Fender Squier Affinity Series Strat

s-s-s config...... purple paint.....just a basic strat

I dig strats , always have. I play from guitar to a processor strait to the board......no mic'd amps for me.

This guitar plays AWSOME.....were the strings any lower , they'd be on the BACK of the neck. After adding a spring to the trem (total of 4) it fit my style just right

I do play this live , without a backup (mistake)and it's pretty rock solid. Only problem is THE 5 WAY SELECTOR IS CHEAP AND WILL LEAVE YOU CRYING WHEN YOU LOOSE USE OF YOUR NECK PICKUP!!!!! It works great processed , being that all you need is a good signal and the processor does the "work"...would be a 10 , but due to the 5 way problem

been playing 15 years , amature musician (playing for God , not money)
right now , with the electronics messed up , I wish someone would steal the pickguard and the electronics and let me replace everything in it.....ain't gonna tell you I'm gonna put $300 in pickups in it.....it's a $150 guitar....why would you do that ? would be like putting $2000 Alpine system in a Yugo....why bother. It plays really good , though , so I may "invest" in a cheap pre-wired pickguard and let it roll another couple of years

that said , Mom , Dad , buy your kid this guitar..... buy one for yourself....it's as good as the Mex/Standard ones

2002 Squier Strat (Affinity Series, Made in China or Korea I believe). It is stock, Baltic Blue w/ white pickguard and Rosewood fretboard. 3 single coil pickups (standard). 2 tone knobs, 1 volume. 5 way pickup selector switch. cheap tuners but they seem to work fine and stay in tune decently. Basically, the only "feature" to speak of is the whammy bar.

i play many styles of music, really whatever pops into my head at the time, and it suits that well. i'm using an old shotty practice amp and a BOSS 0S-2 Overdrive/Distortion pedal. it is very typical sound for a strat/strat copy, bright and trebley mostly but it has a nice range of tone because of the 5 position pickup selector switch and 2 tone knobs. it is a bit noisey but it isn't noticeable while you are playing.

it seems to play fine for now but i would like to get it adjusted soon. it seems like it is setup nicely from the factory but could be improved to suit my taste. the pickguard had a notch sliced into it near the selector switch but it is barely noticable. the neck feels grrrreat on this guitar. it is slick and quick.

this is my 2nd squier strat and they are solid. i've never heard of one breaking down without a whole lot of pain being inflicted upon it. i dont gig, but if you are planning on buying one of these and playing it stock, then you probably dont gig either.

never had to call Fender/Squier, never had to get it repaired, warranty??? whats a warranty?

ok here is where the really useful info comes through... you need to realize that this is a great guitar for 150 dollars. if you want to play guitar you should at least buy this guitar, if not something better. this will be more than enough for any beginner. i have been playing for about 4 years and it is great for me. if you want a guitar to play shows with, you dont want this unless you plan on upgrading pickups, etc. if you want a dependable guitar that you can have hours and hours of fun with every day, this is your man.

I got this lil' lady as a bone stock 2000 model with S/S/S config. and the single ply pickguard. Black and white with the rosewood fretboard.
Got it off the rack at Guitar Center. Standard features, just cheap.
It's got the thinner body...probably poplar, it's so light. Die cast metal bits, and a wonderful smaller radius neck.
Cheap? yes... BUT SEE BELOW......

Outta the box she sounded weak and thin. But my trusty bag of trix, a few extra $$$, and a LOT of TLC and It turned out to be my favorite guitar!

THIS IS THE CONVERSION:

I bought a 3 ply '62 pickguard and made it fit, then I routed it out and shoehorned in a Duncan Invader at the bridge. I swapped the middle and neck P/U's with Tex-Mex and bam! I painted it Ivory white and did a SERIOUS set-up session.

Box stock I give it a 3...
I give it a 10 for sound now. Factory, it's a starter guitar.

Action blew dog. After a set-up she's graceful. Gotta watch this though, NOT ALL SQUIER STRATS ARE CREATED EQUAL! As before, this is an econo-axe.

O.K. ...Here's the deal with this, I only swapped the pups and the pickguard. The bridge, nut, tuners, saddles are all stock. The conversion turned her into a screaming instrument from hell! The neck is thin and since I have these short fingers I decided to go this route. I have gigged this guitar without a backup for 2 years! No tuning problems EVER. I scratched the name and all logos of the headstock so it's bare and I keep getting compliments on my tone and questions about my "CUSTOM SHOP STRAT". The only thing is that severe temperature changes seem to affect her a bit more than I would like. Of course I've been playing/tech-ing a while and I know how to overcome this.

I run this lil' lady into an Ibanez PUE-5 guitar effects floor unit and an Ibanez analog delay... this ends up in channel 2 of my LAB SERIES L5 amp atop a Marshall 4/12 loaded with Celestion G12L's.

NO-ONE can pull this tone off without this exact set-up. It's not a high dollar signature Ibanez 7-stringer through a mesa/boogie, BUT THAT'S THE POINT FOLKS!!!

RELIABILITY IS A MOST WELL DESERVED 10. I have beat the hell outta this guitar and she takes everything I can give her. Either I got lucky on this particular one, or only very few made are quality.

I get a really thick heavily distorted dirty sound I can only describe as MENACING from this setup. The tone I produce from this guitar with full chords literally wraps you in a blanket.

DUNNO.

I've been playing for 15 years. I own an American Standard modified like like this one but for a Dimarzio I ripped from a Vandenberg. I highly recommend un-orthadox pick-up configurations on Strats. Even cheap ones. They seem to take to customization better than any other guitar. If someone stole this guitar I would track them down like dogs and torture them mercilessly. I would be absolutely heartbroken.
With the equipment I have it really has a nice tone. Love is the only thing I can say. I love it.

This was a 2001 edition Squier Affinity made in who knows where. I got it from Guitar Center for $279 as a starter pack. It has 23 frets, 5-way selector, 2 tone and 1 volume control. It looks like a Fender Stratocaster and the sound is close to a strat. its black and has a white pickgaurd, pretty good on looks.

This guitar plays pretty well when you are going clean, and maybe punk, but for metal..you are going to need some better pickups. The clean sound sounds really well and could probably be comparable to a real Fender. Its a great starter guitar.

The action on my guitar was HORRIBLE...very high action, it was really hard to play chords and the neck isnt wide like many upperend guitars. This guitar can take a beating, ive dropped it a couple times and banged it up, but still looks like new. The action is its bottleneck, and the input seems to come loose a lot, just needs some tightening.

this thing will last.

never called techies

Although it has a great sound and will last me long, its the high action which really killed it for me. If the action was lower, I would definitly choose this guitar..its very comparable to a Fender and sure as hell looks like one.

This guitar has been explained in the other reviews. I won't repeat the details

I play about every type of music (funk, punk, metal, latin, blues...). The sound on this guitar out of the box is horrible. I guess it is OK for clean playing, but even then the tone is pretty weak. I have played this block of wood through an $1200 amp (Marshall half stack) and still, horrible tone. You cant get any real distortion without bad feedback, hum and noise. I recommend a Standard strat, you CAN play heavy metal or just about any type of music on it.

Tuning knobs are plastic and dont keep the guitar in tune. I have already broken one of them off. Noisy pickup selector. Saddle=not reliable. Finish is ok. Knobs aren't bad.

Don't play this guitar live. I wouldn't trust it. It WILL turn on you. You should expect to go out of tune and drop your guitar a few times if you do.

Never dealt with them.

You get what you pay for. I got this in a package with an amp, cords, and accessories for $150-200. Spend the extra money for a Standard if you want a Fender.

It's a regular Affinity Stratocaster, made in China, date unknown. It's got 21 frets, solid Alder body. 5 way selector switch (works good, who cares if it makes a loud click?), 2 tone knobs, 1 volume knob. Three single coil pickups- they sound really nice. I'm not sure what make and model the pickups are. The neck is maple with a satin finish (extremely easy to play bar chords and power chords). It has a standard Strat double-cutaway body. A regular tremolo bridge, although I don't use the tremolo arm (to me, tremolo arms make a guitar sound fake). I'm not sure what brand of tuners it has- they're nonlocking (sure, it goes out of tune, but does it really kill somebody to tune it?). Medium sized frets. No accessories included. I'm giving this category a 10 because it has all the features of a Fender Strat. Nothing missing here.

I do contemporary Christian music (soft rock genre), and it works great. I love the variety of sounds- I use the high treble of the bridge pickup for fast songs and the more mellow tone of the neck pickup for the slower songs. I'm using it with a little Fender Frontman Reverb 15 watt practice amp, no effects. With this amp being more powerful than it looks, it easily reaches throughout a room of less than 1,000 people (about the size of the audience for the band I play in). The pickups hum a bit when its not being played and its sitting there idle, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. Very bright sound. I prefer the brightness of single coils to the deepness of humbuckers, which is one of the reasons I chose this over an Epiphone Special II. It can make all the sounds of a Fender Strat. This category gets a 9 because of the slight difference in quality between this and a Fender.

It was set up very well at the factory. I got it for Christmas right out of the box, and it was made extremely well. The pickups were sturdily put into place, close enough to the strings for a good sound. Nothing flawed whatsoever. No rough edges, everything's smooth and nothing rattles. OK, so the pickup selector makes a big click, but it takes all of half a second to do it- this makes it a totally insignificant negative. A perfect 10.

I haven't used this guitar in live playing yet, but I've been playing it rabidly over the last few days and nothing's gone wrong at all. The tuning machines go out of tune a bit easily, but just tune it before your performance, and take a 5 minute break to tune it once during, and it works fine. The finish is a beautiful Baltic blue paint job, and like any finish, it'll somewhat wear off with use. The strap buttons are good- I've been playing this guitar standing up and no problems yet. I would use it without a backup. And as for those reviews that say it breaks too easily, it's a simple rule- treat it with respect and it'll last you a lifetime.

I haven't dealt yet with Fender, but Guitar Center seemed to be helpful, and gave me a good warranty on it.

I've been playing guitar for 9 months now, and I've studied electric guitars extensively. I also play a Sunlite GD-1800 acoustic, and I love both guitars. If this guitar were stolen or lost, I would definitely buy it again. As said before, I love the versatility of it, and the color- the Baltic blue is beautiful. Nothing flashy, just blue with a white pickguard. Has sort of a simple, pure look to it. The difference in quality between this and the Fender is very little. If you're a college student on a budget (like me), or a person starting out for the first time, or a professional wanting a really nice simple guitar, I highly recommend this one. It goes to show that, when you're buying a guitar, it pays to look at the guitars that are buried behind the Martins, Gibsons, and Taylors. If you put away the mindset of "an unknown or lower price brand is beneath my dignity", you tend to find a gem. All of the things about this great guitar give it a 10 in my book.

3-4 years old. Made in China. 22 frets. Maple neck/rosewood fingerboard, probably 9.5" radius, standard 25.5" scale. Good frets. Cheap tuners. Non-slip nut (i.e., bad for tremelo; use a pencil [graphite] in string notches if you must). Solid arctic white glossy color (unknown wood), full-thichness body (unlike later models; DON'T go for the models from Indonesia). Thick single-ply ("economy") pickguard and tremelo cover. S/S/S flat-pole passive pickups. Decent viscous volume-tone-tone controls in standard Strat setup, with good 5-way selector. Typical hunk-of-metal vintage-type tremelo bridge set flat against body (better sustain that way; I haven't used for tremelo-yet). Came "complete" with tremelo arm. Rating here is made with low-price consideration.

This is a copy of a "real," standard Fender Stratocaster (and who better to make a copy than Fender?). It suits the musical styles, amps, and effects that a Stratocaster does with its sound (and hum). With the tuning stabilized, I was pleasantly surprised how good this guitar sounds-and plays. The pickups seem PERHAPS slightly hotter, and therefore slighlty bassier and less defined, than standard stock Strat pickups, but certainly not by much. I put this guitar up against Fender American Standard, Fender Standard (Mexican), and any other Fender 3 single coil pickup Strat models I could find in Guitar Center through a variety of amps, and I have to admit that I couldn't tell all that much difference, if any. The sound of a standard Fender Strat IS standard, A standard, and THE standard starting point for what you get out of your amp. It's pretty basic-magical in its design and resultant sound, yes, but not THAT magical from one Strat to another. So it would seem to me that you'd have to intentionally go out of your way to crap down the sound on one, like other manufacturers do with barely-wound, weak pickups or something. Such is not the case with this guitar. It sounds GOOD. It gets all the "Strat" sounds, even for the "more-than-beginner."

I originally bought this guitar with the intention of using it as a cheap starting point, neck and body-wise, for radical modification. Then I stared to wonder why. Compared to a standard Strat, the tuning keys ARE cheap, which does effect playing, so I'll probably upgrade them-someday when I feel that ambitious; but the pickups aren't THAT different to justify an expensive replacement job, especially if you just want a handy, pick-up-and-play-without-having-to-worry-too-much-about-whacking-the-headstock-against-the-doorjamb instrument around. It sounds as good as any beginner would ever want or need (so, kids, stop spending your inheritance on pipe dreams, at least this early on and even for some time yet to come). Permit me, however, to express the reservations I do have in the contruction (action, fit & finish) section.

I had the advantage of selecting the one I got out of a shipload of about 25 or so at Guitar Center. With the nut and the cheap tuners, I wouldn't expect the tremelo to work that well. The tremelo bridge itself, however, looks solid, and, hey, it's a hunk of metal, so in and of itself it should work just fine with a little graphite in the nut slots and better tuners. I tremelo on other guitars, so I just left this one flat on the body for sustain. The thick, one-ply "economy" pickguard and tremelo back cover? Have you seen the Eric Clapton model? It's plastic work is one-ply and THIN, leaving it to bow up off the body between screws, so, so what?

Now, here is where things take a nose-dive: quality control. Having a number of these to select from, I was able to make up for this problem. You just have to find a "good" one, and this means work. What I saw as I checked them out: angled nuts (a real no-no), "angled" necks (check the high and low strings all along the edges of the fingerboard), buzzing frets (play each string at each fret all the way up the board; make sure the truss rod is reasonably adjusted and the neck isn't bowed to give it a fair chance), and various grades of acceptable/unacceptable finish flaws.

As I said, mine is made in China, and the finish potential is good. Fender seems to change their manufacturer around from time to time, but from what I've seen, stay away from the ones made in Indonesia. I don't think they're made full-body thickness anymore if that means much to you. I've seen Indonesian models with maple necks/maple fingerboards that feel like they're made out of balsa wood, have little finish on them, and look dirty new; they've also got some funky colors, like "Olympic White," which looks like green-tinted baby vomit.

So, happy hunting and pay attention (it's worth it). But because of the work involved in negating the quality control, or relative lack thereof, issue, I'm downgrading on the rating in this category.

This thing looks and feels pretty sturdy all around, and I've had no problems with it yet. The Chinese finish is heavy and glossy (though the best finishes I've seen are from Japan, which doesn't make this model). Find yourself a good one, save some dough, pat yourself on the back, then get down to playing.

Have not needed this, and expect that Fender would have a difficult ear to bend. So, at this price, pick a good one because replacing it would be easier than the trouble of fixing it (what warranty?).

Been playing a long, long time. Have standard 1984 Strat, 1997 Strat Plus, Tele, 1973 ES335, etc. on guitars; Marshall, Carvin, Reverend (great amp), Fender Champion 110 (nice little match for this Affinity Strat) amps; multiple effects; PC recording equipment.

If lost, stolen, or never bought in first place, I'd consider buying one or two. My rating here is on the particular guitar that I got.

Otherwise, pretty much covered the rest of the questions already except: while buying this guitar, though no harm done, I wish I would have asked, "Uh, sir, before you continue force-feeding that trem arm into the tremelo, would you be so kind as to make sure it's the right one?"

Made in 2000 in China, probably a laminated top, standard stratocaster setup with 3 single coil pickups (which I modified and will talk about later), one volume, two tone controls and a 5 way selector switch. Body is probably alder, neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard. Looks like any other strat except a little thinner and lighter. Great neck, plays like a dream. Tuners were crap but I replaced them. Medium frets, came with a gig bag. I give it a 9 because basically it is like any other strat.

Well, let me tell you. I bought this guitar for $10.00 at a garage sell with the gigbag. Had one minor ding in the back of the guitar and other than that was perfect. Sounded ok, like any other strat when I got it but the tuners were really crappy, so I replaced them with gotoh type tuners and it stays in tune great now. I got a set of texas special pickups off of ebay for $35.00 (right time, right place), dropped them fuckers in this guitar and let me tell you, it out and out screams. Suits my music style which is rock, blues, blues rock excellently. Actually sounds better than my Fender American Standard Strat now. Those pickups made the difference. I( figure you can buy one of these new at Guitar Trader.com for $149 get yourself a $30.00 set of tuning keys and spend $100 for a set of texas special pickups and for $279 you got a guitar that plays as good as a standard strat, but stays in tune better (my strat sucks on that) and sounds a hell of a lot better. If you are on an ego trip about the name on the headstock, scrape off Squier and spend another $20 on a Fender decal. Course, it does already have by fender on it. This guitar sounded ok before I put those texas specials on it, but I am telling you............it is a killer axe with these pickups. Bright texas twang at the bridge, nice bluesy sound at the neck and everything in between. Sustain is incredible. I'm running this through a Marshall AVT 150 on stage and an Ibanez TB25R at home. This thing kicks ass now.

Well, I bought it used and it was setup fine for 9's as strings. Changed the setup and strings to 11's. Only the ding I told you about on it.........and I have dropped it several times and didn't put any more in it, so whoever put this ding in it, must have thrown it out of a two story window.

It plays live 5 times a week right now. Holds up fine.

Never dealt with them. Figured I would be drawing social security before I ever got a response anyway.

Been playing 25 years. If it is out there I have probably had it at once. Lost everything because I pissed it all away on booze, but now I got it together and am back on stage.

Year it was made is prob. 2001. Apparently the neckplate says 20th anniverary edition which well, means nothing. It has ~24 frets. Normal 1 vol, 2 tone knobs found in a lot of real strats. I got the black finish, and it has 24 frets. I give it 7 since it's just average. (A 7 is a c, 8 is a b, 9 is an a,10 A+)

my style is rock in general and some blues. It's okay I guess. It's a bit noisy but you can get past that if you replace the shielding, or do some other stuff. It's pretty much your average "standard" guitar in terms. Nothing amazing here.

It was pretty well set up, cept it might need another spring. Pickups are fine, and everything is okay. It stays in tune great though and better than my friend's guitar. I guess this is a guitar to guitar thing.

What can I say? It's as hard as a rock.

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Ill give it a 7.5 since it's an OK guitar. I suggest a yamaha pacifica though if you want better.

Made In China. 21 Frets. Volume control, 2 tone controls. Open coil pickups. Came with a tremolo and gig bag.

It's great for learning (my first guitar) but when I tried to distort it, the pickups couldn't get it clearly. Everything goes fuzzy. Fine for playing the basics and some blues/jazz. Not good for rock or anything louder.

The bridge on mine is bent, but I couldn't be bothered to fix it.

It's chipped, I've hadded two years and it hasn't fallen apart. Would never play a gig with it though, it feels a little clunky.

Never talked to Fender.

It's fine if you want to learn but don't want to cash out much money. I went and bought a telecoustic and theres a HUGE difference. The sound on this is fine clean,. but distorted it's awful, and if you're new to guitar you shouldn't care about tones anyway. There are better ones out there and you certainly can't get the tones you want from this.

As said, it's fine for learning, strumming and a bit of blues, but anything beyond that it can't do.