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Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang
Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster
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Playability
75
Sound
72
Build
67
Value
71
Score
71
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Playability
68
Sound
65
Build
54
Value
72
Score
62
FIND IT ON:
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Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang vs Squier Affinity Series Telecaster Specs Comparison
Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang Squier Affinity Series Telecaster
General
Brand: Fender Fender Squier
Year: 2021 2019
Configuration: SS SS
Strings: 6 6
Made in: Mexico China
Series: Artist Affinity Series
Colors: Natural White, Black, Green, Orange, Red, Yellow, Gray, 2-Color Sunburst
Left-Handed Version: No Yes
Body
Type: Solid Body Solid Body
Body Material: Chambered Ash Poplar
Bridge: 6-Saddle Vintage-Style Mustang Tremolo 6-Saddle Hardtail with Cast Saddles
Neck
Neck Joint: Bolt-On Bolt-On
Tuners: Vintage-Style with Fender Logo Standard Die-Cast
Fretboard: Maple Maple
Neck Material: Maple Maple
Decoration: Black Dot Black Dot
Scale Size: 24" 25.5"
Shape: Modern C Modern C
Thickness: 1st Fret: 0.82'' (20.8mm) - 12th Fret: 0.87'' (22.1mm) 1st Fret: - 12th Fret:
Frets: 22 Medium Jumbo Nickel Silver 21 Medium Jumbo Nickel Silver
Fretboard Radius: 9.5" 9.5"
Nut: Synthetic Bone Synthetic Bone
Nut Width: 42mm (1.654'') 42mm (1.654'')
Electronics
Bridge Pickups: Fender Vintage-Style Single-Coil Mustang (Single Coil / Passive) Standard Single-Coil Tele (Single Coil / Passive)
Middle Pickup:
Neck Pickup: Fender Vintage-Style Single-Coil Mustang (Single Coil / Passive) Standard Single-Coil Tele (Single Coil / Passive)
Switch: 3 Way 3 Way
Knobs: Bell Dome
Pickup Mods: None None
Volume Controls: 1 1
Tone Controls: 0 1
Hardware
Strap Lock: Yes No
Hardware Color: Chrome Chrome
Show Diagrams Comparison
Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang and Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster pickups switch and push knobs diagram
Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang and Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster's switch options

Reasons to Get
Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang over Squier Affinity Series Telecaster

Country of Manufacturing
Mexico vs China
Built with higher quality standards
Release Year
2021 vs 2019
From a more recent year
Pickups Brand
Fender vs None
Pickups from a renown brand
Number of Frets
22 vs 21
Allows to reach higher notes
Strap Lock
Yes vs None
Protects your guitar from dropping by locking the strap
Bridge
Tremolo vs Fixed
Simple vibratos without too much maintenance
Scale Length
24'' (609.6mm) vs 25.5'' (647.7mm)
Easier bending, shorter fret separation and warmer natural tone

Reasons to Get
Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster over Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang

Number of Frets
21 vs 22
Warmer neck pickup
Tone Knobs
1 vs 0
More tone control
Bridge
Fixed vs Tremolo
Good sustain and needs no set-up
Scale Length
25.5'' (647.7mm) vs 24'' (609.6mm)
Lower action and brighter natural tone
Value Score
72 vs 71
Better price/quality relationship

Other Key Differences
Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang vs Squier Affinity Series Telecaster

Bridge Pickup
Fender Vintage-Style Single-Coil Mustang vs Standard Single-Coil Tele
Different Bridge Pickup
Neck Pickup
Fender Vintage-Style Single-Coil Mustang vs Standard Single-Coil Tele
Different Neck Pickup
Body Wood
Ash vs Poplar
Different Body Wood

Shared Features
Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang vs Squier Affinity Series Telecaster

Neck Wood
Maple
Same Neck Wood
Fretboard Wood
Maple
Same Fretboard Wood
Headstock
6
Same Headstock
Nut Material
Synthetic Bone
Same Nut Material
Strings
6
Same playing style
Body Type
Solid Body
Feedback free
Switch Positions
3
Same pickups versatility
Volume Knobs
1
Same volume control
Pickups
SS
Beautiful cleans
Nut Width
1.654'' (42mm)
Same string separation at the nut
Paint Finish
Poly
Resistant paint that ages well
Fretboard Radius
9.5'' (241.3mm)
Same fretboard comfortability
Pickups Power
Passive
Cleaner sound and no battery needed
Neck Profile Type
C
Comfortable neck that works for most people
Neck Joint
Bolt-On
Allows you to detach and swap the neck
Type of Frets
Medium Jumbo
You'll feel the fretboard when pressing down the strings

Common Strengths

  • High-Quality Nut

Common Weaknesses

  • Neck-Through Build
  • Pickup Alter Switch/Knob
  • Weight Relief
  • Locking Tuners
  • Stays in Tune (Evertune)
  • High-Quality Frets
  • Compound Radius Fretboard
  • Luminescent Sidedots
  • 21:1 Tuner Ratio
  • Active/Passive Preamp

Price History Comparison

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SET PRICE ALERT

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Hand Size Comfortability

After taking into account the scale length, nut width, neck profile and fretboard radius, we can conclude that both favor small hands .

Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang:
Big Hands
Small Hands
Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster:
Big Hands
Small Hands

Beginner Friendliness

The Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang meets 7 out of our 8 criteria items for beginner friendliness, while the Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster meets only 6. This takes into account the type of frets, scale length, nut width, bridge type, fretboard radius, and neck profile to determine the easiest combination for new players.

New Player Friendliness

Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang
  • Comfortable shape
  • Easy-to-use bridge
  • Comfortable fretboard
  • Tall frets
  • Narrow nut
  • Short scale
  • Comfortable neck
  • Locking tuners

New Player Friendliness

Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster
  • Comfortable shape
  • Easy-to-use bridge
  • Comfortable fretboard
  • Tall frets
  • Narrow nut
  • Comfortable neck
  • Short scale
  • Locking tuners

Sound Quality Comparison

The wood used in an electric guitar or bass is not as important to determine the final tone. However, some people prefer specific wood types, so we'll take a look at those first. Then, we'll take a look at the electronics to determine the versatility and sound quality of each instrument.

Woods Used in Both

Maple wood pattern used for guitar building
Maple

Maple is one of the most popular necks for good reasons. It is a strong wood that is relatively cheap to make and looks beautiful. The highest quality maple is the hardest that comes from North America. Find out more about Maple.

Woods Used in the Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang

Ash wood pattern used for guitar building
Ash

Ash is a type of wood that Fender used almost exclusively in the 50s, and it's still used by many brands. It's a dense wood with a light color that works well for a transparent, natural finish because of its beautiful patterns. In terms of sound, it's known for emphasizing the mid and high frequencies, but with strong low end. Find out more about Ash.

Woods Used in the Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster

Poplar wood pattern used for guitar building
Poplar

Poplar is a cheaper and heavier alternative to Alder wood. It terms of tone, it emphasizes the low-end and has cutting mids. It's relatively soft compared to most body woods. Find out more about Poplar.

Winner: Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang.

Pickup Configuration

Both pickup configurations are SS. SS is the classic Telecaster configuration. It's used mainly for playing clean or with low-gain distortion, and it's very popular for the country genre because of their brightness. It doesn't give you as much versatility as a Strat SSS configuration, but you might like the cleaner look of a guitar body with fewer pickups.

Pickups Quality

The Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang has pickups from a more specialized brand than the Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster. Its pickups should simply give you a better, fuller sound, although it all depends on what type of music you're going to play. We recommend these pickups for Country and similar genres.

Both use Passive pickups. This is what's used for most music genres. They have a regular output and will serve you for both high-gain and clean tones. The alternative (Active pickups) offer a higher output that is mostly used for heavy music.

Winner: Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang.

Versatility Comparison

Some instruments offer you more ways to explore your creativity than others. Below you'll find how both compare when it comes to versatility.

Switch Options

Both are equal when it comes to the pickup switching option.

Neither of them come with some kind of coil split or pickup mod option. This makes both lacking in terms of versatility.

When evaluating versatility, we also take into consideration bridge and neck joint type, number of frets, switch options, amount of pickups and more.

Winner: Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang.

Final Sound Quality Scores

Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang
Pickups 100
Sustain 60
Versatility 62
Tuning Stability 65
Sound 72
Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster
Pickups 70
Sustain 65
Versatility 54
Tuning Stability 70
Sound 65

Build Quality Comparison

When it comes to build quality, we like to take into account everything used to build the instrument. This includes materials, hardware and the quality control expected depending on the country where it was built. Let's see how the Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang compares to the Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster.

Country of Origin

The manufacturing country can tell a lot about the build quality of an instrument. The Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang is built in Mexico while the Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster is made in China.

Mexico has been for a long time where Fender has built their semi-premium series. If you don't want to overpay for a wellp-built instrument, a guitar built in this country by a good brand always offers good value for the money.

China has a bad reputation when it comes to building quality. However, times have changed and now respectable brands use China's cheap labor to build good instruments for a lower price. Don't discount a guitar only because it was built in China, but also expect more quality from countries like Korea.

Winner: Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang

Nut Material

If you want your guitar to stay in tune and sound good, you need a well cut nut. Nut quality can be inconsistent even when comparing two copies of the same model. The best way to make sure you're nut will be well done is by getting a nut made by an expert company like TUSQ or Micarta.

In this case, both have Synthetic Bone nuts. Bone is the best natural material for guitar nuts. However, its tonal properties can be inconsistent. That's the problem that synthetic bone fixes. This is much better than using a plastic nut because the nut is more slippery—which helps with tuning stability—, and it gives your open strings rich harmonics.

Fret Material

Most fret wire is made of nickel silver. This material eventually wears down after a lot of use and most instruments end up needing a complete fret replacement. However, some expensive models come with stainless steel frets. This is what you should aim for if you can afford it.

Unfortunately, none of them come with stainless steel frets.

Winner: Tie.

Bridge

The perfect bridge for you will depend on your playstyle because they all have advantages and disadvantages. However, some bridges are more expensive—like Floyd Roses and Evertunes—and thus add more value to a guitar.

The Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang's brige is a Tremolo. Tremolo bridges give you more versatility than fixed bridges. They let you perform the intense vibrato effects that would be impossible with a fixed bridge. However, since the bridge floats and there's less contact with the body, the strings lose sustain slightly faster. They can also be a bit harder to restring and set up correctly than fixed bridges.

On the other hand, the Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster's is a Fixed. It's a simple bridge that is very beginner-friendly since it doesn't require any set-up. You can swap strings easily. It might also give more sustain since it doesn't have complex moving parts that make the strings lose vibration. However, it doesn't have the same versatility as a tremolo bridge.

Since we need to be objective, the most expensive type of bridge will be the winner of this section. In the end, this doesn't matter if you're not going to use the bridge for its original purpose, so choose the bridge that fits your playing style better.

Winner: Tie.

Tuners

Both come with regular tuners. The Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang's are Vintage-Style with Fender Logo while the Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster's are Standard Die-Cast

Winner: Tie.

Neck Joint

Contrary to popular belief, the difference in sustain and tone that some neck joints give to a guitar is simply unperceivable—if they're all well built. However, some of them do have advantages over the others.

Both have a Bolt-On neck joint. This neck is joined to the body by 4 bolts that you can simply unscrew. This allows you to replace the neck or take it off for travel. It's the most common and cheapest way to build a guitar.

Winner: Tie.

Here is the list of features that were considered when choosing the winner in the Features subcategory:

Strengths & Weaknesses
Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang
  • Expensive Wood
  • Synthetic Bone Nut
  • Top Brand Pickups
  • Tremolo
  • Strap Lock
  • Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
  • No Locking Tuners
  • Made in Mexico
  • No Neck-Through Build
  • No Push Knob or Extra Switch Option
  • No Weight Relief
  • No Luminescent Inlay
  • No Compound Radius Fretboard
  • No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
Strengths & Weaknesses
Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster
  • Synthetic Bone Nut
  • Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
  • No Locking Tuners
  • Made in China
  • No Expensive Woods
  • No Top Brand Pickups
  • No Neck-Through Build
  • No Push Knob or Extra Switch Option
  • No Weight Relief
  • No Luminescent Inlay
  • No Tremolo
  • No Compound Radius Fretboard
  • No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
  • No Strap Lock

Final Build Quality Scores

Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang
Quality of materials 66
Features 60
Quality Control 75
Build Quality 67
Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster
Quality of materials 56
Features 50
Quality Control 55
Build Quality 54

Playability Comparison

Let's now compare their playability. Bear in mind that the instrument will feel different depending on your hand size and play style. That's why you should always test before buying. But if you can't or want a second opinion on it, we can still take a look at each of the important measurements of the instrument for you. This way, we can predict how easy a guitar might be to play, or how different it will feel compared to the other.

Remember that, even though the difference might seem small, every inch counts when it comes to feeling of the instrument in your hands. Any variation can completely change how comfortable a guitar feels in your hands.

Nut Width

Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang Nut Width
Both Guitars Have The Same Nut Width

The nut width will affect the separation between strings at the nut. In this comparison, both have a nut width of 42mm (1.654'').

This is considered a narrow width for a 6-string guitar. This means that this guitar will have a narrower string separation at the nut, which will affect your fretting hand.

If you are a player with big hands, you might find it difficult to play chords without muting strings. However, this is good for players who have smaller hands, as it will allow them to reach each string more easily at the nut.

Scale Length

Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang's Scale Length
Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang's Scale Length
Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster's Scale Length
Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster's Scale Length

The scale length is one of the things that influences playability the most. This is the distance between the nut and the bridge and will affect everything from low action allowance, difficulty to perform bends, fret separation, and even tone.

The Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster has the longest scale: 25.5". The Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang is only 24" long. This is a 1.5'' (38.1mm) scale length difference.

This longer scale means that the strings need more tension to get in tune. This is good if you want to avoid fret buzz, which can happen when the strings are too loose and touch the frets while vibrating. This is especially important when playing in lower tunings. This will also let you reduce the gap between fretboard and strings (low action) to make them easier to press down. However, this higher tension will also make it harder to perform bends and vibratos as the strings will feel stiffer.

This also means that the frets have a longer separation between each other, so this will make it harder for people with smaller hands when playing some chord positions.

Another characteristic of a longer scale is that it makes the guitar sound 'snappier' or brighter. This is due to the extra separation between harmonics and overtones produced by the tension. This influences tone more than any other factor (except the pickups).

Lastly, remember that you can also affect the tension of the strings by changing your string gauge. You can use a thicker gauge for more tension and a lighter one for less tension.

Neck Profile

Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang Neck Profile
Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang's neck profile
Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster Neck Profile
Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster's neck profile

No single neck shape is better than others. However, most people tend to prefer a thinner necks because it doesn't get in their way when playing fast and most hand sizes can adapt to it pretty well. However, some people still prefer thicker necks for a better grip, especially if they have big hands.

Both the Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang and the Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster have a C-shaped neck. This is what you'll find in most modern guitars. Most people feel like the thickness of a C neck is simply the less intrusive one for playing fast, while at the same time allowing you to grab the neck easily for resting if you want to.

Fretboard Radius

Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang Fingerboard Radius
Both Guitars Have The Same Fretboard Radius

Most guitar fretboards are not flat; they usually have a curve or arc across their width. A curved fretboard will make it easier to perform chords without muting strings, while a flatter one will make it easier to play single notes, which is good for bending and soloing in general. The best fretboards have a compound radius that varies across the fingerboard, but they're not common since they take a lot more work to build.

Both the Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang and the Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster have the same fretboard radius of 9.5". This is the most common radius for Stratocaster guitars. It's considered curved when compared to most other models. This allows you to play chords very easily without muting strings accidentally and gives you more space between strings for fingerpicking. However, this curve also gives the guitar less allowance for lower action. If you bend too hard at the high frets, some of your notes might get muted because the curve will make the string fret out.

Fret Size

Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang and Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster Frets Size
Both have a similar Medium Jumbo fret size

Both have a Medium Jumbo fret size. These are slightly shorter than full Jumbo frets, so you'll still feel the fretboard when pressing down the strings. However, they interfere less with your fretting hand than medium-size frets. This is a good size if you like easy-to-press frets, but would still like to feel a bit of the fretboard when playing.

Final Playability Scores

Fender Ben Gibbard Mustang
Bending & Vibrato Ease 75
Chord Playability 90
Solo Playability 60
Playability 75
Fender Squier Affinity Series Telecaster
Bending & Vibrato Ease 65
Chord Playability 80
Solo Playability 60
Playability 68