Fender Squier 51

TV yellow model, has no tone contol, has 3 way selector & coil tap. Nice c-shaped neck in maple w/maple fretboard. 1 s/c, 1 hb. would like tone control, especially since my valve jr head doesnt have 1.

Very nice blues guitar for the money with a wide variety of tones. I had a $300 Ibanez that did not sound as good & wasn't as versatile. Single coils is very nice, especially at low volume. HB is a little bitey & bright, but is beefy as well. An amp or pedal w/a tone cotrol would take out some of the bite. Action is a little high out of the box & intonation needs set, but most axes are like that, aren't they? May not even mess w/action as it is not way high & I play open tuned slide occasionally. I can't see Carlos Santana on stage with one of these, but for a shi**y player like me, its all you could ask four for 99 bucks! Rating is based on price/performance ratio.

Action was a little high, but well within the playable range. Frets could be a little smoother but that will take all of 10 minutes. Overall, very good for what it is.

I dont see this as a touring musicians main axe. It would make a decent backup (believe it or not) especially with better quality tuners installed. Seems very solid - for what it is (remember 99 bucks). Its good enough as is for a hack like me.

No opinion about "squire" by fender. I bought from MF & their customer support is very good.

At this price, there is no reason to not own an electric guitar if you want one.

Lots written about this guitar already... no need to list again. I recently bought a Tele Squire affinity series ($169), replaced the electronics, filed the frets, finished the neck, and was impressed at how good a cheap guitar could sound. Got me psyched to buy another cheap guitar and I noticed the '51 on sale at MF for $99. To my surprise, the '51 is a much higher quality guitar than the Tele Affinity (made in China). Neck is higher quality, overall quality is just superior, and it cost less (go figure).

Like others, I bought this guitar as a "project" guitar (it's only $99 so if I screw it up, no big deal). My plan: change out the pickups (I have good ones not in use, so I wouldn't have to buy new ones), rout out the control cavity to fit a tele control plate, install tele vol and tone pots and selector switch, trim back the pickguard and kabaam... great sounding guitar with not much money spent. I take the guitar out of the box and start playing it and to my amazement... it sounds great! I've thrown my plans out the window. Stock pickups are excellent. I think eliminating the tone control gives this guitar alot of its character. Also surprisingly, the neck and bridge pickups are fairly well balanced (very rare in a guitar with a sing + hum setup). I have also fallen in love with the ability to split the coil on the HB to get the single coil functionality.

Unlike my recently purchased Squire Tele Affinity, which looks great but sounds pretty bad without modifications, and which was set up terribly (not even an attempt to intonate correctly, frets unfinished and sharp, etc), this guitar was set up perfectly (or nearly so) right out of the cardboard box!! Just change the strings and go! I did notice some discoloration on the fretboard after not much playing time. Probably due to neck not being finished (perhaps some sealer but not much else). I've just finished doing some minor fret filing and putting a coat of polyurethane on the fretboard. I will probably not put any on the bottom of the neck, because the neck feels sleek and fast as is. Just want to protect the fretboard. People have said the $99 price is worth it for the neck alone and I would agree.

?? I don't have a good feel for the push-pull pot (reliability should be good) or especially the rotary selector. It's very functional, but not sure if it will hold up.

Unknown. Puchased from MF. Easy to talk to a phone sales rep, but I've not had much luck talking with a knowledgable support person (not sure they even exist). Ordering a guitar on the internet is great for convenience but otherwise risky. MF has a 30-day no questions asked return policy, so if there were any flaws I was prepared to send it back. Fortunately, it's perfect.

Great... I'd buy another if I could find any legitamite excuse to do so (I already have way too many guitars!). This guitar is light and the wood really resonates nicely when played (unlike my Am Standard Tele which is good quality but much heavier and not lively). This guitar even sounds good unplugged! MF said this model is being discontinued, so I would highly recommend to buy one while you still can. The butterscotch version with black pickguard was totally sold, so I opted for the sunburst, which also looks pretty good.

Body Basswood
Neck Maple, C-Shape,
(Polyurethane Finish)
Fingerboard Maple, 9.5??? Radius (241 mm)
No. of Frets 21 Medium Jumbo
Pickups 1 Single-Coil Strat?? Pickup (Neck),
1 Hot Humbucking Pickup (Bridge)
Controls Master Volume, 3-Position Rotary Pickup Selector Switch
Pickup Switching Push/Pull Coil Selector Switch (On Master Volume Pot), 3-Position Rotary Pickup Selector Switch, (In Place of Tone Control)
Bridge Hard-tail 6-Saddle Bridge
Machine Heads Standard Die-Cast Tuners
Hardware Chrome
Pickguard 1-Ply White
Scale Length 25.5??? (648 mm)
Width at Nut 1.650??? (42 mm)
Unique Features Telecaster?? Headstock,
Vintage Tinted Neck,
1-Ply White ???51 Style Pickguard,
Chrome ???51 Control Plate,
Knurled Chrome Dome Control Knobs,
Dot Position Inlays

This is the best $100 guitar that I've ever played.

I can get a nice humbucker sound, tele bridge sound, out of phase strat sound, strat neck position sound. It's a really versitile guitar. The pickups are slightly noisy when you switch the humbucker into single coil mode.

On a regular scale of 1-10, I would give the action a 6 (this means comparing it to a $1000 strat).

Comparing it to any other guitar priced at $400 or less, it's a 9.

I'm judging this guitar within the realm of affordable guitars, therefore I give it a 9.

It's solid as a rock. The tuners and hardware are as nice as an MIM.

I have 2 MIM Fenders and 2 PRS guitars. My wife bought this guitar for me to teach my 10 year old son.

This is a great student guitar and I've recorded a couple songs with it. If you need a guitar for a kid or a "fun" guitar for an established musician, this is a really nice buy. I've played for 32 years and I own 6 Martins, 1 Larrivee, 1 Gibson resonator and all my electrics. The 51 is a fun little guitar. If you are into modding, this would be a gem.

this is a update on the squire 51.the stock guitar was very good but i only saved the neck from mine.i ordered a american standard strat body and put this neck on it very good fit.i got a fender custom shop pearloid pickguard and some fender custom shop vintage pickups.the body is white.i put a ghoto tremolo on it.now i have a very cool custom fender guitar that cost me about 500.00 to build.the squire 51 is worth buying just for the neck alone.this guitar is all fender parts except the tremolo.you can't buy a fender new like this for this low price.all parts i bought new.this is my favorite guitar now.

I knew the neck was not a high glossy finish and did not expect it to be but I ordered the blone with black pickguard and was a little let down cause I thought it would be glossy instead of matt finish. Body is painted well and I really like the pick ups and coil tap switch.

It sounds like I wish my strat sounded. In fact the darn thing that cost me only $100 sounds better than most guitars I've ever owned and I have owned some nice ones. The back humbucker gives you a great drive sound like a Les Paul kind of and you can use the coil tap for a strat bridge pick up sound or my favorite it right in the middle with both back humbucker and single coil together just sounds wonderful. No tone knob but you won't miss it. It can sound sharp and percussive or more round and mellow. I am blown away.

OK so I get this guitar in the mail and discover there are a few screws on the pick guard that are kinda in crooked but get this...There was a screw in the jack plate that did not go in all the way and the head was stripped out. I removed it with a pair of pliers and found that the screw was a half inch long. I am surprised that kind of flaw went unnoticed at the factory but I guess a few will slip by now and then. I replaced it.
I had to set the neck a little and the intonation and the action was way off. You must know the basics of how to set a guitar up or pay to have it done. Once you do that it plays like a dream. It's worth the work you need to put into it.

I think the knobs seem a little loose and the bridge could be replaced but over all it seems like a fine guitar. I would have no problem using this as a main guitar and would not be afraid of the other boys making fun of me for playing a Squire.

Don't Know

Well I've had several different guitars over some 25 years of playing guitar and I liked this one so much I bought another one in black. I don't know why I felt the need to buy the same guitar in a different color. I guess I am so impressed with the first one that I will like having 2 and if I want to get rid of one it would make a terrific Christmas present for any guitar playing friend. But I doubt I'll be giving either one up anytime soon. At $100 a pop it would not be out of the question to buy all three color options and modify them in what ever funky ways you desire. I imagine there is a lot of that going on. These little jems are going to be favored classics in the future.

satin natural neck and fingerboard, lacquered body
Strat body, Tele neck, Tele style knobs and knob location
Individual string height and intonation bridge
Made c. 2006
One vol knob with push/pull for splitting the bridge pickup
One 3-way pickup selector knob

Can get hot sound, Tele sound, Strat sound
Pretty darn good quality stock pickups

The manufacturer should have done lots better on the final steps of production, and the guitar was not "set up" at all. The bridge plate screws and strap peg screw were not tightened, the bridge post strings heights were not evenly set and were Very high (and I LIKE high), intonation not set, truss rod had no tension so neck relief was way off, plastic flash in grooves of the nut needed dressing off, rubbing compound left on fingerboard and headstock. If a beginner had received this guitar, he wouldn't know it needed setting up and would be very disillusioned. The guitar now plays great, and it sounds very good too; the pickups are very decent. The pickup selector and the push/pull knob on the vol pot really do give a wide variety of useable tones. No tone knob: fine with me!

Sturdy, well made. Sometimes the pots, jacks, and switches are cheap on imports. This was made in Indonesia. Time will tell.

no clue. Never used it.

Playing for 40+ years. I own Gibsons, Ricks, Fenders, Dan-Os guitars, and about 30 amps. Don't perform out much anymore tho'...
Great deal, worth the 100$ I paid brand new! even with the flaws! I'd buy another if my dog would let me!!

The finish is laquer paint; mine is the natural/amber color. The boy is Strat-like, while the headstock is Tele. The bride is standard Fender-fare with each saddle being adjustable forward and backward as well as height-wise. There are 2 passive pickups - a Strat-like single coil in the neck and an uncovered humbuck in the bridge. There is no tone control per se, but there is a volume control that also functions as a coil split for the humbucker and a 3 position knob to switch between Bridge, B/N, and Neck pickups. With the coil split, you get 5 different tones.

Mine was made in Indonesia. I think the body is basswood, but the neck is maple as is the fretboard. There is a string tree on the headstock for the high E/B strings.

21 frets, I believe.

This guitar is very good for any style, except possibly jazz unless you like the Strat single coil sound. I remember that when it first arrived, I thought to myself, man I wasih I had this when I was gigging in my classic rock cover band!

I outfitted this guitar with a Roland GK3 pickup mounted to the body in front of the bridge and use it for my synth guitar as well. Works perfectly for that and with the color scheme of the guitar, it looks like the synth pickup belongs on it.

The tone can be bright to medium shades of dark, but in the absence of a tone control on the guitar, you must use the amp's tone controls to tweak to taste since the inherent tonal quality of this guitar is on the bright side.

Unlike a Strat, there is no positions 2 and 4 for quack; this guitar is much mroe akin to a Tele, tonally speaking.

Action was right-on except for G-string, whihc I had to raise some. I also had to reset intontation due to changing to a dif gauge of strings. Everything else was great.

I don't gig anymroe, but I wouldn't hesitate to sue this guitar live.

Haven't needed customer support.

Fantastic value for a $99 guitar! In fact, the best under-$100 gutiar I have ever bought! Every bit as nice as MIM Strat whihc costs 4x as much.

Basswood body
2-Tone sunburst
C-shaped maple neck
Maple fingerboard with 9-1/2" radius
25-1/2" scale length
21 medium-jumbo frets
1.650" nut width
Chrome hardware
Die-cast tuners
Hardtail 6-saddle bridge
One-ply pickguard
Single-coil Strat pickup (neck)
Hot humbucking pickup (bridge)
3-position rotary selector switch (on master tone pot)
Push/pull coil selector switch (on master volume pot)

Giving the guitar a 9 for features, because there is no tone controls, which would have been nice. Otherwise many nice features in this axe.

I play just about any type of music. Oddly enough the types I play most are death metal and alt-country-rock. I bought this guitar primarily for the alt-country stuff. With the pickup combinations and the coil selector you can emulate strat and tele tones. The humbucker is quite hot (although a bit noisy as well), and does a fine job for grittier overdrive, and even does well for death metal. With some good overdrive, I can grab pinch harmonics very easily, comparable to dimarzios and seymour duncans I have had in the past. It has the typical fender sound, bright, but still full enough to suit my taste. Overall I think this guitar provides a nice sonic profile with many possibilities.

The action is nice and it is a very playable guitar. However, this is where some of the shortcuts were obviously taken. The intonation is a little out, although not as bad as many higher priced guitars I have seen. The screws on the saddle are excessively long. A few of the pickguard screws seem to be jammed in on an angle, as if the holes didn't line up. The guitar is lacking in craftsmanship, but hey it's a low cost guitar. Still for the money it would be hard to beat. Out of the lower cost range guitars I tried, this was the best, until reaching the $299 mark, so at $100 I believe this axe can hold its own. Giving a 8 because of the obvious issues that could have been easily avoided.

This guitar is solid. I would depend on it as much as any guitar.

NA

I have been playing for 15+ years. I have owned a Gibson, Ibanez, Schecter, and other guitars in the past. I have been focusing on other instruments lately and sold all my other electric guitars (to finance a pedal steel guitar), so I bought this one just to have around the house so I can occasionally work out an idea on the 6 string. It serves that purpose very well, and would even make a decent gigging guitar if you're on a budget. The pickguard is fugly... way too big - it takes away from an otherwise nice looking guitar.

Rating this guitar 9 overall. For the money it is an excellent value. It would be an awesome beginner guitar, and is even fine for more advanced players to have as a practice guitar. You could gig or record with it if needed, but most serious players are going to prefer quieter pickups and a tone control knob (and something prettier to look at).

Black Finish Vintage 51. Strat Body, Tele neck, you know the rest.

I play just about everything but jazz, with an emphasis on blues then rock and rock and roll. Have a bunch of different amps, Fender, Univox, Crate, sounds great through all of them. If you are a fender player, or like the Fender sound, this guitar should be standard issue. I've been playing 30 years now and have paid more for guitars I didn't like half as much. Soundwise, if I wanted fat and dripping, I'd buy a Les Paul. When I first got this guitar, I thought the humbucker with both coils in was the single coil. It's that bright and articulate. Great easy harmonics, good sustain, clear, tight crunch. I'm a single coil guy but I have to say, I like this humbucker a lot. If there is any weak spot, it is in the fact that it is light on the bottom and mid, (for a humbucker) and though not muddy, the sound separation of each note while chording is not as distinct as individual notes picked. Rolling down the volume does fatten it a little. The neck pickup does not sound like a good strat to me, it sounds like a caricature of a strat pickup. It's quacky and bright, but lacks the depth or fullness of a good strat single coil. It's more chimey, than bell-like. It's better than the 90's Korean Squier strat pickups, many of the Affinits strats I've heard, and better sounding than the MIM Strat pickups, but it is not up to snuff with stock Am Std. pickups. But hey, at almost one 10th the price, you likely will not notice. You'll be too busy thinking, I can't believe I got this guitar for 99 bucks!

I actually got my guitar used before they lowered the price to 99.00, so it was set up pretty good already. I'd seen the new ones in the stores and they all look great for the money. Swap out the tinny 9-42's though. Even new players will notice the difference of going to a heavier gauge string. The only thing I don't like is that this one does have fret ends which could use more filing. The neck itself is great if you like 'em a little chunky. If you have small hands, and you are a new player, you'll prefer the smaller Squier Affinity tele necks. I've got a 51 neck on another guitar and the frets are great on it, so that's more to consistency than anything else. Cheap plastic nut, but hey it works. The tuners are actually betther than I would expect on a 99 guitar. I have no problem with them dropping out of tune.

Everything seems solid as a rock, with the exception of the pull knob which seems to have loose tolerances. Other than that, I can't imagine not depending on it.

Not needed any.

The bottom line on this guitar is I'm not going to wait for it to get stolen, I'm thinking about buying a couple more just because they have great looks and they are such a great value. I chose this guitar for the price and the good reviews I had heard. At this price, you can afford to mod it: I've already added a 3 ply bwb pickguard, Fender Schaller Chrome Satin Locking Tuners, Fender LSR Roller Nut, Am. Std. String Trees, black Schaller strap locks. A Kahler, Schaller, or aftermarket hardtail bridge with roller saddles, and added mass to add even more resonance and tone is in the works, as well as a SD JB hubucker in the bridge, and SD Cool Rail in the neck. If I don't like the seymour duncan pickups any more than the originals, I won't sweat it. Run, don't walk. Do not hesitate to get this guitar. Whether a seasoned professional or a new student, you can't go wrong for the money. It really is a fantastic value.

this guitar is built very well.the 2 tone sunburst finish is flawless.the body is basswood but mine is heavier than i thought it would be.the wood grain on the front of mine looks really good.i think they might put a vaneer on the front of the sunburst ones because the grain doesn.t look like basswood.the back looks like basswood grain.this guitar has a one piece maple neck there is no separete fingerboard.this neck is very thick.the fret job was perfect no sharp fret ends and all the frets where level and finished corectly.this guitar has something sttrange abought it.the trussrod nut is not metric but sae (standard). the neck is worth the money by itsself.this guitar has a strat neck pickup and a humbucker in the bridge .

this guitar sounds very good with the stock pickups.the coil tap and rotary switch give a lot of different sounds.the pickups are not the best ive've heared.but they are very good for such a cheap guitar.they sound more than useable to me so i won't be changing mine.chane the strings when you get yours and it sounds much better.the stock strings are not bad strins mine where just corroded new out of the box.i like a heaveier guage any way.i play rockabilly music and buddy holly is my favorite guitarist.this guitar fits his sound very well.you can also sound like eddie cochran,bo diddley. link wray,duane eddy and the list goes on.the humbucker gives you that great chuck berry sound.

the fit and finish on this guitar are incredable for this price.the neck pocket was very tight.like i said before the frets where perfect.no shap fretts no high frets.this guitar was set up right out of the box very well.the intonation was right on.the neck had a little more relief than i like but was easily adjusted.this necks trussrod adjusted like butter.i like my necks with almost no neck relief and this neck was easy to get this way with no fret buzzing anywere on the fret board.the only flaw i found on the whole guitar were a couple finish flaws on the back of the neck they look like blisters in the finish.you can't feel them while playing and seem like they will fade away after playing for a while.this neck is worth the price by itself.i don't no why but this neck doen't have a metric trussrod it has a american trussrod nut s.a.e (standard).i was told by a fender freak friend that the neck was problably made in the usa.he told me that if the parts like a neck don't meet fenders high standards for there american guitars ie finish flaws or flaws in the wood they will just send them over to there asian plants to be used on there cheaper brands.no use in destroying a perfectly good neck.makes sense.the nut on this neck was also cut perfectly.

this guitar should whithstand live playing very well.i would add straplocks wich i have added to mine.i have a set of graphtech saddles on order which i think will make the guitar even more gig worthy.replace the string trees with graphtech ones also.the rest of the guitar is fine.the finish on the body of mine is very thick and should last for years.the finish on the neck is not quite as thick but should last a long time.the neck finish on mine reminds me of the finish on the mexican strats and some of the american guitars.i bought this guitar as a backup for my main guitar which is a usa made mordecki strat.mike mordecki is a local guitar builder who makes great guitars.if it were a big gig i would never play without a backup.but if it's just a little gettogether i don't think it would be a problem.i mean look at any of my idols like buddy holly. chuck berry, eddy cochran or any of the gtreat blues players none of then needed backup guitars enough said.i'm going to give this guitar an 8 in this catagory with the stock parts a 10 with the new ones.

never had to deal with them.

i've been playing for over 20 years. i have owned many guitars from fender, gibson,music man,and many other american makers.i can't say this guitar is as good as any of those but it is not far behind.it just blows my mind you can get so much guitar for so little money.i paid 120.00 with a gigbag for this little gem.just amazing.if this guitar cost 4 times this amount it would still be a great deal.ive bought guitars that cost a lot more than this that weren't half as good as this guitar.if fender decides to build a mexican or american version of this guitar i can't see it being much better.this guitar reminds me of the u.s.a and japanese made bullet guitars of the 1980's with the strat style body and telecaster neck.