Right out of the box, it'll need a setup, so the first thing to do before you go see it is ask the shop to set it up and check it themselves. If you can squeeze them to fit a set of strings, do so. You're coming from acoustic, right? Then get a .010 set of strings fitted (it may come set up with .009s, which you'll bend too easily). In fact, .011s are nice on a Tele, giving it a bit more of an acoustic character.
Some of the things that can be a problem you probably wouldn't be able to recognize yourself - you need a bit of experience and knowledge to sight a neck and check a truss rod's range of motion, etc.. So, it's usually a good idea to immediately take a new guitar to a pro for a proper setup, including nut action (which a shop will rarely do) - not only can a pro set it up better, but he will be able to recognise any major problems very quickly, and you will be able to take it back to the shop for another. Don't forget, you have a year's warrantee on any new instrument and if you find out you have a dog immediately, you are well within your rights to take it back for another. It adds to the price of a new guitar obviously, but it's the absolute best way of getting an instrument checked out and playing it's best.
Things you
can check yourself in the store, before you even walk out with it:
- Check that the outside strings don't run too close to the edges of the fingerboard - they should both be about the same distance from their respective edge.
- Check that the neck pocket (where the heel of the neck fits into the body) is a tight fit with no visible gaps.
- Play every note on the neck, one-by-one, and make sure that none of them buzz excessively. A little buzz is fine on an electric, but too much and it kills sustain and comes through the amp.
- Play the notes from about the 10th fret, bending them up a tone or so and make sure none of them "fret out" (crashing so badly against the next fret that the note stops ringing completely) when bent.
- Tune it up and down a little and make sure that it tunes smoothly and that there are no "pings" from the nut (which indicate the strings are not moving through the nut properly.
