday. By the way, I really admire your vibrato!

[@theguitaristas]

Cheers Randy, I think a Squier CV Telecaster is the way for you to go… the custom ones like my double bound olive green one are 🔥

[@dadsstash9842]

That thing is freaking beautiful.

[@pinkiewerewolf]

Great licks Colin! Like you, I think the body shape of a Strat is great... with the comfort cuts.

[@ces69]

Really like the double bound aesthetics of the guitar, reminds me of the 80’s/90’s Schecter Super Strats, but very disappointed that it doesn’t appear to have a proper Telecaster bridge pickup with a metal baseplate! Think that would be an essential first upgrade!

[@stevenbarton2398]

Colin, you could always do a mod on the guitar and put a stacked humbucker in place of one of the single coils, perhaps from Irongear, so would not be silly money. Liked the Quo type rift 😄

[@TitusKing101]

Great video as usual. I think its really cool. Its something new, which of course will be met with some hesitation but Kudos to Fender for breaking new ground and taking some risks. 🙂

[@paulcopsey6573]

Actually not bad for the money. Looks pretty good, & hours of endless fun working out all the tones you could get. In the world of "even better if..", maybe aged white pick guard to match the binding? The bright white is a bit in your face given the nice Aztec Gold. I might have found that a bit more fun, especially at the price point, than the Fender US Tele that I never loved & traded. Not being a Strat fan, a nice happy, cheap dabble down that road too, if that's where you might want to go. I'm with you on that Straty tone thing though, need to plug a Les Paul in to get over it now.

[@RobtheGretsch]

Every time I hear you say you hate the strat sound I applaud you 👏, glad I’m not a voice in the wilderness. However, before replies start listing all those great strat heroes there has been the odd player that’s been able to make them work of course! Keep up the good work Colin.

[@theguitaristas]

We are not alone! 🤣👍

[@ToddTheJoker]

I am a strat lover and I respect Colin's opinion..we all have different tastes. ears, inner tone we look for. That is why there are different guitars!

[@RobtheGretsch]

@@ToddTheJoker Totally agree, my first guitar back in 74 was a strat, never got on with it and wasn’t until 20 years later when I could afford a LP that it clicked with me, couldn’t get on with the neck or the bridge pick up, prefer LP’S, SG’S, Gretsch Jets and Tele’s and the odd PRS here and there, its all horses for courses and would be a dull world if we all liked the same!

[@MemoriesRR]

Wow, I’m a 10 year beginner/collector and my favorite is also a one pickup Coronet with a P90. At the other extreme is a Schecter with a sustainiac. Way too many options on that one.

[@70bluesville]

Coffee with Colin, my brother is back! I'm trying online zoom lessons with an instructor. Would you consider throwing in a playing tip of your style in some videos? I'm really only looking to play slow blues as my style of Praise and Worship music. I'm 58 and there is no desire to play publicly. Eric

[@m.k.ultrasonic]

Check out Fender's Player Plus Telecaster for a similar (but better - humbucker!) configuration.

[@davidcatalano3781]

As a person living across the pond in the US of A. No disrespect intended, you sure do sound like Peter Green when you speak. And your guitar playing is excellent also ! Many blessings and well wishes from a Yankee blues player. And by the way Peter Green is my favorite guitarist to ever come out of England no disrespect to Eric or anyone else. And of course Peter's partner in crime the great Danny Kirwin! And I totally agree p90s are my favorite! It does sound like a Stratocaster and a telecaster!

[@JustWatchreviews]

Awesome review as always, Colin. I think that would have sounded better with a touch of reverb. Cheers.

[@VinnieGillespie-pq3pt]

Looks like you can put a humbucker in the bridge! Would I need to re-route the bridge pickup slot to fit a humbucker in it?

[@abcde2793]

Above the knowledge and facts this chanel provides it also give me a motivation to grab my guitar and play

[@theguitaristas]

I love that… it’s one of the most satisfying things about doing this for me! 😁👍

[@Robguitars1]

Great content as usual - could you make a video on the yellow SG thats in the frame over your R shoulder? Been curious about that one for some time seeing it in the videos!

[@theguitaristas]

And here it is!... from a while back: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gWnEe4ePaZumi9k

[@cherrypickerguitars]

Well….I love it! I’ve always liked the balance of a Strat, thanks to that top horn and where the strap attaches….but I’m decidedly a Tele man. I prefer the control layout of a Tele, as the Strat layout gets in my way…..as does that dam middle p/u! This gets half way there (I’d bottom out that middle p/u, for sure) It looks like a great mod platform! I’d buy that body, as a routed blank, for sure! Peace

[@duncansmith5734]

Try the Aria Nashville 615 Mk2 - about £330 to £350 retail and a fantastic guitar in various finishes, including a George Harrison rosewood and a Wilko Johnson black and red.