Can a Mexican "partscaster" tele be as good as a custom shop? I think yes. 

This is my 52 tele replica. I built and wired her myself out of a fender genuine body with a satin roasted fender maple neck. The magic sauce are the 52 replicas from JJ's guitar pickups. It all adds up to some serious tone. The hardware is all Gotoh. 

I have come to really love Teles. If you said I could only have one electric to do everything for the rest of my life, I would pick my tele. It's got bite and can drive an amp, but the neck pickup chimes nicely, with plenty of quack in the middle position. It really is the working mans guitar, and is also the first guitar I wired myself. 

When students ask me what guitar they should get as a first purchase, I almost always say a squier classic vibe tele. Teles are that formidable. 

Check it out here: 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUuXG0SEyyO/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

It really can do it all. I understand why artists like Jeff Buckley swore by them.