Fender Squier 51

2005, Made in indonesia. Sunburst finish. Bridge position humbucker with pull-knob coil tap, and single coil neck position pickup. Strat-style body with Tele-style neck and old school P-bass style pick guard and control strip.

Interesting control setup: knurled metal volume knob with a pull-up coil-tap, and a knurled metal rotary pickup selector where the tone knob would normally be.

When playing, I usually let the guitar ring out with the tone @ 10, so I don't miss the tone control knob. If I need to knock some edge off the twang, I just roll off the volume knob a small bit and it pretty much does the same thing as a tone knob.

Not everyone will prefer this setup, but so far I like it. One small gripe is that the knob-style pickup selector isn't as fast as a strat-style pickup selector, nor do you know what position it's in when looking at it.

Awesome sounding Tele-like twang with a bit more balls. The humbucker kicks arse without being terribly out of balance volume-wise with the single coil neck pickup. It's also a brighter sounding humbucker that can generate a jangley strat-like bell-tone with the right amp and the right settings.

This guitar sounds great regardless of price, but at $149.00 I think it's a great value.

Overall this is a great looking guitar, but sorry Fender, there are problems.

The first one I bought looked great, had nicely matched wood grain under the evenly applied sunburst finish. Unfortunately, when I got home the neck-position single coil pickup died on me within the first 24 hours. I took it back to Guitar Center and exchanged it for one whose pickups all worked. When I got that one home, I noticed that one of the screws on the pick guard was screwed in at an angle [nothing major, but definitely a flaw not found on high-end guitars]. I also noticed that one of the 6 screws on top of the tuning pegs was black, whereas the other 5 were chrome. Again, nothing major, but this is not something you should see on an American-made Strat.

The action and intonation were acceptable, but not exactly finely-tuned. The finish on the neck seems thin and will probably wear off with extended use.

Aside from those quality issues, I have to say that this is still quite a good value at $149.00, plus it's a great looking guitar overall.

Aside from the lack of confidence arising from buying a brand-new guitar with a dead pickup, and then mismatched and cross-threaded screws on the replacement, I have high hopes that it will last a while. I'm sure I'll have to tighten up the screws and maybe re-solder some wires eventually. But I plan to play around with it, maybe trying out some different pickups eventually; maybe even installing a toggle pickup selector and turning the rotary pickup selector into a tone knob.

Guitar Center was very good about exchnanging the first one I bought. But they ONLY offered an exchange, as opposed to offering to fix it. This annoyed me a little because I preferred the wood grain on the first one and would have liked to have kept it if they could have gotten the neck pickup to work. I wasn't about to open it up myself and try trouble-shooting a brand-new guitar.

I've been playing a long time, primarily as a hobbyist. I jam with friends occasionally just for fun. I own a lot of different guitars [a Fender Aerodyne Strat, Fender Jimmy Vaughn Signature Series Strat, Fender Special Edition Flame-Top Tele, an Epiphone Dot Studio, a custom mahogany-body strat with solid rosewood neck, a Fender Mexican P-bass, a Taylor Big Baby, and a Fender Lead II]. In the amp department I have a Fender Blues Junior, Marshall ValveState V65R, Marshall BassState B-30, a Park G215RCD, Crate practice amp, Gas Can portable amp, and I just recently acquired a VOX Valvetronix 15W.

Of all the guitars I've owned and played, I'd say that the Squier 51 compares favorably, and at $149.00 is probably one of the best values.

This thing sounds scary-good played through my VOX Valvetronix.

--This thing has everything it (and you, if you can half play guitar,) needs-- Period!
--Sensible switching scheme-- vol., pu selector/coil tap. What eles do you need. Tone is in your finger with a little help fron the amp--saavy?
--Fret are those wonderfully goofy nails that must have been purchased from a hardware store and reworked to be guitar frets.-- Leo really was smart!
--Wood basswood-- who cares! Neck, however, is a wonderful example of an old(!) tele neck.

This is without question the best sounding $150.00 guitar out there-- assuning you can actually pay guitar with some skill.

Mediocre set-up upon arrival. Easily remedied.

It works everytime I plug it in and has yet to break or fall apart

N?A

Go buy muy pronto! All the cool kids all ready have 'em-- you need to catch up hombre

If you play a well made guitar like a G&L, PRS, upper model Fender or Gibson etc, in the $1000 to $2000 range, you will notice the budget qualities of the Squier '51 immediately. If you are used to budget guitars, you will see no difference in the Squier '51. Made in Indonesia. Basswood body with two color sunburst. They did an okay job of hiding the two glue lines in the body where the 3 pieces are joined together. I've seen some of these with very prominent glue lines. The finish is decent, but not inspiring on the body. The neck has a thin satin finish. It feels like you could rub through it with you thumb. I will probably add a coat or two of clear gloss thinned lacquer for a better feel. They rolled the top edges of the maple fretboard, after finishing the neck so they actually sanded through the finish on either side of the fretboard. The frets are somewhat high and skinny, but fit rather well for a $150 guitar. The nut is cheap white plastic and dressed like a $150 guitar. I've seen worse though. The body is thinner than a regular strat or tele, about an inch and a half, so it weighs less, which would make it travel better, but it doesn't have as solid a feel as a regular sized strat. The top mount bridge is at the lower end of the quality scale, again I've seen worse. The height adjustment screws need to be filed to keep from gouging your right hand. The pickguard fits tightly, but average quality with burrs needing to be filed. The c shape neck does fit tightly and feels solid. The pull-coil tap knob is interesting, not what you'd normally find on a $150 guitar. The treble does roll off quite a bit when turning down the volume, easy to fix with the right capacitor installed. The three way pickup selector is also interesting, but why didn't they use a standard telecaster switch? All in all a strange mixture of old and new. Like someone at the Fender custom shop had his own custom creation cloned and put into Asian production for the absolute lowest price. At any rate, I like it for travel, and beating up without feeling like I have completely devalued the instrument. It will always be worth at least $100, even if it looks like a relic.

I play roots-rock-surf-abilly-ska. Kind of a hodge-podge like this guitar. I own a Fender 65 Princeton reverb, 62 Bassman, a 68 Vibrolux reverb, a Reverend Hell-Hound, a Marshall JCM800 and a Marshall AVT20. And a PODXT. The Squier '51 covers both heavy humbucker and single coil sounds, from telecaster to Eddie Van. The humbucker is fairly quiet, but switching to single coil is noisey. They could have reverse wound the neck pickup to cancel the noise when playing with both pickups, but not for $150. The strat neck pickup is a standard budget type, as is the humbucker. Nothing here that makes you want to sit and play all day, but if you're used to budget guitars, you probably won't notice. I am going to sample different higher quality replacement pickups for Duncan and Dimarzio and see if I can up the sound quality. A pro setup would probably take this guitar up more than a few notches.

If this guitar was set up at the factory, it was almost completely lost when it shipped over here to the US. It needs more than just a set up. This guitar is a diamond or cubic zirconia in the rough. It has burrs everywhere. The neck, pickguard, nut, strap knobs, etc all need to be filed. The strings are 9's so I will be changing those out to 10's and that should fatten it up a bit sound and play wise. The tuners look like normal precision sealed tuners, but they aren't the smoothest. It's a $150 guitar made in Indonesia, because that's the cheapest place on earth to build a guitar I guess.

Should hold up to gigs, but it needs a decent case. Hardware is less than average, but should be ok. Neck finish will eventually wear off. Probably best as a back up guitar in a live situation.

Customer support??? That costs extra, a lot extra.
Fender owns almost every major US manufacturer, except for Gibson and Martin and those will probably fall under the Fender Musical Instruments corporate umbrella soon. You want customer support? Buy a G&L.

Been playing guitar 33 years. I grew up playing beater no-name copy guitars and then got a job so I could buy a real instrument. Gone through too many to mention, but currently I own 3 Rickenbacker guitars, a Fender US Tele, 2 G&L's, and a PRS single cut. I also own a beater Ibanez Talman. The Squier '51 may stick around or go back to GC within 30 days.

Indonesian made retro style hybrid. Love the tele neck on the strat body. The blonde finish on the basswood tends to show some of the blemishes in the wood. Came with white pickguard, not the black that is shown in the ads. Controls are simple and give you a variety(5) of tones using 3 way rotary pickup selector and coil splitter push pull knob. Gig bag was included in sale price of $150.00

Played through a Behringer gmx-212 at the store, and was reasonably happy with the sound. When I got it home I ran it through an early '70s Pro Reverb, and loved it! Rolling off the volume slightly on the humbucker brought some nice chime to the forefront, and the coil splitter lends itself to lead boosts

Action was a little high for my taste, and the stock strings took a while to calm down. After some tweaking and a set of slinkys, I think this will be a great gig axe. The satin neck will take a little getting used to.

Will definitely use this as a Backup stage guitar. Seems solidly built, and has some nice heft to it. Not much to go wrong here

Haven't dealt with Fender, and doubt they'll do much for you in this price range.

Recently acquired a squire tele that I have set up for stones stuff, and I like this one better. I've been playing for thirty odd years, and have owned fenders, gibsons, dano's and a plethora of copies, and this guitar reminds me of an old 65 mustang I used to have. Good fender feel and vibe for reasonable price.

As previously mentioned, this retro styled strat/tele hybrid features a single coil neck and humbucking bridge pickup with coil tap. The basis design is from the '51 Fender Precision bass. There is no tone control, which takes a bit of getting used to. I bought this as a backup/project guitar. I've always wanted something that I could work on without worrying about screwing it up and for under $200, this is just the ticket.

I was pleasantly surprised with the sound and versatility of this guitar. It's pretty much what I expected... useable single coil sound and the bridge p/u is actually quite good too. This guitar will do pretty much everything from country to rock to reggae and will make a fine 2nd guitar for live or home studio use. I'd give it a 7 overall for sound with the stock pickups. I expect the right replacement pickups will wake this up nicely.

Like all of my comments, you can pretty much add the words 'for a $200 guitar' to the end of everthing I have to say here. Overall, the fit and finish on this guitar is fine. I like the satin finish on the 'C' shaped Tele-style neck. I haven't put my own strings on it yet, but the setup with the stock set was surprisingly good. Yes, the hardware, pickups and wiring are cheap, but what do you expect for a $200 guitar? There are a couple of rough spots in the finish and fret job, but, once again, what do you expect for $200?

I plan to eventually gut this thing and replace all of the pickups, wiring and pots. For now, I would totally use it as a backup guitar. It seems to stay in tune fine and covers a lot of ground musically with all of the pickup configuration options.

Unless you're Clapton or Jeff Beck, Fender doesn't give a rats ass about service. I learned this lesson as I waited 3 1/2 months for a non-standard replacement part for a Clapton strat that was unloaded shortly thereafter. It's all about the numbers and they aren't there for you as a customer or your local dealer.

As a long-time player who has gone through his share of gear over the years, I'd have to say that this Squier '51 is a great overall bang-for-the-buck guitar. The Squire line has always represented great value and this is no exception. I would recommend this highly as a guitar for someone just learning, or anyone looking for an inexpensive 2nd or backup electric. *** One thing to keep in mind if you order one on-line is that mine shipped with a white pickguard and neck pickup, not the black ones shown in all of the ads ***. It looks like crap against the vintage blonde body and I'm trying to locate a replacement black pickguard. I'm sure this is something Fender has done to speed up the production line and am a little peeved about it. They should ship what they show on the website.

Features?? For $150 you want features? Nah man. It has strings, tuners, a neck and a body. A few switches, etc. It is a playable guitar. I just get lost with mini-switches anyway. The coil tap this things has is almost too much for me, but I love it. At first I thought I would miss having a tone knob, but now I realize that I never use the damn thing, and having five different tones "dialed in" works very well. Read the other reviews for the tech head stuff.

Ok, here is the reason I bothered to write this. Pull out the neck pickup. It is horrible in a not so good way. Replace it with a Dimarzio hs-3! Now! Don't listen to what your friend says about Dimarzio's being too hot, and don't pay attention to any Eric Johnson smack about wiring it single coil. Just throw the thing in there and don't think about it. If you want to stablize it, find an old "clicky" pen, steal the spring out of it and cut it in half. Just load those bad boys where your normal pickup springs would be because the '51 pickups are just screwed into the body. It's a simple operation. Hell, I did it, and it was only the second pickup I've ever switched. The tone of the stock (i.e. cheep - but don't get me wrong, it's sound good like a humbucker should)humbucker blends VERY nicely with the Dimarzio, which might sound a bit dark by itself. I play alt rock/ jazz-punk/ slop with a gibson les paul into a modded taynor, and this '51 is my new back up/ second guitar, and in a scary club, it just might be the only one I take in, bacause if you can't do it with the five great tones this thing has, you don't need to be playing. The sound does retain a touch of that fender clean/bright/jangle (I grew up playing teles, so I know it well), even with distortion. I'm very happy.

I'm still not too sure about the action. The guitar was just born about three weeks ago, so I'm letting everything settle down, but it holds tune well through about four or five good and loud songs before I need to touch up on the tuning, which is about on par with other guitars in the agressive style I play. The one-ply pick guard is very plastic. I might replace the bridge. It just looks too small to really work well down the road. I needed tweezers to pull stings through when I restrung the guitar. I can't really see doing that at a club if I break a string?? Oh, that will go over well with the drummer (they always get impatient because they never break stings).

The guitar seems very durable. I like the strat body and tele neck set up. Two pickups is about all you need. Nothing to really go wrong. I hope the three position switch doesn't crap out, because that thing looks like a "special order part" that I'm not going to come up with out of my parts box. I've had no issues yet. I would gig with this without a back up, except that I never, NEVER gig without a backup.

Its Fender. It's not like they are going to go away, but I haven't used them yet. I do wish that musician's enemy, errrrr friend would have gotten better shipping dates on the guitar. I back ordered the thing and then waited for three months for it and each time the date got bumped back, I found out when I called them to ask me where the guitar was, but what did I want for $149???

I love this guitar. I have a Telecaster, and an Anniversary Strat, and this keeps up with them very well. With the mod and its on-board humbucker, it does get gibson style tones (no it doesn't sound just like an SG or anything, but it has more grit than any strat I've ever worked with). The guitar also has instant vibe. I was complaining to a friend that it looked too good out of the box, because the damn thing is styled just like something out of the early 60's. I got it in the vintage blond (which came with a white pickguard, not the black frequently pictured - your expereince may vary). The thing just has the look of something that was found in an uncle's back closet - the cool uncle, not the one everyone stays away from at the family reunions. Trust me, if you get it, you will use it, and if you change a few things aobut it, you will love it, and it will be personal and very yours!

This was a new product release for 2004, made in Indonesia. It has a strat neck pickup, located farther from the neck than usual, so as to get a tone almost more like a strat middle pickup. Generic, though nice-sounding bridge humbucker. The HB coil-splits via the volume control. Where one would expect the tone control to be is a rotary pickup selector. Maple neck with a thin matte finish (feels nice); body is probably basswood, finished in an opaque 'vintage blonde'. Hardtail bridge is top-load, not string-thru-body.

I LOVE the sound of this cheap little thing. It's like finding the perfect Tele at a garage sale (parenthetically, the best Tele I ever had was also a Squier [albeit older Japanese-made]). The tight neck fit, hardtail bridge, and lack of a tone control make for a very clangy, lively sound that works well for alt-country, roots-rock, blues, or 70's hard rock. I played it in the store through a Line 6 Spider and loved it. Since taking it home, I haven't even played through any of my amps. It's a great little unplugged bedroom guitar.

Exceptionally tight fit for the bolt-on neck. I will eventually need to deepen the nut slots a tad and sand off the excess nut height. The volume pot is loose, and I haven't yet felt like wrenching the volume knob off to tighten the pot. It plays acceptably now, but I think I can make it great with little work.

Let's face it: this is a guitar that streets for $150! How good does it HAVE to be? The sound is great, unlike anything else at this price-point. The finish is thin and not perfect, but I regard this as a plus, and probably what makes this little guitar so resonant. I doubt I'd take it to a gig as the sole guitar, but that's kinda not the point.

I do my own repairs and have never really needed Fender for support.

Been playing 40+ years in various rock, pop, variety and country ensembles. Other guitars include a Roadhouse Strat (with diMarzio Red Velvet in the bridge...ooooh), a Brawley Threat Custom, a Peavey Cropper Classic, and Peavey Firenza (with DiMarzio Virtual P-90 in the bridge). Amps include an early 80s Peavey Bandit (underestimated), a Tech 21 Trademark 60, a J-Station, and a custom-made tube combo 40-watt, 2 X 10" ala Vibroux w/ more gain. Line 6 delay modeler, Peavey dig reverb pedal, Boss OD-2

2004--Indonesian made--21 frets--bridge humbucker(with coil tap)--slanted strat neck single coil-master volume(pull tap)--3 way rotary p/u selector--no tone control--stratocaster basswood body(thinner than standard)--satin bolt-on one peice maple neck(25 1/2")--enclosed diecast tuners--hardtail top loading(not thru body)strat bridge--did not come with any accerssories--mine is the black finish.

This a hybrid of several Fenders including a Strat style body, a Telecaster neck and a pickguard and control plate like a '51 P-bass.

When I plugged in & played I immediately liked the tone of this guitar.
It has a nice balanced tone and the pickups sound surprisingly good, though I suspect many people with want to try upgrades.
The bridge humbucker can be tapped for single coil tone by pulling up the volume control. The volume between tapped and untapped is very close so that's a plus. The neck pickup is predictably stratty and balances well with the humbucker in both modes.

The humbucker has a good output without being too hot.
The single coil on mine is mounted directly to the body but I've seen photos of other 51's pickguard mounted.

Basswood can sometimes be a little dark sounding but I think the thinner body balances the tone well and makes the guitar lighter.

I play through a Peavey Ultra 112(60watts/6l6's) and also run a Korg AX100G effects board into the front end. The 51 sounds great through this setup and also direct to the amp.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised with the set up of this guitar.
The action and intonation was fine right out of the box.
The medium jumbo frets were well seated and nicely polished.

These guitars come with a top loading bridge which alot of people are turned off by. They seem to think that top loaders lack sustain but I've never found that to be the case. Most seem to go by hearsay any way.
This is an easy playing guitar. The strings bend easy thanks to the good frets and I beleive the top loading bridge helps with this too.
I think the neck radius is 9 1/2" and the neck is a medium size which feels good to me.
The tuners are pretty good and the guitar seems to stay in tune.

The hardware seems desent and solid enough for a budget priced guitar.
Everything is pretty solid but basswood is fairly soft so screws can strip easier than on some woods. I believe this guitar is gig worthy but I'm not that experienced in that regard. I can't really find any issues with this guitar so far.

This guitar didn't come with anything other than the box it came in. No tags or warranty card, just a sticker on the pickguard so I have to knock it for this category.

I've been playing as a hobby since 1986 and have own quite a few guitars over the years although nothing too expensive.
Overall I really like the way this thing plays and sounds and I would certainly buy it again should anything happen to this one.
I think this is a great guitar for people to modify to their own personal tastes. I removed the pickguard and changed the p/u cover to black and added chrome mounting rings to both pickups.

This is great guitar for the money and would make an excellent first guitar. I highly recommend it to beginners and experienced players who want a fun quirky Fender style guitar.

Great Bang for the Buck. Coil splitting for the humbucker. Missing the tone control which I tend to use now. Pickups were OK but I bought this to mess around with pickup selection. Cool look to this guitar which was the main reason I bought it(on a whim). I look through Musicians Friend every time I get the catalog and this guitar stuck out.

I give it a 7 for the stock pickups. I loaded it with a Dimarzio Steve's Special for the humbucker and a Seymour Duncan Hot Strat for the single coil (the best single coil pickup I've found yet). I give it a 9 with the new pickups. It really changed an already good guitar in a big way. I've gigged this guitar a number of times already and it's a blast to play.

The setup wasn't great. The action was high. I shimmed the neck up and adjusted the action/intonation. I like the neck shape. The neck pocket was tight on this guitar. It had a good ring even without being plugged in. The tuning is fine on this guitar. I'm stunned though at how close to fine it was given the cost.

I give it a solid 7 for the stock guitar (9 for the modified guitar). I don't believe in paying a ton of money for something that's going to get potentailly beat on in a club. I think folks are nuts to spend over $1000 for a guitar. $3000 for new Les Paul, give me a break. Might as well hang it on a wall and just look at it. I've been playing for 25+ years now. I've played many guitar/amp combinations over the years. Combined with a Peavey Wiggy/Tonebone Hot Brittish/Yamaha UD Stomp rig that I'm currently playing, I'm as close to sonic nirvana as I've ever been.

2004, Indonesia, Squier Vintage Modified series, 21 Medium Jumbo frets, 25.5" scale, Stratocaster style Basswood body (Black), Vintage tinted "C" shape Telecaster style Maple neck with 9.5" Maple fretboard and skunk stripe, Hard-tail 6-Saddle Bridge (not through body), Non-Locking Fender tuners, 1 - passive Fender single coil Strat neck pickup, 1 - passive splittable Fender humbucking bridge pickup, 3-position rotary pickup selector, Push/Pull coil selector switch on master volume pot for bridge humbucker (**No Tone control...more on this later***), 1-Ply white ?51 P-Bass style pickguard, chrome ?51 control plate, chrome dome knobs. For the looks, features, "Vibe" AND price ($150.00, I'm giving this groovy little thing a "10" rating here.

I play a lot of diverse styles (rock, reggae, blues, jazz, country) and this little monster fits the bill for most situations. Played through my Line6 FlextoneIII Plus I can get just about any sonority I need with excellent results. While both of the stock pickups actually sound very good, a guitar at this price point lends itself to mods and playin' with. I may consider sticking a slightly fatter sounding Strat neck pickup (Seymore Duncan?) in this, but I actually dig the bridge pickup and the variance between the full/split modes. In full humbucking mode it sings quite nicely with descent overtones, not too dark sounding, with a nice presence peak top-end. In split mode I can coax a pretty close Tele bridge spank out of this guitar. Several pickup combinations with the push/pull bridge pickup option make this baby even more flexible. The wiring and pots are inexpensive. When I first received this one the push/pull split pot was not working, so I had to open the control cavity up and resoldier a wire from the bridge pickup to the push/pull pot which had broken off. No biggie, but did notice that it could benefit from a good shielding in the control area and perhaps replacement of the pots with better quality ones. I have only had this a few days now, but overall I love this baby. I have used it on a couple of tracks in the studio and it sounds great. The one potential drawback (and hence a "9" rating) is the lack of a functioning tone control. I personally seldom use the tone control on any of my guitars, but leave it wide open to gain the best bandwidth from the instrument, opting to use amplification and/or mixing for most tone tweaks, but I know some players will feel a bit cheated without. Of course one option would be to scrap the 3-way pickup selector pot for a tradional 3-way blade or mini-toggle pickup selector installed on the pickguard and then installing a real tone-pot where the 3-way pot resided. I'l leaving mine the way it is as I dig the functional, streamlined layout of the controls, and don't miss the tone control.

Almost a "10" here. Plays great with a very nice feeling "C" shape neck profile. Comfortable and smooth. The guitar needed a few tweaks, but that's to be expected. The intonation was off on 5 of the six strings, but a quick adjustment took care of that. I also lowered the action a little which did not cause any fretting out anywhere on the neck, even doing two-step bends on the high E or B strings. The only actual flaw was the broken pickup wire in the control cavity. This kind of problem is just a fluke. I work in the electronics industry, and this is just gonna happen once in a while. Overall is really more like a "9.75". Once again I'm impressed. I have owned many great guitars in 35 years of playing in bands. Many USA Fenders, Gibson, Tom Anderson, PRS, and for the dollar to quality ratio, some of the work coming out of Asia is downright scary now. Very cool. I also intended to refinish this one as a project in either a Fender Surf Green or Daphne Blue.

Giving a 9 for the inexpensive control hardware. The pots probably won't last for years. The basswood body seems heavy and dense enough to withstand normal players abuse. The neck is rock solid, but I may throw some better quality tuners on it. As far as depending on it I'd certainly give it a yes, but always take at least two guitars to any gig.

Have no idea. In all the years of playing Fender, have never dealt with them. I assume that if needed they would be responsive and helpful given who they are. Warranty is 1 year.

Been playing for 35 years. Other gear (**see above**), Roland keyboards, Sho-Bud pedal steel guitar, G&L Bass, Line6 Variax, etc, etc... If stole I would buy another immediately. No brainer. One more time... great vibe, good playability, nice workmanship, no more costly than a single descent SUV tire!! Hard to beat for the fun. Groovy baby. Let it rock.