My first electric I bought (I think in 1987) was a Japanese built Squier Strat, made in what would become the same plant Fender would build future commercial Strats when they moved Squier production to Korea. It's my main axe. I was the lead guitarist in a rock band for fifteen years and it's just a great guitar. It has had the crap beat out of it over the years, but it's still going strong. It's sitting visibly across the room as I'm typing this. I use GHL Boomers for my strings.
@@Kbald Oh yeah. I didn't like the floating tremolo so I had it blocked so it will only go down instead of backward. All of the pickups I replaced with Seymour Duncans, and I added a switch that will drop the E string down to D with a flick. I have a luthier friend that I've known since we were teenagers, and he's done all of the modifications on all of my guitars at my request when needed.
The biggest difference i find is in the feeling when playing... The necks of the affinity is not as refined. But a Fender isn't worth 10x the price lol
@@theredhattergaming From experience, I'd just recommend buying what you want from the get go..I heavily modded my Affinity Tele, but at the end of the day, i find its more headache lol Personally, I always recommend Classic Vibes or MiM
Absolutely, I've got one Tele which is a MIM roadworn and I absolutely love it. I probably use it more for sessions than some of my more expensive guitars.
I liked the brighter, crisp sound of the Squier better than the Fender's slightly muted sound in your face to face comparison. If I had no knowledge of the values, and had only your demonstration to hear, I would have selected the Squier. Just me.
Just listened blind on decent headphones while working on another laptop. Both sounded great. I've long suspected a great deal of listening is done with our eyes (myself included). In a mix you'd never know which was which.
This is very true and many of the more experienced mixing engineers talk about this as nowadays most people mix music using screens. I think we're guilty of listening with our eyes sometimes.
Completely agree - when I changed from classical to "electric" - I bought a squier affinity - and unless you are a super guitarist it seems to me that what is more important are your technique and ampli
The differences in sound/tone weren't too extreme. The Squire sounded quite good. A set of Graph Tech String Saver saddles would probably take care of the Squire's brightness. I have them on my G&L tribute Legacy, and they smoothed out the ice-picky top end, while giving it a more robust bottom end, at least to my ear. Definitely go to locking tuners. Not only will they take care of the tuning stability, they also make string changes easier.
Yeah, absolutely. The locking tuners would definitely make it a better guitar right away. I'll look up the Graph Tech saddles and check them out. Thanks.
Zero to one wrap, or less, around the post leaves less to stretch at the most stressful point of tension. As a matter of fact, I noticed it after I put locking tuners on my G&L Legacy. With new strings it didn't go out of tune like my G&L S-500 did, and, yes, I stretched the strings good when I changed them. So I put a set on the S-500 and problem solved.
@@yobaby14 there's whole string to stretch, the wraps on the post is just tiny portion. I haven't noticed any tuning stability improvement, when I changed to locking tuners.
Great video quality man! If I may suggest, if you’re having tuning issues check the number of strings windings around the machine head post first (one wrap above, two below), and then chuck some graphite from a pencil into the nut slots. If you’ve still got issues, your nut slots need dressing. I’ll bet you an Australian 6-pack of beer for an Icelandic 6-pack this solves your problems.
Thanks Patrick and thanks for the tip. In hindsight I should have put fresh strings in and set the guitar up properly before shooting the video. I will definitely try out what you suggested and see how it goes with the tuning stability.
Beautiful playing. The Fender pickups sounded more focused. My main Strat is a 1987 Japanese Squire. It weighs 7.6 pounds. I think a liter guitar resonates more and feels better against your body than a heavy 9 pound Strat of which I have two of those(One Warmoth and one Mexican). I know that sounds silly but its true. There is a sound acoustically that maybe Im just used to the sonic nuance of my Squire but it has a round sound that just shines and feels perfect.
You've got a point there. I don't know the exact weight of the Squier but it is way lighter than the Fender and I'm sure that has something to do with the tone. I quite enjoy playing these light guitars. I got one recently which was custom built for me in France and I did a review on it here on the my channel: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Q2v-Bs6jjZc.html This one is super light and the body is slightly smaller than on a Fender Strat. I really enjoy playing it.
The bridge and middle sounded really good on the squire, in some ways better than the strat. Me personally, I would change out the neck pickup with something more refined, other than that, I don't think I will ever buy a newer Fender Strat for the price. A+ for the Squire. Put all Lollar pickups in the Squire and it would much better than the American standard.
I'm sure it would sound amazing with some Lollar pickups in there. And I agree with what you said about the bridge and middle pickups, they sound really good. My favourite pickup setting on the Squier is the middle/bridge.
Fender has Alnico's and the Squier Affinity has Ceramic pick ups. The new '21 Affinity has a two point tremolo and better tuning stability. You can't beat the Affinity price wise and 'she' sounds great.... on a descent amp ! By the way what Amp did you do this compare on ? Nice video, thanks !
Thanks for your input and the info on the pickups. Need to give those ‘21 affinity guitars a go. I was playing through my Kemper, you can actually see all the profile settings etc on a screenshot in the video. Thanks for watching.
In my experience it all comes down to the electronics. The player series strats and the squier strats use similar electronics. I had a 94 American standard loaded with rio grande pickups and it sounded amazing. However when I converted it back to stock to sell it I didn't care for the sound. Then I threw the rio grande pickups into my yamaha pacifica and the middle and neck pickup sound so much better.
Those pacifica guitars are so good. I had one a few years ago and really regret letting it go. Great value for the money. Would love to hear what they sound like with upgraded pickups.
@@KbaldThey really are. I Had mine in stock form since I was 16 and just recently upgraded the middle and bridge single coils. I got some vids on my channel if you want to hear it in action.
the reason why the squier sounds more bright than the fender is beacause the squier comes with ceramic pickups while the fender comes with alnico pickups which are warmer.
Eric Clapton, 1960s: "Vibratos don't stay in tune". Jimi Hendrix, Winterland 1968: "Thank you for waiting while we tune up, we really care for your ears ;)". Reviewers, 2022: "The Squier could use some upgrades". What it really needs is a proper set-up, lubricated nut and string trees and especially stretched strings. My 120€ Harley Benton ST-62 stays in tune well enough but only after I did all the little tricks. Loosening the front screws so the bridge plate can move is one people easily miss on cheap knock-offs (because they come nailed down). If Squiers come floating, that should be there out of the box but still worth checking. Locking tuners do nothing for stability. Two windings around the peg, one going above the string and one below, are just fine but stretching ought to include them as well (using the tuners).
The American standard is a great guitar, my #1. Is it worth 10x the price? No but will we pay it.. yes. I will always be loyal to these guitars and have tried almost every model strat excluding vintage and in you can usually get them for under a grand used and they’re the best for the buck.
Yeah man, I would always go for the American Standard myself. Although the Squier sounds pretty good in these samples I recorded I don't think I would like to use it live etc.
Great video and valid points. Throw some nicer pups in the Squire and you will have a great instrument. I have a $2k strat and a $99 throw away Mitchel. I got it for camping. The action is actually better on the $99 guitar so I play it way more. The differences in tone are truly negligible. Sure, the strat is slightly better...but not by much. In a blind test you would never know. Much of electric guitar sales IMO is marketing hype (especially with PRS)...though with acoustics, you can tell a much bigger difference from a cheap guitar to a quality Martin or Taylor.
Mitchel makes great guitars. I had a Taylor acoustic for 19 years. Walked into Guitar Center and wasnt even looking for an acoustic but I picked up the cheapest all mahogany acoustic and fell in love. Bought it for les than $200, went home and put my Taylor up for sale.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the video. I totally agree with you on the whole marketing thing, people are spending so much money on guitars (myself included) when sometimes it's more about taking time to put the right thing together. This was also one of the reasons I wanted to do this video. So many people seem to think that they need exactly the same instrument as their heroes to be able to play like them. Couldn't be farther from the truth. I've never heard of the Mitchel strats, will look them up 👍
@@Kbald It's just a Mitchel electric. Looks similar to my strat only lighter, thinner and easily just as playable. I don't regret buying my strat but this is one I can knock around and not worry about it. It stays in tune better than my $2k American Strat...which had to be professionally set up once already out of the box. People can easily buy a decent guitar w/ very decent pups for under $500- take the other $1,500 and buy an FM9!
Solid body electric guitars are basically made the same(hello cnc)..the main difference is that the inexpensive ones have zinc cheapo metallic parts unlike the uber expensive ones..... Personally i prefer to take the inexpensive one and mod it(stainless steel frets,new nut,tuners,electronics,bridge block and sometimes the whole bridge) instead of getting the real thing that cost a lot and still doesnt have amazing parts(for the price).....you can legit have the ultimate strat for 700 bucks or below. If you dont want the ultimate axe but just an excellent playing guitar you just have to take a budget strat like this or a bullet, replace the nut and tuners with quality ones and...thats it...the rest is a matter of a good setup....those budget guitar are not..toys as many think they are...they are made the same way as the..."real" ones but with subpar parts.....
The Fender sounds better strained and creamier. The Squire is a bit gritty, but fun to play. I have one. Definitely not a replacement, but good enough for what I do.
I have an Affinity Strat 2004 and a Standard Strat 1999 Made in Mexico. That is part of America right? The only difference i can tell is that the nut is wider, smaller headstock and the neck had a high gloss finish on the American Standard. Everything else is the same.. Size, weight, fit and finish. Maybe i just got lucky? I dont like the high gloss neck but do like the wider nut.
the squire in bridge position was out of tune. I have American and squire guitars and honestly the main difference is fit finish and setup. also better quality parts. I'm not sure they should be ten times the price
Yes, I really struggled with keeping it in tune properly. I'm about to do a proper setup on it, maybe it would have been fair before shooting the video. Hopefully the setup will sort out some of the tuning problems.
If this video is about modding your Squire. Me personally am done with that. I’m at the point where I’ll buy a higher priced guitar if it has the all the specs I want. I’ll pay the 2K for it. I have a Epiphone Les Paul that cost me about 300 bucks to mod. A classic player 60’s Strat that cost me 200 bucks to mod. And I have a Squire Strat that cost me 800 bucks to mod. I have a cheap “335” style that’s on hold for modding and another better “335” style that’s also on hold.
Not so much about modding but I just pointed out that the Squier could be improved with some upgrades. A pretty decent guitar though that I borrowed from my student. I personally prefer to spend more money on my guitars, most of the time.
The Squier likely has 500K pots, which allows for more brightness. This is a good thing, as it can be easily toned down to taste. Most guitar players are too dumb to use a tone knob.
How do people get these sounds out of Kemper is beyond me. Mine sounded hopelessly muddy, no matter how I tweaked the settings. I had to send it back after a week.
Were you using the stock profiles? All the sounds you hear me using are purchased profiles that I then make my own presets from. It took me a few weeks to really learn how to operate the Kemper.
@@Kbald I was using MBritt's and ToneJunkie's profiles, but it didn't help much. Maybe I should have been more patient and persistent, but after a week I felt so frustrated, that I had to let it go. I use Overloud's Rig Player now, and I like it better, honestly.
