Fender Squier Affinity Series Strat

I figure this one was made in 2000, in China. Not gonna go into all the details again......same as any other affinity strat with the standard strat setup. I think it is the best bang for the buck and I have had 3 of them over the years. People by these $150 guitars and then rate them like they are supposed to match up to a Fender American Standard Strat. Well, it won't. But then again, it isn't supposed to. It's an entry level budget strat, pure and simple and in my opinion is better than any of the other budget strat style guitars. I'll give it a 10 because it does what it is intended to do and does it well and has everything a strat is supposed to have. At least it is a real strat and not some off the wall copy.

Fits my style of music quite well, which is classic rock, rockabilly, blues, jazz, etc. If you are looking for heavy metal, then don't bother. That is not what ANY Fender is made for. Unless you change over to some Holy Grails, Hot Rails or Seymor Duncan pickups, you are not gonna get a true heavy metal sound out of a Fender. But, if you do that, then it isn't really a Fender anymore is it? I get tired of hearing all the pissing and moaning about Fender and Squier sound. They sound like they are supposed to sound. If you are a metal head, get a Les Paul, Ibanez or one of those brands. I run all my guitars through a Marshall MG30CD Combo, an Ibanez TB25R, a Marshall AVT150 for giggin and use only a footswitch for distortion. I don't use any effects. I play pure rock and roll. This guitar does it just well as any other, which brings me to another point. The player is more important than the guitar. A shitty player is gonna make the most expensive guitar sound like shit. A good player can make a shoe box with strings on it sound good. As far as sound goes, the amp makes a lot more difference than the guitar. Shitty amp........shitty sound. This guitar is no more noisy than any other single coil guitar. Yeah, when drawing off of one pickup you are gonna get a little hum. Use the 2d and 4th positions and it goes away. This guitar is just as versatile as my other strats and more versatile than my Les Paul. Yeah........granted, it is NOT going to sound like a Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster. Again, it isn't supposed to. I did take one of my affinity strats and put the Texas Special Pickups and better pots on it........and it sounded every bit as good as the Fender Tex Mex Strat. You can do a lot with this guitar if you are not on some ego trip about the name on the headstock (although Fender is on that headstock). Again, I will give it a 10 because it sounds like it was intended to sound and I rate it for that.

All three of mine were setup just fine out of the box. I did have to set the intonation on one of them. No flaws. Wood is inexpensive but tough, I've dropped all of them and they are still fine. One small chip came out of one of them when I dropped it down the stairs after more beer than I should have drank hauling guitars.

I use all of mine live. I take 7 guitars on stage because I don't want to stop and tune or change strings. I always take an affinity, American Deluxe Strat, Les Paul, Ibanez, Epiphone Dot and a couple of acoustic electrics. These do well live. In fact, one of my affinity strats stays in tune better than all of these guitars. Strap buttons are solid........hell it is dependable. No experienced musician is gonna get on stage without a backup.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing 30 years and performing for 20. I am a professional studio musician and also play in a band. I have way to much gear to list here, let's just say I have been accumulating it for 30 years and I am a pack rat, so I don't get rid of anything. If it were stolen or lost, well, I have two more. Hope the guy enjoys it. It's a fine guitar for what it is intended to be.

This guitar has 21 frets. It was "crafted" in Indonesia. It is a solid top. It has 1 volume and 2 tone knobs. These seem to work ok. It has a 5 way pickup selector that makes a huge clunk when you switch it. It has 3 single coil pickups. The bridge pickup sounds pretty bad. It has hardly any bass and buzzes alot. The middle pickup sounds ok, but it doesnt put out a great sound either. The neck pickup sounds pretty good, but it too has too much treble for me. it has a maple neck which is pretty smooth and fast. It has a rosewood fretboard that i dont really like. It feels....sticky. My strat has a solid black finish which gets pretty dirty-looking. The tuners are the ones that were already installed when i got it. Thye are nonlocking and just plain suck. The guitar is always going out of tune. The neck is very thin. The guitar has almost no sustain.

This guitar is very noisy. I run it through a small peavy transtube 30w practice amp. It isnt as noisy on neck/mid or bridge/mid, but is still noisy as heck. It has a very flat sound. It has almost more string noise than musical tone. The guitar is just below average on all styles of music. Just recently it started making a hollow ringing noise.

The action on this strat was very,very high. I had the action lowered twice. The finish was ok, but nothing fancy. It has a noisy pickup selector, but nothing too serious. The strings always seem to be coming out of the nut, which really ticks me off. This guitar has ok finish and junk.

DO NOT USE THIS GUITAR AT LIVE GIGS. There is no doubt in my mind that you will tune and tune and then tune it again. I've had this guitar for about a year, and the hardware is going down in flames. The finish hasnt worn off yet, buy i think the guitar might be made out of black plastic. haha. The strap buttons always slip off. I dont trust my guitar. It would definetly turn its back on me at a gig. I would use a backup.

I ve never dealt with fender before.

I have been playing for a few years. I own a squier champ 15 amp (it came with the guitar and sucked so bad i gave it to my teacher). and A peavey TransTube FX which has treated me good as of now. If it were stolen I would laugh at the guy who stole it and thank him for taking my garbage. I would then buy an epiphone or gibson LP. I like that it....wait, i hate this guitar. This guitar is just bad. If you want to buy an ok begginers guitar, dont buy this. If i were starting out i would not buy the affinity series. Their standard is only 20 bucks more and it is a solid guitar. Compared to a ukelele this guitar is a block of wood with six strings of metal on it. I would use this guitar for firewood.

2001 probably, Made in China, 22 frets, 1 volume 2 tones, 5-way selector, 3 single coil mics S/S/S, and a really crappy trem.

The sound it?s really good, you can play any kind of style from MetallicA to The Beatles, it?s not going to sound perfect, but it?ll be close, I?m not sure if the mics are the originals (the employee at the store used to change them !?!?), the thing is that the mics really impressed me (they produce too much feedback, but I?ve solved that equalizing right the amp and the pedal), I?ve compared the sound with my Mexican strat and the Squier it?s simply superior, and sounds almost like my teacher?s expen$ive American strat.
The clean sound it?s probably the best thing in this guitar, really bright and with long sustain, but if you want some heavy distortion you?ll need a pedal, I use a DOD Super American Metal FX56B or a Boss MT-2, they work great, specially with a Marshall or a Peavey.
The guitar stays perfectly tuned (if you don?t use the trem) even after the most radicals bending, we play heavy metal and my lead guitarist?s $1000 ibanez has serious tuning problems, but my Squier has never let me down.

Good paint job, fretboard with beautiful mother pearl dots, looks like a Fender, plays like a Fender, and sounds like a Fender.

Rock solid, it just won?t break
I can depend on it

Haven?t dealt with those guys, but they look like nice people.

Well, lets see, honestly this is one of the best guitars I?ve ever played, but I?m not surprised for the bad critics because most of the guitar players here don?t know the difference between a piece of art and a piece of shit and they?re enough stupid like to buy a guitar via mail. There are great squiers out there, and there are some really bad ones (most of them), if you?re a real guitar player and you love what you do, then you have to be enough smart to know that you can?t buy a guitar without trying it first, you?ve got to know what you?re getting, if you?re going to get a Squier Affinity try as many of them as you can, if you find the right one you?ll be in love, it?s not that hard to find the good ones.

If you can find one of the good ones buy it, you won?t regret it, I?m saving now to buy a Jackson King V, and I decided to sell the Mexican strat instead of my little Squier baby, the King V will be my main guitar, but I?ll keep my Squier as a backup.

Made in mexico, 21 frets, one volume knob and two tone knobs, 5 way selector. Read other reviews for more info. I got it with the package. nothing special hence the seven.

This guitar served me well for about a few months untill i learned a little about guitars and found out that this guitar sucks. The pickups can get a veriety of mediocre sounds but can be noisy on the bridge setting. I play rock/pop punk/emo/indie rock so humbuckers suit my personal style better. I now own a Gibson Les Paul Studio which i love and also a Fender American Fat Strat. To be perfectly honest this is a crappy guitar. I bought it as my beginner guitar and in retrospect i wish i had done more research. Save the money you would spend on this peice of crap and go get a Fender American Strat or if you've got the dough spring for a paul.

I bought it at guitar center where i played it and had them fix the fret buzz on the low E string as well as set it up for me. They did a nice job and for a while it was all set. The finish was ok and in a beautiful dark blue (my favorite part of the guitar).After a few months of playing the tuning peg for my D string came loose which pissed me off and a week later the peg for the strap at the base of the guitar fell out while i was playing. I examined all the screws after that and found that the screws had all been power blasted in and completely stripped. It was a mmirracle it stayed togther. I also found a loose wire to one of the tone pots. Shoddy work if you ask me.

I gigged with this guitar for a few months after the band i'm in started up and it held up alright but it was only for a few months. I would never really depend on it and I would never gig without a backup (what, are you stupid?)

I bought it from guitar center and they were cery helpful and happy to do anything they could as fast as they could. kudos to them. I still havnt dealt directly with Fender and hopefully i'll never have to.

I've been playing for five years and I also own a Fender American Fat Strat, and a gibson Les Paul. I play through a Marshall JCM900 half stack. I would not replace this guitar if it was stolen or lost, I rarely use it anymore anyways. If you've got the money, spring for something better.

It has 21 frets (which sucks for an electric), 3 pickups, 2 tone controls (which are pretty worthless), and 1 volume control. It also has a 5-way selector that isn't too bad. It was made in China (what isn't?)
It has a thin neck and I appreciate that, cuz I don't like fat neck guitars, they're too hard to handle. The guitar is a little heavy.
Has a nice and smooth body design, pretty thin.
I bought this guitar for the color more than anything else: Black which turns firey wood, cool!
The only other thing I got from Squier was the case.

In the old days I used to play grunge on it... not too good for that.
Then I switched to single note stringing and jazzy stuff and it turned out to be a great guitar. The reason is because the sound you get is real warm, especially if you keep your 5-way selector closest to you. If you turn the selector down you start getting these kinda low-fi sounds.
Keeps in tune for a long time (except for my G chord!)

The pickups are a little loose, I'm always afriad one day they might fall off. The plug-in is about to fall off cuz a screw won't stay in place! Other than that, it stays together.

Yeah, this guitar is ready for some action. It's been hit quite a few times (and not very gently either!) and it still stands. The neck is pretty thin so I wouldn't go banging all around cuz it is risky.

Haven't dealt with those guys yet.

I've been playing this guitar for 2 years now, and it never really disappointed me. I would suggest it to anyone who has to buy his/her first guitar. It's also very nice to show-off. If you're into heavy stuff, it won't do well, but for warm sounds and jazz-blues, it's the right one!
If they stole it, I would feel real sad, but I'd go buy a better one as soon as I've got a little money. I won't sell it, that's for sure.

It has 10 pick-ups and 31 frets

How does it suit your music style (and what is that style)?
I can play come as you are..and it sounds just like kurt cobain i think im gonna be good at this getar stuff

Is it noisy? On what settings?

Well, yeah silly

What kind of sounds can the guitar make? How much variety?
I once had a friend of mine fart into to that thingy that goes into the hole of the getar and the hole of the amp...so i guess my guitar can fart

How well were the pickups adjusted?
Well it is easy to pick up
Properly bookmatched top? Properly routed bridge? No i didn't buy i

Well one of those string things feel off so i had to throw it away

Huh??? what do you mean..ohhh i bought it from some really fat hillbillish typa guy for $500 he said it was a good price for such a great getar

Not much i can say.....i liked it untill that string thingy feel off and i had to throw it away

said before

i used this as a beginner guitar
the tone is thin and crappy
very noisy pickups
bad bad bad
very cheap wood so sound doesn't resonate
SINGLE COILS AREN'T FOR HARD ROCK! MAYBE FOR CLEAN MELODIC CHORD STRUMMING?

poorly cut...saddles loose and missing springs
action higher at smaller strings
flapping strings on lower

the nut is very small and 11 gauge E couldn't fit
:/

this guitar is very cheaply made
what do you expect for $160?

maybe with a new neck and new pickups could you get a decent sound...

finish looks okay

no experience

i have been playing for a year
i am looking to sell this hunk o junk
i now own a fender fat strat with a semour duncan humbucker in the bridge. a fender princeton 65 a solid reliable amp with pretty good tones. i use a metal zone for distortion. buy this if you were a beginner....nothing else

I dont know what year it was made. It was made in China. It has 24 frets I think. It has a volume and two tone controls(which I rarely use).It has a rosewood neck and a red body with a white scratch plate. I bought the guitar with a squier sp10 amp and a lead.
It was my first guitar which I have learnt with and has served me well.

At first I played it through the clean channel because I started learning by strumming simple chord sequences. I started playing it through the distortion channel on the bridge pickup which sounded great for blues and rock'n'roll.
But I play heavy rock now so I have switched it to the neck pick up.
It has a rich sound but with a little buzzing which can probably be sorted if I had time to. It is all you need from a guitar if u put it through an effects pedal it sounds gr8. I have a Boss Me-6 which I havent used because Ive not bought the adaptor yet but I have tried a zoom gfx707 and it sounds pretty damn good. I have also played it through a fender performer 65w amp which can give me a wide range of sounds from blues to nu-metal. My 3rd string goes out of tune alot.??

The action is low but not too low giving it a pretty long sustain. There are no major flaws but it has been banged around a lot so now it has a few scratches,chips and dents and some of the tuning pegs are loose. The 3rd string goes out of tune after a few bends which is rather annoying(good job I play rythmn most of the time).
It did start of a good solid guitar but I have give it a few bangs about so what can I expect still it works fine!!!!

This guitar will withstand live playing but I would take a backup if I could afford one because the wiring has come loose inside the jack and so now and again I have to open it up and rewire it (I use foil to keep it 2geva). I love my guitar and it has served me well but when I start gigging properly I will buy a better more expensive guitar for obvious reasons but the squier strat is a great guitar for beginners. The strap buttons are solid but the bridge is rusting a little which is probably due to my lack of cleaning it. Overall at the end of the day it is slowly falling a part but will probably last another 10 years or so of continuous playing.

N/A

Agreatbeginners guitar which I am glad I purchased. It is not for the experienced player as they would expect more from a guitar.
If I fitted expensive pickups to it and got that annoying 3rd string sorted I would call it a Fender Stratocaster.
If it was lost or stolen I wouldnt buy it again I would buy a more expensive guitar like an Ibanez, ESP, PRS(I wish) or anything in that league. I have been playing for 3 years and am now in a band I hope to make it big time all thanks to my squier Strat.

You've heard it all before.
'Crafted' in china. etc. Its a standard starter guitar, all single coils. None of it is of the highest quality.
Average whammy; and it doesn't go out of tune too quickly.

Plastic tuner thingos. They fall of when you turn round and smash the neck into a radiator.
I speak from experience.

It's very trebley like a strat should be, but its also very thin. Attempts to boost in the right places with eq result in mushy sounds because theres nothing to boost. There isn't really enough flexibility in tones for me here.
If you want beefy distortion/skate punk/metal sounds then it just doesn't have much to offer. However for Hendrixy clean sounds or bright blues/funk it could be up your street.

It would be great if I could souns like a frood and say I dropped a couple o di-marzio, replaced the pickguard and sunk in a 'bucker with pull pot etc. but I don't feel that this guitar is worth it. Don't plan on buying this guitar and doing it up, you are better spending an extra #50-100 to get out of the budget starter range, and you will be left with something you can use more of.

No buzzes or anything, but a lot of space beneath the pickguard is just a void. Tapping the guard or dials makes percussive sounds. When doing melodic finger style stuff with a pick i always set it to the middle pickup (see next section), and ocasionally I tap the pick on the pickup and it makes a loud 'tap' which isn't too good.

At the mo I am putting it through a marshall avt-275 and a guvnor plus. For most stuff I play I am lookin for more options, which a bucker would offer me. However, I do not regret not having bought the yamaha pacifica (same price, but includes 'bucker)

What I really like on this guitar which puts it above the pacifica is the neck and the action. When I was testing the avt-275 the guy in the shop saw me withy the little shit guitar and tried telling us that we needed a yamaha,or something with a bucker to get the best out of it. I tried it, and there was no reall improvment on tone, I got back to my strat and then I could really feel how much better the neck was. It was smooth and easy to play with. The action just felt 'right' and it was smooth and low.

I have changed all the pickups positions, and it really is an individual guitar now. All the pickuops give me totally different tones, and lots of variety compared to when it came from the shop, and everything was samey.

I am, one of those guys thaty takes everything apart, and I did it with this, because of a wobly/noisy pickup switch. I never solved the problem, but i managed to scew it back in wrongly, so the left position now selectd the right pickuo and vice vers. I like that personal touch. This guitar really feels quite individual, and I like that. If I was rating how it came out of the shop, it would get lower.

The finish dents easily.

Not too sure. Its made cheaply, and I wouldn't say that that much time had been spent on checking soldering and stuff. Western quality control only comes in at #400+ and the quality with it.

Strap buttons didn't snap when the strap did, so I guess thats good.

Live yes, as far as duarbility goes. The finish isn't thin or weak, it just dints off really easily, mind you, I walk into a lot of stuff.

I said about the cheap tuners, didn't I?

I would not buy this again, because I like to think I'm not a beginner anymore. This guitar is ideal for exactly that- a beginner, or only a part-time player. I am not knocking players with it, but its not the guitar your going to buy as your second.

I am upgrading to a schecter 006 as soon as i have the requisite wonga, but I'll keep this as a backup, so I can look like a groovy frood with my 3 guitars.

When your confident do take a scewdriver and personalise it beyond the stickers on the outside.

Don't know what year mine was made, but it was made in Indonesia. 21 fret, standard strat setup with 3 single coil pickups and one tone and one volume control. It has a 5 way selector switch. I bought mine used, but it is in great shape, torino red in color, rosewood fretboard, maple neck with a skunk stripe. Probably made out of Alder, but can't say for sure. High gloss red finish, with a white pickguard. Non locking tuners but they stay in tune quite well surprisingly. Very fast thin neck, very easy playing guitar. This is the second one I've played, as I bought my son a white affinity strat for Christmas, and they both play very well. It came with a Fender gig bag. The whammy bar for some reason was missing, but hey, I paid $75.00 for it.

Suits my music style quite well. I play a lot of old classic rock like Hendrix, Cream, Allman Brothers, Skynryd and rockabilly stuff as well as Steve Earle type music, some blues and some stuff that I write myself. I have 3 amps available in the house, an Ibanez IBZ10, 10 watter that screams, an Ibanez TB 15R that also screams and a Marshall G30RCD, I also run a Rogue DS-5 and a Danelectro Corned Beef Hash Reverb through it. It is no more noisy on any setting than you would expect from single coils. Actually quieter than my American Standard Tele and my Mexican Made Strat. It has a very bright sound at the neck pickup, more of a mellow bluesy tone on the front two pickups. Sustain is quite good for a bolt on neck cheapo strat clone. I can play anything from Hendrix to Zeppelin, Blues, Steve Earle, Clapton, Metallica and Creed on this guitar and it sounds just fine. I love this guitar and to be honest am very impressed with it. I don't know what everyone who writes on here is complaining about. After all, the guitar costs $149.00 brand spankin new. What do you expect? I cannot really tell a lot of difference in this guitar and my Standard Strat (mexican made) and I paid $350 for it. This one is a little lighter and thinner, that's all. Put a blindfold on, get some good amp settings and you can't tell the difference in sound.

I bought this guitar used, and it was set up perfectly when I received it. Intonation was excellent, pickups are perfect. I could not find any flaws on this guitar at all except for some pickguard scratches. Excellent action, fit and beautiful finish.

I've already played live with it and it works just fine. Stays in tune better than my tele, mex strat and my les paul. Only time will tell about the finish, and the strap buttons are solid enough for me. I think it is quite dependable for the price. I would never use any guitar live without a backup. I used my Les Paul Standard without a backup once.........it puked out on me and left me hangin and it's a $2,000 guitar.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing for 35 years straight. I also own a Mex made Fender Standard Strat (not too impressive for the bucks), an American Standard Telecaster (great guitar), A JB Player Tele Copy with the Vintage Fender Noiseless pickups installed (outstanding guitar), a Gibson Les Paul Standard, a Takamine EG-230 Acoustic Electric and a Regal Acoustic Guitar. Nothing I wish that I had asked about it before I bought it.......I got a great deal. I love this guitar because it is inexpensive, looks, plays and sounds great. Excellent deal especially for an at home practice guitar that you wouldn't be too concerned about if it got lost. If this one were lost, I'd fork out the bucks for a new one.