Squier Sonic Tele MN ButterscotchB

Ok, so I am a lefty and I bought a right-handed guitar. I called the guitar Trippy - The Guitar as it will be making a trip around the world. Hand to hand from land to land!!
I have purchased several more expensive lefty guitars from Thomann in the past and all arrived with no defects
I was a little sad to see that this guitar had a ding on the reverse of the body however being a cheap guitar that will endure its share of knocks etc in the near future it doesn't matter too much.
However when I mentioned it to Thomann they said that the would refund more than 10% off the price into my PayPal account where I am fundraising (Thomann knew this) so thank you Thomann.
I also have a Player Telecaster that I have modded. Lollar CC pick up in the neck and a Callaham bridge with brass compensated saddles which give the Player a great tone.
However compared to the Player the Squier plays and sounds surprisingly well.
The neck in particular feels great in my larger hands, I'm 6'3, and is very slick. The frets are all even and are not protruding over the fretboard. Also the neck isn't finished like the Players more plasticy neck and I actually prefer the Squier finish.
The body feels good and I'm assuming that the pots are a cheaper version of the Player pots. As with the Player I would prefer a more gradual increase when changing from bass to treble using the tone pot. Must be a Fender thing?
For the price of the Squier I think that the pick ups sound good. Would I make the mods that I made to the Player to the Squier? Probably not but I'd probably put a better pick up in the neck. I only use the neck pick up and am used to better sounds.
The strings are still new so I can't tell how the guitar stays in tune. My Player has more slippage then my Ibanez semi and hollow body guitars so maybe that's another Fender thing.
What is a Telecaster thing is that the black cap on the pick up selector always falls off. In case of this Squier the cap seems to be securely fastened.
Some might complain the the pick up switch is too far forward. I don't mind as I play fingerstyle so I don't have any problem bumping it by accident.
The strings that came on the Squier are too light for me but as a fingerpicker I prefer 11's. If you like to bend as in blues or rock I'm sure that the strings will be fine for you.
There is some adjustment needed for intonation but only a few cents worth. The action is good however if I was keeping the guitar I'd drop it a little (probably because thicker strings are harder to press down).
While the Squier won't be a guitar for life for anyone buying it it is definitely a very good guitar for the price and will keep you going until you can afford a more expensive instrument.
I've been having fun playing it upside down.

Encouraged by the favorable price of €175, I bought this guitar. When it arrived, the action was not set up very well, so when bending the strings more strongly on the lower frets the strings would catch on the frets, causing fret buzz. The bridge saddles also buzzed undesirably when strumming a bit harder. Additionally, when bending strings there was that scratchy sound caused by rough (unpolished) frets. Also, the volume and tone potentiometers would rub against the metal plate underneath when turning them. The neck relief also needed some adjustment.

I took the guitar to a luthier who fixed all of these issues, lightly leveled and polished the frets, and after that the guitar became quite usable. As for the sound, the bridge pickup is quite good, suitable for country-style twang but also for distorted rock. However, the neck pickup is rather muddy; I’m not sure whether adjusting its height would help. The stock tuners are decent, so the guitar can stay in tune even with stronger string bends.

I think this guitar is a solid modding platform, since most of the parts can be replaced with better quality standard components (the only question is how much that will cost). Contrary to common opinion, this is *not* a good guitar for beginners, because without a proper initial setup it is quite difficult to play. I believe the target audience for this guitar is people who want an inexpensive instrument for modding and experimentation. I have already replaced the tuners (I installed locking tuners), and I’m planning to install better pickups and improved electronics, so we’ll see how much the guitar improves afterwards. In my opinion, the weakest point of this guitar is the non-standard top loader bridge, for which it is difficult to find a replacement, as well as the rather poor saddles that I will also need to replace.