Bought squire strat pack in1998, $125.00 for little amp ,tuner, strap. Never did any kind of set up on it for years, about eight years ago did proper set up and it transformed the guitar...it's actually my favorite guitar now....unbelievable! It just fits and feels like home. I was going to buy a fender player strat but after checking out a few of them ,decided the squire strat was just fine...so I bought an amp instead and epiphone les paul...lol Put loaded pick guard from stew mac in it for fifty bucks and the squire strat is awesome, only reason I switched pickup was volume tone pots wete acting up...sounds great .
Can I just say that playing at the start was just beautiful it reminded me a lot of rpg’s from the 90’s before the gain kicked in that is and that was equally as impressive I really like your style this channel is slept on glad to be a sub.
I set a friend's kid's cheapo squier strat a few months ago - after a lot of basic work (action, intonation , truss rod, fret polish, slight nut work, it's great, but most people don't know how to do it or have someone who does
With modern CNC methods, as long as the material is good then it should be possible to churn out decent guitars. Of course, the baseline design has to be good but, once you have that, the incremental design costs are, literally, zero.
I love my 'old' Squire Strats............... real rosewood finger and excellent frets. Wish I could play 1/10 as well as you. You make some nice music with that cheap Strat.
Funny, I had a Squier (which I love) and an Ibanez RG350DX which I hated. The Squier had an alder body, maple neck, rosewood (like...never really knew ) fretboard, cheap electroncis and I loved paying it...(still do...more to come). The Ibanez had a basswood body, maple/rosewood neck, Edge trem. The Ibanez ended up in the garbage...that's how much I hated it. The Squier got allot of new things as a project guitar that cost more than the original axe, and I STILL love playing it and love it even more than I did originally. Ibanez, about $800.00 Squier, about $200.00 (originally). There it is.
I got the 2 tone sunburst one and I really like it. It's the cheapest of my 6 Strats, but it's built really well. The only shortcoming is the electronics, but I just happen to have a loaded pickguard I put together with alnico v pickups and an upgraded wiring/pots harness that I'll install in it as soon as I'm done procrastinating. I also have a spare set of cheap locking tuners that I'll install on it as well.
It’s good to see those entry level Squires to be serviceable instruments. To give a young guitarist something that he/she recognizes as cool and used by their musical idols is really motivating. My first guitar in the 60’s was an acoustic steel string with a high action that was difficult to play. I dropped it after a few moths and didn’t pick up another guitar till I was 19 and bought a lovely Yamaha classical guitar after falling in love with flamenco of all things.
Another great video John.. I have an Affinity Strat and there's something just right about it. It doesn't weigh much and it's so easy and satisfying to play. I can spend hours just noodling away with it. Pleasant on many levels. It sounds like a Strat for £170. Yeah, I've put some locking tuners on it and had it set up but yeah great. I might replace the pick-ups and electronics which I'm sure will make it even better. Your playing is superb once again. It sounds like something 10 times its value! Just great..
I'm tempted to get one for nostalgic reasons. My first guitar was essentially Squier this with a gloss finish. So long as the frets are solidly in place and level, a little patience and effort can turn a guitar like this into something much nicer.
I think you just sold me on one of these ....The matte finish looks great in my opinion.....It sounds great....If you didn't know and you listened you would think this was a much more expensive guitar.....Some Really Nice playing.....Great Demo!!! Thanks!!!!....I don't really need another guitar.....but the price....What the heck
People always talk about sound, but you buy an "expensive" guitar for the feel of it. Theres no way people could tell this was a squire if you just did a sound comparsion to something more expensive...squier sounds great, like a strat...but probably doesnt feel "solid"
Very good point. And how a guitar feels in the hand and the player’s feelings towards it can affect how you play. I’m sure we’ve all owned a guitar we “hated” and didn’t much enjoy, and another we “loved” and found inspiring to play.
It can go the other way too. I have a Squier Bullet Strat that I just can’t put down because it just feels right, comfortable neck, super light (6 lbs) and perfectly balanced. I’d pay way more for a replica with better parts.
Thats true but the real question is if that..."feel" thing is built in to the construction of the instrument or it can be easily changed with a couple of strategic mods and how those mods really cost....for example some pay for a custom shop to have a rolled fretboard and some do it with a...scotchbrite or a fine sanding block....
Bless your heart! You could play a cigar box with a 1 x 2 for a neck with some wire off an old screen door for strings and it would sound like a very very expensive guitar...
I had done a review of this guitar as well. I wish I could get the Telecaster that’s offered in the UK only. Unfortunately wouldn’t get to US before September and would cost $294 US because of taxes and other charges
Amazon U.S. says: Top Material Type Poplar Wood Body Material Poplar Back Material Type Poplar Neck Material Type Maple Fretboard Material Type Laurel Wood Guitar Pickup Configuration S-S-S String Material Type Nickel For $120 you cannot expect much at all...for a beginner, in my opinion this would be a turn off. I'd put a Squier Affinity in their hands for a $100 more...or a Classic Vibe if you have any hopes of them continuing or if you want to resell it. I wouldn't waste $120 and just add $100 for something better.
I might agree though a quick search told me the Affinity's use Poplar too. CV's use Nato, I don't know if that's any better, but atleast the other parts and construction will be better. You can get 15% off too pretty much any day of the year at most online stores. So it's really just $70 extra.
Sounds like many of the guitars I've heard on your channel. The Pickups may sound slightly scratchy. This is something I've occasionally heard on Pickups purported to have ceramic magnets. I'd be tempted to lower the Pickups a little to see if that makes any difference and smoothes out the tone a little. 🤷
What I’d like to see is this model up against the Squier Sonic series Strat. Like what does the extra $70 dollars get you if you go with the Sonic series?
If it makes a back up it is pretty solid. And for kids that haven't much to spend worth considering...or save up. Yet when you're young you don't have much time 😅
I dunno man. I have played my 40th anniversary Squier strat (seafoam) professionally for a year. It never goes out of tune unless I move it to a different environment (humidity) and sounds just as good as my fender. In my opinion. And I like the neck better. My Squier Tele as well, but I dropped a Seymour Duncan hot rails and fender knobs and switch in that one. Just to kill the humm. Love it.
I use a squier classic vibe 60s tele. Never EVER goes out of tune on me. I upgraded the pickups so it could handle more gain, thats it. Absolutely love it
I wish I had my first couple of electric guitars, just to compare to today's cheap, beginner guitars. I don't recall what brand my first couple of guitars were, but I do remember having a Squier strat as a teenager and I loved that guitar! It might have been a POS, Idk. I didn't know any better.
Hey John, have you ever tried Donner Guitars? i've heard that they have a decent 335 with the price of squier bullet. I've tried it once and i was amazed by the fret job on guitar of that price range. You should try that guitar!
His playing reminds me of one of those documentaries you see on Amazon Prime about musicians or bands, but they don't have the license to their music, so the sound track sounds just oike this.
I bought one just to screw around with it. I was pretty impressed with the quality for a ~$100 guitar. It definitely stands up the cheap Chinese knock offs that are cornering that market, even better than the beginner Epiphones, and that's saying a lot as I prefer that style of neck and heads over fender style. The biggest beef is what most beginner guitars have, the frets are sharp and need to be filed down better. I'll probably return it or sell it to a beginner. A+ for intro beginner guitar, and getting your value on what you pay for.
Most importantly, after purchasing any stringed instrument, but guitars in particular; is to have it setup and reworked to YOUR preferences for your playing. No singular setup works for everybody, so take the time to learn your preference and communicate that with an experienced luthier (aka not just the guy at the local guitar shop who just learned how to do setups last year.) Search for a luthier with experience and reputation, your money will be well spent.
Ha Ha... Would I buy that guitar for my son ? I actually prefer Archtops (as electric guitars) and Acoustics... but bought a Squier BulletStrat (HSS) some years ago and played it through a 'Blues Junior' 15 watt and an old 1984 VOX 10 watt that just will not wear out ! Great with both Amps and lots of fun... Now my lad has it and the VOX Amp... It is worth more than I paid for it and yet the selling price made it easy to consider buying... An honest value purchase, you could say... Yup... I like that Squier Strat in your hands... It's a "Goodie" ! 🤠...
When they don't list the wood, it'sn cheap wood, but theat's to be expected at this price range. Have you tried any Harley Benton guitars? Quite a nice value for the money,...
The wood does not make as much as a difference as you think it might - the expensive woods are the ones that make the greatest stress on the tooling . Maple is very expensive due to its high sugar content, therefore causes more wear on the tooling .
If you have a kid who wants a fender Strat… save up some money… go on marketplace and find a used Mexican Strat and have a tech do a set up. It’ll say fender on it so it’ll feel like the real deal to a kid. These budget guitars aren’t for beginners. These guitars are for old guys who like to tinker and mod. Personally I just let my kid play mine 😂
i have a Fender sunburst '54 repo that I love. I want a Fender black strat/maple neck (think Hendrix' Band of Gypsies or Clapton's Blackie). Squier makes a guitar like that in their Classic VIbes series. I've played one and it's just like a Fender to me. I'll get that one instead of the Fender. 👍👍👍
Throw enough effects on a guitar and you can no longer tell what the guitar sounds like. Clearly the amp/modeler+effects have more of an impact on the sound of a guitar than the actual guitar or pickups. But yeah, these seem like very serviceable instruments.
Can you go down to your local pawn shop and buy a legitimately bad guitar and do that again? I want to know it wasn’t just me. (It probably was though)
It's a "licensed fender product"...by that logic, it's not a strat copy per se but a legit strat, just a cheaper variant...it does annoy the crap out of me though when people list a squier as a fender
It’s odd how many guitar RU-vidrs just happen to “BUY” the same guitar at the same time. Also, happens to be a new fender Amazon exclusive. Coincidences are really weird,aren’t they?
They do buy it. It's worth it for them due to affiliate links. They all are doing it because chances are if the guitar doesn't totally suck and they can say something good about it, then surely someone who watches the video will use their affiliate link, and they'll get paid. With a guitar so cheap, many people will buy without thinking twice about it. The pricing is in "impulse buy" territory, and so everyone's trying to get a piece of the impulse pie while it's still relevant. however, I'm not sure why JNC here chose not to have an affiliate link in the description in this case. Perhaps a small investment for content? also, you could totally be right, so there's that too. Peace!
Did you make this video for beginners looking for their first guitar or a "Look what I can do" to other guitar players? I'm thinking the latter. If for beginners why don't you start by explaining what "Normal" means? I can make the cheapest guitar sound like a Hammond organ if I wanted to. The sound and your playing doesn't equal views or sell guitars. Good luck to your channel.
This is basically a bullet neck on an affinity body with cheap hardware and paint. I'd be more inclined to spend a little more for maybe something like an entry level Ibanez for a kid. I love Squier but this thing just screams cheap junk. It looks like it feels cheap too. That's the fastest way to turn a kid off to learning how to play. No kid wants to play some cheap piece of crap, I know I didn't. This guitar is more like just a wall decoration that happens to be nominally functional. At least it's only $120, I'll give it that.