I currently have a Fender Player series Telecaster with Alnico V pickups and my friend has a Squier Bullet strat. He tried my tele and he liked it and thinks about getting one himself. He doesn't have a favourite genre but he wants a guitar that "will play anything". Yes I know any guitar can play any genre but he means hardware-wise like pickups, neck radius,...etc. Also to mention, he doesn't like Les Paul style guitars.

So he can't decide if he should buy a normal tele or the Jim Root signature tele with 2 humbucking EMGs. Personally I don't like the sound of active pickups (yet) and I don't play metal a lot so I'm good with my player tele so what do you think?

Is it a waste of money if he gets a normal tele THEN the JR tele any time later or should the JR tele be enough to do both guitars' job? Also, what other guitars are decent in the same price range of the JR? (no floyd rose!)