NGD - Squier Paranormal Offset Telecaster

[Robbmonster]

I've been a bit quiet lately. My living situation is disrupted, I'm in the process of buying a home, and haven't been playing much guitar.

But recently got the hankering to get another one.

I'm a Tele guy. But for some reason I found myself owning 5 Strats and 1 Tele. The balance had to be restored. Looked around for used Affinities, but not much available, and even less at an agreeable price.

Found a Paranormal for a little more than I would have liked to have paid, but was touted as being 'as new' condition, so what the heck.

And once it did arrive, it was indeed as new - barely a mark on it, aside from some rather odd ridges around the edge of the body here and there, which feel like they are one the wood itself.

Nice guitar. Slim neck, glossy, but not crazy or sticky. Output jack has no grip at all, which is proving an annoyance.

It's been set up, but there is buzz on A and E around from the 13th-15th frets. I've raised the action as far as I dare, no help. A fret dress is in order.

The 'Fender-designed alnico' pickups are loud and don't seem to be terribly good. Will try lowering them, but a replacement might be in the future.

In all, a really comfortable guitar to play, which should turn out to be a real winner after a bit more TLC and setup.

 

[JohnnyD]

Congrats!
That's a beaut

 

[strat_strummer]

I'm not a offset guitar or pink guitar fan but this one kind of grows on me, congrat.

 

[Robb]

Amazing axe, HNGD !

 

[Blamhead]

HNGD! Have one in BSB, it's a nice little player.

 

[Radiotech]

Conga-rats!

 

[58Bassman]

I've been a bit quiet lately. My living situation is disrupted, I'm in the process of buying a home, and haven't been playing much guitar.

But recently got the hankering to get another one.

I'm a Tele guy. But for some reason I found myself owning 5 Strats and 1 Tele. The balance had to be restored. Looked around for used Affinities, but not much available, and even less at an agreeable price.

Found a Paranormal for a little more than I would have liked to have paid, but was touted as being 'as new' condition, so what the heck.

And once it did arrive, it was indeed as new - barely a mark on it, aside from some rather odd ridges around the edge of the body here and there, which feel like they are one the wood itself.

Nice guitar. Slim neck, glossy, but not crazy or sticky. Output jack has no grip at all, which is proving an annoyance.

It's been set up, but there is buzz on A and E around from the 13th-15th frets. I've raised the action as far as I dare, no help. A fret dress is in order.

The 'Fender-designed alnico' pickups are loud and don't seem to be terribly good. Will try lowering them, but a replacement might be in the future.

In all, a really comfortable guitar to play, which should turn out to be a real winner after a bit more TLC and setup.

View attachment 309277View attachment 309278

I bought the Offset in the photo while my main amp was on the bench waiting for some new caps, so I bought a small Orange amp to use as a temporary noisemaker. I had to fight with the settings and setup to get sounds that I liked, but to be fair, I only had one other Tele before and I never bonded with the neck, so I didn't lmay it a lot because my main guitar was a Strat Plus. I sold the Strat because I wasn't playing much and of course, two months later, I saw this one and HAD TO have it. I changed the pickup heights as a pair, individually and went through the controls before finally getting some good sounds. Not great, but the Orange is just a small amp- Crush 20RT. As soon as I plugged into the other amp, it just sounded right. The amp makes a big difference and it really hasn't mattered if I changed its controls, the sound is really good with the stock pickups and I hit the forums to ask about replacement pickups.

I would recommend being patient and getting used to them before changing anything.

The things I changed in the guitar-

- Put vinyl car wrap on the pickguard because it had some scratches.
- Installed Copper foil shielding and twisted the wires- I HATE noise and just don't think it's necessary to put up with it.
- Replaced the jack- the original was weak and lost contact with the plug and since I have a bag of them, it had to go.
- Added a treble bleed- it doesn't change the sound of the guitar vs bypassed, it just perserves the treble as I turn the VC down.
- Replaced the tuners- I bought mine used and the original tuners were among the worst I have ever used, but I don't know if they were mis-used in some way. I doubt very much that they changed the sound. I had LDR tuners on my Strat and came to prefer the barrel knobs, so I put that type on the new Fender tuners.

I found that there's nothing about the pickup sound that I don't like and IMO, the neck pickup is great but don't use the neck as much- mainly with the neck PU, if at all and I have it lowered, so the sound isn't too bright.

 

[Randall E]

Congrats! I had one in Butterscotch. It's a really great player.

 

[Robbmonster]

I bought the Offset in the photo while my main amp was on the bench waiting for some new caps, so I bought a small Orange amp to use as a temporary noisemaker. I had to fight with the settings and setup to get sounds that I liked, but to be fair, I only had one other Tele before and I never bonded with the neck, so I didn't lmay it a lot because my main guitar was a Strat Plus. I sold the Strat because I wasn't playing much and of course, two months later, I saw this one and HAD TO have it. I changed the pickup heights as a pair, individually and went through the controls before finally getting some good sounds. Not great, but the Orange is just a small amp- Crush 20RT. As soon as I plugged into the other amp, it just sounded right. The amp makes a big difference and it really hasn't mattered if I changed its controls, the sound is really good with the stock pickups and I hit the forums to ask about replacement pickups.

I would recommend being patient and getting used to them before changing anything.

The things I changed in the guitar-

- Put vinyl car wrap on the pickguard because it had some scratches.
- Installed Copper foil shielding and twisted the wires- I HATE noise and just don't think it's necessary to put up with it.
- Replaced the jack- the original was weak and lost contact with the plug and since I have a bag of them, it had to go.
- Added a treble bleed- it doesn't change the sound of the guitar vs bypassed, it just perserves the treble as I turn the VC down.
- Replaced the tuners- I bought mine used and the original tuners were among the worst I have ever used, but I don't know if they were mis-used in some way. I doubt very much that they changed the sound. I had LDR tuners on my Strat and came to prefer the barrel knobs, so I put that type on the new Fender tuners.

I found that there's nothing about the pickup sound that I don't like and IMO, the neck pickup is great but don't use the neck as much- mainly with the neck PU, if at all and I have it lowered, so the sound isn't too bright.

Awesome looking guitar, wow!!

A couple of things to follow...

My guitar makes no noise. Played it today under the aircon - where most of my guitars buzz like mad, but the Offset stayed quiet. Unexpected!

The jack in this thing is AWFUL. Same issue. Poor contact, and my lead always falls out. I've already bent the jack contact 3 times, and of course there's only so many times this can be done before it simply snaps.

Treble bleed is a great idea. My Affinity Tele (a 2017) seems to have come equipped with one stock, and it really is a great little tweak for basically zero cost.

And yeah, the tuners aren't spectacular, but I think they'll do.

 

[EsquireDeluxe]

When I clicked into this thread I was hoping it'd be Shell Pink. Nice!

 

[58Bassman]

Awesome looking guitar, wow!!

A couple of things to follow...

My guitar makes no noise. Played it today under the aircon - where most of my guitars buzz like mad, but the Offset stayed quiet. Unexpected!

The jack in this thing is AWFUL. Same issue. Poor contact, and my lead always falls out. I've already bent the jack contact 3 times, and of course there's only so many times this can be done before it simply snaps.

Treble bleed is a great idea. My Affinity Tele (a 2017) seems to have come equipped with one stock, and it really is a great little tweak for basically zero cost.

And yeah, the tuners aren't spectacular, but I think they'll do.

I would roam around before saying it's noise-free. I had noise in almost all areas of my living room, but less when the Plasma TV was on. The TV still makes noise, but the VC can be wide open across the room and in most other spots without noise. I took it to a guitar store to ask about the nut and while I was there, asked if I could plug it in, to check the noise rejection- the owner of the shop immediately commented because he knows the place is very noisy, but mine was noticeably quiet.

If you already noticed the tuners, I think you'll be looking for replacements soon. They could eliminate the small problems by spending another dollar- not sure why they don't. I think they would make a lot of money if they made it possible to download a discount code for new parts- they wouldn't be losing money and for each person who uses the code, they sell upgraded parts.

One other thing I did- since the Strat Plus had satin hardware, I found that shiny doesn't do it fro me anymore, so I decided to use ScotchBrite on the backside of the control plate and if it didn't turn out, I could always go back to shiny Chrome.

 

[VT28]

I would roam around before saying it's noise-free. I had noise in almost all areas of my living room, but less when the Plasma TV was on. The TV still makes noise, but the VC can be wide open across the room and in most other spots without noise. I took it to a guitar store to ask about the nut and while I was there, asked if I could plug it in, to check the noise rejection- the owner of the shop immediately commented because he knows the place is very noisy, but mine was noticeably quiet.

If you already noticed the tuners, I think you'll be looking for replacements soon. They could eliminate the small problems by spending another dollar- not sure why they don't. I think they would make a lot of money if they made it possible to download a discount code for new parts- they wouldn't be losing money and for each person who uses the code, they sell upgraded parts.

One other thing I did- since the Strat Plus had satin hardware, I found that shiny doesn't do it fro me anymore, so I decided to use ScotchBrite on the backside of the control plate and if it didn't turn out, I could always go back to shiny Chrome.

I love the pickguard and the neck P-90 in your Paranormal!
I have a 2024 Squier Paranormal Offset Telecaster SJ in Ice blue metallic. I ended up replacing the tuners, new in put jack and replaced all the cheap parts.
My luthier installed a Fender Pure 65 Jazzmaster Neck Pickup and a Fender Signature Jason Isbel Telecaster Bridge Pickup. I paired these pickups because they both use Alnico 5 magnets and wow do they sound amazing.
My Luthier tried to replace the Paranormal Push Pull Pots but we were unable to make the new pots work - so we kept the Squier Push Pull Switches. My Luthier made a custom control plate with a new 3 way switch and he had to soder wire extensions to make it work.

I spent a little under $800.00 in total for all the upgrades and the cost of the guitar itself.

Also - my luthier got a Fender Paranormal Diagram and he fixed a problem with how the pickguard grounds when it connects to the guitar and my Paranormal is silent as the night.

 

[Slacker G]

I've never owned a Salvador Dali designed Strat guitar myself.
Nice pink!
I need a pink Tele or Strat but I can't afford one at today's prices.