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...)

- Finish: two-tone-sunburst, nice job, one-ply pickguard
- Body: strat-style, Basswood (four Parts)
- Bridge: fixed, top-loader
- Neck: tele-style, 648mm, one-piece-maple (yeah really), frets look pretty jumbo to me, narrow C-shape
- Made in: Indonesia
- Frets: 21
- Controls: master volume (push/pull for coil tap), three-way pickup switch
- Pickups: SH, all passive

Be careful when you buy that guitar without actually seeing it, because I already had 51s in my hand that:
- had a glued on maple fingerboard instead of a one-piece
- had a single coil screwed into the pickguard not into the wood
- hab a completely crooked bridge

Were lucky with mine...

Suits perfectly for Blues, Rock or Hardrock, which I usually play. Am using it with a Crate GT65. Single-Coil is a bit noisier than the ones on my strat. Problem with this guitar is the divergence of the pickups and/or missing tone control. If I set up my amp right to suit the bridge humbucker then the neck single coil loses its life completely. Vice versa if I adjust the amp to make the single coil sound good than the humbucker is way to brittle and sounds like an egg slicer ;) They are just not balanced. The humbucker has to much power or the single coil has way to less. The difference of distortion level at the same amp settings are enormous. Because I like the humbucker better i'm gonna replace the single coil with something more powerfull. Single coil also has not the right blues sound. Not warm enough and at the same time treble's missing, too. Humbucker produces lots(!) of overtones... great lead pickup, could be a very little warmer. Coil tap is a cool feature - and if that fake single coil at the bridge sounds better than the real one at the neck than somethings wrong.

Just had to get it in tune it and make it intonate. One of the four bridge mounting screws is drilled veeery badly but you don't see it until you get close enough. Some of the adjusting screws interfere with the strings when the bridge is set up for intonation (have to cut two of'em). Nut is a pretty flimsy piece of plastic. Neck is nice (satin finish), fits even better into my hand than my strat's neck!

We'll see ;)

Four years warranty@soundland... has nothing to do with fender/squier.

Have now been playing for five years. Also got a squier strat. Its a really nice guitar. Better (at least to me) than a lot of way more expensive guitars and a neck to fall in love with! Would buy it again if stolen, but it's not so easy to find another almost-perfect one (warning@features).

Favourite features:
- paint job
- neck
- humbucker
- design
- controls, coil tap

Dislikes (that will get replaced):
- single coil
- nut
- bridge

this is the second one of these guitars i have bought.this one is the blonde one with the black pickguard.this one is just as good as my first one.that one i only used the neck.this one i plan on leaving mostly stock.

this guitar like the first one sounds very good.i am going to leave the stock pickups in this one.i use peavey transtube amps and this guitar sounds very good with them.i play rockabilly music and buddy holly is my biggest influence.this guitar fits these styles very well.

this guitar came out of the box set up very well.the fit and finish are excellent.this guitar has a one piece neck like the first one.some i have heared are two pieces but none of the ones i have seen have had a two piece neck.

i just got this guitar so i have no idea how it will survive.but i see no reason why it won't last for a very long time.

this guitar is a very good guitar.nuff said

Maple on maple neck - irritating. Why not just a one piece maple neck? Some reviewers here claim they have a single piece neck, and they very well might. One thing you can count on with budget guitars is inconsistent construction, materials and quality control. Shouldn't complain, though, for only $99. The Guitar Player magazine review says the body is alder, but Sam Ash, where I bought it, describes it as basewood, which is probably right considering where it was made (Indonesia). I seriously doubt its alder and wouldn't count on that. Its slightly thinner than a strat body.

The volume knob and pickup selector could use some kind of marker so you know where the volume is set and what pickup you're on. My pickup selector is set backwards, I think - you turn it toward the neck to select the humbucker. Should be the other way around.

The humbucker coil tap is a very cool feature and the main reason for buying this guitar.

As noted in other reviews, a cross between a strat and a tele. The humbucker can go from fender twang to ear-piercing bright to grungy crunch.

The single coil neck pickup is nondescript - not great, not bad, just ok. Works best in the middle position with the humbucker. I play it through a Vox AD30VT (modeling amp), and I find that this guitar really responds to the different amp settings for a lot of tonal variety - more so than a Les Paul copy I have.

I would describe the overall sound as "primal". Don't look here for subtle overtones, etc., like you get from a Fender strat or tele. Thats ok, though. Sounds great with 11 gauge strings for a no frills, low down blues sound. Of course, you can always change the pickups as others here have done, but the tone is unique and very useful as is.

Judging from other reviews, quality control seems to be all over the map. Maybe I lucked out, because my guitar was very well put together, right down to the intonation.

The fret edges are totally smooth. There was some grinding on the top of the frets when bending strings, but that went away after a few hours of playing - I guess I smoothed them out. The maple fretboard is perfectly meshed into the neck, but you can tell its a separate board from the difference in color. Overall the neck is very smooth and pleasing to hold. It even has some nice flame and Birdseye patterns.

The no-name tuners seem to work well as the guitar stays in tune. The black body is flawlessly finished, but looks ugly with the white pickgaurd, in my opinion. I plan to paint it black with a white border on the beveled edge. I had to adjust the truss rod, action, and intonation when I installed 11 gauge strings, but obviously that would have to be done on any guitar.

All in all, very good fit and finish. For the price, I give it a 9. I would give it a 10 if it were available in some different, cooler colors. The blond body with black pickguard looks great, but you can't find it, at least not new.

Seems very solid, but only time will tell...

Never used them.

I've only been playing a couple of years and I don't gig. My other guitars, including my son's, are a late 80's Japanese Fender strat, a Les Paul copy, and an Epiphone Flying V (GREAT action and sound. Highly recommend this guitar). The 51 compares favorably to all of them.

I've always wanted a Telecaster, but don't want one as bad now since this guitar produces those icy, twangy, crisp tones that the tele is famous for. I play them all through the VOX ad30vt, which I think is a very good sounding amp.

If it were stolen, I would definitely replace it. It's a steal for $99 and I should probably buy one or two more while I still can. I think they'll go up in price since they're so popular and no longer being made.

This thing is sort of the PT Cruiser of Fender guitars; it's "vintage" styled, but it's not a recreation of any one guitar. It's like "Fender's Greatest Hits." And thank you, Fender, for making it a fixed bridge.

The only styling cue that doesn't fit is the big ugly black humbucker; I'm planning on swapping it out for a chrome PAF that will look the part better.

I am in love with the neck pickup on this guitar, especially on a clean setting. It's that chimey Telecaster sound, which some people hate, but I adore. The humbucker sounds okay too, but it's a little "quacky" sometimes.

Mine is the sunburst finish, and it's got some good woodgrain on it. The finish is flawless. The intonation was off out of the box, but I as able to set it without a problem. Heavier strings help the buzz, and next time I'll go heavier still, to REALLY put some yank on the neck.

I found a couple crooked screws, and one stripped one on the bridge. The wood of the body is a little soft, so be careful, or be prepared to do the drill-and dowel trick.

The knobs WILL fall off. You can pull the coil-tap about three times before the volume knob comes off in your hand. Somewhere, I have a box o' guitar bits with a set-screw knob; I just have to find it.

It hasn't left my house yet, but so far, so good. Everything seems solid enough. I'd play out with it.

Haven't dealt with them at all. But I probably wouldn't, especially on a $99 guitar. I'll fix it myself if something goes wrong.

This is my third or fourth Squier guitar, and yeah, they're not quite as polished as the "real" Fenders. But they're a fraction of the price, and they're perfectly serviceable instruments. I'd like to see some nicer hardware and a better bridge pickup, but those things can be changed. The "bones" are there.

It's really too bad they quit making these. I may very well pick up another one used to customize. I keep picturing one in Surf Green, with a pearl pickguard and lipstick pickups...

Mine is black with a white pick guard, with the maple neck. Feels like an oak bough in your hands -- solid as a rock, and hard enough to be used as a self defense weapon. I consider this a feature (for the playing factor, not for acutally repelling attackers). Classic strat body, but with more of a mellow tele tone to it, a combo I like quite a bit. The pickups are nothing special, but come on, I paid $89 for it on sale at MF. I particularly like the humbucker/single coil option. True, there's a bit of edge to the sound, but only at certain settings. Otherwise, a very ringy, clear sound with good detail.

I admit it -- the electric is pretty much an experiment and a toy for me. I'm a masher, and for that purpose, this thing is phenomenal. Tone purists will probably turn up their nose at this thing, but I love the places where the dissonance comes out -- it's usually warm and buzzy, rather than harsh and edgy, although cranking the volume full can give you more edge than you probably want.

Finish is beatiful. As far as action and fit, well...

The setup was garbage from the factory -- you couldn't go five frets up without hearing obvious tone problems. Hey, I'd never set up a guitar before, so I got digging on the internet, pulled out the screwdrivers and hex keys, and went to work. I had a good time doing it, and now the guitar sounds great, but if that kind of thing isn't your bag, you might want to avoid the MF specials on this thing. Sure, it might come set up fine, but if it was like mine, it's going to take hours of fiddling to get it to sound right.

What this thing lacks in features and finesse, it makes up for in stockiness. I'm a rather big guy, and I don't know that if I hit a fit of on-stage rage, if I actually COULD smash this thing. The tuners could probably be a bit tighter, but everything else is rock solid. Very deep black finish that I'm not scared to play. Again, except for the strings, I can wail on this thing and not think twice about it. What a cheap electric should be, IMO.

No experience.

Look, if someone gave me a Gadeau in an even swap, it wouldn't take me a second to say yes. This isn't a finely tuned machine. But everything doesn't have to be perfect to have fun on it, and make some really wonderful music. You can play the '51 in a lot of styles without it holding you back in the slightest. No subtlety or finesse, but just a solid rock and roll guitar. I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

This guitar is a combination of strat and telecaster features. It trys for the best of both worlds and fails miserably on both counts.

There is nothing subtle in the sound indeed it is very harsh. It comes without a tone control, which normally I never use, however with this beast I would like to have used tone to take off a brittle top end.

This is where I am most disappointed with this guitar. The neck is rough and you need to file the fret edges to get some degree of comfort.
I adjusted the intonation to get open strings, harmonics and 12th fret notes the same, however the 2nd and 3rd fret notes were a mile out. I compared the fret spacings with that on my Mex Strat and they are quite different.
Changing chords on this guitar can render some horrible shocks.

It is made to normal Squier standard - adequate but not brilliant.

I have several guitars, ranging in quality. In my collection is Squier Affinity fat strat - it is far better than the Squier 51. It appears that Indonesian build is rubbish compared to any other Fender manufacturing base.
If you want a great guitar for about ??100 try a Richwood - they are real class.

You know the features. You got so much for so little money, but I don't consider them unecessary. If I wanted a strat, I'd buy a strat. If I wanted a tele, I'd buy a tele. This is it's own thing, but mixes in so many things AND the controls make it fun to play. The split coil is really effective--I was going to swap it out for a regular pot and just use the humbucker alone, but I like it stock.

This is a great sounding guitar. I own a nice Les Paul and a Jimi Hendrix tribute strat, so I feel like I have the bases covered. I've owned every American vintage model Fender you can think of and I always sell them because they all need a few upgrades, but I feel like upgrading ruins the vibe of buying a vintage reissue so I ditch them. This just sounds great and works. The neck pickup is very "stratty" in a good way. The split-coil bridge setting sounds like a weak tele, but cool. The humbucker alone is really effective. I will use this for slide or maybe for a dirty sounding garage rock/reverbed-out tone. Just think Bo Diddley, The Black Keys, or The Kinks. This will get you there, but do some quick setup adjustments.

The actions was high, so I lowered it. The fret edges are rough, so I will fix them. There's nothing fancy about this guitar and it's more than I expected for the money. Putting new strings on (at least 10's) is a must.

I will be nervous gigging with this because I worry about tuning issues. I may do some upgrades here and there, when I have extra money to tinker with this. I will try to just leave it stock and make it work. At most I'll put some reissue Kluson tuning pegs, new pickups and upgrade the pots--if I decide to gig with it. I think it's a good gigging guitar because you won't have to worry about it getting trashed or stolen.

I have been playing for too long. I've owned tons of guitars and sold tons of them along the way. I don't like to own a lot of gear, so I keep things that work or are fun to have around. I own a solid bassman ltd reissue, a few Fulltone pedals, and a few guitars. This is a keeper. I may change my mind, but it's nice to leave it on the stand so when people come over they can just knock it around and I don't mind it being a beater. It sounds good for recordings and mixes in well with other guitars on tracks. Find one, if you can. I looked all around L.A. and found a few left at Sam Ash for $99...better grab one soon.

Polyurethane body 'shell' over basswood, 3/4 thickness strat body, top load six saddle chrome hardtail bridge, one piece maple tele 25.5
neck, tele headstock, 9.5+ radius, almost med jumbo frets, cheap white nut, one coat sealer only. Neck sometimes two piece, can be birdseye fretboard, still wif skunkstripe. Comes with cardboard box, allen tools, serial numbers. Made mid 2004 thru late 2006, at Cort plant in Indonesia. 21 frets. 3-6 piece solid basswood body. Three way pup radial dial, coil tap, yields five settings; Volume but no tone control. Single coil neck, tappable HB in bridge, all passive.

Neck pup alone can be too bright, varies from guitar to guitar.
Blends of pups + HB alone, tapped + untapped, yields plenty of good sounds from Peavey Classic 50 2x12. Quietest in center position, with coil tapped (?) Pup output a little low for loud live music.
I don't shred or play cannibal metal, so I can't comment there.
No tone control means the pure pup sound can come straight through your amplifier. How often do you not have your tone control dimed?
The tone sort of takes care of itself as you turn the volume knob, which knob is push pull to handle coil tap.

at $ 100 street price, you must look at this guitar not quite as a kit, but as a guitar that may require some set up, and will definitely need intonation + screws tightened or upsized. In all but the clumsiest or most innocent hands, this guitar can be worked up with available tools to be a very good player, maybe a 400-500 $ guitar. Don't overtighten the tuners, which work fine, but refit kluson style for better function and appearance. Pickguards are not interchangeable always, many screw configurations. HB + ring can be mounted too far towards controls. Bridge needs work/ can be replaced.

Don't strip the urethane off this body, as the wood is dentable and not that pretty. Take the neck off and put some Deft on it, or you'll wear thru the sealer and get the dirt look. Buttons for straps have big screws, fine. This is probably your backup guitar at the gig. It is, except for what I've said above, as stout as the usual Fender tele or strat. It can be readily upgraded with hdwr, bridge or saddles, tuners, and be your main guitar.

Fender and Cort have been around for years. I'd personally be sheepish complaining about anything on a $100 guitar. This is a gift, and don't forget that.
The Fender guy on the phone in Corona was polite, but he knew basically less about this guitar than you did before you started reading the first entry here, or he wouldn't say. I don't mind.
Finally, this guitar was discontinued as of February, 2007, tho some can still be found in sunburst or black in unopened boxes. Wxcept for achived reviews FMIC website's been swept clean.

I have ten of these things, Scout's Honor. I've got other stuff I love, too many to mention, and this cost twenty five percent of my next cheapest guitar, and yet I don't feel let down in any way when I'm playing one of these. This guitar is really not to be 'wasted' on beginnners or the uninspired, it just needs your loving attention to be fully set up. I don't like giving tens, but because of the ridiculous and unmatched price/value relationship, I give it a

This is an update to my previous post, see below. not the easiest pickup change but easier than most. The screamin demon (lead,HB) fit perfect. but the lead on the classic stack(neck, SC) was kinda short and I had to add to the white wire. There are adjustment screws for the neck pickup,which is a body mount pickup, save and re-use these or you'll have a mess trying to pickguard mount this pickup with the short wire length."i understand now..sensei..." re-use the foam adjustment pad also. no routing necesary...Hooray!

pickup and string replacement...$200, better sounding squire...priceless. strung it up with the 11's and went right into some VHII...it's choicey.

stiffened the neck, adjusted the saddles...all is good.

Well now I have a $300 squier '51. I feel alot better about the sound and playability...it Rocks. I've spent alot more money on failed projects. So it's really is great when one works out for a change.

And alas, I get to do the $99 review of this guitar. and I took the time thistime to place it under the correct manufacturers site. Squire's I believe...should be listed under Squire. Not fender squire, Renault made my Nissan but the insurance company says Nissan... any how out of the box eevrything looked great, nice strat type body with a adjustable stop tailpiece, satin finished maple tele neck with diecast tuners, p-bass control set with a push pull volume(coiltap) and a three way rotary position knob in the tone postition. a real good solid basswood body feel. some standard fender pickups , a humbucker and a single coil in the neck.21 frets... made in Indonesia

Hears where the boar eats the cabbage...anything that activates my tinitus(tin ear) ain't the greatest.been playing 26 years and prefer metal/classic rock/ country. haven't done a setup on it yet for the 11's, and it came strung with 9's so I'll try to be fair. I've only run it through my Cube60 and A/B'd it with my junebug custom strat w/ kinmans, and a thinline tele w/dimarzios,(did not adjust eq during comparing) it had a thin sound without doing any EQing, kind of tinny in comparison but, I believe a setup with the 11's and some adjutments could get some of the shrill out of it. I also haven't played it through a stack.it get's a little noisy with effects and that always means...pickup changeout time. it plays great otherwise, setup was okay out of the box and overall for $99 I'm happy.

All of it was better than I can do, I build and do laquer finishes, but you can't beat a nice poly coat done right. Unfortunatelly, and take note: there is no pickup adjustment for the neck single coil. If you decide to replace it you may need to rout the cavity and add adjustment screw holes through the pick guard. the standard pickup height seems pretty good for the ware. every thing else is just fine.

I'm sure this guitar can take a beating upfront. I've been playing squires since 1986, and I still have them all. The newer ones concern me though with the wire gauges,pots, switches and solder, but I haven't had a failure yet.(i have a new Obey tele and an Obey strat '06 purchases played 3-4 hours a week, no mods, no probs) this beast is getting an electrical overhaul...pup's, switches, wires, jack and pots. but that's my doing. for the Earl Shreib price of $99...I have no fear. I'd gig it in a heartbeat.

never dealt with squier/fender on guitars.

Hey 26 years ago I wish this guitar was around...of course for $99. my first guitar was an epiphone genesis, made in Taiwan, cost $200. took it in to get restrung and found out the neck was cracked. $400 later I had a jumbo refretted 18 pound log that I suffered with for 5 years...till I got my first squire. I have alot of very high dollar equipment and guitars. I just like the simplicity of gigging with good quality stuff, low cost,good sounding. so if the beer bottles start flying I can defend myself and not cry. If it were lost or stolen I'd probably be pissed, more over the labor and $200 dollars worth of pickups(screamin' demon and classic strat plus) I'm about to install. Squire makes new guitars everyday so I'd find a replacement, and start over...26 years ago I think if it was available, I'd definately have to replace it...or buy the fender Lead II...ah the memories. hey it's a good guitar. Rock on

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.

Features? Single and humbucker...doesn't get any better. The push pull pot doesn't make a huge tonal difference, but does add a little pop. I can't quit playing this thing! Put new strings...then amazing. The blonde w/ black pickgaurd...gorgeous. My Les Paul won't even speak to me anymore. She's been catchin' me cheatin.

Great for any style. I plugged it in, turned the radio on, and played for hours. It covers all solid body sounds. Good sustain. The pickups are hot, but not too hot where you can't crank it up and jam in a small room without major feedback. I can't wait to throw on some add-ons. Perfect guitar for adding better parts, even though it sounds great now. Blown away for $99!!!

Action needed a bit of adjustment, no biggie. Don't see any flaws, but hey it's a vintage so who cares if there is. I've been wanting a tele blonde, but I'm so poor I can't even pay attention, so figured $99, I'll give 'er a shot. I wouldn't sell it for more than I paid. I'm stoked.

Don't know yet...but i played her for 3 1/2 hrs last night and she seemed pretty solid. Seems well built. Tuners stayed tight.

Don't know. But i figure for 99 bucks I don't care if they hang up on me when I call.

I've been playing an Epi LP for four years (actually sounds better than gibsons i've played)...I love everything about it, but I've been wanting something in the Fender category for a while. I couldn't choose what, so I thought I would start with a cheapy for the feel. The reviews are all correct. A+ Sounds fantastic. I would buy one before they are gone. Ebay or Musiciansfriend.

When MF blew these out a $99.00 I pulled the trigger on a vintage Blond body, black pick guard, maple neck model.The guitar has a 21 fret tele style neck with vintage frets. A Strat style single coil in the neck position and a humbucker in the bridge position with a push/pull coil tap on the volume pot. The p/up selector is a rotory 3 way. No tone controls.

I bought this because it can be modded without fear of butchering a high end guitar. After listening to the guitar going through tube and ss amps, I'm leaving mine stock for now. The humbucker is hot so the dirty crowd will like it. The neck p/up is very Stratty sounding, good for blues solos. Noise level is not perfect but no more than any other single coil.Humbucker is quiet.

This guitar came with a flawless body and one small ding on the back of the neck. The fit is good with both p/ups lining up under the strings properly.Bridge is a cheapo along with saddles but function ok

I would (and will) use this guitar to jam/gig with.

Fender backed guitar

I v'e been at it for over 40 years, own several high end guitars, some midrange guitars and some custom builds. I would recomend this guitar for a beginner because of it's smaller neck and decent playability.You could do a lot worse for 3 times the money.

Yep, got them things jes like that there other fella wrote.

Sounds like one of them thar electric gui-tars...kinda purty ifn ya askn.

Hadta giver a tune up, after that, she jes purred.

A raccoon done chewed on it a might. Wuz still able to play my favrite truckin song "18 wheels is moran you got"

Now whut am I gonna ask some city fella about?

Been playing the gui-tar longs I can recollect. I reckon I love this gui-tar, at least as much as I can love some wood and wires.

guitar is nicely finished in glossy polyurethane..neck is matte..body is strat style, with contoured back, bridge is fixed strat style..tuners are sealed gotoh style..the neck on this one is kind of chunky..i like it..made in indonesia..if i am deciphering the serial # correctly it is a 2005 model..maple neck/fingerboard..basswood ? body ..volume -push/pull phase and pickup selector knobs..no tone control..but...LOTS of tone

as frank zappa so aptly put it..wowie zowie baby you're so neat...the sound is simply put..GREAT...single coil strat PUP in the neck is glassy and clean..hb at bridge is slammin'...in between to my ear is more single coil sounding, but could be how i have the pup's balanced..push pull knob seems to add / detract bass..also..major tone change with volume knob roll off..seems to get a bit bassier...which on some guitars is a detraction, but on this guitar..IT WORKS...very full sound, with a dramatic range..i love the blues, but pay the bills playing a little bit of everything..i am running it straight through a riv 55/112 at gigs..at home, i play it through a very old blonde fender bassman, with 2 x 12 jensen, and also run my emery super baby throught the bassman cab..also like this thing through my little zinky smokie amp...one of my buddy's uses a line 6 and has one of these..it sounds great through that..another buddy has one, and plays through various fenders, silvertones, and other exotics, and it sounds great in every amp...REALLY

i was late on the bandwagon..all my friends had these guitar and tried to convince me to get one..i couldn't get past that name on the headstock 'SQUIER'..golly..don't know why..the guitar i got is finished perfectly..no flaws..neck = perfect...body =perfect..one slight problem..one or two of the height adjustment screws on the saddles vibrate loose...might fix it with elmers which shouldn't bugger things up...i lowered the saddles and tightened the truss rod..it plays to my specifications and i have no complaints..i'll be a prick..9 for the loose saddle screws

i have played fender, musicman, g&l guitars for years...you can through them in the air..try and catch them and miss...you can flip on the ground like stevie ray...you can probably decapitate an unwanted household intruder...how the heck can you mess up a fender guitar..they are built like tanks..oh yeah..this one is an indonesian squier..well ...it is just as solid as any fender i ever had

i have had excellent results with fender service..i have heard stories about people that did not have good results..maybe they didn't approach things from the correct angle

bought it on ebay..brand spankin' new..in the original shipping box, but with the addition of a nicely padded gretsch gig bag and a brand new fender E tuner...quirky, but cool...paid 99.99 delivered to my door..if you don't get one, and you can afford the yard..well, my friend...imho, that would be a bad move...you can take it anywhere, use it for any application, be it country, gospel, soul, r&b, blues, rock, heavy metal, jazz...if you can think of it, this guitar has no limitations

Strat body, Tele neck, Vintage Blonde with black '51 P-Bass style pickguard, 1 Humbucker w/ coil tap, 1 single coil, 1 volume knob, hardtail bridge. Pretty unique in the features department, but docking off a point for lack of tone knob. No big deal though.

I bought this guitar on a whim when I heard that the price dropped to $100 and they were being discontinued. I always liked the way they looked when they came out but the price made me think they might be a little cheap.

So I drive to Sam Ash to try one out. I was really surprised at the tone I was getting from this cheap $100 Squier. Running through a Vox Valvetronix AD30VT (the same amp I own), I sat there and played with all the different pickup combinations and was getting some amazing sounds. The humbucker is pretty powerful and has a lot of character, but isn't so hot that it just sounds like white noise. It produced a very smooth, saturated crunch which I was pleased with. I was able to get a lot of good clean tones as well, especially with the coil tap on the humbucker. Lots of Strat-like sounds, which was good because I was looking for something with a little more versatility. Very very pleased with the sounds I'm getting. Again, I'm docking a point for no tone knob, but the thing sounds damn good anyway.

As expected, it wasn't set up too well out of the box. I'll probably do a full set up today when I'm not busy. Action was a little high. Might want to ask the guitar clerk to bring you multiple '51s from the back room; the first one he brought out for me had a sizeable crack right by the neck joint as well as some finish flaws on the backside. I wasn't about to buy something brand new with flaws like that. The next one he got me was in pristine condition out of the box.

Seems pretty sturdy so far. I've always felt like Fenders (and Squiers, especially) were sort of durable in this respect. I'll probably drop it a lot and accidentally yank cables out and such but I bet it will still play like a million bucks. The finish is a beautiful vintage blonde; this guitar looks a lot like an old Les Paul Junior Special or something. Think TV yellow only slightly lighter. I think I could rely on this guitar... although I would probably never rely completely on one single guitar. :P

Well, Sam Ash has a 30-day money back guarantee so if it breaks in the next month I won't lose any sleep. I'm guessing that dealing with Squier should I have a problem will probably be a pain.

Been playing 9 years now. Also own a 2005 Les Paul Junior, a 2002 Telecaster and an old 1995 mutant Ibanez strat copy. Honestly, I was getting pretty bored with all my other gear and this guitar made playing a little bit more exciting again. And it was dirt cheap! I love the color, and it sounds great. This guitar just has a good vibe. I'd probably just by another one if this was lost or stolen because they're so damn cheap, although they'll probably be slightly harder to find now that they're being discontinued. This is a great cheap guitar, and from what I've read online is apparently great for modding.

You probably know the features already, so I'll move onto what you really want to read.

This guitar suits me like no other I've owned. I play mostly blues and classic rock and I can't get enough of this one. I have several amps I play this particular guitar through. I have a '65 Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue, VOX VR30, and VOX Pathfinder 10. It sounds best through the VOX VR30, but in the Deluxe's defense, it's gonna take some knob tweaking. I dialed up the sound I wanted right away with the VR30. The Pathfinder is just a small practice amp. I've gotten a great mix of Chicago Blues & British Blues with this combo. Very cool. I was very pleased with the stock pickups, however I will change them out. I'm not in a real hurry to do this, but I'm definitely going to go with Fender's new '68 Hendrix Tribute strat pickup in the neck. I will most likely go with a Gibson '57 type Humbucker in the bridge. The coil tap feature is pretty sweet on this one. You can get a nice array of sound. When you "tap" the bucker for single coil, its slightly hotter than a regular Strat bridge pickup and not as bright as a Tele. There is some hum, but you can't hear it when playing so who cares. Didn't seem to both Jimi too much. I'm giving this a "9" only because I'm gonna change the pickups.

Well, Squiers are notorious for being CRAP as far as action, fit, and setup goes. Another surprise for me here. It was ok at the store, but all I had to do was change the strings and I was good to go. Intonation was great as well. I tried some new strings on this as well. I read in last months Guitar Player magazine that Warren Haynes sometimes uses GHS Boomers and I can see why. They sound great, they break in easily, and their inexpensive.

The guitar is very well built. I'm looking to start playing out again and I would definitely take it out for gigs. I probably would gig with it without a backup, but I recommend it. You just never know.

N/A

I've been playing about 12 years now, and I've owned about 20 guitars. Most were Strats and this is the best one. Plays great, sounds great, feels great. I love everything about this guitar. I love the Tele neck, Strat body, and pups. The fact that it has one single coil and one humbucker allows you to get the most out of the guitar. The fact that you can tap the bucker only adds to its great features. I would definitely replace it if lost. I'm already thinking about getting another one because they are so cheap. I got mine for $79 at Guitar Center.

I got the blonde on blonde model with the black pickguard: splitable humbuck back pup & single-coil stratish front pup; rotary pup selector; volume pot; top-loading bridge; sealed tuners.

Back pup sounds somewhere between a strat and tele pup, favoring the tele. Actually, the humbuck back pup sounds remarkably like an esquire pup in the bypass position: quite versatile on its own. The coil-tapped back pup sounds kinda like a strat pup, but with more bite, but not necessarily in a good way. Don't really like the front pup. The whole thing is kinda noisy and could use a coat or two of sheilding paint. The range of sounds runs from bright top end with ballsy bottom using both pups to ice-pick highs. I'm not crazy about the sound, but it's great for the price point of only $99.

This thing is solid like a rock. Hardware's not bad. Recorded my new CD with it last weekend and the low E kept going out of tune, since I tracked in the control room, which got kinda warm due to the outboard gear and amps heating up. I was using 8s, which probably contributed, since the tuners seem okay for economy models. The bridge is the same as on my Squire Bullet Special and works well, unless you break strings frequently, since it's kinda painful changing them with this contraption. The finish on the body is really nice. The neck finish, or lack thereof, takes some getting used to. It's the kind of chunky neck you want to love, but just never clicks. The nut is okay, since I play slide exclusively and like it kinda high. I had to buff the frets with steel wool for quite a spell to get it smooth enough to play. The hardware seems okay, unless you gig a lot.

Looks pretty rugged and roadworthy.

For $99 - pluuuuuuuuuze!

A functional, versatile entry level guitar, with potential for modding. A great buy for beginner to advanced alike. I'm loayl to my Squire Bullet Special, which I use for touring, rehearsing, and recording. But I really dig the humbucker in the 51 - it's worth the $99 price of the guitar alone. I plan on replacing the humbucker in the Bullet Special with the 51 humbucker, since it sound sooooooo good! I just ordered another Bullet Special, since I like the stock pup, so I'll have both.

Anyhoo, you really need to buy the 51 today - it's a great little guitar!

There's enough info I won't repeat. All you have control wise is a three way selector knob and a volume control with push pull to split bridge humbucker. No tone control... But I haven't found that a big issue, you have five different choices (plus all the other effects and amp features) so live with it.

I bought this thinking I was getting a Tele neck on a strat body...despite the look, that isn't what you are getting. Its a tele headstock, but the neck is fatish strat to my notion (I have owned a dozen real tele's this is unlike any of them). So that disappointed me, was hoping for thinish tele neck. But I still like the guitar.

First thing to do when you get this guitar is cut the lousy strings off and put a good set of 10's or higher on it. I wasted an hour try to set intonation with the originals...junk. When you cut the strings off you may also find as I did that the nuts on the tuners are loose and they are moving around...ahh that's why it wouldn't stay in tune! Then set intonation....

Then you will get a big surprize...this baby produces some nice sounds. The humbucker solo is good nd the two single coil setting is very pleasing. Much better sound than normal for this price point. I like the rotary switch..its quiet. Not a lot of tonal variety, but enough.

This one was made in Indonesia so I didn't expect much. The blonde color with black pickguard is actually very attractive and the finish surprised me again. The set up was lousy, partly due to bad strings, loose tuners mentioned above. But whole setup needed to be done, then it played nicely. The neck is fat and flat. Not my taste, it is a barre chord neck. The bridge is terrible, when you get the intonation right, the adjustment screws hit the strings and will cause them to break...two choices: 1) grind off screw ends (or use shorter screws) or 2) do what they should have, convert to string through the body (like a tele). But again considering price...a bargain.

It cost $99! Durable? Well I'd say way beyond what one should expect particularly with a few mods. I bought it as a touy to experiment with...its great for that

No experience and I'm sure my mods will quickly void any warranty.

I'm 60 and been playing since I was 14. I've owned just about everything, play lots of Tele, various Gibsons from an extensive collection, and several PRS's. I'm a guitarholic. I buy lot's of inexpensive toys...this is one. Incredible for the price, I'd use it on a gig with a back up (my 52 Tele)...I play lot's places where don't want to use your studio guitars.

I've always considered putting a nice Tele neck on a hardtail strat body with some nice pickups...at first glance that's what this appears to be; but its not. They had a good idea, but got cheap in execution. I'll play it a while, but she'll wind up on ebay and I'll build what they should have done.

If you are looking for an interesting guitar for a bargain price...this is still a ten. But with a little more thought (or modification) it could be a killer.

blonde with black pickguard, strat body type, telecaster neck (standard, not affinity), 21 med jumbo frets, radius is supposed to be 9.5 but feels flatter than that. made in indonesia. 1 humbucker with coil tap and one single coil strat pickup in the neck position. basswood body, solid maple neck with skunkstripe. maple fretboard but all one piece. one volume knob which when pulled out, engages coil tap on humbucker and one 3-way rotary switch to select pickup\combinations including combining tapped hb with neck pup. i gave it only an 8 on features because its not exactly made up of high class parts and features though they sound wonderful and look fine. the rotary pickup selector is kinda strange but you get used to using it really quick. and would rather have a toggle for tapping but what do you want for 99 bucks?

this thing actually sounds wonderful! i use it with a peavey\behringer half stack and with an ibanez practice amp. sometimes i use my korg toneworks processor but actually it sounds pretty good without it. it is very quiet no matter how youre using it as far a buzzing or humming even at insane volume. the pickups are amazingly clear and strong for cheepies and i dont think they need changed unless youre going for a super dimebag distortion or something. the different combinations of pickups make it go anywhere from strat to sg. not very tele sounding to me. it really has more of that signature strat sound that many people should find very appealing but full-on distortion through the humbucker is very crunchy, clear and full bodied without the muddy sound of crappy pickups. it is hard to believe for the price how decent it sounds

from the factory the neck had WAY too much relief in it but it comes with allen wrenches to adjust truss and saddles but you will want to get out the trusty old machinist scale to set string height once you get your relief set. intonation was spot-on except the high E string. all the frets were level (i checked with proper tooling) and fairly well dressed. no scratchy frets, not too bad of fret-ends and no dead spots that i can find yet, maybe i got one of the better ones? the finish is level and surprisingly nice for the price and no loose screws or hardware. i gave it only an 8 in this department because the fret ends can be felt but i have paid a lot more and got worse honestly. and by the way it has the better tuners, not the affinity series crappos that dont hold tune

it may not be fender but it is from the same family and is as solid as one. the hardware may or may not last, depends on how much abuse you plan on giving it, just like anything. the finish is polyurethane so it will take a hammering before you chip it. i dont think any strap buttons are solid so get straplocks even for this, once you own it, you wont want to drop it. as far as dependability, i dont care if you spend 3000 dollars or 99, things happen dont gig it without a backup, thats just stupid but i think if you take care of this little dude it will treat you good. by the way the night i got it, i gigged it for 5 or 6 hours straight! also it pretty much stayed in tune and i am a HEAVY string bender and gave the knobs a workout too experimenting and figuring out what i can get from this thing. i just couldn't believe how well it sounded and played for the money

i wouldnt know but musicians friend is awesome with customer support so buy it from them. i would know i have spent a ton of money with them and have had to make a couple returns.

i have been playing for 19 years now and have owned some pretty cool stuff. i play mostly rock, classic rock, blues, hard rock and am very picky with my tone. if this is your style you may like the '51 even though it is a bit funny looking. the only one with a black pickguard will be the blonde, the others have white and it is cheap looking. you know what youre buying when you buy a squier but man this instrument is just different somehow, in a better way. like i said maybe i just got lucky and got an exception to the rule but man im glad i did. i wouldnt say i wish i had 3 of them but if it got stolen i would replace it unquestionably. take a chance on it, if youre reading this youre already interested.

Maple tele neck on basswood strat body, 1 single coil and 1 splittable humbucker. I got mine as a sunburst with a white single ply p/g. Look cool - sounds good. Hardtail bridge, push/pull volume to split the humbucker and a rotary p/u selector instead of a tone.

When I received this guitar in the mail I was really surprised that it was set up as well as it was for a factory job. I usuall don't play with such thin strings but it felt and sounded great. I play blues and blues rock and use tube amps only (Rivera, Fender). I have been a guitar snob for years and until recently would not have even bought anything made overseas. This little guy is just damn sweet! The thhing that really grabbed me was the humbucker. I use Strats almost exclusively and have for many years. I hadn't used a humbucker for a long time. The guitar is articulate and the guys in my band thought that it sounded amazing and were a little bit miffed the other night when I didn't take it to the gig. It's that cool!

No the actiion is slightly higher than I like and the strings a on the thin side but it is still very easy to play. The finishh is a little rought in one spot but I have a $1000 guitar that has a finish flaw and I'm not exactly careful so no worries for me.

I don't think that this will be an issue. I break stuff all of the time and we just put it back together. I typically gig with more than one guitar and it looks good in photos! ;-)

I have never had to deal with Fender as a consumer. I don't thihnk that it would be a problem though.

I have played for 28 yers and I wish that the 'cheap' guitars in the good old days were as nice as this. I spent 103 bucks including shipping and can't say I was ripped off in any way. The neck is worth what I paid for it. I have some pedals that cost more than this guitar but I can take this thing anywhere with me, plug in and have a great time. My other gear includes 2 customized Strats, a Vintage Silvertone, a Larivee Acoustic and a mess of pedals Boutique and mass produced. I have a bunch of Rivera gear, a vintage Fender Tremolux and a small Epiphone amp(another great value!)

I wuld have to say that this is a must buy and you can modify it and not feel guilty or just shut up and play it. It is what it is. You don't get a $1000 or a custom guitar here but it is solid as sounds good and I think after I tweek it to my specs, I'll be playing it a bunch more.

sunburst, maple neck. added a SH11 custom custom (big!), and a fender tele alnico, and tele deluxe "hat" knobs. looks nice.

Great value for the price. I wanted a cheap guitar to carry around and make some modifications. Very flexible guitar. The rotary selector is a cost saving and is not convenient. Plug it into good pedals and a Blues junior. Stock pick-ups are really better than the competition in that price bracket. Neck is surprisingly good,and playability is fair enough. I swapped the pick-ups for a SH11 and a tele alnico, and now it is a killer guitar.

Nice finish,nice sunburst colour. set up was ok, but as I fitted bigger strings it took time to set up, as the tuners and bridge are really crap. So is the tuning stability so you really must know how to fit strings properly. I drop a dose of grease under the string tree, and then the stability is ok.

it is a second or third guitar, a nice back-up but not a main axe as the tuning stability is not ensured. Electronics cavity is a mess, soldering might have been performed by lumberjacks, so problems may appear after a couple of months of use and shocks

played for 13 years, owned cheap and high-end guitars, this one is fair enough for the price, and very polyvalent; A beginner would love it, but an experienced player can also have fun with it. Great base for customising, even if the stocks features are good.

Strat body, tele neck, one single coil, one splittable humbucker, a push-pull volume knob and a 5-way switch knob. No tone control.

It sounds good, really. The neck pickup is bassy in a cool way in my opinion, very nice round cleans and almost PAF-like in overdrive (seriously, you can play have a sound close to AC/DC with it). The humbucker is awesome, it's worth the price of the guitar. High gain in humbucker mode, very naughty overdrive (more than my Gibson 498T at same OD level), metal and shred is totally ok with it but it shines even better in alt rock and punk in my opinion, a very unique sound. The split mode is really great, twangy and tele-like, nice cleans too and nasty single coil OD, a bit shrill though sometimes. Best position: neck and split HB toogether ??? the sound is awesome in clean and crunch!

I put a 10, great sound for very low bucks: what more do you want?! I'd record with it, very versatile with its 5 pickup positions.
Read bellow for the pickup set-up.

The finish is really great on mine (blonde with black pickguard). The paint job is awesome, even the pickup cavities are really nice and painted. The neck is perfectly adjusted to the body. The neck is awesome to play, pure heaven, really. It will have a nice patina in a few years too.

But, you MUST set-up your guitar. It has LOTs of potential but you can't expect Squier to do a great set-up job for this price. So first the pickups are not properly adjusted, you must unscrew the pickguard to access the screws for the single coil. As the guitar has no tone knob, you might want to adjust the pickups lower on the highs than on the lows. Once adjusted to your taste, you'll love its sound, guaranteed! Second, you must change the factory strings which are bad and set-up the action. DO NOT touch to the trussrod before you have lower the action, it's just stupid. Lower the action to your taste with the small allen screws on the bridge and only then touch the trussrod if there is still some buzzing on either part of the neck despite all your efforts. The frets might not be perfect though so check that before too. Mine were fine except on a small spot where one fret was higher and it muted the sound one fret higher. The tuners are fine, no problem with them if you know how to change a string properly.

The push-pull knob came lose after only a week, I had to glue it to be able to use the push-pull. Bad point for this.

10 for the finish and great neck, 5 for the action and set-up, so I put 7.

I have owned the '51 for 6 months now, seems rather solid, not have any problem so far. I would take it on stage. I don't like to give a rating for this category 'cause who knows.

Have not dealt with them. Won't dealt with them anyway (I'd just set it up by myself or buy a new '51).

Best quality for such a low price! Original guitar too, does not tend to imitate other big names, has its own personality which is great, and I think is why pro guitarists like it too. I play every style I like with it: blues, rock, hard rock, neo-classic rock, alternative, folk, indian/oriental stuff etc. Very versatile with the single coil and splittable humbucker.

For now, this guitar is plugged into an Epiphone Valve Jr. and sounds awesome with it in clean and crunch, which is for me another proof of its quality (class A amp with only a volume knob, yet the '51 shines into it). A great combo for a small jamming gear. For the price, you can buy another one if this one gets beaten up in the bands van or on stage, or even get stolen (who the f**ck would steal a 150$ guitar anyway? ??? well maybe those won't don't know its price but heard it on stage I guess). I would at least. Excellent guitar for a beginner too, and the pro will love it.

And lastly, don't listen to everyone telling you to change the pickups right away. Sorry, but these guys can't play if they need to do this to have a good sound. Learn to set-up your guitar guys! This axe is an excellent one for the price with all its features. It would still be a bargain for 100$ more too.

If Fender didn't sell to CBS in the 60's. This 51 is probly the type of guitars we would have seen coming from FENDER in the 60's. Great take on a Strat/Tele. Strat BODY, Tele, NECK, custom electronics and pick-ups. With a 51 P-Bass pick-guard that is way Cool! These are like the 55 CHEVYS or 63 COBRA's of the guitar world! Just a Great base to build a Great guitar, or play it like it is for INSTANT MOJO!

Incredable Tones, Very Very impressive sounds come from this Beast! Raw, Nasty, and just full of MOJO! Neck-single-coil[Ceramic] and a bridge humbucker [Alnico]. With a Three-Way Rotary, and a Push-Pull Volume control. This will give the 51, a bridge Humbucker or Single-Coil Tones. Middle could be Single/Humbucker or Single/Single Tones. The neck is Single coil tones PERIOD! So there are 5-posible tones on this baby with the bridge coil-tap! All of them are USABLE and sound great. Though this is a inexpensive guitar there is NO NEED to change pick-ups these sound Clear, Bright, Edgey, and Balenced. The to pups mix and blend together VERY WELL! Tones range between a Strat and Tele with a NASTY OD Humbucker Tone that could be used alone in the bridge. Electronics are decent on the 51 though simple. What else could you want?

Very Good, I am sure the consistancy varies from guitar to guitar. I looked for a 51 for a year. I could NOT find one that did not need fret-work. Finally I came across my Sunburst that the original owner did a fret-job on! The 51 plays awesome great LOW action, great fret-work, nice chunky neck! I have read complaints about the SADDLES/Bridge? The saddles on mine are done well. The adjusting screws are filed to fit the saddles with no extra sharp edges sticking out above the saddles! So resting your hand on the saddles/bridge is perfect! What elese could you want? The saddles DO NOT break strings and ONLY touch the strings on the VERY TOP of the saddles. This is perfect. They Do Not RATTLE! Theres TOO MUCH downward presure from the strings. I don't know what else you could possibly want from this Saddle/bridge unit. Its a Toploader and MUCH of the TONE on the 51 is DUE to this bridge! Anyway the neck joint fits perfect, The tuning machines work wonderfull, The two string trees NEED ATTENTION. I found a fault here. The E+B string tree needs to have the spacer ground down to HALF its size. You will get MUCH BETTER TONE on your E+B string with this done! The Body is BASSWOOD! Its a GREAT Tonewood that has been used for years. Especially in the 80's by Dean, Ibanez, Jackson and Fender TOO! Its a very good Tone wood especially with Humbuckers. But caution.....Basswood for a Hardwood could be on the SOFT side. So constantly taking screws out and back on WILL STRIP them in the body MUCH faster than ALDER ASH etc etc. The Two-Tone Sunburst finish on my 51 is well done and I believe the Poly finish on the 51's help firm up th Basswood. I haven't had the soft Basswood problems with my 51. As I said much has to do with this FINISH! The body is Three-piece. I do not know if Squire is selling two-piece 51's but i doubt it! More than likely 3-4 piece bodys. But They Good in Sunburst so Squire has the body piece's matched well, with the grain in the right directions!

Rock Solid.........Comes out of the FENDER STRAT/TELE mold. Will withstand a NUKE Attack!

I never use them?

Great Addition to ANY collection. Will give you a few Usable Tone's that you DO-NOT already have! For SMALL BUCKS! Just find one with a good NECK/Fret-job. That is THE KEY! From there you are on your way to playing /owning one of the COOLIST electrics built in years! Easy to say great bang for the buck! But this guitar has great TONES regardless of price!

some recommendations on squier 51 upgrades; replaced neck with lace holy grail strat pickup, very rich and full. Initially put split lace gold sensors on bridge, didn't work out. neither grit nor cut. then tried GFS hot nashville retrotron. Incredible sound change: rockabilly/country machine now, jangles like gretsch on chords, cuts through, with coil tapped more traditionally tele. the b and e strings have jangle, bite and clarity. if you're a country, folk, pop, rock - check out the GFS nashvilles. incredible. also had strings drilled through and GFS gotoh imitations put on. result is a dream.

still love this neck, whatever loose ground wires that come up with this have been cleaned up.

you can always afford a 3 pack.

n/a

if you want a very versatile, country guitar - which brings tele/gretsch togethe - try this combination, drill the body, holy grail in the neck, gfs hot nashville in bridge. incredible - some setzer, some pretenders, some james burton. holy grail means you get beautiful chord overtones on open strings, both full on and it rocks, tapped and both pickups and you've got a combination of rockabilly and tele spank. weird but it works.

made 2004.. ok lets just say that the dopes on here that run the squire 51 through a crappy amp will get some noise and dont know about good amps yet!!..i play through a princeton reverb tube amp amd a epiphone tube head to a 1x12 cab ..the guitar sounds really great crazy kurt cobain sound grungey as all hell i love the single coil and i am a humcker person..the pushpull nob is alot of fun to fool around with sounds great when you mix it up..tuners stay in tune the neck is nice and easy to play .

ok well i am a punk rocker at heart but i still play the blues sometimes..i really think this guitar is nice the sunburts tabbacco is really pretty .USE A GOOD AMP PERFERBLE TUBE with distion and you will be in rock and roll Heaven..at least use a small marshall amp

the guitar is really nice looking old P bass style...paint job is flawless...i really think the squire 51 is a great buy..

the hardware is good the tuners are really nice..the jack is a little loose after play same as my epiphone les paul..gig with it , practice with it its a really great guitar for the money hands down..

Tons of gear over the years been playing out live every week for years...i would buy this guitar again in a heart beat...for 150.00 humbcker and maple neck how can you beat it...

I won't repeat the features, they're all below...

It doesn't sound too bad. The pickups are better than I expected--though the humbucker really is rather bright.

Well, here's the rub. A lot of people have hyped this guitar, making it sound like the deal of the century. And it's true, it's well worth the money, and then some. But some of the hardware is genuinely garbage. The bridge saddles rattle horribly, the tuners are awful, the string trees are too high. Weirdly, the bridge is too far forward--in order to intonate, you have to pull back the low E as far as it will go--and the little trenches embossed in it where the saddle adjustment screws are supposed to go, are in some cases in completely the wrong place. BUT...there are two reasons to buy this thing, and those are the appearance (neat) and the neck. The neck is just lovely. Smooth, even, with nice narrow frets that feel wonderful. Also everything fits pretty tightly, and the butterscotch finish on mine is very, very nice. I'm replacing almost everything else, for fun, because I was looking for a good mod guitar. New bridge PU, new tuners, new saddles (Callaham), new pickguard. (The stock one is OK, but I like three- and four-layer ones.) I'm even planning to replace the decal with one in the style of an old Esquire, saying "SQUIER '51."

For all that, it seems pretty sturdy. The finish is thin, I think, but I like that. People say the strap buttons are weak, but I haven't noticed that...anyway, screw them in with glue, that will work well and has in the past for me. I'd gig without a backup, sure.

A 9 for value. I really like this thing...I feel like somebody designed a really great little guitar, then proceeded to mistreat it with cheap hardware and general ineptitude. But whoever made the neck knew what they were doing.

Not sure when it was made. Typical Squier 51 features

I play a wide variety of musical styles and I host a musicians night once a week for over eight years. The level of musicians that come and sit in range from young up and comers to local established pros to national and international artists that drop after they have finished a performance that they have come into town for as well as the occassional bedroom player. I wanted an playable inexpensive guitar that i could hand over to a visiting musician whom may have needed five or six shots of Jose Cuervo to get his nerve up and not worry if he dropped it or if it mysteriously disappeared. The Squier 51 seemed to fit the bill. As a matter of fact it was so good that I began to do the musicians night with the Sqier as the only guitar I would take to the gig and actually looked forward to playing it. My only issues were 1- single coil neck pick up was extremely noisey, 2- no tone knob, ands 3-cheap tuning machines. I replaced the single coil with a Bill Lawrence L-200 pick up and had my tech add a tone knob and replaced the cheap tuners with Grovers and now it is a players piece.

Beautiful guitar for the money. Upgrade the tuners and pots.

Never dealt with them.

I have been palying well over thirty years and have played almost every type of guitar there is and this is a great bargin. If it were stolen I would by another one immidiately

My Squire '51 was made in 2006 in Indonesia. It has 21 frets on it's maple neck and fingerboard and is finished in vintage blonde with a black scratchplate (cool colour).

It has one humbucker and one 'strat' single coil, however the humbucker can be split by way of a coil tap on the volume pot control. The other control pot looks like it might be a tone control, however it is actually a three way selector switch for different pick up configerations. The pick up's are alright for a guitar of this price (#120), and can always be upgraded at a later date (I think this guitar would be awesome with a Jeff Beck humbucker and a quality 'strat' single coil).

Body style is strat shape but the scratchplate looks like one from a 51 reissue precision bass (maybe this is where it gets it's name from?), and the neck is like a telecaster neck (C profile) witha tele headstock.

Bridge is a stop tailpiece with vintage style tuners, I may upgrade these later.

Although I've been playing on and off for 20 years, I've owned much more expensive guitars (ESP, Gordon Smith, Tex Mex Tele), and this guitar is a joy to play and quite unusual to look at. For the price it's a real steal and I would buy another.

The fret ends are a bit sharp and need sanding down with very fine sand paper, and I had to replace the screws on the jack socket as they seemed too small for the holes that were drilled for them. That said, and for the money, I don't really mind any of this, and when I've got sufficient funds avail, I intend to use this as a project guitar.

With my Peavey Audition 110 practice amp, it sounds fine, though the pick up's are a bit bright, that's to be expected at this price. There's basically five different sounds using the 3 way selector and the coil tap, but the humbucker on my old Tex Mex Tele was much more powerful so don't expect too much here.

I play a wide range of music (not gigging) excluding metal, but including things like RHCP and Green Day, to blues.

You'll eventually change the pick up's on this if you're serious.

Well set up from the factory, good action, but fret ends too sharp. Neck perfectly straight, with perfect string alignment (not like my old Tex Mex Tele).

Not tested (only 2 days old).

Not used.

I found a video review of this on www.dolphinstreet.com which was very useful and the tester showed all the sounds avail - a great help.

Basswood solid body Strat style; one piece maple neck Tele style with adjustment rod; bolt on neck with 4 screws; top loader chrome bridge with six saddles ; one bridge humbucker; one neck single coil strat pick up; 2 metal knobs control: Volume with Push/Pull to split the coil; and rotary 3 way pick up selector. No tone control per se. Mini grovers style tuners. Neck is not skinny or flat at all, rather round and chunky , although not a baseball bat; satin finish. Overall guitar weight is medium/light.

Great array of sounds because you have 6 different pus positions to play with. For some the guitar will sound thin. If you have a good amp, this guitar will sound great. I have played this guitar (with the stock features) on different vintage Fender amps, and the sound was just great. I have also used some pedals, like TS808, SD1 mod , Hot Cake and there was not one bad tone.
I bought mine (blonde/yellow with black pickguard) at Sam Ash; they have a choice between Black/W pickguard and a few sunburst/W pickguard. I noticed color variations between the blonde and sunburst models. A blonde was a 3 piece body see though finish, although mine was a solid color.

I am giving a 9 although I had to file the frets' edges, put new strings and do a minor set up. I do not believe these are major faults and overall this $140 guitar is wonderful. Neck is not glossy and plays well, frets are small vintage, easy to bend the 9s. My only point of real contention is the bridge : on a top load the strings will rattle under the saddle adjustment screw. I dont like this system, and I would change it. Some people have suggested drilling the body like on a tele and installing 6 ferrules; I do not think this improvement is called for on this guitar.
Also, I think a tusk nut (as opposed to plastic) would be a great improvement.
It should be noted that basswood is a soft wood; in other words srews may not say in solidly. Do not overtight the screws or you'll have to fix the new holes!
I tried 6 different Squier 51 at the retail store. The finish, action, playability and even sound differed between them. I chose the one with the best neck and pus; finish was secondary. For this reason, I would not buy without playing it.

The guitar is not built like a tank. I suggest to do some minor upgrades.

Its Fender.

Every player should own at leat one Squier 51! They play well and sound great. I own many vintage guitars and this $150 guitar is a lot of fun to play. I would not be surprised that Fender issue a Corona made model for $699 street price. In fact I will probably buy a second one and set it up for slide with different pus. I have been playing rock and blues since the Yardbirds recorded their first 45rpm ! I own lots of nice vintage gear but this Squier 51 is a fantastic value. Also, check the Fender forum; there is a Squier 51 section with some good info.

first this is a ONE PIECE MAPLE NECK not what the last reviewer said..the neck to me is worth the whole guitar although i love the body it weighs about 7 pounds basewood..it has a pushpull nob...the tuners are also sealed really good tuners ...the humbucker is really good and the single coil pick up sounds really good...sunburst finish is beautiful..the guitar is solid just like an american strat ..made in indonsia..this guitar is a realle guitar no starter toy like some of the squires out there...and you can mod it out if you want to...DONT BE FOOLED BUY THE PRICE OF THIS GUITAR IT IS SOLID!

sound is tele/ strat...it sounds really really good through my marshall amp....twangy telesound single coil strat sound...humbucker can get nasty grungy sound punk rock .....i play rock, punk, classic rock sex pistols ,stones violent femmes ..pixies...i like how versatile this guitar is ..nothing about this guitar i dislike..you can play anything on it with a good amp! get a decent 30 watt amp..and your ready to roll..this guitar it alot of fun to play!!

set up nice low action i lucked out ...no flaws on sunburst finish..nice wood on body no flaws..i want to change bridge but does not need to be changed its just my prefrence...

yes i would play this live ...if i was playing it out regular i would put strap locks on ..i have a fender strap it holds up well hasnt fallen off yet while im jamming...

been plaing guitar 25 years..and singing...if this guitar was lost id buy another in a heartbeat...favorite feature is the maple neck..ive always wanted a maple neck and this is great fun playing guitar...ive got 4 acoustics martins 1 yamaha ...3 electrics les paul,fender strat,and this baby! marshall amp...roland microcube..tons of mics ,tascam ,Pa.. all sorts of stuff to play with.. music is my heart and soul!

I've been playing guitar for only a few months, so I'll try to keep this as objective as possible. Most of the features have already been discussed by other reviewers, but it's probably worth mentioning a few things regarding this particular guitar.

The fretboard is a separate piece of glued-on maple rather than the neck being made from a single piece of wood. The fretboard is birdseye maple, which was a really nice surprise.

I ordered the yellow model, and mine came with the black pickguard. The neck finish is satin, verging on flat; the body is gloss.

The strings as shipped were .009 - .042. It came with allen wrenches for the truss rod and bridge height adjustment screws.

I'm giving it a 10 in this category for having features as advertised and for the bonus of the birdseye maple.

I wanted a guitar with a really bright sound, and this one certainly has it, even on the humbucker.

The strings it came with were not usable, so I changed them right away to a D'Addario XL110 (.010 - .046) set. The new strings sound fine on most settings and the guitar is still marginally brighter sounding than my Yamaha Pacifica 412 (SSH Strat knockoff), but the sound just isn't different enough, now. I expect the tone will calm down further as the strings age, and I want the twang back, so I'll switch back to .009s once I put some more polyurethane on the neck (more on that below).

Also worth mentioning, in split-coil mode it really sounds lifeless -- not much in the way of overtones -- with the new strings. I adjusted the bridge pickup higher (3/64" from the strings when fretted at the 12th fret), which helps. Humbucker mode retains a lot of character, in my opinion.

For reference, I (am learning to) play fingerstyle, bare fingers. My amp is a Roland Cube 30, but mainly I use a little Danelectro headphone amp so as not to scare the pets and piss off the neighbors.

Points off in this category are for the anemic sound in split-coil mode.

Fit & Finish:
The satin neck finish feels great, but it's very thin, so I'm going to thicken it up with a few more coats of polyurethane to avoid wearing through.

The neck has the typical walnut strip on the back that covers the truss rod. The grain in the walnut strip is unfilled (i.e. the pores are open) for a length of about 5" along the back behind frets 2-5, and you can feel the roughness with your thumb.

A coarse glob of finish (I think) was stuck to the fretboard, but I was able to scrape it off without leaving a mark. There was a small ding (maybe 1/16" across) on the right side of the peghead.

The finish on the body is nice and glossy and doesn't have any surface defects, but dark smudges (wood grain, possibly) show though in a couple of spots, as one or two other reviewers have mentioned.

Here's a strange deal: The bridge and bridge pickup are rotated slightly clockwise from where they should be. It's probably only a few degrees and doesn't seem to affect anything, but it's noticeable anyway. Now that I look at pictures of this guitar on the Squier Web site, the flaw shows up there as well.

The basswood body is really soft and the screws will strip if you use even normal force. You get to where the screw feels like it's just starting to bottom, and it starts stripping. I used a small jeweler's screwdriver to remove and attach the pickguard, because anything larger felt risky.

The neck pickup is mounted in such a way that it will tilt frontward or rearward if the screw holes in the pickup cavity aren't correctly located with respect to the opening in the pickguard. Mine tilts frontward slightly.

As I mentioned above, the strings weren't usable. They were tarnished and rough, but more importantly (and bizarrely), it looks like they just used a second high E string instead of a proper B string; high E and B were both .009s (measured with a dial caliper).

Action:
My attitude is that as long as relief, action, intonation, and pickup height can be set within normal limits (and they are, on mine), the guitar deserves full credit. I will say that relief was adjusted higher than necessary (.027 at the 8th fret), but that's what the truss rod wrench is for. I set it to .010 at the 8th fret, with action set at 5/64" on all strings at the 12th fret; nothing buzzes with normal playing.

The neck has no twist that I can see. With the strings removed and the neck set as straight as I can get it, there's less than .002 height difference between any two frets. The frets are polished and smooth.

For the money it probably deserves a higher score.

I don't feel capable of commenting on this, since I haven't played that long. I am a woodworker, and my impression of the neck is that a thicker finish is needed in the long run.

I'm hoping this won't be necessary.

Bang for the buck is a legitimate consideration here, and this is a great guitar for the money. I bought it because it looks great, like nothing else I've seen. I justified it by telling myself I wanted something with a brighter sound than my other two guitars, a Squier Chambered Tele (configured more like a Les Paul, though: all mahogany, set neck, two covered humbuckers, 24.75" scale) and the Yamaha Pacifica 412 I mentioned above.

But really, I love its uniqueness, unusual controls, retro color scheme, TeleStrat styling. Despite all the problems I've listed, nothing makes me regret buying it.

Basically , a blend between a Telecaster and a Stratocaster. Read the other posts below.

It suits my music style.. 70's / 80's..

Frets were not "too" bad as other people here have posted. file the ends a bit is they bother you. The maple neck is really nice.. always thought that maple was better then rosewood.

Everything to me seems "rock solid" the only thing that bothers me.. is the push / pull knob.. who knows when that will wing out.. maybe it won't.

have had to call them.

This guitar is AWESOME. To get a tele / strat / jag / mustang ?hybrid? like this, is just awesome.. This is the guitar I play out with. I ?do not? view this guitar as a ?beginner? guitar.. Why would you even ?think? about buying a real $1000 strat or les paul when you can buy this? This guitar plays live as equally records well.

This review is mainly to share a simple mod that can greatly improve the sound of this axe for blues and slide players: Drop a vintage tele neck into the slot where the strat pup sits. I put in a GFS I07 classic TC alnico; it's low output but warm and well defined, and the chrome cover (pretty!) does a nice shielding job, so you can use more volume and gain on the amp. To balance the pickups I had to lower the VERY hot bridge HB, and goodness, its range and definition improved noticeably. The new pup cost me $21 with shipping, and soldering two leads is a snap. The three single coil configs now sound distinct and have character, running from woody to knife-edge. The HB combinations are OK if nobody in the room knows the difference. 9 for the singles, 6 for the HB averages 8 in cheap guitar heaven.

Working on this guitar reminded me of its failings. A lot of the wood screws strip easy, and the push-pull pot is already starting to make undesirable noises. If you change the HB make sure you get one with a ring, because the ring on the 51 won't fit many pups. Someone further down said the axe is worth changing the bridge saddles, and I do find the stock ones more and more annoying -- cheap, loose screws that promise a lifetime of adjustment.

DO NOT trust the stock tuners, even tightened. Until I change them I won't dare use this axe to record, let alone on a gig, with or without backup. They don't hold tune for ONE SONG, and I don't smash the strings. That's a major failing, and that's why I downrated the axe since my last review.

Playing 40 years and much of it in front of other people, own seven other guitars and a half-dozen amps, from Microcube to vintage Bassman 100. With the new pickup I'd rate the guitar a solid 9 for classic (Delta, Chicago) slide -- it's got that greasy vintage wail nailed. For everything else I do (a wide spectrum)... it's a 6. A-B it with a premium axe (like my Reverends!) and the difference is clear. I'll give it an 8 because even with another $21 in it, it cost $171 new, and it sounds like a pricier git than what I've invested in it... but to play out, there's $50 in tuners and some change for saddles and pots coming up soon. Will I spend it? You bet. Would I replace it? Not before checking what else is out there used for $250-300... like the stuff Greg Bennett is doing for Samick. It's fun making an axe over, and it's nice when the result is unique, but it's time you don't spend playing.

Mine is the snot-yellow/green coloured version with the black pickguard. Paintjob is very good. Excellent vintage vibe going on! All the controls/woods etc. have been mentioned before, all is very good value for the money. I got sold on the looks of this thing.

Very versatile little guitar for pocketmoney, marvelous!

Its a nice little bright allrounder, half-decent woods and hardware, it does a lot of sounds quite well. But not brilliant. I use it with a Marshall 5210 and Marshall reverb 75, with some Korg and Tech 21 effects, but the sound hasn't got a lot of depth to it. Very useable though. Lots of variety in the sounds, rather clever controls, nicely designed. It benefits from heavier strings, I use GHS 0-10.

Now here it comes, I bought mine mail order...big mistake! Never buy a guitar that you haven't played/inspected before buying, I know that now. Quite a few rusty pickguard screws, 2 screws on the bridge were rusty as well. But.. the fret-ends were the main obstacle. Sharp edges all the way down the neck. Took hours of filing/sanding, dicking around to get them up to scratch. Absolutely shite! And the nut was very badly cut as well, that needed sorting out. As well as the intonation and action, but that's normal. All in all not very good, but hey, why do you think it costs only 145 Euro? Because they lavish a lot of care on these guitars? I don't think so. You have to be prepared to work on these things, or shell out extra cash to get a repairman to do it for you. It does come with 2 allen keys for bridge and truss adjustment, which is thoughtful. Beware!

It looks solid enough, won't break on ya. The push/pull pot won't last though, thats for sure. But thats easily replaced should the need arise. Make sure you have a good look at all the soldering joints as well, just in case.

Never dealt with Fender, but I have a good warranty from the retailers I bought it from.

Playing 15 years, own a Squier tele and a Gibson 1979 The Paul, superb guitar. For the money the '51 is hard to beat, great looks , decent materials, but shoddy finishing on mine. Which is just bad luck I suppose, but I can sort out guitars myself, which helps. Its fine now and I'm very happy with it. Its an obvious upgrading guitar, and Im sure a pickup upgrade would help. Im tempted to stick 2 Fender chrome-covered humbuckers in mine, if I can find some for reasonable money. It would look and sound fantastic for sure.

made 2004 indonesia guitar ive had korean, mex, american strats and teles
all i can say is belive the hype on this guitar forget is a squire if you have a problem with that,,i dont at all...to old to care about what a headstock says as long as the neck feels good and it sound good...and this guitar has both those features ...it has a single coil pick up and a nasty hot humbucker! i think the body is made of basewood its light and the guitar sounds good even unpluged,,
i got the sunburst man it looks a so much better that the photos on the web its a realle beauty...

well i play all stuff mostly rock and old school punk ...it gos where you want it to... humbuckers are GREAT on this guitar im useing a marshall 30 watt amp i cant wait to try it out on my friends fender reverb tube amp.....i really thought id have to change the pickups but man im not kidding they are great...just change strings on the guitar it caomes with pretty bad strings thats the only thing...

set up perfect...this guitar looks really really good! not a flaw on this sunburst baby....the neck is so damm nice on it ive been playing my epi les paul for the last year and i thought that was a perfect neck for me but i really love this neck its not my old 1987 strat plus neck but it is pretty damm nice and fast playing smooth to..i sold my strat 2 years ago bought a les paul that i love but i had to buy this because i read reviews and it is so cheap i was blown away when i got it i never thought it would look so good and play so well for so little money...

im gonna freak everbody out but i am going to play this at a show next week ...i think after everyone sees how nice it is, squires gonna sell alot more 51s... i may change tuners out but thats about it it stays in tune but i like locking tuners..buy one im not kidding its a great guitar !!

since the pretenders first album thats how long ive been a crazy rock n roll freak... i have alot of gear,if this guitar was lost or something i would 100 percent buy another one in fact im thinking of buying the blonde and black one in a couple of weeks from musicians friend...

features have been handeled... not really anything left to say. Lotsa cool gizmos for a stripped down price. I dig it.

So I bought this thing on a whim. $150... no big deal if I had to rip it up and do some fancy upgrades. I pretty much play various forms of metal, punk, hardcore and whatever combinations you can think of so I need a guitar that will give me good low end with cutting highs. My setup is guitar --> dunlop crybaby ---> Big muff ---> guitar research T64rs head (loop: Line 6 chorus, Line 6 delay, Line 6 compressor)----> Behringer cab loaded with Jensen and celestion speakers. This guitar has very good low end and a very diverse tonal pallet via the coil tapping and 3 way switch. Cleans are sparkly and clear... would be nice to have a tone knob to shape them a bit though. When it comes to distortion it doesnt have as much bite as I prefer but is quite good for chunky palm muting. I will most likely end up swapping out the stock p'ups to a jb in the bridge and a mini 59 in the neck. I have that combo in two other guitars and it does the job quite nicely. But considering this guitar only cost me about $150 I have nothing to complain about on this

okey dokey this is the part where I get to rant a bit. Ok, I own alot of guitars and yes... this was a low end instrument and I dont expect the highest quality in ths category but dear god I have paid half the price for guitars with better setup and fretwork that this. Action was obscenely high and the first time i ran my hand down the neck I cut myself several times on the frets. In my opinion this is whilly unacceptable. granted in terms of instruments the cost isnt much but when you considering Im paying quite a bit of my hard earned money on this I expect better than this. Especially when you consider that with no training and minimal tools I was able to correct these issues in about an hour or so. Seriously for a big name like fender this should not be a problem at all. Everything else was ok but this is some of the most shoddy fretwork I have seen in my life.

The thing is a ^%$#@! tank.

I have learned that dealing with customer support is generally not worth the trouble. I did send an angry email to them regarding their quality control about a month ago and I have not yet heard back... that is not a very good sign.

ok this thing is cool if you are up for some heavy fretwork. other than that issue I really like this thing. I probably would buy another one if it were stolen. Good guitar for the price. In about 8 1/2 years of playing and having gone through about 20 guitars in that time this by far had the worst setup of any of them. This is something that all guitarists really should know how to fix though.

if you're serious enough to purchase a guitar, you're serious enough to look at the specifications.

overall, it's limited, since it's a telecaster.

very trebly. it has so much trebly that it got so annoying for me and i had to refund it to buy an esp which has more bass. it is quite quiet and since there are only 3 rotation switches you don't have much tone to choose from. besides the high treble which you need to lower your treble on your amp to get a decent sound, it's okay.

nice action and finish for the price. the pickguard is cheap, since it's not 3-ply wood. the pickups are much like any other telecaster pickups. the guitar comes with vintage fender strings, which is probably the best feature, since the strings are so rich. the strap buttons come loose, so if you're gigging, you better watch out. straplocks won't work, because i tried, the strap buttons just keep unscrewing themselves the more i stand to play. very annoying, but what can you expect for something under $200?

live playing? maybe if you sit down, but you should seriously get those strap buttons fixed before you plan to show off your cheap guitar. for normal rock bands, i'd highly recommend a back up or possibly use this as your back up? i don't understand why anyone would use a squier to gig anyway though.

yeah, i refunded it and it was a no hassle refund.

long and mcquade, good job.

i have fenders, esps, and some factory acoustic. if it was lost or stolen i'd buy something else. i wish the strap buttons and pickguard were higher quality.

it's a great guitar for beginners though. if you're starting out, you can either buy a start pak, or purchase this and a cheap amp. it's a good deal for the price, but it's not for someone who gigs and records.

I opted for the Sunburst finish. The wood in some models i noticed werent as beautiful as the one i selected. White Pickguard (Changed to red tortise), single coil + humbucker config,. Push/ Pull coil tap. Fixed stratocaster bridge (Converted to a telecaster string through body.)

I happened to like how the stock pickups sound. I play alot of ambiotic/ synth stlye stuff, so i just need clarity. No electrical issues, wiring was all well done.

Factory setup was about what you would expect. Shoddy string job, and a crappy shine. No loose or damaged frets, straight neck. Finish was absolutly gorgeous. The sunburst finish bleeds vintage, as does the rest of this guitar. I like the feel of the tele neck on the strat body, so this was nice to see done from factory.

Will withstand damn near a nuclear holocaust...or at least a well played jamm session. i trust it for gigging so no worries there. Squire has made a wonderful upgrade to their quality department latley. Beautiful things comming from them.

no need

Everything an indie rocker could ever want. ( with tweaking its anything anyone would ever want....except maybeone who is in need of a floating trem...but then again, i think black may suit you better as well.)

Made in 2005 in Indonesia. It has 22 frets. A solid strat body. Controls are volume with push/pull coil tap on bridge humbucker. There is no tone control, but a rotary pickup selector switch instead. S/H configuration. With stock Squier pickups I am presuming. Basswood body, with vintage blonde finish. Strat body style with hardtail bridge. Good quality sealed tuners. 25.5" scale with medium jumbo frets. Great C profile neck with spot on finish. Two allen keys provided.

This guitar suits any style, and has a wide tonal variation. I play through a Peavey Bandit 65 amp with a Digitech RP80 effects unit. You can get a good rock sound from the bridge humbucker, or a bright strat or tele sound with the coil tap. It is a more bluesy tele sound from the neck single coil. There is a very wide range of sounds, everything between a tele and a strat, with a nice Fender-like tone.

This has good action and intonation. Don't think the seller even set it up. I must be one of the lucky ones! Good height on bridge humbucker, which is still adjustable. The neck single coil could do to be higher, but there is no adjustment available. I am not to bothered as I use mostly the bridge pickup anyway. Excellent vintage blonde finish but with matt black single ply pickguard. Would prefer if it came with perhaps a 3 ply gloss pickguard. No visible routing under pickguard. Only flaw is small slightly blue streak on back, probably the grain coming through, but hey, its on the back!

I would gig this. Everything about it is solid, and the finish seems durable, but I am not going to chuck it around to find out! The bottom strap button was slightly loose, but nothing a screwdriver couldn't fix. I played it for 2 hours solid when I got it, and it kept its pitch well. I would always gig with a backup, cos you can't rely on strings not breaking, which isn't the guitars fault!

Haven't a clue. Hopefully not required!

I can never usually be bothered with this sort of thing, but I am so astounded at the value for money I have got here, that I felt I just had to!
I have been playing for 17 years. I currently own this, a cheap strat copy which I converted to an EVH frankenstrat, a Stagg Les Paul Custom, a Tanglewood TW68 (Lennon copy) and a cheapo ancient Spanish classical. I have never owned genuine Fenders or Gibsons etc. cos I refuse to pay the price just for the name. I have a friend with a Fender Strat, and another with a Fender Tele, and with the 51 I can just about match their sounds. I asked everything I wanted to know before I bought this, and whilst a lot of people say try a few in the shop and pick a good one, I got mine off the web, so I must have just been lucky. I even managed to get the black pickguard (apparently all of playrecord's blonde 51's have a black pickguard). Some out there have a white one! How awful! Black plastic shortage at the factory?
I would definitely get another one if it were lost or stolen. I love the vintage colour and styling, and the coil tap feature. Not a big lover of the neck pickup, but I rarely am on any guitar. When deciding what to go for, I compared it to the Squier Tele Customs, both pickup models (twin humbuckers or Duncan designed P90 style.) I chose this because of the vintage looks and the tonal variation. I don't wish it had anything else because for me, I love the simplicity of it all!
Finally, can't believe this only cost #100! For me it is of professional quality, with a nice finish and decent hardware. The neck must be the majority of the cost because it is just perfect!
If you can get one like mine, I would recommend it to professionals and amateurs. Particularly for beginners, this would be a fantastic guitar to start with. There are a lot of other beginners guitars out there which cost a lot more but are nowhere near as good as this!
Buy one today!

Asian made,stratbody, tele neck,bridge humbucker, singlecoil neck, 3-way switch, volume push/pull to split the humbucker,topload hardtail bridge,no-name tuners,and a single-ply 51 p-bass shaped pickguard.
the body is a yellow poly-coat finish that doesn't look all that vintage and probably takes alot of the good tone away. But I'll leave it alone. Its probably covering some mismatched butcher block laminating. I speak from experience, Never strip the paint off if you can't already see the grain. Just relic it and have Fun.

I'll be honest I've done alot of mods to this
but thats why I bought it in the first place.
I saw alot of potential in this guitar . I liked the way it was made with the tele neck and the strat body being routed for a full size humbucker and single coil neck and the hardtail-bridge.
It suits alot of different styles of music.
THATS WHAT MAKES THIS AN AWSOME BEGINNERS GUITAR!
or a really killer Arkasas-fits-em-all coverband ax.
I hated the original pickups and changed them the first month I had it. Seymore Duncans- JB bridge and Lil 59 neck HB that splits with the push/pull. This allows you to have.
strat neck blues while split
jazz neck humbucker not split
full on humbucker for rock /bridge position
split the humbucker for great tele twang /bridge position
double humbucker in the middle not split is great for metal when distorted.
and a dead on country tele sound when split in the middle position.
With the original pickups this gets an average rating.
With the Duncans I'll give it an 8

It was playable when I bought it.
The first thing I did was changed the saddles and the string trees to Graphtech and hit the nut hard with BigBends Nut sauce.
I took the neck off and stripped the poly off and sanded the neck joint smooth to get a better fit.
Lets face it, YOU BOUGHT A $150 GUITAR. That was made in a sweatshop.
Its needs a little work.
OK,alot of work if you want it to play through any thing better than a Crate. and have decent tone.
I did all the reset up myself.

Who cares?
If it breaks I'll take off the good parts, pitch it, and buy a new one.

Never dealt with them

I've been playing since Led Zepplin was still making records.
I've owned alot of gear over the years Beginners guitars, intermediate guitars and a few pro-level guitars.
I think Guitar Player magazine was right on the money.
It's a Great bang for the buck.
Its a good beginner. A good beater. A good customizer.
And the best bargin I've seen out there.
I've had mine almost a year now and I leave on stand plugged in so it gets played on a regular basis (I leave my good ones in thier cases)And it sounds and plays great.
If you want one-get one.
I wish fender made this with an ash body, Duncan pickups,and a Nitro finish. But they would charge over $1000. so that would screw everything up.
Oh well, just play and enjoy it.
Good luck

The features have been well covered already. I like the simplicity of the design with only volume/coil tap and a pickup control. I did change the pickup control knob to a chicken head knob so I could tell which way it was facing.

I liked the features, but figured I'd change the pickups. I've been surprised that with nothing but some raising and lowering experiments, I've found a balance I really like and the pickup change isn't in my plans anymore.

I play blues and country, so the variety of tones is really helpful.

I particularly like to play rhythm on the tapped bridge and then play lead with just a push of a knob.

Mine came out of the box needing some fret filing, but I changed the neck to a rosewood Strat neck with a wider nut width, so the frets became a non-issue.

The two tone sunburst is really nice. It's not a deep a gloss as the poly finish on a Mexican Strat and while I'm sure it's probably still poly, it looks more like a lacquer finish.

I like the finish so much I'm going to have a clear pickguard made so more of the woodwork can show through.

It's such a simple guitar I think it would be fairly easy for it to stand up to playing gigs. Everything seems solid.

I haven't called Fender about this guitar, but when I called them about others in the past, they were very responsive.

This is the kind of guitar that will make you look at your expensive guitars and ask them what they have done for you lately.

I've been playing for 40 years and have everything from $120 Squiers to $2000 Gibsons. This is one of the greatest values I've ever seen.

I'd recommend it as a great starter guitar for a kid who wants to find out what he or she wants to play. It can do a nice job of any style of music.

Indonesian sunburst 3-4 piece basswood body. Single and HB pickups with Volume push/pull split to 3 way selector mix knob, no tone* with maple on maple neck. Poliglop finish and sealed gear tuners.

The main feature is the price and then the unique tonal options with the combo push/pull split and 3 way selector knob.

It covers a lot of ground tonally. It is a very bright and chimey guitar but it is light wight and has a maple on maple neck so that is what you'd be wanting if you bought one. The * no-tone is different but folks who can try to back off diming the volume knob all the time will find you get a nice high roll off with little to no volume drop adding a few more strat like tones and less icepick highs. The neck pickup is sweet and is low output. that makes it articulate and with the volume backed off a galf click you get a strat tone. Tele tones are there a ok quack and and a brittle HB lead that only sounds good in high gain in IMHO. this guitar likes gain. it does clean well too but you have to EQ your GOOD TUBE amp to add bass and fatten it with a touch of reverb or ?? I did not find it noisey for a S/H configured axe. I like it even though it is brite. That is why I'd pickup a Maple board guitar for anyhow. I love it for $100!!!!

Good for modern Ska, reggae, surf etc and clean blues country-ish stuff. I guess put a Rat and TS9 in front and make racket too!!

If I keep it I will probably goof with a pickup change. Rio's or ???

When ever I get a guitar used, pawn, eBay or new I know I need to take it pretty much apart and fix and adjust stuff to my liking. I usually can get the worst piece of junk very playable and in this case EXTREMELY playable!

Okay what was wrong? Nut needed a quick file cleanup. Frets were all level and not too sharp but since this was a VERY dry California day with humidity at about 10 I dressed and filed all the ends and gave it a $10 polish/dress job. As the humidity goes up the swell will make these perfect by most anyones standards. I made sure screws were all tight. All were except the bridge screws were stripped so I removed each one at a time and jammed a cut to lengh glued tooth pick in each hole and retightened - no biggie. Bass wood is softer than alder and way softer than ash - duh! I removed the pickguard to adjust the neck pickup only to find there is no springs or surgical tubing on the screws to raise the pickup firmly higher. No biggie - I added a piece of 1/4 in. Frost King foam window and door insulation on the the undersized piece Fender had and all was well for lots of adjustment. I was happy to see the cavity was painted black and assume it was shielding paint (I did not test it with a DM).

Finally I put a 1/4 turn on the truss rod strung it, messed with intonation put another 1/8 to 1/4 turn on the truss fully intonated it and I am VERY HaPpY with this cheapo guitar.

I am anal about my setups as you can see but I don't feel that the work done is much for a under $200 guitar. If you want near perfect buy a Godin or better at $500 plus or for perfect go custom for $2000.

Its a thrasher guitar and can be used live or in the garage. I would put longer screws on the strap locks you need to add. it is soft basswood. Use toothpicks with glue to harden holes (tip crazy works like a hardener of screw holes!). Hardware is cheap but fine, finish is typical too thick poliglop found on all imports cheapos(except MIM Classics and Canada Godins). It is not a main guitar - it is a guitar for those twangy clean songs or different voiced dual leads when playing with another LP type player or hot rod strat shared lead.

I am sure GC and Fender would be fine.

I highly recommend this guitar for a lot of players. If you are a 1st time player get one of these - its is a far cry from the stuff us old guys got in the 60's for cheap. if you are an old timer mid-life crisis type like me get on and mess with it a while and give it or sell it to a nephew or neighbor after a while!! It will be fun for you and great for them! The build short comings really are nothing for what you paid, how it sounds and can be easily made very playable.

I always thought these cheap '51's looked cool in their retro way. I was gonna treat myself to one for $170 with shipping or tax. I walked into GC to noodle on one and I saw one priced at $250!! The sales guy said it was miss marked - they were clearing them out at 99!! I had no intention of buying one that day but at that price...I made the salesman go in the back and I got to choose from 2 sunbursts on the floor and 2 new sunbursts in the box. I choose one in a box and headed to the cashier.

I guess I need to tell you the rest of this stuff to qualify my perspective on this guitar.

I have played for 30 years on and off. High school acoustic noodler, college too but I picked up harp then. I strummed through life and had a mid-life crisis at 43 and went electric baby! I am a repair geek and have owned and re stored at least 70 guitars in 7 years and build and restore tube amps for a paying hobby. My main amps are a 63 Bassman, a 64 Deluxe, a modded Epiphone Pathfinder (Gibson Falcon), a slew of Silvertones stock and modded, a 18 watt Marshall clone - GA 30 clone, 5c1 clone - tons more. I use a modded TS9 sometimes and a compressor occassionally but usually play straight to the amps with a bit of reverb or my microverb in front to fatten my non reverb amps some.

Guitars this week are all cheapos - BeUtiFuL custom Warmoth tele and strat with all Rio Grande pickups, LP setneck copy with Rio's, SIlvertone 1446L (the cool rockabilly one with Bigsby and Gibson Mini HBs), Epiphone Crestwood, 4 Harmony Stratotones and meteors, rockets etc. I have had several dozen others like a LG SP90 Godin, a 1969 stock Strat etc etc.

A lot of folks on line have mentioned Fender should make a better version of this at the Ensonata Mexico plant and I agree. Retro fender looks with modern tonal touch. Use Alder and nitro finish and better hardware and pickups for $500 or under street and they will have a hit.

2005 or 6 model. Indonesian maufacture. 21 fret solid basswood. Nice maple neck with medium jumbo frets, kinda medium c-shape. Sealed tuners. Cream with black pickguard, although it looks more yellow to me, but thats ok it is attractive. Hardtail bridge, chrome. Tele style knobs, one push/pull coil tap volume, one pu selector in place of tone. Innovative design. Came with Fender gibag via MF.

Ohmigod. OK, I have had an American HWY 1 Strat, HWY 1 Tele, American Fat Tele(neck HB), Mexi-Strat, Power Tele et.al. The only one that had as much absolute MOJO as this axe was the HWY 1 Fat Strat. This guitar has that Fender vibe. Played through a tube amp with some natural push and voila, perfection. Neck pu is strong and well matched to the HB, great Strat neck tones. Harmonics readily available. HB is great untapped, clean bell tones that are pretty. Tapped has nice loud overdriven sound. I am truly shocked at how good it sounds. Great for Blues, Country, or Classic Rock.

Some reviewers have commented about fret burrs. This one is perfect. One tiny ding in headstock, who cares? The maple neck is amazing and I think it contibutes mightily to the sound as neck joint was very tight. Smooth, fast,close action. Best factory set up I have ever seen on a Fender. I only tightened the truss rod because I put 10s on it. Unbelievably good overall. Intonation was right on. I could not put it down, and my wife had to tell me to turn it down. Cool.

Everything seems real good but only time will tell. Volume knob is too easy to turn although tap is ok. Selector switch is firm and good. I will gig with it, but I always have a backup. Others here have said they bought more than one of these. I understand why.

One year Squier warranty. We'll know before then if it is needed.

Overall I cannot overstate how much I like it. Benn playing 30+ years.I sent back a Squier Deluxe Fat Strat that had a defect. It was meant to be. I did not buy this one first because I did not think $150 was realistic. Hell, I've spent nearly a grand on American Fenders that did not have as much whoopass as this gem. I still can't believe it. Just love the design too. Attractive with useful features but not too busy. Amazing.

passive H-S pickup configuation. One volume push-pull pot (bridge pickup splitter) , one 3-way switch pot. Strat-style body with a 22-fret maple Tele-style neck and black dot inlays. Alder or basswood body....not sure yet what it is we'll see how well it takes abuse. Sunburst finish with white pickgaurd. all chrome hardware..machineheads, bridge, knobplate...etc. Not the highest quality stuff, but it works...so far.

i saw this thing hanging on the wall at GC and I said to myself..thats a neat looking little guitar, so i picked it up and plugged it in to see how it played. I was impressed with the sounds it could crank out. I dont know the specs of the bridge pickup, but whatever it is i like it. Nice and bright, very lively and responsive, it complements my marshall valvestate 100w combo (modified with a cool little dutch amperex 12ax7 in the preamp). the neck pickup gets a little noisey, nothing too bad, i expected it to be like that anyways. It lacks a tone ctrl, but backing of the volume a bit will cut the tone pretty well.

The action was pretty high from the factory, the trussrod needed some adjustment, I put some 010's on it.

The sunburst finish looks pretty good, the wood underneath has no blemeshes, i found a pretty good looking one. I removed the pick gaurd, there isnt any routing under it, i thought it looked pretty good without it except for the screw holes.

The neck feels pretty good, not to fat, not too thin, it fits very well, the frets are a bit rough on the ends, not a big deal though. The nut looks a little rough, seems only superficial. The intonation is pretty good. the hardware has that cheap chrome look about it. but im not complaining.

seems reliable so far, feels solid, well balanced, the hardware is what i would worry about, it could use some schaller M6's but i dont plan on upgrading anything since it works fine right now. the strap buttons seem like they are are pretty solid, i would replace them with dunlop locks..as i only have straps that use them anyway. I wouldnt gig without a backup, this would probably be my backup actually.

ive been playing off/on for 7 years, i also own an '86 kramer FOCUS 6000 which i play thru my marshall VS. I bought this guitar rather impulsively along with an Line 6 pod..having in mind that anything will sound good thru a pod... but i was quite impressed with how it sounded thru a real amp. Soundwise it can keep up with my kramer..which i have dumped money into with aftermarket pickups (duncan SH-12, SH-5) Its a bit brighter than the kramer sounds but i like it, its nice to have some variety.

Im glad i bought it. not a bad way to spend $80

The features are the main reason I bought this thing. No tone control, which I never use anyways, a slanted single-coil neck pickup, a bridge humbucker, a rotary switch, master volume and a coil tap for the bridge humbucker. And thank god it doesn't have a whammy, whammy's are pretty much worthless until you get into a much higher price point.

It's got a thick maple neck, a basswood body, sunburst paintjob. I like the looks of it except for the pickguard, so I just took it off when I was changing strings. I'd say it looks much better now, and since I didn't have any putty or anything to plug up the holes, I just put the screws back in. It looks really neat to have screws just randomly showing from the wood, it looks much better than the mother-of-toilet seat crud they had on there.

Definitely has an Indie vibe to it, I could see any sort of underground Ska band or math-rock band getting totally into this.

The neck pickup is the main reason I got this guitar. Sounds smooth and bluesy. I was surprised to discover I missed single-coils, but only in this position. The coil tapped bucker was underwhelming, but I guess I could use it for country. This is definitely a Jamming guitar, designed for abuse, but I might just upgrade the pickups. It's definitely worth that much.

this has HIGH action. I could set it lower, but I'll probably just use this thing for slide. It's actually kind of refreshing, has a real Jack White, garage kind of feel. Frets are nice sized, and the neck is solid. I've still got to fix the intonation, but the bridge is solid, so I shouldn't have problems with the stability. But come on, its entry-level. The top does NOT match, and I actually prefer it's grungy look. For me it's a 10, because I was going for the whole indie rock thing, but for the rest of you guys, see below.

This thing is a rock, it was designed to be a rock. The only shaky thing is the electronics, but that can be fixed with a soldering iron and some moxy.

It's fender. The biggest guitar company out there, maybe you've heard of them? Everyone is quite simply already aware of their service, so this is pointless to rate.

I wish this baby had a better bridge, nut and tuners, but the quaint almost-in-tune sound this thing has really captures a bluesy, garagey mood. I can't wait to upgrade the pickups.

Fender is getting awesome with their new designs, I wish they were this adventurous with their premium designs. I honestly think the Strat has gotten tired, but the market for guitars is driven by dinosaurs and cavemen. However, if todays young guitarists are getting used to out-of-the-box designs from the start, I can't wait to see what Fender is putting out in a few years.

This is definitely the best guitar available under $200

'05 model, Indonesian. 22-fret maple neck, unfinished. Black finish/white pickguard, basswood body. 2 pickups - single coil neck, humbucker bridge w/push-pull coil tap, passive elctronics. Strat style body, Tele-style neck. Hardtail bridge, no-name tuners, medium frets.

This guitar sounds pretty amazing - I own Strats and have owned Teles, and while this sounds close, it sounds different from either a Strat or a Tele. The humbucker is brighter than usual, probably because of the lightness of the body, but it still honks pretty good. The neck pickup sounds okay, but not an absolute knockout. For not having a tone control, the tone palette is pretty wide. I was able to get some nice, glassy Hendrix-type tones as well as some Jeff Beck-ish Tele honk out of it without much of a problem.

I tested it through a new Fender Dual to check the clean tones, and a small Marshall ValveState combo to wind it out. Sounded great through both. Once I got it home, I put it through my Pod XTLive, and it sounded real good. The neck pickup is a little noisy, but I can live with it.

The setup wasn't great to start, but after a truss rod adjustment and a little intonation when I got it home, the neck felt great. I'll repeat what an earlier reviewer said - play a few of these guitars before you buy! The Guitar Center where I bought it had four of them on the floor, and the fret dressing was just bad on all of them - burrs sticking out all over the place, and that's a deal-breaker for me. I asked if they had any more in stock, and they had one more black one in the back, still in the box. I broke it open, and the frets were really well-dressed. I wanted the blonde finish, but they didn't have any in the store. But it didn't matter because the black one played beautifully.

Too early to tell if this thing will stand up to a live situation. I tend to beat my guitars up pretty badly, so I'll be better able to tell after I've broken a few strings.

No way of knowing - but there was no warranty card or anything in the box. I buy a lot of equipment from the GC where I got it, so I'm sure they'll hook me up if anything goes wrong. But on the other hand, this guitar cost 150 bucks, so it's not a bank-breaker if something does happen.

I've been playing for 40 years, and after years of touring, I'm mostly a 'weekend warrior,' but I still take it pretty seriously. I've got somewhere around 20 guitars (haven't counted them lately) - a couple of Strats, Epiphone LP Jr. and Korina Explorer, a few Jay Turser guitars (LP Gold Top, SG, 335, and a 7-string), an Ibanez 7, and Ibanez 1980 Artist, a Jackson Rhoads, a Line 6 Variax, and a few others. I play through a Line 6 Pod XT Live into a Line 6 Flextone II XL.

I knew going in that this was a cheap guitar, and I found a lot of answers to my questions about it from the reviews here at Harmony Central. In fact, the reviews here got me off my butt to go and check the guitar out!It looked good in the GC catalog, but I've played plenty of guitars that looked great but played and sounded like crap.

I love the weight of this guitar, and I especially dig the unfinished maple neck. It's fast and fits my hands to a tee. If it were lost or stolen, I would most definitely get another one - I'd probably try to score one of the blonde ones next time.

You want a fun guitar that soulds great and costs next to nothing? You could do a lot worse than this one.

Cheap little guitar with some good features. Chunky tele neck with medium frets and a 9.5" radius. Thinnish basswood strat-shaped body. Top-load hardtail bridge. 51 Precision Bass pickguard and control plate. Alnico humbucker and generic squier strat neck pickup (slanted), but it's worth noting that some 51s are supplied with a ceramic humbucker. Volume with push/pull coil splitter and a 3-way control where the tone pot usually is. No tone control.

Not bad for such a cheap guitar. The thin, lightweight body gives it a fairly thin and bright sound, and the absence of a tone control doesn't help. But the range of tones available are quite good, and there is some roll off of tone from the volume before you get any noticable volume drop...so with a gentle touch you actually do have some tone control.
The humbucker in my guitar is very height sensitive but with a bit of experimenting it yielded a clear, bright and punchy tone. The strat neck pickup was nothing to write home about, but it wasn't actually 'bad'. Just what you'd expect for the price. It was the alnico humbucker that was the surprise.

With a guitar at this price level you'll get alot of variation. The one I got has virtually perfect fretwork so I was lucky there. I just had to adjust the truss rod, the action and the intonation and it played well with as low an action as any tele or strat I've ever come across. No buzzing or fretting out on bends. However, the nut was cheap and not cut very well so I replaced it with a TUSQ nut. Made a BIG difference.
The finish was good except for a black mark underneath the blonde finish that you could see. It was a mark on the wood, I guess.
The neck heel fits in the body pocket snugly without any gap at all. Very well done.

The hardware is basic low-end stuff. OK if you don't knock it about, but probably not the most robust or durable. I removed it all to refinish the guitar and when I put it back together it was very easy to strip the threads in the screwholes. Very soft wood. But you may find better wood on some 51s. The sunburst ones, I'd expect.
I wouldn't expect the guitar as sold to be a reliable gigging tool.

I've played since the late 1960s. I'm mostly a fan of telecasters but I got this as a cheap guitar to mod up and as a beater for rowdy jam sessions. I also wanted a strat-shaped guitar but without the trem or the too-close strat controls, which I always hit with my picking hand. I like the neck on this thing alot. It's almost worth the price just for the neck alone.
Stock, this is a budget guitar that is a bargain for what you are getting....but it isn't a high quality guitar. With a bit of a setup it's fun to play, sounds OK and has some cool features, but it's basically just a Squier.
It should mod up nicely, though.

New, Indonesia, Fender say's it's either basswood or alder. Therest has been covered by previous posts

I play blues, rock, country, and anything else I can figure out. This git does them all well. I find the bridge bucker to be a little bright, but it is usable. I would like a regular 3-4 way switch and a tone control. I use a Dano reverb king and a Dano OD pedal (the recent one, GET IT!) and a old gibson amp and it just wails, get overall tones!

Everything was actually better than I expected, nothing major other than adjusting action and putting 10's on it.

Don't know yet, we shall see

Hoipe I never have to find out

Well, I have to agree with Guitar player and Vintage Guitar magazines, they said it is a great git for the money, and they were right. I love the neck and body feel, and it plays as well as some gits cost 3-4 times as much. They really did a good job this. I liked it so much that I bought a second one for teaching, both are the blonde models. GOOD JOB FENDER!

Beautiful guitar. maple neck. mine has a blonde finish. single coil & humbucker. 3 way selector. push pull volume. I am very pleased with the quality.

I love the sound. I get a bood blues or driving rock and also jazz. It's got a great country tone too, if that's what you like. I play my 51 thru a Tech 21 amp. I use a tube screamer, cry baby, etc. I think it sounds wonderful! The first night I played it with my band they all commented on how good it sounds.

I love the neck, the action and the finish. There's a few sharp edges on the frets, but you don't even notice them while you're playing.

I usually switch guitars during a 4 hour gig, but I play this little guitar all night. Too soon to tell about the hardware of finish. So far, so good. There was one little chip where the strap button was put on, but I use locking strap buttons anyway, and it was not enough to cry over.

Too early to tell.

I'd like to give this guitar a 10, but I don't think anything rates a 10. I got it because it looked cool and it was cheap. Boy was I surprised! I've been playing over 30 years. I've had Les Pauls, Strats, SG's, Ibanez, Godin... I don't know anything I haven't tried.
It may sound crazy, but I'm having more fun with this guitar than anything I've ever owned. I love it!

You all know the script on this part of the review,so i won,t bore you with these details

Sounds o/k i,m playing thru fender 15g amp and zoom 505 box,the biggest gripe i have here is the noise from the single coil,a horrible hum on some settings,i have to turn the volume down to get rid of it,but i heard there is no shielding and that won,t help matters As i only got it today there are a lot of tweaks i need to do,but i would like to give my first impressions as i think these are the most important;H/B sounds meaty enough and you get enough different tones to make this a guitar with it,s own identity not just another clone,But the best surprise was the amount of sustain this thing produced I am very impressed with that aspect

straight from the box and with aquick tune up i was away playing,I was a bit worried about the set up ,after some of the reviews i read but it was fine ,intonation was spot on action a little high,bit thats just a matter of taste All the hardware was screwed down nice and tight no sharp frets a great guitar for bends,the biggest let down for me was thw 3 piece body I got the toneburst coz it was all they had left the two outer pieces wre find mirror images of each other,but the centre peice looks totally out of place,it,s not even centered up and looks lop sided and is all vertical grains whick really spoils the finish,guess i,ll have to paint it one day

the 51 feels a bit lightweight to gig with,but i won,t know that till i try it,hardware is impressive no problems with that,finish looks like it has lots of laquer on it but it might get that aged look well before it,s time,strap buttons will be the first thing i,ll change,if i take it gigging it will be third in line;but i like the look of it, but for the price i paid what the hell let,s make it earn a living

N/A

been playing32 years,other guitars gibson s.g,epiphone joe pass,fender f3 acoustic,fender esquire,the reason i got this guitar is coz it looks different ala robin ranger.i will modify it when i get the time,pearloid scratchplate,definately a new s/c,maybe a string thru conversion and doffo a new paint job,headstock as well

2005 model with blonde finish, made by the fine folks in indonesia who work for a dollar a day. basic controls as stated in the aforementioned comments. it's a slightly thinner strat body with s tele neck. got it from guitar center and it had some odd blue lines in it. it appears to be the grain not completely covered by the finish. got a little disoount and does nothing to the tone. nice neck ( i'm really kinda picky about that ).

it really imitates a tele sound well in the bridge position. i currently am playing in a eclectic band. we do covers and play everything from johhny cash to whoever is popular with the bar/club/private party/corp party/wedding whatever. i'm older now and had the stacks and all the stuff you have when your young and your back didn't have the mileage on it. i currently use a crate glx120 (i hear the moans) but it works for me. the sound is bright as everyone says but, hey is'nt what a tele is supposed sound like. the humbucker is nice and for the price, it's a steal. so so on the neck p/up.

it's amazing how much fret finish varied from guitar to guitar. i won't have to do any fret dressing on this one but others needed some work. again the weird blue lines were in the blond finish but i got a little discount so who am i to argue. got an artist friend of mine to paint and finish a barbwire motif over the line and i think it looks just fine. action off the shelf was fine but i will probably drop the action a little. intonation is off slightly, don't think that should be an issue. everything pretty tight. no real hardware issues. good guitar to upgrade hardware but it's not really an issue to me.

everything looks good. since i'm using it as a back-up,it's fine. the finish has some issues like i said before but the guitar itself seems sturdy as any guitar seems to be and like i said the dressing on the neck was amazing for the price.

guitar center seems to be ok. never really had any issues with them

i've been playing longer than i want to admit. let's just say 30+ years. formally trained in composition i have professionaly performed a bass player, guitarist ( classical, electric, folk, lap steel, etc. ), keybordist,ukukelist and banjoist. as far as other gear, my main guitar currently is a yamaha rgx820z (need the versatility), some of the others are a jazzmaster 1975 vintage, american strat, gibson paul etc. you know the drill. 73' p bass bass, kamaka uke...etc. wife still supports in my musical endeavours, what a girl. anyway, how i came to buy this guitar is why i'm finally writing a review. i went to help out our bass player/keybordist ( we all have to play multiple instruments) because since he bought his ibanez a/e classical he was looking for a cheap electric. after doing some research it seemed the squire 51 was the answer in overall value.(uggh..squire) before i told him what i thought i figured i would try one out since the squire's i knew were TERRIBLE!!!. as i told my wife the biggest mistake was when i picked it up..i found myself saying " I WANT THIS ". worked the deal and out the door nevering looking back. i have never wanted cheap in my instruments but, this is instrument is inexpensive but in no way a cheap instrument. i never thought in a million years i would ever own a squire but i do. don't look at the name, just listen. after all that's what music is really all about, isn't it?
p.s. if stolen, i would buy it again and again and again...and use the guitar to smash in the head of the guy who stole it from me for a little personal satisfaction. try it then by it.

OK. I bought a second one of these (sunburst with white pickguard), which has allowed me too make better comparisons and more accurately review the guitar.

NECK: I still love the necks - unfinished birds-eye maple. I used to sand the back of my Kramers neck so this is nice. If you want, you could seal it with any number of oils, etc. While others have commented about the unfinished fret ends, mine have both been pretty good.

TUNERS: Nice and solid. It stays in tune for the most part. I think a better nut would help.

BODY: No knots or other blemishes in the wood (basswood). The finish on mine have both been really nice and shinny. I'm pretty sure it's a lacquer finish. It's actually much thicker than I thought as well. I pulled the pickguard off one and could see where the paint chipped around the screw holes for the pickguard. I expected the clear coat to be much thinner. I also discovered that there is no foil, etc. of any kind in the electronics cavity. Might want to add some copper shielding, etc. I also took the soldering iron after the pots as there were a few connections that were a little light on the solder. Also, there were a few screws that were loose/stripped. Make sure you go everything with a screwdriver when you get yours.

BRIDGE: Some minor adjustments needed to be done to the bridge saddles. A small amount of fret buzz and action was a bit high on some strings. Nothing the included allen wrenches couldn't handle.

ELECTRONICS: By far the dumbest thing on the second one was the coil tap. I couldn't figure out why the split pickup wasn't sounding right at first. After a few minutes comparing, I realized they had wired the coil tap feature backwards so that when it was pulled out, it was a in humbucking mode and in single coil mode when pushed in. I guess if you prefer single coils, this might be a better way of doing it. Just seemed odd to me that they couldn't follow color coded wires at the factory. Someone probably did it on purpose.

I also have to add that with the special deal Musicians Friend was having on these, I got the guitar and TWO gig bags.

As stated previously, a very bluesy, bright, strat sound. Even in single coil mode the pickups are fairly quiet. My plans for this one are too replace the pickups with something much hotter and turn it into more of a rock guitar. Out of the box, it's a good guitar for Clapton, Page, SRV, etc.... but if you plan on doing heavier rock, you really need to change out the pickups.

Not bad. As mentioned, there was a little issue with buzz and string hieght, loose screws, etc. The backwards coil tap was the worst part. Otherwise, there are no major/glaring flaws in either one of mine. Nothing a little TLC can't take care of.

Well, as long as you don't throw them around, yeah, it will hold up. Someone that goes a bit wild with the string bending may have problems keeping it in tune. Like I said, the finish was better than I thought it would be. Strap buttons are solid but I'll be replacing them with strap locks.

Don't know.

After buying two, I'd still be willing to buy a third. For the money, these are really good guitars. Still wish it was about 1/2" thicker in the body as I like my guitars a bit more body heavy, plus it would help with sustain/tone.

Act quickly, they may not be around forever.

I Just got (Still has plastic coating on pickguard) The Two Tone For a present from SamAsh.. You already know the features from below.. The Finish is gorgeous! Othe then the White Pickguard which I personally don't like and will replace with aftermarket one, although thick and nice. I see nothing short on features here.

For $150.00 you can not find a flaw with this guitar. The Pull/Push coil on the Humbucker and the Single neck can give you anything you ask for and sounds competitive to anything out there regardless price IMHO! I thought for sure I would be changing the pickups but not a chance. This thing has a sound of it's own along with the Strat and Tele sounds. I been searching for a do all guitar and this little gem does it for me.

I must have been lucky, no rust on the strings or screws with mine. In fact the stock strings sound pretty good and until I replace the WHITE pickguard with something special they will remain. The action was low right out of the box and the intonation was not that far off. (kinda makes me wonder if it was a repack) The tuners seem well set and do not drag over the plastic nut which is cut as well as any. The Chrome knobs are nice and actually tight fitting on mine.. The frets are not really jumbo and although a few sharp edges it is very easy to play. The one piece maple neck is light in color but with all the smoking around here will age nicely in the next year or two. The 2 Tone finish with the grain coming through looks great..I was blown away at how good a $150.00 guitar could look!!! I started out wanting a blonde but the gift came as two tone and I am very very happy with it.

I play for hobby and sport... seems to be well made and should hold up fine for what I use it for.

Never used..

I been playing Classic Rock and Blues off and on for 30+ years and have a variety of other guitars... Although the Tone knob is not on this guitar like most guitars it is there.. just backoff the Volume.. I would replace this in a minute and might just buy a few more just to have incase I need one.. Would be a great guitar for Beginner to pro imo. It is very high on my list as a classic.. a must have before they are gone.. get one today!

I should begin by saying that all of my ratings are taking the price into account. These things are $150 brand new from most online retailers (and many of those offer free shipping and no sales tax) and even less when there is a sale. If you're patient, you can expect to get this thing for about $100-$120 total.

And at this price level, the features are great. You've got a decent bodywood; a great neck; tuners that, while not the most refined I own, are quite stable; and a cool, unique pickup combination. This is quite possibly the ONLY guitar in this price range I've ever played that included a stock coil-splitting push-pull pot for its humbucker.

I know there have been both raves and slams here on the stock sound of the '51. Well, I don't find either to be especially accurate. It's got a fairly bright, open sounding voice, which is nice, but the stock pickups don't have nearly the detail I'd want in the long run. The neck pickup has a very Stratty sound to it, but can tend to sound a bit muffled. The humbucker -- by itself or combined with the neck single coil -- sounds nice enough under gain, but is very flat and uninteresting clean. The split humbucker is probably my favorite of the stock sounds; quite useable for twang and offers great string-to-string definition for big chords.

I can understand the hesitency of many people to put expensive aftermarket pickups in a guitar this cheap -- after all, with expensive aftermarket pickups in it, it's not that cheap a guitar anymore... --but I highly reccomend it. If you want to keep things on a budget, buy used or go after some of the less expensive offerings like the Korean Duncans that MF sells or the offerings from GFS.

Every new guitar needs to be set up. Period. Even for those few companies that attempt SOME setup at the factory, it's important to tailor the instrument to the way YOU like it. That said, this was one of the WORST out-of-the-box setups I've ever seen. Tiny strings a mile off the fretboard, with intonation at the 12th fret as much as a full half step off on some strings. It took me much longer than usual to get it playable, even compared to the other bargain basement instruments I've bought.

The fret ends are a little rough, but far from the worst I've seen on a Squier. A few minutes with a sanding block and they'll feel amazing. There's also a small amount of buzz in the upper register of the lower strings that I haven't had a chance to chase down yet. I suspect it's a fret that needs to be levelled a bit more. Not that big a deal and almost expected, but problems like that could prove more than minor annoyances for people who aren't comfortable working on their own instruments.

The Tele-style knobs have plastic threading inside, which means that they're all too willing to slip if you attempt to turn past the extremes of the pot's rotation. Do this a couple of times and you'll strip them. Mine were decidedly loose when the guitar arrived, but I widened the split-shaft pots a bit and they tightened up.

Oh, and the coup de grace in this category? The polepieces of the neck single coil and all of the screws on my instrument were heavily rusted when it arrived from Musicians Friend. I doubt that's Fender's fault so much as MF's. To me, it adds a cool vontage vibe, but if I were a kid getting this as my first guitar, I'd probably be pretty angry.

Perfect 10 score here, but you should note some things:

1) Almost ANY modern guitar is able to withstand a lot of abuse and keep working, especially those guitars based on variations of a Fender-style solidbody.

2) I'm rating the guitar as I have it now, after attending to the many issues it had out of the box.

3) I'm rating according to price.

I've dealt with Fender in the past and they're passable, but since I bought this from Musician's Friend, I thought perhaps I'd comment on them here.

I actually try NOT to buy things from MF or other big online instrument stores. Buying from them feels too much like I'm running the local stores out of business, so whenever I can, I try to give my money to a locally-owned store. At the same time, I'm shopping price and if the local store can't compete, then they can't compete. Usually, I run any deals I see at AMS, MF or Guitar Center by someone at a local shop to see if they can match. This was not one of those times. $120, with a free gig bag and free shipping (plus no sales tax in my state)? Done deal.

One thing about MF, though, is that you'll do a lot better talking to one of their reps on the phone than you will simply letting the automated online ordering system handle everything for you. My free gig bag was backordered, which held up the entire order, but I was never sent an email explaining that, nor did the online info properly explain the situation or offer alternatives. When I called, though, I was given the option of having the gig bag mailed later and getting the guitar immediately, still with no shipping cost to me. Very nice.

To me, this instrument in its stock form is basically the ultimate starting point for a hotrodding project. The basic construction is sound, and it's more interesting looking than a Strat (or perhaps it's just so ugly that you'll never feel guilty for anything you do to it...) so if you can come up with a project for it, it's a great buy. I'd only reccomend this as a good first guitar if there's someone in the family who can spend some time setting it up or if you're willing to go pay a tech to do the same.

2004 model, crafted in indonesia, see fender website/internet for construction details, black finish, thin squier strat body, tele neck, 1 bridge humbucker with split coil push/pull volume control-allows you to get either humbucker or single coil sound from bridge pickup, single coil neck pickup. no tone control (nice!) 3 way rotary pickup selector in place of tone control, non-vibe/ non-string thru body tailpiece, maple neck, satin finish on neck

has very unique chime/bell like sound for a fender-the best feature of this guitar in my opinion- versatile fender sounds- can get tele sounds by using bridge pickup with single coil activated (pull up on volume control). very nice very very bright sounds when using single coil sounds-bridge alone or bridge and neck together-a very unusual chime-y sound for a fender- a cross between a tele squank and a strat smoothness with added high end overtones- has extreme high end when in single coil mode-a plus in my book-(probably due to the strings not being a through-body design- strings anchored on bridge) dial back treble on amp if so desired- 2 pickup sound is nice and chimelike in single coil mode, neck pickup alone is very stratlike-single coil bridge is telecasterish, humbucker bridge fattens up sound but still retains a fender quality-nice to use humbucker for slide or power chording

factory setup is ho-hum- (heavy strings/ high action/ not intonated)- get new strings and an allen wrench and go to town- make it fit your preferences- factory setup is non-existent, pickups needed no adjustment whatsoever-neck fit is wonderful-nicely fitted frets- had to tighten the cord jack nut-was loose, but i did get it second hand, so may have been neglect by 1st owner- quality finish-good hardware for an inexpensive guitar- satin finish on neck is different from what i am used to on my higher-end fenders- will feel different to you if you are used to a high gloss neck-will seem slower-but is a consistent, quality finish- overall, just needed usual setup/intonation as do nearly all guitars

i will be using this live-tough, inexpensive very unique sounding guitar- good finish on body-satin neck finish should wear well, all hardware seems fender tough. this will be my backup guitar for my strat/tele. built tough and solid

fender has good customer support

have 4 fender strats, 1 fender telecaster, 3 fender acoustics- guess this makes my 9th fender- and various other electric/acoustics (hohner/ibanez/danelectro/lotus/silvertone..) i like this a bunch-very chime-like bright sound

Nothing new to report that you can't see in the other reviews. My only complaint is that neither the Squier website nor Musicians Friend (where I ordered it) indicate the vintage blonde comes with the white pickguard although that is what Musicians Friend will ship you.

If anyone wants to swap their black pickguard for my white, please contact me.

Regardless, at this price, you get a great number of features for the buck.

Much better than I expected. All of my other guitars are dual humbuckers, some of them with coil tap capibilites and tone controls. The tones you can get out of this are actually much better than some of my more expensive guitars with better pickups. There is a lot more versatility/range with this guitar. Much more suited to old school rock, blues, etc.

Well, could be better but you get what you pay for. I've played several of these and some of them do have some fret work issues. Also, the finish on some of them is a bit of an issue. I've come across some with some loose electronics and some of them also have sub, sub-par wood. However, it still plays well and with a little TLC and turns into a much better guitar.

Not sure yet but it's good enough that I would consider buying a second one.

Don't know yet....don't care.

For the money, you'd be hard pressed to find a better guitar. I own several Schecter's, a Kramer and have owned various others, including a previous Squier. I love the look of the guitar. That pickguard gives it a real distinct look. It plays well and sounds great and I may actually buy a second one. My only suggested changes would be a string through body setup (which I will probably do), a laminated pickguard (3 ply) and to reverse the pickup switching on the pickup selection knob (seems backwards too me). Buy one of these before they disappear.

Brand new from GC, blowin' 'em out at the Labor Day sale for $99.00. Most of the details already long accounted for. Indonesian manufacture. Push pull volume to split the humbucker, 3 position knob for pickup selection. No tone control. Neck's fat, body seems to be an Affinity type (slimmer than my various strats), tuners fairly stable. Swapped straploks onto it so I could use my straops on it. Basic stuff.

Not a bad little piece. Very bright, surprisingly quiet under even fairly extreme gain. Sounds like Hound Dog Taylor on the brightest tele you ever heard. Not painful, but frenzied. Kind of cool for country if you're looking for tele tones on a budget. Used it with my Mesa Mark III and various pedals, barber, Jauernig, J Everman. Used it for everything through a couple of sets and it worked alright. Missed the tone control.

Again, surprisingly well put together. The strings did not match the curve of the neck, so I broke out some allen wrenches and gave it a going over. Pickups fine. Remember, this thing commonly sells for $149.00...

Who knows? Definitely bring a backup just in case.

Playing for 30+, meat and potatoes gigging. I'd buy it again if lost or stolen. Looks cool, has some very useful sounds. A telly crossed with a Teisco, I'd love to play some old Hound Dog on this thing. And it's not bad as a utility backup instrument. Fatten the body and put some ass kicking pickups here and you'd have a $500.00 instrument.

Mine is blonde, otherwise, well covered by the other reviews.

I would describe the sound of the Squier '51 as a mix of a Tele and a Strat, with emphasis on a Tele. In fact, the guitar sounds pretty similar to my Fender D. Gatton model, although a bit thinner.
The general sound is very bright and the guitar is very resonant. I had to turn down the treble on my amp a notch or two.

Not so good....

Good:

- really nice paint job of the body
- tuners are smooth and don't go out of tune
- neck joint is tight and the neck is straight

Not good:

- factory strings were the worst I ever had on a new guitar, but for the price of the axe it's OK and no big deal as this is easy to fix

but.........

- action was too high
- very rough frets
- two frets stand out, causing string buzz everywhere
as I tried to lower the action a bit
- loose volume control nut
- loose input jack nut
- rattling and buzzing bridge saddles on the lower strings
- intonation was completely out of the window
- saddle OK but not great

I didn't expect too much in this price category, but even if the guitar is cheap, the action, fit and finish should be a bit better. Even more, as some seem to be better finished than others (see Overall Rating)

It's a solid body guitar, so I think it's solid

This guitar sounds good, but needs a pro setup that will probably cost me as much as the guitar itself. I bought it mail-order, as did a friend of mine. While his Squier '51 is better finished, it sounds completely dull in comparison, very bassy and no highs, even unplugged, and is not resonant as my mine, go figure!

I have yet to decide if I will keep it and have it set up or if I send it back and get another one. With these cheap guitars I think it's a bit of a hit and miss. You can have luck and get a good one, or not.

I'll probably give it a second try and send this one back for another one.

Im going to be short & sweet. Made in Indoneseia by craftsmen who are as good as any in asia. one hum & one single P U and a 5 way switch. Also a split coil switch. Yellowy sunbuirst & big pick guard give a real vintage vibe!Its really a cool looking guitar.

Ive played since 73 had & have alot of guitars, none were this cheap & none were this much fun. Its a blast to play & I,ve got cases that cost more money than this fun little axe. Plus they tossed in a fender gig bag . I think any one could get a good sound , with all the differant P U combos. Its Fender brite but not bad.

very very nice body finish and a lite but fast neck finish. Tuners are smooth nice. I put 10s on it and tune is true.

Seems well built. always bring a backup.

musicians friend has been good to me. No problems with returns.

Get this guitar,for the cash, youll love it!!

Since others have given the details, I will just say that this guitar is not lacking in features. The pullout volume knob takesa a little getting used to, but that's okay. I will possibly do some work on it to make it more of a Tele (3-way switch instead of knob... add tone control) at some point, but until then the current setup is sufficient.

This guitar needs a bit of help getting down and dirty, but with the proper effects and amp, it can create some nice sounds. I use a Behringer GX-210 stereo amp with built-in effects, and the guitar sounds great through it. I also hooked it up once through a DigiTech RP100 into a a cheapo 25-watt bass practice amp, and it actually made the amp sound good. It has a brighter sound than a Strat, but more like a Tele. I play a bit of every style of music, so I like to experiment with different guitars. The '51 is certainly a good addition to my musical experience.

I bought this guitar used, so the previous owner may have set it up properly. It looks great, and the action is perfect for me. He had taken great care of it, so all the hardware and fittings were in good shape.

I think this guitar will hold up nicely with proper care. It isn't a workhorse like a Tele or Strat, but it competes nicely in many areas. I would use it without a backup, but then again, I've used much worse over the years without backups. LOL

Coming from a musical family, I started playing when I was five... that was 42 years ago. I have played most styles over the years, including rock, jazz, country, bluegrass, blues, R&B... even some classical. I bought this guitar without expecting too much... I never had the desire to own a Squier. However, it's looks remind me of my old '68 Telecaster bass, so I really wanted this one. I bought it with the intention of rebuilding it at some point, but I will be happy with it even if I never make any changes.

Mines a two-tone sunburst, just got it from FedEx today from Musicians Friend... paid 149. Features include the usual...nothing new in my '51. Three way switch, volume control that pulls out.

I am 6'2 and 195 pounds (that means Im not small) and I can play this gutitar just fine. I did'nt notice the string spread being too small...like one reviewer harped on. Im giving it a 10 on features because I dont care about a tone knob....my amp has one.

The sound is kinda thin, which is actually want I was looking for. Its bright sounding, and has a nice clean tone. Im playing this with a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier combo rig. Not too noisy...especially for 150! Overall I like the sound....Id never played one before ordering this guitar, but Im not dissapointed. I can always switch pickups if I wanna experiement. For now Im leaving it stock.

My Squier '51 came from the factory perfectly set up. String height was good, intonation was fine. I tuned her up and was playing just fine not 5 minutes after removal from box. My frets didnt need any sanding or filing at all....totally smooth, no problems whatsoever. I dont know if Im just lucky or maybe Squier is getting some quality control in their Indonesian factory.
My main problem with the finish is that the neck is so pale....I wish it were stained or varnished darker...it makes an otherwise beautiful guitar look kinda off balance. The finish has no flaws however.

This guitar should have no trouble withstanding live gigs. The hardware seems fine, although even on my expensive USA stratocaster I had to change the saddles to graph-tecs, so you never know what the future holds. I may eventually replace the tuners if they prove to be a problem (they are not as smooth as others, but seem to hold tune). As of now everything works great.

I wonce wrote to fender (email) and got a quick reply. I dont know about a warranty....if anything broke Id most likely fix it myself.

Ive been playing 15 years. I own a Jassmaster reissue (95), a 1995 USA stratocaster, a 1992 Les Paul Custom Studio, several acoustics, a G&L bass. All of my guitars cost several times what this guitar costs, and I dont see any big problems with this inexpensive axe. If it were stolen or lost Id get another. I love its lightweight and fun disposition. I think it looks great, and this is my favorite feature. I hate the finish color on the neck, but whatever.
This guitar is a great deal.

The other descriptions have it nailed. It is a basswood body that looks like a strat but a little thinner. Big white pickguard on mine. Single coil in the neck and a splitable humbucker in the bridge. No tone knob, just volume and and switch.

For a raw blues sound, this thing is awesome. One of the best sounding new guitars I have ever heard. I love the bridge humbucker. The neck single coil was just ok. Not bad, just ok. I replaced mine with a Lollar Blackface neck pickup and now it to is awesome. I can get all of the old blues sounds. I can get traditional tele and strat tones. This guitar is bright and biting. Think Albert Collins. It is likely a love it or hate it, and I love the sound of this thing.

The guitar is ok. Doesn't play as well as my Gibsons, Hamers and American Fenders, but it is just fine and definately playable. After a good setup it is ready to gig with.

Sof far so good. I don't forsee any problems.

Don't know. Hopefully I will never find out.

I have been playing 30 years. Finally a guitar with a tone that is different from all of the clones out there. I love this thing for the TONE baby. Get one and you will find out what I mean. Playability and quality could be better, but for the price, it is on par with everything else in its price range. I play high priced guitars with the exception of this one. This guitar just gets great tone even though it is cheap. I really love this thing. It will be with me for a long time and will get played along side guitars costing many time more than it. It's tone is a 9 by any standard. Factoring in the cost and overall this thing is a 10+. These will be classics. Get out and buy one today, you can't have mine.

2005 model, black with white pickguard, maple neck. Most important features to me are (1) the push-pull volume knob that turns the three-way rotary pickup selector (for single coil neck and humbucker with non-adjustable poles) into a five-way, with split humbucker (2) lightness of the solid body, though this also limits resonance, (3) the cheap but cool vintage look. Other components -- well-cut plastic nut, non-locking tuners and tele-style back-loading bridge -- are adequate, but at this price range no complaints.

This guitar has very, very little bass in the sound. Normally that would bother me, because my style is, uhh, Delta Modern, a thumping bass below chord and slide work. Very little definition of notes within chords -- this ain't no Reverend Slingshot Custom. But I actually like it better than the sound from most Teles, which is what its bite best compares to. It's got real character, a stark vintage jangle -- think Fred McDowell. The coil tap cuts the treble, and so does rolling back the volume as other reviewers noted, so you do have onboard tone control despite lack of a tone pot. For the price it's great, but onstage you don't play your wallet, so two points off. Incidentally, you can adjust the front pickup height by removing the pickguard, a simple operation. I raised the bass end of the pup and lowered the high end and it made a big difference. Adjusting height on the humbucker had little effect; this would be the first and maybe only thing I'd replace.

For a cheap guitar the quality is great, but it's still a cheap guitar. Neck relief was a little reverse-bowed, but changing the 9s it came with to 10s and tuning to open E fixed that overnight. Neck finish is not satiny (there are faster necks out there) but comfortable. When I lifted the pickguard it was like the underside of an English carpet -- paint chips, dust, etc. The thin finish surely will go fast when chipping starts. The screws on the bridge saddles are badly machined of cheap metal, but they do work and intonation was not an issue. I tightened neck joint a quarter turn on all four screws, and also tighened every other screw I saw. Pickguard has great shape but ugly texture; it's screaming to be painted with a cool design and I have an artist in mind.

I think it'll hold up. Key question here is the tuners. They do not function great -- there are gaps and jumps when tuning -- but they hold pretty well once they're in. I would not change tunings with this guitar in a live situation. I'm not sure I'd try to get through a whole night with just this axe, either. People would wonder where the bass line went. That's a sharp critique, because I typically go to my solo gigs with one guitar.

I bought this at Guitar Center in Orange CT and this rating is for the store crew. Helpful, informed, let me try out every Squier 51 in the store till I found the right one.

I've played live -- pro, semi-pro, road and studio -- for 40 years. My main axes are two Reverend Slingshot Customs, backed by a modified Washburn SS80 and a JD Curlee -- premium American instruments. There is no way this axe will replace them; it's there to spare them the dangers of business travel (I'll take a guitar over a hotel TV any night). The only real issue it poses is whether to upgrade. I won't, unless I find the components used and very cheap. I can't see spending a couple hundred bucks more on this thing when there are fine pieces selling for $500 new or used. Upgrades won't fix the limitation of the thin sound the body gives you. But it's still a fun guitar to play, with a distinct personality. Man, what do you want for $150 in the 21st century?

Same features as in previous reviews. The coil tap humbucker is a nice feature for the modest price. The frets are a size above dinky useless "vintage" size. Slightly thinner body. Went to GC this weekend specifically to check this model out, and it was on sale for $129. Yea. Tried several before settling on a sunburst. Out the door for $140.

The neck PU has the fender sound, suits me. Wish the bridge had more guts, but is passable.

Didn't find any glaring build problems. Screws tight, everything lined up, no finnish flaws, frets OK. Stays in tune pretty good during a session of string strangling. Like the retro two color sunburst. Adjusted the simple things abit to my preference...but action still a bit high, but playable and alot of fun. Thin original strings (.09's) for a factory guit. I like em thin, so that's OK. Generally I don't like BIG pickguards, but this one has enough personality that it doesn't detract visually, to my taste that is.

The basic Fender solid design.

No idear, dear.

This is my second Indonesian guitar. First was a Squire Tele with P-90's, from MF. First I thought it was kinder funky, but now I love it. It has the same "Blonde" color as this 51" line does...not so Blonde, more like "Stale Mayonnaise". Once I set up the Squire Tele it has been totally reliable, and a bunch of fun. Keep reaching for it. Love dem P90's. The classic Fender design is structurely sound and simple enough so that unless you get a real dud you end up with a guit that will last, be reasonably playable with self adjustment or pro set up, look decent, and sound good. This 51" model has enough quirkiness that it caught my eye, apparently like a bunch of other playing for thirty-something years guys like me. Factor in the price and you get a ball of fun with a trip down memory lane (Chrome control plate off a 51" Precision bass etc). This would be a nice model to buy for a son/nephew, teach him how to set it up/adjust it and bang it around/learn to play on. And then 15 years from now he would treasure it.

You can read the others for what it is. And unless you have polish sausage fingers string spread is just fine. It was never ment for classical guitarists. Mine is blond.

Play many styles. Use GT-3 but strieght in any amp sounds good. Not any noisier that any other in single coil job. Good humbucker and split very cool. Bright but to my liking. Can always eq it out.

The set up was very low. I like 10 gauge and put those one and it was to what I like as far as action. Have room for truss adjust if needed. Intonated perfectly as well. Things are nicely put together and finish was good to. I have seen more expesive =650 guitars worse.
Fret end are surprisingly good for pacific rim.Not sharp.no filing needed.

It will last. Strap buttons a little cheesey but what do you expect from low price. I believe it would stand up to gigging alone.

Na. But there like any of um.

Playing 20+. Taka, Guild, Fender, Godin, different. Maybe it 's just me.These are awsome for the monies. Stands up on it's own against it's Mex bro's as well as alot of junk that is out there. Won't comment one the american made out of respect. Would not be suprized if the F company brought them into the mother co just like they have done with the Squier FMT tele. I am not sure how they will do it business wise if they are willing to put something like this out for so little. Would buy another. First runs sometime are the best.

Been playing 40+ years- r/r... r/b...looking for something different. My SG -61 re-issue is a mess.( replaced an original '64 stolen out of Bill's garage) Also Playing Strat and Tele also which are, well, a strat and a tele. Saw the P-51 in a catelog... looked cool so ordered it. You can wax on all day re/ specs/set up , tech this and that- but this goofy little guitar is fun to play, has some cool in between tones (sg with H+ S switching- tele with s+s position)--and has a good overall vibe. If you aren't too snooty and just want to try something different to explore- well.....$150 - $175 ?? If you try to make it work - you may fine a little gem with this rig. Play it once--- if you don't like it- make a lamp out of it. No harm- no foul.

Pretty cool hybrid of a Tele and a Strat (with a little bit of 51 T-Style bass thrown in for good measure)I was given this guitar as a Xmas gift, so that was an even better bonus.Solid body electric with bridge humbucker and neck single coil,knurled rotary control knobs (50's dome style think old-skool tele) one for pick-up selection, the other for volume.The latter having a pull out knob for a coil tap so you can split the humbucker into a single coil vibe.Mine is finished in black with a white single ply pickguard(very thick&chunky) it has a maple fingerboard with skunkstripe on the back of the neck and is fitted with 22 vintage style frets.It is also fitted with 2 string trees,a white plastic/nylon nut ?(I have no problems with the string spacings) an inexpensive and easy fix anyway, if you did'nt like it.Neck is a substantial C shape on the thicker side not as baseball bat as some early teles and the body is only described as basswood, a term I guess that most manufactures use these days for their lower grade timbers. Fitted with six no-name generic style tuners, which seem to do more than an adequate job no greasy or sloppy spots.Finally will everybody stop calling this guitar a hardtail it is what I would describe as a classic toploader style bridge (at least the one I have is) meaning that the strings anchor thru the back of the brige thru six small holes.For an example of a toploader style bridge check out any of the cheaper Squire Teles to see what I am talking about.A hard tail Tele or Strat has the strings actually pass thru the body and come out on the back of the body where the strings are anchored against string ferules.

I have had this guitar since January 2005 and have found it to be quite a useful and versatile little guitar.I play a variety of styles ranging from punk,ska,
swing,rock-a-billy,surf instros,country,jazz and blues.I run a small home studio and have several amps at my disposal including a 64 Fender Tremolux head with a 2x10 box,a George Dennis Blue Beetle,a Vox AC15,a Fender Blues Junior, a re-issue Gibson Les Paul Junior and a couple of other amps.I have found this guitar to have more than acceptable levels of background noise considering(c'mon people u get what u pay for)it's low price point.Neck pick-up has that generic style strat sound (warm and woody) that we have all become accustomed too, with a fairly well rounded and smooth tone.It would suit a variety of sounds from jazz and country thru to rythm work but you could play whatever you wanted.The middle position can be either neck pick-up with the bridge in humbucker mode or single coil mode via the pull up coil tap.When the latter setting is selected,it gives you that classic out of phase tone that is so cool for chickin pickin', swampy blues(think Tony Joe White) or funky/disco chops.When it is used in humbucker/single coil mode, it is a full sounding,muscular tone suitable for a number of styles but I personally use this setting mainly for rythm.Finally in the bridge position, you can have it with either a classic "fat strat' sound"(full humbucker) or with the coil tap in operation you get that tele style vibe and sound starting to happen. I am able to go from Green Day "Dookie era" sounds to a Pete Anderson country sound all with a quick pull on the coil tap.As others have pointed out it can be a tad on the bright side but I really only encountered this when it was in the bridge position.If pushed too hard with the bright switch activated on your amp, it gets to the point of sounding scratchy and lo-fi,but that could either be a definative minus or a plus depending on what kind of tone you are after just remember tone is so subjective.Likes and dislikes ,well lets just say I like more about this guitar's tones than I dislike,I only use 2 pedals an Ibanez AD-9 analog delay (for thickening the tone and rock-a-billy)and an Ibanez GE-7 graphic eq pedal does all my solo boosting duties.As for the lack of a tone knob it dosen't bother me in the slightest ,as a matter of fact I find it to be quite the opposite as I 'm quite a fan of keeping it pure and simple.If I need more control over the tone thats were I will use the eq on my amp.

Straight out of the box I found my guitar to be than acceptable for playing after it had been tuned up.But as always I would suggest to anyone if they were considering playing this guitar live, then they should get it professionaly set-up.At this price point I don't expect miricales and neither should you.A good set-up makes all the difference and you will more than likely still be playing your guitar until the end of the year rather than until the end of the month.I was more than impressed with the quality of the paint work (once again at this price point it's all relevant) even if it had that typical thick poly look about it.Neck pocket and join were superb it passed the business card test with flying colors.Really the only other thing I could fault was the fret work but as I said earlier that can all be taken care off with a pro set- up.

This guitar is more than up to the challenge of surving the live stage,all it's hardware feels tight,solid and reliable.The chrome generic six a side style tuners are smooth as mentioned above.Whilst I would say that it's finish would more than withstand the rigors of the road, under normal circumstances, their can be no gaurantees for the abnormal(all guitars break if you throw or smash them) use of any guitar.I would not hesitate to use this guitar as a back-up at a gig I feel that you would more than likely to be able to depend upon it but regular maintence is always going to help make any guitar more dependable.
One thing that does concern me, is the push pull pot for the coil tap, I don't know how much rigorous abuse this would take. If I had to say if this guitar had a weakest link the I think this would be the most likely be the candidate.

I'm not sure if their is warranty with this model(most than likely one year from the D.O.P.) but in general most dealers are usually pretty cool and will look after you if you have any problems.I've have only really dealt with Fender(Aust) when I had problems with an amp(at least 10 years ago) and they were helpful and co-operative so I can't see why that would have changed.

I have been playing for around 20 years and run a small home studio with a Korg D-1600 mk2. I like to grab this guitar to record my scratch tracks with on the fly.It's a great studio tool and I have not really owned that many humbucker equipped guitars that I really enjoy but this one and my Gretsch Double Anni re-issue are the only exceptions to the rule.I like its simplicity and straightfowardness, also the coil tap is just such a useful tone shaping tool giving it a slight edge over my 68 maple cap Tele when it comes to tonal versatility. Don't worry folks! I'm not about to rush out and sell my Tele just yet but at this price it makes this guitar excellent value for money(you cant even buy a boutique foot pedal for this much usually). Anything I wish that it had,only one thing, strings thru the body for improved sustain. I know that this would put the cost up slightly but it would be a good improvment maybe they could do a deluxe version for the future under the Fender brand.Also a couple of extra color options would be quite cool as well for example shell pink,sonic blue,fiesta red etc for that 50's vibe with pickguard options such as a range of wacky anodized colors. If it went missing for some reason, finance's allowing, I would more than likely be inclined to buy another one.I would finally just like to say that for a guitar that only cost $349 Aussie dollars I feel that this represents excellent bang for your buck. Brand new low cost guitars just blow me away with their build quality in general they just keep improving and getting better and better all the time. With a few small uprgrades,and a pro set-up, a killer semi-pro axe can be had for not much more than the price of some foot-pedals.Here is a list of the upgrades that I did to my own Squire 51
1.Painted headstock black to match the body
2.Fitted F series safety post tuners
3.Drilled and fitted string ferules for strings thru body
4.Applied unique competition stripes on the body behind the bridge
5.Applied 50's style spagetti logo decal to headstock
If you would like to see photos of this guitar please don't hesitate to email me.

If you have managed to find this review, thanks for reading. Squier should have its own product category and not be listed under Fender. Guild, Benedetto, Gretsch, Tacoma, Jackson and the other Fender brands have their own areas... No respect, I tell ya...

Most features have been covered in the previous reviews. I would like to mention that the neck pickup is hard-mounted to the body with screws under the pickguard. I realize this allows for quicker assembly at the manufacturing plant, but allows the user no adjustment after purchase.

Perhaps the early versions came with the "vintage tinted neck" that is touted in the description on the Squier website, but the ones being shipped recently have a neck that is almost unfinished and very light maple - no tint.

Lots of variation available. Some Tele-like sounds available using half the bridge humbucker by itself. Didn't like the stock neck pickup - see comments below.

I was only mildly impressed with the Squier '51 upon receipt, but then I'd never bought a new guitar that was this inexpensive before. The fact that they can even make a playable instrument at this price point is commendable.

There was a certain roughness overall to my '51. I had to spend a lot of time dressing the fret ends, and sanding with a Scotch Brite pad on the back side of the neck. The height adjustment screws in the bridge saddle pieces were undersized for the tapped holes, were very loose and buzzed in spite of any corrective adjustments I made. Chap stick on the threads was a temporary fix, but since the screw tops and saddle edges were sharp anyway, I replaced the saddles with a set of GraphTechs and haven't looked back.

The neck pickup was noisy and pretty ordinary, so I replaced it with a black Lace Holy Grail. I went the extra step to add screw adjustment for the neck pickup from the top ( neck pickup is hard-mounted to the body under the p/g as stock ). Mine is blonde with the black pickguard, but don't be surprised if you get one with a white p/g. They come both ways.

After the changes above, a swap to .010s and a good height and intonation adjustment, it's a great little guitar.

I grew up playing '60s Fenders and found this neck profile to be even a bit on the chunky side by comparison. Can't understand where the "skinny nut width" comments are coming from, unless there is a lot of variation in the neck width on these.

I have no problems with the overall durability and functionality of this guitar and would not hesitate to use it as a primary instrument - after the proper set-up, of course.

Don't miss not having a tone control as I always run them wide open anyway.

To the person that wrote the comments below regarding the nut width guitar. Please note that this is the same size as the Fender Telecaster which this product emulates.

The following is a public service announcement from a concerned citizen. Something's gotta be said here lest a thousand poor souls order these online based on the below rave reviews and get shafted: The guys below must be under 11 years of age or midgets or have congenital skinnyfingeritis because the nut width on this axe, ultimately the distance between the strings, is ridiculously tiny. One finger covers 3 strings. It's impossible for someone with normal adult hands (or at least normal adult male fingertips) to play this toy-sized nut width clean. The nut width is child-sized, about 41mm--that's insane for adult hands. So I don't argue all the great things said about this almost-cool axe--but the truth must be told: Beware the extreme closeness of the strings, it can be a serious dealkiller for many.

Made in Indonesia in 2004. Solid top, body looks like a Strat, neck like a Tele. Cool looking axe. S?H pickup configuration. Retro looking '51 P-Bass style pickguard. Simple controls - 2 chrome knobs (think tele). 1 controls volume, the other is a 3 way pickup selector with a push/pull coil splitter for the humbucker. The pickups are Fender, the rear is a Fender Atomic Humbucker. Electronics are passive. It's a hardtail with 6 adjustable saddles. The tuners are non-locking, and the neck is maple with a large C shape. I believe the body is basswood, but can't swear to it. It's a very rugged feeling instrument.

I play a variety of styles, from blues to rock to fusion, and it suits them fairly well. I play exclusively through a POD, and as you would expect, it sounds pretty good through the Fender and Marshall models. It seems to be pretty noise free. Quite alot of twang from the front pickup. A little more than my strat. Absence of a tone control limits its flexibility, but the tone is very vibey and useful. The humbucker is another story. It seems to lack depth and sizzle, if you know what I mean. It's a little on the dark side. I know this isn't a particularly expensive instrument, so I'm not too disappointed. When you split the coils, it has a little more bite, but the bottom falls out. In single coil mode, you really need to run the front pickup with it. It nails that funk rhythmn sound pretty well with both pickups and the rear split.

Someone needs to teach those poor Indonesians how to build guitars! The neck was a disaster. The frets had to be levelled to prevent buzzing at almost every other fret. The nut spacing was a joke. The strings were so inconsistent I had to have another nut installed. There was no setup from the factory that I could tell. The rest of the guitar seems to be well made. The neck fits the pocket like a glove, the hardware is all installed properly and seems to be as good as anything on my Jap Strat or HWY-1. I've played some Squiers in the past, and this one really seems much better made. If it weren't for that darn neck. I spent almost as much setting it up as it cost me!

I think this guitar will take a licking and keep on ticking. The hardware and finish seem exceptional for a guitar of this price range. I believe you could use this as your utility workhorse and not worry about a thing. (Particularly now that the neck is perfect!)

I haven't had opportunity to deal with the company at this time.

I've been playing for over 30 years and own a variety of guitars, such as Carvin, Godin, Shadow, La Patrie, Fender and Dean. If this guitar were lost or stolen, I'd probably get another. It's just alot of fun to play. It kina takes me back to 1973 and that's never a bad thing! The only thing I miss on this one is a tone control, but at this price point, who's complaining!

2005 model, sunburst with white pickguard, you know all the other features coil tap is nice, but don't use it much.

I usually play Gibsons, I bought this guitar only so I could set it up for playing Stones songs in open G tuning, a la Keef- why pay alot of money for a guitar I only use for 3-4 songs a night?
I was shopping for a cheap Tele, and came across this little jewel.
I didn't like the neck pickup, so I changed it for a Seymour Duncan little 59 for strat- Perfect tone now. The bridge pickup seems really bright, but for my use, I just screwed it down low, and favor the neck pickup, and the combo of the two.

Action was very high, even though I was planning to set it up as a 5 string, open G tuning, I even took off the low E tuner, slapped on some real heavy strings, lowered the action some, and went to work. Finish and fit was exceptional for a guitar in this price range.

I do use this live, but only for 3 or songs per night.
It does seem that the finish chips easily, but seems rugged overall/

Have no clue, never owened a Fender before.

I've been playing for 30 years, always been a Gibson guy.
But if I didn't have this set up for 'Stones songs, I would certainly return it to normal playing condition, and use it as a back-up, or for clean use.

HERE'S THE DEAL.30 years in the guitar playing, fixing,selling biz,I have owned, built or played almost everything. Incredible, once set up and tweaked! Had to buff finish on neck, polish frets, shim neck slightly. Now,it plays perfect!KILLER neck profile and the fret work is better than 50% of everything out there. Uncanny flame in the neck wood. I replaced noisy single coil in neck position with lace red. Not really needed if you play clean most of the time. Th stock pickup actually sounded better. The bridge humbucker is very bright. Did I say very bright? but that's what gives it the tele spank. This axe is so versitile for the price it's rediculous! I am getting a second one and putting hot rails humbucker in neck and duncan in the bridge. It really sounds like a tele, and is comfortable like a strat. cool vintage vibe. I replaced the decal to the word "Fender" only and I have been asked repeatedly if it is a custom shop. So if you can do some upgrades you will get a contender for under $200.00. Hard to believe but true.

Classic rock blues and even some standards. I use it all night except for real pused classic rock. It is great for blues and oldies. The iceman returns! Bright tone ggd sustain. I may drill for ferules on the next one and run strings through the body.

Set up was oK most guys would probably just play it off the shelf. I am a fanatic so for perfection it took 2 hours of set up. Paint perfect. remember it's a Squier! Good fret finish tops needed polish 0000 steel wool. Nut was close I only lowered it a hair and removed the string trees. They did nothing in my opinion except stifen the action. 1 1/2 note bends do not jump the strings out of the nut.

It's basically a Strat body tele neck. Switches are the only question in the long run.

N/A

The features have been listed by others, I need not list them again. I, like other reviewers would like to have seen a tone knob on this guitar. I do miss it. When I sat down to play it at the guitar store, I fell in love with the neck right away. To me the neck is one of the most critical componants of any guitar. For a $150 guitar I think the hardware seems about right. Not top of the line, but not trash either. With that being said I'm giving this a 7.

I play just about any style there is. I spend most of my time playing blues & clasic rock. As far as amps & effects go, on the right side I'm using a tweed fender blues deville, 60 watt tube amp, with 4X10 alnoco's. That sits on top of a marshall 4X12 bottom loaded with vintage 30's.On the left side I'm using a fender hot rod deville,60 watt tube amp, with 2X12 vintage 30's which sits on top of a marshall 2X12 bottom also with 2X12 vintage 30's. All of this runs through a korg ax1500g. with that rig I can get any guitar to sound however I want it to. so to be fair, I went straight into the blues deville side. I first set the chanel as clean as I could. with the single coil & humbucker running untapped, I found the sound to be like ice picks stabbing my ear drums. backing off the volume knob did wonders. it smoothed everything out. I found the sound to be almost like a cross between my gibson sg & my american strat. I was verrrrrry impressed. the humbucker can rock out and sounds great untapped. tapped it produces a great single coil sound. the neck pickup is where I was disappointed. it had good mids & highs, but to my ear the bass was lacking. I'm thinking about swapping out the pup. Due to the lack of bass responce in the neck pup I'm going with an 8.

the action was set way to high for my liking, but every guitar I have ever played when new was like that. I like my action VERRRRRRRY low. the intonation is a different story. there was none. it was pretty bad. but once again every new guitar I've played is like that. also found a good size bow in the neck. did my own setup when I got it home. first thing I did was change the strings. during that process I found that every nut on every tunner was loose, as was the nut on the input jack. after I finished the setup, I found that this little $150 guitar feels almost as good as any of my other guitars ( excpet my RIC 12) Action, Fit & Finish gets a 1.

I think this guitar would gig well, but I never gig without a backup, not even with my RIC's. with the body being of softer wood, I'd keep a close eye on all of the screws.

Never had to deal with them

I have been playing for a little over 42 years. The othe gear I own les paul, sg, american strat, american tele, ibanez 370,ric 360/12, ric 660, martin d28/12, seagul s6, and 2 no name acoustic guitars, fender p-bass, 3 fender tube amps, a marshall and a vox. I like this guitar. it is a lot of fun to play. other people who I play with gave me all sorts of greif about me playing a squire.....that was untill they heard it and especialy after they played it. If it were lost or stolen I would run right ot & buy another. I think I'll get a second one, just to mess around with & mod it.

2004/5 model with sexy vintage blonde finish with black scratchplate, one bridge humbucker and single coil at the neck, with a coil-tap for the humbucker and a 3-way tone pot which also functions as a pickup selector, and a volume pot which also acts as a push/pull coil-tap. For #139 this guitar has features coming out of it's ears.

Ok I'll talk about the sound in a sec, just need to tell a quick story for all the gear snobs out there (I was one this morning!!)

I broke the E string on my Gibson Les Paul Standard yesterday and decided to take a jaunt to town today in order to buy a new set of strings. When I got into the music shop I started looking around all the guitars - they had a lot of guitar porn in there. Custom shop Fenders, PRS McCartys, ESPs and Ibanezs - basically a lot of sexy guitars, many of which I'd fancied for a while.

Then out of the corner of my eye I spied something that looked pretty retro and funky, so I went to investigate. I thought it was some crazy new fender thing, it looks a bit like a spin off of the toronado/jaguar - but hello, what's this? The squier 51...it looked cool enough, but a squier? I don't think so!

All of this was going on to the background of a guy (who was pretty damn good) playing little wing in the background on what sounded like a custom shop telecaster (I could see the telecaster headstock from the back, but nothing else of the guitar), but with a glassy, strat-like edge to it. Whatever it was, I thought, it would be very expensive. But it sounded gorgeous. So off I went to the counter to buy my strings, and maybe ask for a play on the ibanez hanging on the wall I'd had my eye on for a bit.

Then the guy finishes playing, stands up, and says "I'll just put it back next to the others yeah?" I turn around to admire the custom shop finish of his telecaster, and what do I see staring back at me but - you guessed it - the squier 51. I had to play this instrument.

I asked the shopkeeper for a play, and sat down with it. It sounds in-fucking-credible. You can get any fender you want out of this baby, from tele to strat and even a little bit of jaguar. It also has a coil-tap (which for an instrument of this price is unheard of), so you can get a wonderful stevie ray vaughan type bluesy strat tone out of the bridge humbucker, and the single coil is just blues-rock sex. Play the humbucker straight (without the coil tap) and whack some distortion on and it roars like a telecaster, but with the balls of a les paul. This is a guitar player's dream - I'd been thinking about getting a guitar for that "Fender" sound to balance out with my Gibson - who'd have thought I'd find everything I was looking for in a squier!?

The setup is excellent - the neck is smooth and fast and she plays like a dream. The finish is stunning and I can't find a single cosmetic flaw on the whole thing. Ok so there are a few MINOR things - some of the fret edges weren't PERFECTLY finished and the intonation was ever so slightly out, but things like this can be fixed at home and shouldn't detract from the amazing value of this guitar.

This guitar looks like it'll stand up to anything, with that solid fender bolt-on neck construction and what appears to be a standard strat body. I'd DEFINITELY play it live, and in fact, I can't wait to do so!! My Les Paul is still my main live guitar, but I'll DEFINITELY be bringing this baby along for some of the songs to put it to the test!

Just bought it this morning, but really can't see that much going wrong with it if the reliability is as good as the rest of the guitar!!

This guitar is INDESCRIBABLY good. It's packed with features, sounds like nothing else and looks stunning. I really cannot rave enough about how tonally exciting and varied this guitar is.

And then there's the pricetag - #139!!! ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY NINE POUNDS!!! I'm not usually big on impulse buying, but for this guitar, I couldn't resist. Swung a deal for #150 with a gig bag (and those strings I came for), and I was the happiest man in town. I'll never be a guitar snob again.

Just goes to show you can never judge a book by it's cover, and you should NEVER judge a guitar by it's make or by it's pricetag!!

RAVE OVER! Now go out and buy one!

2005 Made in Indonesia, beautiful tobacco sunburst finish.

Setup a little high for me(like low action)but playable. Only noticeable problem was a little shim was inserted under the bridge (did not notice this until I got it home). However, does not affect playablility or sound, so no biggie.

This is where this guitar gets insane for the price, or 5 times the price at that. With the humbucker at full throttle, this thing sounds like an atomic meltdown, but in a good way! It's like somehow a les paul and a strat/tele were fused together and this came out!
It's like a white hot bright roar, not dark sounding like an LP can be but like a strat/tele with a lot more balls! Just a really unique sound, unlike any guitar I have ever heard before. Personally, I have a Les Paul & a Fat Strat, and if I had to pick only one guitar to play for the rest of my life I would choose this one in a heartbeat. It's truly the best of both worlds. For me, it almost makes the strat obsolete, but I could see where for some things you still might want the LP tone, although the 51 could easily handle anything you throw it's way. I play through a Roland 30 & a 15w marshall at home and its sound great on any setting.

Fit & finish very nice, looks like a way more expensive guitar. When I went in to guitar center, I was looking for a tele to buy but this baby caught my eye and I must admit I'm in love!

It is solidly built, don't know how long it would hold up to steady gigging but at $149 bucks who cares! Serioulsly, I'm sure it would be fine, just get the other colors, they all look terrific!

Dont know, dont care.

I've been playing for 2 years. I have a Les Paul, a MIM fat strat, and an affinity tele(another beauty). Like I already said, this is the one guitar I will never be able to live without from now on.

I compared this to strats costing over a grand and I'm telling you this guitar sounded BETTER, hands down!

Any player owes it to himself to get his butt into a store and try this thing out. It's just insane how good this guitar sounds, it really is hard to believe. If you can pick this guitar up and play something without buying it with a price tag of $149, you're either totally broke or just afraid of the squire name.

'04 Indy made agathis body (may have laminate veneer for 'burst..) Volume 3 way selector with 'bucker tap, no tone control.

Strat neck PU, tradition bucker in bridge.

Price included budget bag.

Lots of cool sounds...dosen't really sound like anything else, pretty bright, but not thin like many guitars in this price range

Very nice.. I have played much more expensive guitars that were not this well assembled. pretty much ready to play.

Should be fine for the ocassional gigster. World tour?? better buy two!

1 year warranty.

Mucho years..Got this for a giggle, to replace a tele custom (too heavy) and I really like it. Use it alot with my G-DEC, NIce little compact rig. I have a Frontman 25 and some basic pedals for gigs..sounds good with that rig too. Seagull acoustic, Yamaha classical.

Folks often mistake it for a fancy custom guitar..great bang for the buck

05 Made in Indonesia Squier 51, as per other descriptions; black, white pickguard, basswood strat body, 51 pbass pickguard; single neck strat pickup; humbucker with coil split and vol controls, tele neck, satin finish, .09 strings, cheapo tuners. basic as it gets.

great feel and player, as soon as I picked it up. sound not bad in store thru blues junior, neck strat is adequate; humbucker great when at volume but scratchy and pretty harsh at low volumes. replaced strat with lace holy grail and it improved sound. playing it through silverface champ and princeton and plays great - strat sounds, with some tele spank on mid position. will replace humbucker next. at volume, great overtones and touch on the neck pickup thanks to holy grail; and the humbucker is powerful and dirty at volume, but subtle ain't the word for the humbucker.

picked one from litter of 3 - black looked better than white on blonde or red; fit and finish is great; frets great, clean and easy bends; light finish on neck is easy to play and should age nicely; neck/body joint fine; everything fit together well when i dropped in new pickup. for the money, a well built guitar. reset intonation and it stays in tune well for a 200 guitar.

looks tough.

Best cheapo guitar on the market, character, great playability, sound, and looks great. Left my 59 strat reissue and 52 tele reissues at home last week and took this one - everybody loved it, and on a couple of numbers, keyboard player asked where those sounds were coming through (muting/appegiated stuff on strat pickup), and when the bucker was on loud, well, it was on loud. So a lot of fun with incredible retro vibe. will be better when i replace humbucker with lace.

Up front, I want to say my ratings are based on guitars in this price range. Indonesian mutt. Tele neck, strat body, 51 pickguard. I never use the tone controls on guitars, so I don't miss it on this one. Two pickups: single coil at the neck (positioned almost where the middle pickup on a strat would be, however), and a tappable humbucker at the bridge. Nice satin finish on the maple neck. Generic tuners.

I play straight ahead rock and roll, but I can get everything from a tele-esque twang to a jazz sound from this thing. On the single coil settings, you get some noise. The humbucker is pretty quiet, however. Every time I start to rule out a use for one of the 5 pickup settings, I end up finding a style to take advantage of it after all. Of all the sounds this puts out though, I have fallen in love with the bridge pickup, tapped or not. If I can come up with some extra cash, I might replace the neck pickup eventually, but the sound of the bridge pickup is incredible for this price range. I play through a Tech 21 Trademark 60, and this guitar gets so bright it hurts. It may lack a little punch for really heavy rock, and it's definitely not a shredder, but from rock to blues, fills, rhythm, or lead, you should be set.

Factory set up was decent... I was happy with the action. The feel of the tuners is surprisingly nice, especially compared to some of the other cheap guitars i have owned and played. I'm sure that the hardware is cheap, but only one thing has given me a problem: the bridge. I have broken more strings on this guitar in the 3 of 4 months I've owned it than I have on other guitars over a couple of years, and they always break at the bridge. I play hard at times, but this is ridiculous. I'm going to have to replace it. Otherwise, I would have given the guitar a much better rating in this category.

Can't say anything has actually broken, but you have to be susupicious of the wiring on a guitar in this price range. I can see what other reviewers were saying about the finish wearing off in the future, but for now everything seems great. Considering how often the strings break on this thing though, I would definitely bring a backup.

No problems, so no experience with fender. I hear I shouldn't expect much in regards to customer support, however.

I've been playing about 5 years, and in my apartment right now, I have an esp ltd, a rickenbocker 330, and a gibson sg. i also own a peavey predator, which i hate more and more every time i pick it up, especially now that i know what a cheap guitar can be. Maybe the biggest testament to the overall appeal of this guitar is how little i play the gibson or rickenbocker now that I have this thing. I love being able to treat it like crap but still get incredible sound and versatility. The look of the thing just makes you want to pick it up, too. I've had several of my friends comment on how much they like the sound too, so hopefully I'm not too biased here. If you want something a little unique but with some familiar (if not pitch perfect) tones, and an incredible vintage vibe, this would be a great choice. For the price, I can't imagine getting much more out of a guitar. I know you read that statement in every review, but I wouldn't say it about any of the other guitars I mentioned above, whatever that's worth. I would definitely get another if it were lost or stolen. Still, the neck pickup and the bridge keep me from giving it a 10.

Don't wanna talk much about the features, but its exactly what I need / do not need. No trem, no volume control, no gimmicks, instead a splittable bridge humbucker, a single coil neck pickup, rotary 3 way switch, maple board, basswood body, thats doing fine. Made in Indonesia keeps the price down. Finish is done in a very propper way, so does the set up. It looks like a mixture between Strat, Tele and Precision bass, so its a unique look the '51 Squire has.

It's a cheap guitar, so you would expect a cheap sound ? Way failed. I own expensive guitars up to the 4.500 Euro (thats 6.000 US $) price range, and compared to these axes the Squire has an astonishly good sound. Very clean and strat-like on the neck pickup, fat sounding in the full humbucker bridge position. It sustains very well when played in the gain mode, and makes me really guess whether the little difference in sound compared to my high end guitars is really the difference of more than 4.000 Euro worth.

Everything is doing fine and as good as I have faced on higher priced guitars.

It's brand new, so I don't know about.

Same like above.

I'm playing since 1969 and own the whole gamut from vintage Gibsons (original 1955 LP Junior) to contemporary modern guitars (e.g. PRS Custom 22 Artist). I'm amazed, how good this guitar is manufactured, how comfortable it is to play and how good it sounds. I would rate a 10, if it would cost 1.000 ?, thus, based on its price, I should be able to give a 20 at least.