I Modded My Squier Debut, Can You Tell The Difference? 

I think people spend way too much time worrying about tiny tone differences that no one will care about. One important "upgrade" I made to a cheap Strat' was shorter grub screws in the saddles so they don't dig in my hand while palm muting. I care about this each time I play. Levelling frets for proper action was another thing I did. And lubricating nut and string trees for tuning stability.

As in most guitars (in my experience), the biggest difference was, as you pointed out, in the electronics and pickups being replaced for better ones. If I can make any guitar play comfortably (according to my taste), whether it is a cheap or expensive one, changing the electronics and pickups will do it for me.

The only "tone" difference I notice is on the Ceremic vs. AlnicoV's. Alnico's sound a little Brighter in the Mid-Highs. Which does seem to work better in the middle and neck (like you said). Ceramics have a little touch of "murkiness" and do sound a bit better in bridges, especially in "high gain" or high distortion applications. At least, that's how it always sounds to my ears.

I am in the middle of doing the mods. I put the big block trem in, then I added the roller saddles to it. New 62 Alnico 5 pickups. Big boy pots. Kept the switch cause it is fine. Then I added a brass nut. Not in love with the brass nut, will replace it with bone. Still in the mail is the black aluminum pickguard, and locking tuners. The tuners it came with are terrible and keep slipping. Frets were insanely sprouting. Fixed that. I love this guitar. I am also going to put the yellow squier logo on then nitro over it. I am surprised by how heavy it is. Neck is beautiful, the grains are almost flame. Killer guitar!

I just got my Debut today (2 tone sunburst.) I only bought it because I had a loaded pickguard I put together laying around with alnico v pickups, big pots and thick braided wires and a set of new locking tuners, and the guitar was only $120, so I kinda had to. I'm very impressed with the instrument for the price, but it'll be a real shredder when I'm done with it. This is Strat #6 in my current lineup, and once it's upgraded, I suspect it'll be on par with my 2 Affinity Strats. Obviously not as nice as my MIM Fender, but still a great instrument.

Nice & Informative - Thanks Man

Going to need to change the tuners and pots on my Debut P Bass, then if needed the pickup

Ive modded cheap strats. Its so nice to hear the difference. It really makes it into a good guitar. Thanks for sharing this.

Thanks for sharing! Both before and after mods made workable noises. If anything I am more surprised the stock sounded actually fine, may be a smidge thin, but not the end of the world! Apparently the tonal changes hinge more on the pot values and the capacitor, and the tone bleed. I too am doing mods and those are the areas I am focusing on.

i got a grote LP special2 clone from bamazon a few months ago that sadly arrived with a broken neck... they took it back no problem... that debut is shaping up nicely! i need to get crakkin on doing the modz on mine too! looks like wilkinson pups ya got in yours now....

Hard to tell. RU-vid has compression.. You should try the Peterson strobe tuner. I have the StroboPlus HDC and it's excellent. Always had trouble getting my tele to sound right. Made intonation tuning much more accurate as well.

I am currently in this process, hopefully with videos to come in the future. At the end of the day, if you are happy with the results then it was worth it. In your video I do hear an improvement overall with each step, but certain variables are making the change, if that makes sense. On my guitar when I changed the bridge and the strings (which I did first) made a big improvement. The guitar originally sounded "dead", and after the change it became much brighter with more sustain. I also think it comes from the way the tremolo is set up. I haven't changed the nut yet, but I did a lot of work on it to it to get it right. On my guitar I HAD to change the tuners because I received a bad low E tuner right out of the box, And my tremolo block was defective from the factory as well. So that had to be done just for functionality. With the change in electronics you will definitely notice a difference in performance, pot rolloff and better tone with a better capacitor. That may or may not be noticeable on video. Also adding a treble bleed to a guitar that didnt have it originally will also change everything quite a bit. The wilkinson pickups overall are not that much different from the stock, but I do hear a clearer tone with a little more brightness, which I do like. Cool video, I did enjoy it, and I hope you are happy with the changes. Sounds good on my end.

I never mod guitars/basses to sound ‘better’ because who decides what better is. I mod them to be what I want :D my perfect may be someone else’s idea of playing hell! Great videos by the way. I have been enjoying watching them since I found your channel last night.

"I believe our perception of sound, much like our perception of color, is highly subjective. Just as individuals who are colorblind perceive colors differently without it impacting their daily lives (as I learned from a TED Talk), our auditory experiences can vary greatly without necessarily being a hindrance. In my opinion, the Alnico V pickups do produce a distinct sound compared to the original guitar pickups, but the difference, to my ears, is subtle at best. One crucial factor to consider is that I’m not physically present to hear the guitar live. Instead, I’m relying on my computer’s processor and speakers to deliver the sound, which may not fully capture the nuances of the live experience. To form a more informed opinion, I would need to perform the upgrades myself and hear the results firsthand. At this point, my impressions are based solely on the video. Therefore, I can’t definitively confirm or deny whether the pickups made a significant difference in the sound."

These seem like a really good and CHEAP name brand mod platform. Would love to drop some fender noiseless vintage pups in there and some MIM tuners and a bone nut in there. Sounded better with the original nut vs the Tusq nut, but of course that’s through RU-vid on an iPhone. What really matters is how it sounds in the room in front of that amp. It all comes down to preference. My only real suggestion other than noiseless fender vintage pickups(which new are 2x the cost of the guitar sadly) is shielding the everloving hell out of the cavities and under the bridge, pick guard etc to eliminate some of that single coil hum. Also can you confirm the routing under the pick guard was HSH? Heard it was but haven’t seen one in person with the guard off yet. Seems like a solid platform if that’s the case. And a follow up if you’re ever pulling things off and have a fender laying around… are the parts guard etc 1 for 1 with regard to interchangeability with fender and squire hardware? Like if someone buys fender branded loaded pick guards are they a drop in replacement?

I had a knob with a whole shaft pull out of one of my guitars when taking knob off also. Like it was a different kind of pot than usual. You could actually pop it back in. But i changed that crap out.

Playing starts at 5:00 mins

Good video though!

I like your modifications, I think it sounds a little better. But the difference is not that noticeable. Still, it's a very nice guitar for the money. Awesome comparison video.

You mentioned that you used the larger replacement tone and volume pots, did you have to do any routing because I have had difficulty in the past trying to use the larger pots on import guitars especially telecasters and did you use a 35 or 36mm short block tremolo because since Squiers have thinner bodies if you use a 39mm or 40mm block the springs tend to rattle more and rub against the tremolo cover which is something that I discovered recently. Interesting experiment but a lot of things like tone as you mention tend to be subjective. I think the modifications a lot of times are for more durable components and to improve the playability of the guitar such as avoiding cutting one's fingers on the frets.

Honestly, I listened with with AKG 240 headphones and based on what I heard, the endeavor was a waste of time. I agree the original pickups sounded slightly better. I hope you get back into making videos on what I thought was going to be your "niche" , trials and tribulations as you progress in learning Vectric software for CNC routing your own electric guitar bodys on your Long Mill MK2 CNC router.

The pickups definitely made a difference. You can dial the tone back on the bridge pickup like I think most people do anyway, but the notes did seem more defined with the new pickups. Nut and trem, I didn't really notice any difference but they're more about tuning stability anyway, or hand comfort for the saddles. How much did those mods cost in comparison to buying the next price level of Squier?

I think if you really want to get to the bottom of it you'll have to get one of these picking levers and then put the signal into a computer and see if you can do a test or perhaps see whether the first three or four seconds is larger between the steel or chrome block. Otherwise, if you just listen to it you'll be swayed by your own bias or other people's biases or if you're feeling good or bad that day. Or maybe a company offers you premium brass saddles... The state of material science in guitars is dismal. We are a little more than monks during the Middle Ages; defending the faithful, using argument by Authority, and hoping alchemy will turn lead into gold.

Both pickups sounded too bright for my taste, I have to use my EQ pedal to adjust my Strats brightness and I have Texas Specials fitted.

Sustain is overrated. No one plays clean notes that last for 10s in a piece of music. Sustain is an issue when fret buzz chokes certain notes dead in their tracks. The real quality here is the high end: anything that reduces sustain also reduces the high end and that is what one would miss.

Too bright is not a problem in electric instruments. It would be on an acoustic one which is heard in the room without processing but anything that goes through an amp will be toned down to taste. I wonder what pots are ín this guitar. Squiers used to come with 500 KOhm pots which leave a lot of brightness through. I heard much more clarity in the new pick-ups, which I value for clean tones.

What was the weight of the guitar, I forget?

"Increases harmonic content and richness" - that's marketing bullshit to say "higher frequency range", aka "more treble" (because a softer material will dampen vibrations, as Paul Reed Smith's proverbial dried chewing gum does). The nut only impacts the tone of open strings, obviously.

Show, don't tell.

That's a lot of time and money for maybe a small (maybe) real world improvement. In my experience a very good guitar player could make it sound like he wants just with his technique.

The biggest differences I noticed was the new pickups are brighter. The stock was more muted. All together it seemed that most of the differences would be easily changed by technique and amp /pedal settings changes. Not a horrible sounding guitar either way.

Not really.

"Squier". Says so right there on the fucking headstock.

Man, no offense, but all I hear is a horribly out of tune guitar. In every sample. It’s unlistenable.