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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.

The Frost Gold finish is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Photos don't do it justice.The fit and finish are immaculate; it's everything that I've come to expect from Squier's higher end models. The fretboard is excellently dressed, no sharp edges, etc. The Indian Laurel fretboard is smooth and feels nice.The pickups are well balanced and provide an infinite number of tonal options.I can't say enough good things about this guitar but, however, I must say one bad thing.I'm currently on my second guitar of this model. I sent the first one back because of a wiring issue that became evident when cranking the gain on my amp. (Actually two amps because I had to make sure it wasn't an amp problem.) The guitar buzzed VERY loudly when both volumes were set to '0'. The buzzing tapered off as I turned up the volumes and disappeared completely when both volumes were maxed out. (When the amp is set to "clean", the guitar is as quiet as a "church mouse".)Kudos to zZounds for I had a replacement two days after I shipped back the first one.The replacement model suffers from THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM. (Grrrr...)I perused several online forums and found this isn't an uncommon issue with this model. One knowledgeable poster stated that the "hot" wire from the pickup and the "hot" from the selector switch are attached to the wrong lugs on the pot. I DON'T KNOW.The bottom line is that this guitar is MAGNIFICENT IN EVERY OTHER ASPECT so I will eventually rewire it. Until then I'll just keep it CRANKED UP which I suspect is its' natural state. I'm no longer playing gigs or I would use my volume pedal instead of the on-board controls in between songs.Also... If you're a fan of the New Orleans Saints then this is the Ultimate Guitar. Not only does it seriously rock, the finish sparkles just like Cam Jordan's helmet when he's squashing Matt Ryan & Cam Newton. That's what I call a "WOW Factor". (Actually I would consider this guitar a "Wow Factory").Wiring issue or not, this is one heck of a guitar and even with the noise, I WOULD buy it again.

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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.

I’ve owned this guitar for about 6 months ( I have both the gold and the black). The stock pickups sound great but can feedback with high gain . The feel and playability of the guitar right out the box was awesome . No flaws in the finish at all and the guitar didn’t have any issues with the frets ( no freight sprout at all ). I ended up swapping out the pickups in my black j5 to dimarzio evolutions and compared the pickups to the stock ones in my gold j5 . The pickups stock sound pretty damn good compared to the evolutions I’d say the evolutions are like 15-20 percent better .

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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.

I first must say before Norman's Rare Guitars on YouTube I was not aware of who John 5 was. Seriously! A guitar player for 5 years I was in search of 'my' tone. I watched John 5 talk about his love for the Telecaster and his collection. And around his neck was the frost gold version of this guitar. He has a unique bunch of styles and his history playing made me interested enough to purchase the black version. I have 4 Tele and this by far surpasses each. The neck first of all is the sweetest I have wrapped my fingers around. Frets...no snags. Guitar was almost in tune from the box. Finish immaculate. String height perfect. Strings are actually good quality. Sounds like a American made Tele. With the humbuckers it adds a deeper throated bark. This baaabbyyy may be your last. Of course you will buy more. But this one can be modded in the future for peanuts. A bone nut, strings, maybe brass saddles, higher end pickups. But for now, she is a rock machine.

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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.

So, I got the black one a few years back... I sold it to "upgrade" to an American Tele and went through a few more guitars since then. I kept the American Telecaster, but could never shake the feeling of regret on selling the John-5. I re-purchased one, this time in Gold. I love it. The neck and frets feel as good as anything and the binding is gorgeous. The HH setup makes it a hard rock guitar for sure. The quality is impressive and it sounds as good as it looks.

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