Squier

I believe affinities are made of basswood, whereas the standards are made of agathis. Both are 'cheap' types of woods that grow locally in Asia. For strats, these woods are very nice, but I myself find less of the tele twang in basswood telecasters. For LP-like guitars, stay well away from these kinds of woods, they are nothing like mahony.

Electronics/hardware are mostly the same between standards and affinities, and both lack the alnico-pups, which the MIM strats do have. This typically results in a much harsher, trebbly, sound. While the standards are a bit nicer, I myself don't really notice too much difference, so I wouldn;t pay 70GBP more for the standard. Go either for affinity or a used MIM fender (which you can easily find on E-bay).

About the Behringer pack: be carefull with those. The amp is very nice (even more so when you look at those horrible squier amps!), the strap, cable, picks and carrying bag are pretty much needed so cool to have, but the guitars are *very* mediocre. I did find one or two nice behringer strats, but I also saw some that were *really* disgusting (and I mean really very basic construction errors, making it impossible to intonate the guitar properly, or having decent action!) An affinity is definitely miles beyond what these Behringer strats are (sorry Behringer, still love you ;))

However, you should get around 50-60GBP at pawn shops for these things, so you can buy the pack, sell the guitar, and get a Squier. I copy the comments about those yamaha guitars: lots of bang for your buck. Dean has some nice strats as well, but I fear that with your budget they could be somewhat out of reach, and you rarely see them on ebay...

I own a Squier Standard Telecaster and I love it. My other electric is a Fender American Stratocaster so it's not like I don't have a good guitar to compare it to.

One big difference is that on the Standard series the strings pass through the body. This makes it MUCH easier to change strings and many say provides better tone.

The tuners on my Squier are not as good as my Fender. In fact none of the hardware is, pickups, switch, bridge, etc.... But.... They are very good considering the cost of the guitar. I have no problems with my guitar staying in tune and I am a heavy player. I have experienced no problems with scratchiness in the controls or switches. I actually use my Squier more than my Fender now including when playing in my band.

I did have to set the guitar up when I got it. I ordered mine from Music 123. It came with the action quite high. The intonation was not set properly either. I also adjusted the relief. It took about 2 weeks for the neck to settle. But once it did I was able to get very low action without any string buzz. The intonation is great now, my guitar sounds great in tune up the neck.

I like the pickups. I get a little hum in the neck and bridge positions on the switch, but that is normal for single-coil pickups. I wouldn't say you get the true Tele sound on it, but close enough. A little tone tweaking on the guitar and amp and I get a nice Tele twang.

I was very impressed with the fretwork on my Squier. They are perfect. The overall construction of my guitar is very good. I am very happy with it.

I would go with the Standard model. I believe the construction and overall materials are better. The Squier is a very good guitar for a very reasonable price.

Here is a pic of my Squier Tele and Fender Strat I took at a gig.

My Guitars