Fender Squier 51

strat body with tele neck presician bass pickgaurd(i think).
humbucker in bridge with coil tap single coil for neck pickup
maple neck and fret board.

I play blues and hendrix stuff,this guitar has a very very clean unaltered tone,i have a 1994 fender strat and this guitars tone seems to be less muffled as my strats tone,but my strats tone is stronger and thicker,more in your face.the 51 does have a very nice tone though.

i got the guitar used,so i set it up with .13s.got really low nice playable action.and the neck seems thicker than my strats neck even though they are both c shaped necks,the neck is a very light color so im thinking about tinting it.

very durable guitar it will be used as a backup for my strat,or the opposite i want to gig this a couple times and see how it does,

never used it and probably wont need it

i really like the neck on it,the action is good,intonation is good.i really like the guitar alot,i will probably never sell it,maybe.

For a cheap guitar this has all you could want, different tones from the humbucker and single coil pickups, coil splitting, solid construction etc.

Mine sounds great, though it's been modded. But from what I've heard on youtube it sounds fine stock. I don't think people mod the 51 because it needs it but because the low price, quality construction and cool configuration make it a modders dream.

The 51's I have couldn't play better, buttery action, good feel and easy to play.

Built like a tank, worse that could happen is the usual finish chips and dings.

Fender is easy enough to deal with but I can't imagine why you'd need to call them about cheap guitar that's no longer in production.

Great value for the 51. Solid as a rock, both of mine have a one piece neck, crazy for a guitar that at one time sold new for as low as $99. Both of mine were bought used and had been modded but were still a great value at $165, you'd could buy a better guitar for that kind of money.

I'm not sure what year it was made. It was made in Indonesia. 21 Frets. 1 Volume knob, one 3 way pickup switch (the previous owner modded it).
Pickup configuration: S/H. The neck pickup is stock, I believe, and the bridge pickup is upgraded to a GFS Retrotone Humbucker. Maple neck, maple fretboard, basswood body. It has a strat style body. The bridge stop tail. The tuners are stock. The neck is relatively thin.

I like to play experimental type music, like post rock, shoegaze, but I also love to play surf rock and some blues. It is an incredible guitar for pretty much anything that requires a strat-like tone, with less noise and no tremolo arm. I play it through a Fender FM 212R (great amp!), my Big Muff, Boss ME 50 and several DOD pedals. It's surprisingly not noisy, even on the single coil neck pickup (I happen to enjoy noise, though). It has incredible sound ont he neck pickup, very fendery and strat-like. Slightly twangier in the neck. The GFS bridge pickup is surprisingly loud and toneful for a humbucker. Inbetween, it still sounds bright and bridgy.
I love the sound, it's incredible, it sounds generally as good ans my MIM Fender Strat- that's a shock, considering I have a Squier Strat and the case is completely different.

The action is excellent, it's pretty high, the way I live it. No fretbuzz.
The neck pickup is slightly low, maybe that's why it's so much more quiet than the bridge pickup. I kind of don't like that variance, it makes for unequal tone, but I bought this guitar used, so it was set up by the previous guy. Everything is properly routed.
No flaws, save for tiny dings and the volume knob is loose.

This guitar will definitely survive, I can tell. Feels amazing. The hardware looks like it will last, I need to get the tone knob glued in or something.
The finish is pretty durable. Strap buttons are solid. It's a dependable guitar, I would love to go on stage with it; as I said, I honestly see, in terms of quality, no difference between this and my Fender MIM Strat.

It can gig without backup for sure, but I would replace the tuners perhaps just in case, although they too are surprisingly durable. One necessary upgrade though is the nut, plastic squier nuts suck.

I wish I knew the year it was made. I have a Fender MIM Strat and I'm planning on buying a USA Strat deluxe or Jazzmaster sometime soon.
I love its strat blend with the tele look, makes for a very unique looking guitar. It has a beautiful sunburst finish, although if the pickguard was black it would look even better (it is white). I would definitely buy another one if it was stolen. I love the neck pickup and its slight slant, it gives it a fender mustang type sound- slightly twangier than a strat neck.

I wish it had a better nut, maybe a bone or L.S.R nut, and a floating tremolo- that would be incredible! I also wish the body was Alder, but this Basswood is incredibly vibrant and light, I have no problem with it.

I have a Squier Strat and in terms of quality it is nowhere near this guitar. I'd honestly say I'd prefer this gutiar over my MIM strat, and my MIM Strat is my baby.

Don't know what year - sold it a while ago. Changed nut, filed fret ends, sanded back of neck, otherwise stock.

Based on price, this is a ridiculously good sounding guitar. Like most, I purchased this on clear-out for less than the price of a good pedal. Again, rating factors in price paid. One pickup was way better than the other, can't remember which, but you could get better tone than any Mexican fender (save the Classic Player series) with that pickup.

Lousy, but you get what you pay for, and you get more tone than you pay for with this baby. Bridge needs to be replaced. Fret ends protruded. Intonation not set up from factory (some cheap guitars are set up, e.g. OLP). Plastic nut. Tuners not as bad as everyone says. loctite the shaft so they stay in the headstock. Tighten the screws on the ends a little, and not too bad. One rockin' stock pickup, on OK.

Bridge will rattle eventually no matter how much time you spend setting it up properly. Cheap Asian pig-iron low-tolerance machining. Again, you get what you pay for. Swap that out, and there's nothing really wrong with this guitar.

Never used it.

I've been playing acoustic for many years - lost track a long time ago. Electric for maybe five years. Great tone for the price. Some cheap upgrades and you could be happy with this guitar for a long time. I wouldn't buy another one as I'm mostly back to acoustic. Based on price plus upgrades, still great bang for the buck.

Body: basswood
Neck: maple, C-shape with polyurethane finish 21 medium jumbo Frets, hard-tail 6-saddle bridge,

1 single-coil Strat pickup (neck), 1 hot humbucking pickup (bridge)
3-position rotary selector Switch, push/pull coil selector Switch (on master volume pot)

Great finish - Sunburst

I have been playing since I was 7yo. I leaned classical and later rock, country, folk, blues. I stopped play for about 10 years, and sold my electric. Just decided to go back and play found this for $100 on e-bay. Great and flexible guitar. Rock, Blues, Jazz, anything. Sound is awesome. If you can find one snatch it up. The sound is awesome through either my premier amp or Fender GDEC.

Plenty of variety with the 5 selections of neck and bridge pickup, plus the advantage of coil cut on the humbucker. Stock pickups are great, though you could mod them easy enough.

Could have another pickup in the middle position but with the humbucker it is not a real issuer

Excellent condition for a used guitar. I hear the fit and finish varied, but from all I have read and seen, these are well made guitars.

Very reliable though I have not had it long. Definitely a gig guitar without backup. (You should always have a backup!)

Have never had to call.

This is a great guitar, and was highly under-rated. Squier 51's are probably more popular now than when they were in production. I will not be modding this one and found others who have also not modded or just given them a slight tweak, like upgrading the bridge or replacing one of the pickups.

Get one, play it for a while before you consider modding it.

Love this guitar.

Very meat and potatos guitar. 3 way rotary switch coil tapped humbucker in the bridge pickup and slant orientation single coil strat style pickup with a top laoding hardtail bridge. This was the stock configuration. Tele style neck 1 piece maple. I bought this guitar to mod out. Out of the box it's really good but very basic. Body was blonde polyeurathane finish. I refinished it same color but with nitrocellous. Black single ply pickguard.

Again I bought this to hot rod. Out of the box though it's really impressive sounding. Coil tap is strat sounding. Full humbucker is very bluesy lots of tonal varity even without a master tone. The neck pickup to me sounds somewhere between a strat and tele. Very nice sounding for a Squier. I was really impressed and saved the the electronics for a future project.

Well I don't expect anything to come out of the factory set up to my taste. Had some sharp fret edges, didn't take a lot to fix that. Frets are tall narrow frets still I like them.

I didn't really give it a chance. I completly modded mine out repaint, Got a vintage Seamour Duncan tele Pickup and coil tapped humbucker for it. Custom short tele style ashtray bridge 3 brass compensated saddles. As it is now, I'd put it against anything else out there in a test of endurance.

Don't know never used them.

This is a great modders guitar. I enjoyed working on it over the past 40 days. Stock they're really nice, it's different and will stand out. If you've got a collection and are looking for something that will stand out and be different pick one up if you can find them. These were the first among the vintage modified series so they're on par with Squier Standard seires, maybe better. I love this thing especially after modding.

Ok, don't know what year it was made because I bought it used, and with a replacement neck. I bought a stock 51 neck off ebay and swapped it on. I've had this guitar about 6 months now.

The rest of the features are more or less stock, except for a replacement humbucker in the bridge position. I only know this because the coil tap doesn't work, and when I took it to get it reconnected I was told the humbucker was 2-conductor instead of 4-conductor. Not sure if the neck pickup is stock or not.

The body is of the tobacco-burst variety. The pickguard is probably the stock one, but has been sprayed black, and the top half has been cut to be more or less strat-shaped. Looks odd, but really cool.

Apart from the neck, the only mod I have made is swapping off the knobs and putting on some Jaguar-style black ones.

The neck, despite the headstock, is NOT a Tele neck. This neck is chunky, like a baseball bat. Took some getting used to at first, but now I am used to it and really like it. The wood is nice maple, with a few birds-eyes scattered about.

In all, I have a unique, not-so-hot-rod of a guitar. I like it.

As for features, not much at all.

The guitar sounds AMAZING. I play with no effects, through a Marshall MG-10, with the contour set to 8. The humbucker (I have no idea what it is!) sounds really great. Mid-rangey, grunty, and strong, it sounds almost like a Les Paul-type grunt. Very full sound. I imagine it would sound great distorted, but I haven't tried it. Sounds good with the amp overdriven.

The neck pickup is totally different and equally impressive. It sounds like a strat. And I mean it REALLY sounds like a strat. Lots of pick attack, very clean, clucky and plucky. Just a beautiful clean sound.

Despite the lack of a tone control, neither pickup sounds overly trebly or harsh. But I still would like a tone control for the variety it offers.

But for what it is now, 10's all the way !

I have no idea about the factory setup. I had it professionally done, and it came out quite well. The action is a little higher than I would like, but everything else is spot-on.

For the strings, I have d'Addario strings, either 10-46 or 11-48. I don't remeber which.

I have to be careful adjusting the piickup heights, because if I bring them too close to the strings, they fall back into the route, which is a pain in the butt to correct. This is especially the case with the bridge pickup.

In all, no major flaws, just as long as I leave it alone.

The guitar would definitely stand up to live playing, even without a backup. But I'm sure no self-respecting working musician would gig without a backup.

The guitar seems very duarable, but I should change the pickup height adjustment screws for longer ones.

It's a Squier, they're built like mini-tanks.

No idea, I go to a luthier

I've been playing about 9 years, but have only gotten serious and made real progress in the past 9 months. I have already mentioned my amp, and I also own 3 other Squier guitars: an 07 Jagmaster, an 01 Affinity Tele, and an 08 Affinity Strat. The 51 is by far the best sounding of the bunch, but the neck is toughest to play.

If lost or stolen, I would definitely try to get another one of these, but would probably leave it more or less stock. I'd try to find a blonde.

I do wish it had a tone control, but that lack is also part of the guitars thrown-together charm.

In all, a pretty good guitar that oozes unique style and charm. She may not look like much, but the sound sure packs a punch...

Mine was made... Oh I haven't really bothered to check the serial number yet. I bought it off craigslist with the original strings still on her. She's got 21 frets. Basswood body, maple fingerboard. Push pull pot. Mine was sunburst with an AWFUL AWFUL bright white pickguard. The sunburst finish is beautiful. She's got a humbucker in the bridge and a single coil in the neck. Passive pickups. Both of them are pretty decent pickups for the price. It's a strat body with a tele neck. I don't really mind the bridge.

I play in the OSU jazz band and have a local gigging "rock" band. I have my 51' and a epi les paul (Hey, I'm a college student, I'm poor, maybe one day I'll be able to afford a Gibson. But it's the player, not the gear that counts anyways). I run her through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I've only swapped out the tubes to JJs. Beautiful Fender single coil sound. It's not noisy at all even at high volumes in gigs. She's got a pretty full single coil sound and a meaty bucker sound. There's TONS of variety you could do. I'm a huge Clapton fan so I play tons of blues but also jazz, pop, rock, etc. This guitar does it all. FOR ONLY 100 DOLLARS you couldn't ask for more.

The factory had the action pretty high. The pickups were perfect and the finish is BEAUTIFUL. Uh pickguard SUCKS. I changed to to the pearl deluxe pickguard from guitarfetish.com. It looks so nice. The neck is awesome and not too thin or thick. Although it's kinda weird... the neck seems to be slightly thicker as it progresses from bolt to tuners. The guitar needs to be adjusted and set up, but all guitars do. Even Gibson customs. Everyone has their own preferences.

She has withstood tons of gigging. Solid guitar. Hardware will last. Finish is thick and beautiful. Straps... uh put locks on if you're gigging. This is my main/backup guitar. I switch between 51' and LP depending on mood.

I would imagine it would suck. Go to your local tech. Never needed them yet.

I've been playing for years now and spent countless days in GC playing every guitar I could ever dream of owning. This stands up to the best of them. I would buy one if it got lost. Now that I've upgraded the pickguard it's perfect. I just wish it could make me breakfast.

Ordered two of these guitars in 2007.
NOS as its been discontinued for awhile.

#1 Black/White showed up with a one piece maple neck.
A gorgeous paint and neck and all hardware in immaculate shape.
Flawless I must admit.

#2 Sunburst showed with a 2 piece maple, curly maple top-piece on the neck. Very eye catching. And for this price! a gorgeous guitar.

I love the hardtail. The Fender-ish design is all here, really a fun guitar. Tele neck, Strat body, P-bass pickguard single ply.

Single in front, Hum in back, with split knob for the running the hum in seperate coil mode.


I prefer the 1.68 neck(US Standard Strat 2000 and on).
Gibson LesPaul lovers enjoy the tighter spaced strings.

The SQUIER 51 is 1.65", bigger than the Squier Strats at 1.61 and others. The Squier 51 is in the middle. C-shaped 9.5, very nice in my opinion.

1.65 the strings are a few thousandths closer together (near exact to the Gibson Les Paul's in general).

I notice it!! many players won't.

For $10 and some filing a new Strat nut will space the strings a bit more, but I'm too lazy most likely.(we're talking thousandths of an inch here!)




Its very different than my US Standard Stratocaster, but really a great guitar.

Thee neck was gorgeous to me. The sound of the humbucker was not my fav Humbucker. It had more of a Dimarzio sound, both the soft tone, LP with the flip switch between the Rythm and Treble.
Most people have their setting and it stays there. This has a great tone in the front and I leave it there 90% the time.

These are Standard pickups that can be changed out like any guitar.

Compared to many other guitars....I give this one a 10. Only because Sound is subjective. I hear and play $1800 guitars that suck. Some do, some don't...some have "your" vibe some don't.

Setup from the factory was ok. My US $1,000 Strat was re-setup when it arrived....so what's the beef?

People spend hundreds and hundreds fixing up expensive guitars, so out-of-box setup on this $100 guitar isn't an issue. It was fine.

As a gearhead, I played with the setup some using a tuner. All was well.

Put on new strings is all I had done. Wipe the guitar down....smiled.

Its been over 4 weeks no issues. Its a maple neck and basswood body. It appears to be a great guitar..

Live playing this guitar is probably as good as 80% of them. I won't say and haven't tested this out.

however you drop a $2500 LesPaul down the stairs at a gig and a $100 guitar....which one will depress you financially?
If your friend accidentally raises the guitar up and runs the headstock into the ceiling fan!! Which one will have a bigger financial depression attached?

This guitar is solid. The tuning pegs feel nice, its a good guitar. BAsswood is softer, there are expenisve guitars made of Basswood.

As I read it, Basswood is in between Alder(STrat) and the Mahogony (LesPauls).

For $100 this is a great guitar. Is a $3400 Les Paul better? It has some better wood and better chrome plating, maybe some nice pickups...it also costs $3300 MORE!!!!

So better is relevant. For a $100 I give this Squier 51 a 10.

No Idea?

Great Forums and Happy owners and Modders are available for this guitar.

30yrs of playing.
Mostly Home Recording/Hobby now...several earlier years live.
All kinds of tastes. I've had the full range of guitars.

The neck is important to me. Probably my #1 choice preference.
There is no right or wrong, necks are for a players choice.

My favorite is the 1.68, 9.5 rad, Satin finish, rolled edges found on the US STrat 2000 and to date (9/2/2007) and vintage yellowish color. Very specific.

Nothing to do with price or brand name.

And the Squier 51 has the 9.5, and the 1.65 is noticeable but ok.
The neck can be stained with shoe polish and rubbed down and it's beautiful.

The neg's is the frets are a bit rough on the edge, in my opinion.

but for $100...I feel guilty saying anything bad, as its as good and definaitely as fun as my $1000 Stratcaster.

The 51 has a Rare factor too, its discontinued, its got the Fender-ish vibe going, its cheap,

its a great deal at $100...an amazing deal.

My 2005 '51 feats:

- black BASSWOOD body / white '50s style pickguard (Strat)
- maple neck
- fixed bridge
- standard tuners
- standard 21-fret Tele neck
- HxS pickups
- pots: 1VOL (bridge coil tap) + 1 P-UP SWITCH

It is NOT a MIDI-ready 3-pickup dual-output piezo-bridge guitar, but it does something that I could rarely find in a MIDI-ready 3-pickup dual-output piezo-bridge guitar: perfectly nailed Fat Strat and Tele sounds, with a completely no-brainer approach. I'm a simple guy. It is a very SIMPLE yet powerful design for meat-and-potatoes players like me. It is just a guitar design that has really made me smile in a long time.

It is very clever in its raw way but some people will find the design too minimal. Well, if the MIDI-ready 3-pickup dual-output piezo-bridge guitar is ten... Go for eight.

Hence its crossover nature, it can be used for anything that is banged through a guitar now'days. I used it for modern metal - worked; funk/rock - worked; country-twang - worked; laying tracks in the studio - worked; onstage abuse - worked.

With careful settings of treble and presence (aye, this beast is BRIGHT) it sounds decent - and often better than its original elder Fender MIM brothers - through any piece from my amps. Tonewise I have no complains: basically, tone is in the fingers and the '51 is a nice playground for them. It is Strat when I want to sound like a Strat and it's Tele with an attitude. I'm a modder freak so it is quite odd that I have no desire to change pickups this time. They just sing well for me. Actually, I prefer it to stock Fenders because it does have some distinctive character beyond owning the tone of stereotypical Strats and Teles.

Downside: if you want to go onstage with this ax you MUST change bridge adjust screws. The original ones on mine were too small and they started to dance out when I started to dance in. Bigger screws - problem solved. With this little fix it can become your super lo-cost gig-axe that can take beats. Anyway, I have no desire to bang it around too much. It's such a nice simple old-fashioned little gal.

About rating... Well, it is definitely not your classy Music Man or Fender Custom Shop tone, but in the $100 category I can not pick a better axe. It is strictly subjective, but the ones that for me come close conisdering feel and vibe start about $600...

Fat ten here.

Right out of the box it was sooo perfect that I needed four hours of setup, re-screwing and worrying about with 20 years of practice as an axeman/techie. Well, shiny metal and plastic things were screwed loosely on the thing all over, oh yeah there was some foamy wrap rip-rap and there were six or some wires, too. I just got a screwdriver, took everything apart and put together with care, put on wires that deserve the term "STRING" and I live happily even after.

I wouldn't like the idea of being attacked with one in a dark street. It's... Solid.

Well, there is a big no-no for packing workers... But anyway, the CNC lathes were well programmed, the materials are pretty decent, fits are okay - just grab your tools to get high. Change the loose bridge height adjustment screws with bigger ones and get higher. Otherwise, it's a problem-free pupp. Deserves a seven.

It is absolutely okay, keeps tune well and tends not to fall apart in nasty conditions. After a proper setup you can go hunting with the little bastard. Attaching a bayonett or a scope might be a lil' challenging - but playing a setful of Yngwie Malmsteen solos are FAR MORE challenging, for ex.

The official dealer is a great guy here. The max rating is for him. Well, and for the fact that after a poolful amount of beer intake he can still play any note-perfect anything from anyone.

So, there are subjective things that drive you to make a choice. My car dealer is a huge Metallica fan, my boss loves Dream Theater, my dentist is a helluva Hammond organ player and a diehard John Lord fan... You get the idea.

I love to get cheap and rare guitars with character and upgrade them radically to fool people. My fav setup is my Warmoth LPS axe through a JD Hendrix Special wah and a juicy JCM900 SL-X. During the years (since '89, approx) I have gone through an amount of guitars, amps and gadgets. I sold most of them by now because I realised that I need only a 2-pickup guitar, a wah and a cranked tube amp sitting on a Celestion Greenbacked cab to make me smile so I invested the money coming from excess guitar gear in mic preamps, soundcards and microphones instead. Now I only have a couple of 2-pickup guitars, wahs and amps around: Warmoth LPS (stellar), Hohner L75 (pickup testbed, nice backup axe, with the best neck dimensions ever), luthier-made EVH (for Eddie's Eruption's sake), Essex E-6 (bad rare guitar with good tone), Squier '51 (you know), Marshall JCM800 50W (hot Marsh), Marshall JCM900 SL-X 50W (hotter Marsh), Selmer T'n'B (Beatles generator), Laney AOR Super Lead (praise Vinnie Moore), Diezel VH4S (the best amp emulation ever), Cry Babies, Klotz cables, Neutrik plugs, TLAudio and Focusrite preamps, Shure and Rode mics, Echo soundcards, M-Audio monitors, Mackie, Mitsubishi, Adidas... Okay, enuff.


The Squier '51 was the biggest surprise for me in years. I love this guitar just the way it is. I love its features and reliability for its ridiculously low price tag. I hate the fact that Squier stopped its production this year.

I would gladly steal one (or persuade someone to lose it any day). Well, if I had the attitude, of course.

The '51 is a simple, sweet looking, nice redneck girl: it won't show you everything for the first sight but once you get in touch, you get touched really naaaasty. In cases it's not the best looking classy girls from the best families are the best to funkeety-funk with.

Go dirty. It's good to wanton in a haybale with them gals. Don't bang for the buck. Bang for the bang. Get a '51.

(...and never let yourself be fooled by commercial masterminds...)