Fender Squier Affinity Series Strat

I have two. One Arctic white, the other is black. All the Strat appointments with three single coils. Just what a Strat should be. I wish someone could tell me why all strats have no tone control for the bridge pickup.

I use all five pickup combinations for various recordings. I have many two pickup guitars and always feel short changed with the lack of selection. Make those other guitars seem like "Johnny one notes".

I play all kinds of genres. Strats are versatile and admirably fill the need. I like single coils since they don't strangle the broad harmonics of a guitar. The stock single coils are just fine. It's the player that makes the music. On a bad day I can sound like ****. On a good day, I'm a happy camper.

Both strats are easily playable. The fret work is perfect. Smooth action. Of course all guitars come with poor set-up. One must set the thing up as you wish and re-setup as your play changes. Fit and finish are excellent.

The two guitars have a different neck shape. The white one is a standard "C" Fender shape. The black one has a much thinner "C" neck like a Rickenbacher. These were purchased several years apart and I choose them for their differing neck shapes. I prefer a small neck for lead work and a standard shape for chorded rhythms.

I am in the entertainment business and work with long-term giging musicians. I am not a giging musician personally. Many play Squier Affinity strats and teles on stage night after night throughout the years.

Playing guitar since 1957. Own lots of gear. I have and have had guitars ranging from 99.00 to 2300.00. Believe it or not, I play these Squiers much more than two American strats and one MIJ strat plus a bunch of current and vintage brand and off brand guitars.

2007 Fender Squier Affinity Strat, Black body, White pick gaurd, White pickups and knobs, maple neck w/ rosewood fret board. Came as a package with a soft case, a Fender Frontman 15g amp, a tuner, a cable etc... Had 3 single coil pickups, a five way switch, 2 tone knobs, and a volume. I switched the coils and pots out for active pickups and 500k pots.

This guitar came setup perfectly. That has more to do with the shop where I bought it than anything else, but with a good setup these guitars can be VERY playable. With the stock coils there was a bit of hum, but the sound was pretty good. I wanted a different tone so I went with an active HSS setup that sounds absolutely incredible on here! With a little EQing I can get everything form blues to thrashing metal and verything in between.

Everything was setup great for me, but that was done by a tech at the shop. I havnt found any flaws yet.

I dont gig and dont really plan on it. I use this mainly for playing around, recording some original stuff, and jamming with my friends. As far as I can tell it will last forever.

Over all this guitar is a great value. Even If you upgrade a few things like electronics and tuners it will still cost you a great deal less than a lot of other guitars. I love mine as do my friends who have ben playing guitar for 20+ years. If it were lost or stolen I would probably try something else just to see what all the hype is about.

it has all the regular strat fetures.this guitar has a alder body.very nice maple neck.it has a very nice blue finish.iv'e had two of these guitars the first one got stolen.this is the older version with the skunk stripeand plug in headstock.the first one i had was the same.the nut is an 1.650 (42mm) not the (41mm) like the new ones.this guitar reminds me a lot like a 1964 fender mustang i use to owm the neck feels very similer.the body is about the same thickness,weighs about the same.7.8 pounds acourding to my scale.the pickups sound very good for stock squier.i paid 125.00 for this guitars with a nice case fender cord ,and a fender strap,the stock tuners are very smooth and hold tune very well.this guitar was made in 2001.

this guitar sounds very good with the stock pickups.i play rockabilly music mostly.buddy holly is my favorite guitarist and the fender strat is my favorite guitar.this is definitly a fender.this guitar is worth every penny.this is the one made in indonisesia way better than the chinese ones.

this guitar needed sone setup but was very easy to do.made from very nice woods.the maple neck has a lot of nice figureing in it.the finish on the neck is way better than the newer versions.the laquer is thicker and better applied,the neck pocket is very tight,all the routing is very clean.the finish on the body is very well done.i can't find any flaws on this guitar.

i just bought this guitar a couple days ago so don't know yet.but i have owned one of these before and it held up just fine.i bought one of the chinese made standard strats new and it wasn't made as good as this one.the way they do the truss rods on the chinese ones is not very good.this one and all the other indonisia ones i have owned had very well done truss rods.the chinese one you can not remove the truss rod nut try it for yourself.very shoddy built.

this is a great guitar for such a low price.my first one got stolen and i told myself if i could find another one just like my first one i would buy it.luckily i found this one.i looked at the new ones made in china and they are complete garbage.they feel and sound very cheaply made not this one.

Basic budget entry level Chinese made Squire Strat - exactly the feature set you'd expect from a strat everything that should be there nothing fancy nothing unexpected (plus most of the reviews already list these in enough details

Surprisingly good for a "pocket money" budget guitar... a little thin at the bottom end but nice clean sound just the thing for classic 50's and 60's rock, rockabilly and country..

5 position pickup selector so you get that classic out of phase sound.

Later on I'll probably find an old set of fender pick ups (just got to remember where I put them) but it's not so bad as to make me want to run and find them ASAP.

I guess the main reason for me not being to concerned with the pickups is that this was purchased specifically to be strung Nashville style (top 4 strings re strung with high octave stings from a 12 string) so there's no bass strings, strung like this its sound is full chiming and beautiful.

If I was playing it standard strung I might want to upgrade the pickups sooner but the couple of days I had it before stringing it Nashville I was still happy (over all) with the sound quality, certainly no totally dud pickups here

7 is a good score for a guitar this cheap

purchased second hand(used) so can't say what the factory set up was but the action and set up was nothing short of excellent when I bought it, so even if it was out from the factory this model looks it should be good to go with a shop setup.

neck playability is nothing short of a shock - it's _very_good_, a real pleasure to play - better than some guitars I've played that cost 5 to 10 times as much (in fact better than some of my US made guitars)

fit is average to good which is a marked improvement over the earlier non Japanese Squires (which at best were average) obviously come a long way on build quality control

the tone and volume pots are a bit nasty, this one's less than a year old and they are already scratchy and drop out... so replacing the pots and the switch is obviously a higher priority to replacing the pickups but I'll probably do both at the same time.

Tuning pegs look good and stay in tune but I'm guessing they are plastic heads on the keys(?) if so then for live work you'd probably want to replace them later down the track before you bash one and snap the key head off (been there done that with a SIgma acoustic - then you have to tune every thing to that one string (and the rest of the band then have to tune to you - doesn't make you the most popular person on stage).

it's been jammed and recorded with but no live playing, but appart from the possibility of the tuning keys breaking I don't think it would have any problems with live work.

used so no warranty - I'm a regular at my local shop so they look after me annyway

Played for more than 25 years, everything from rockabilly, heavy metal, punk, indi pop to top 40, and "classic" rock.

Own several high end guitars and basses from Fender, Gibson, Rickenbacker, Epiphone, Motsumoko made Arias, Tokia's as well as more than a few MIJ Squires and Fenders oh yeh and a Danelectro and an Itallia just for fun ;)
Amps range from VoxAC30 , Laney VC30, a couple of Fenders, a Marshall JCM800 and a couple of Line 6 Spiders

What do I love about it? - actually what I hate about it is that this wasn't around when I started playing 30 years ago when the equivalent "then time" money bought you, at best, a total rubbish toy guitar, and this is neither a toy nor rubbish.
OK it's cut price and the body's a bit so-so and the electric's could be better but this is exceptional value for money. Heck I've paid more in the 80's just for a 3rd party strat neck that was no were near as nice as the neck on this "entry level guitar"... I'd buy this just for the neck if I snapped one on my strat copies.

as for if I'd buy one to replace it.. yeh sure maybe I'd step up a model or try the telecaster but I have no shame owning this and taking it to jam sessions and it's already been used to recorded some radio jingles and no complaints from the guitarist who used it there.

Typical Squier, Crafted in China, but I have the blond, Ash type body, very rare, so I bought it.

I have 5 elec. guitars, from this Squire, PRS, LP, Two US Strats...I was told sometime back it's the player not the guitar, now I understand. My setup is a Marshal TSL100 halfstack and I run all my guitar through that for a reference.

I like this guitar, I set it up and did some adv. Luthier type stuff, I luv it. I'm into it $75!

No one would believe me if I told you this is one of my favorite sounding guitars, except those who know.

As good as any other fender.

Fine, stays in tune.

Who knows.

I know as a response to this review everyone won't go out and buy Squiers, and sh$tcan thier USA strats.

If your into tone, sound, know how to setup a guitar, have a nice amp setup try it out against your mega dollar setup, find out for yourself.

No one wants a piece of junk and honestly this was so cheap, I just wanted to know how it stacked up, a guitar that I could mess wish, not worry about, relax on the couch with..and I won't be selling this soon, trust me.

This is the guitar I had to play for a year before I got my Epiphone. Saved up for it (and the Epiphone that would come later) by skipping lunches and saving the money.

Made in China, and has everything a Strat normally has: 21 frets, 3 single coil pickups, bolt neck...You get the idea.

It gave me the Strat sound thru the amp that I got it with (the Squier SP-10). With the Zoom 505, I was getting most sounds I wanted covering video game music. Single coils didn't work for me, too twangy and thin for me, ultimately wanted the power of humbuckers, but it lasted me well.

When I got it a year ago (classifieds) the guitar was in dire need of a good setup. The previous owner was some kid who was quitting guitar because he didn't have the time for practice. Didn't want that happening to me. I rescued it and tried to set it up.

Buzzes madly on the lower frets. Raising action didn't work well to stop buzz. Everything else is OK. Probably will replace the nut and saddles, and after I'm done, I'll up it to a 7.

It lasted me. That's all I can say. Were it not for the buzzes I'd give it a 10.

This was my first, and it lasted me well.

I have been playing since Christmas '05, age 14, after a failed attempt on a $10 yard sale special around '98.

Compared it to an Epiphone LP/SG Special, chose this because if I really wanted an Epiphone I'd save up for one with a set neck. Finally got one about a month ago and like it more than this one.

If it got stolen, I wouldn't miss it much, unless I replace the nut and saddles.

Hate the buzz, but for the good times I had with it, I will up the score to an 8.

Broke a string on one of my high end guitars and pulled this out of its bag. Permit me to laugh all the way to the bank again on this one. I'm updating my review here of Dec. '02 (Has it been that long?). I purchased it new from GC in '98 (based on the SN), selecting it from about 25 they had in stock of various levels of quality control (some were pretty bad). "Crafted," not "made" in (mainland?) China, as the decal states. I couldn't decide between this red one and a white one, so I bought them both.

The tuners are generic, but they're pretty good: not much play, but the gear ratio may not be that high. I've concluded that the nut and basic string retainers are the source of tuning difficulties; once tuned, though, it holds up well. I don't use the trem and keep it flat against the body as it came. Not recommended for dive-bombing.

The body likely is some type of ply, I'm guessing, based on the price. But it sounds good, and it's the full size/thickness. The neck is a good-looking, solid piece of maple, and maple is pretty much maple, right? The red one has an exceptional chunk of rosewood for a fingerboard, and as you know, not all rosewood is created equal.

The 5-way switch wants to add in the neck pu in position 3 (not true with the white one), but a little jiggle cures that. It feels solid but I'm sure it's not the best. Must be one of those PC types because the tone controls do not "overlap" in position 2: tone 1 covers positions 1 & 2, and tone 2 covers positions 3 & 4, while neither is engaged in position 5 (bridge pu only)- a handy arrangement.

Thick, single-ply white pickguard - no warping.

All the features of a basic Strat, whatever that means, what with Fender's myriad of versions; just the beer rather than the champagne materials. So, what can I say? I give it a good rating, especially for the bucks.

This guitar suits "Strat music," 'nuff said. The pickups are single coils with the associated hum in positions 1, 3 & 5 (not well-suited to high gain situations), but are quiet, relatively speaking. Of course, no hum in positions 2 & 4 due to the reverse wound/polarity middle pickup. They sound great clean - clear, full, balanced, excellent "in-between" sounds, and not overly shrill in the bridge position - pretty much everything you want in this type of guitar, and I tested them against some of the best Strats at GC at the time. Apparently there's no treble saving circuit, so backing off on the volume a little will help with cutting a little treble from the bridge pickup if needed. Stacked "Noiseless" pickups? Ha! These sound like a Strat should through my Reverend Hellhound, Carvin X-60, and take on a different sort of richness through my solid state Champ 10 (especially the neck pickup, but the in-betweens suffer here). Whatever these are, it was probably cheaper to do these right than to try to screw up an electronic circuit. Excellent bang for the buck.

I haven't changed a thing...yet. Pickup heights, string heights, and intonation all appear to be in order. Whoever worked on these did their job. Minor adjustments at most would be required. The neck has remained straight. The fretwork is good. The workmanship is good. There is a little crease in the body of each one where the finish sunk into the grain a little, but you have to really look. Otherwise the finishes have remained mirror-like. Hardware still looks new.

Solid and dependable with the exception of the selector switch.

Don't know.

I don't think you can beat this model for the value if you can find one. I own a number of guitars of various ranges, including some high-end Strats. I bought these with visions of fancy mods, but I've grown to like them just as they are. The red one is the the most outrageously pure red I've ever seen - apparently, they know red in China. They're a lot of fun.

This guitar is black with a white pickguard, has 21 frets, and is made in China. I bought it new for $169, and it came with a Fender gig bag. (which I'll never use, I don't trust gig bags.)

I'll forgo going into how many pickups, configuration, etc. as that's been covered in the other reviews and would be redundant.

I also bought this so I'd have at least one guitar with a fixed bridge again. It feels good to change strings without having to use allen wrenches and mess with locking nuts and fine tuners!

I do have some trouble stringing this guitar because the strings go through the bridge, as opposed to through the body, and it's hard to get the strings up through the saddles.

I bought this guitar because I've always liked Teles, and because it is completely unlike my other 3 guitars. I play it through a Digitech RP80 or Zoom 505 directly into my soundcard.

I've recorded with it, and was surprised that it's not noisy at all, even with the single coils. The bridge pickup sound is very bright, and it also has a very full sound with the neck pickup. I tend to play it with the selector in the middle position for the best of both worlds.

There is definitely a lot of variety with the sounds, I primarily play instrumental rock, ala Satriani, Vai, but I also play hard rock, classical, and my own hybrid style. It's also great for Andy Timmons-style music.

The action is good overall, however I'm going to have to take the guitar in for a setup. When you bend at the 15th and 19th frets on the high E, it goes out due to the string touching higher frets. I'll have to find out whether the answer is getting some frets filed down, or if raising the action a taste can alleviate it.

The pickups are set pretty high, I'll have to play around with them, lowering them a bit, but the guitar sounds nice the way it is.

As far as the hardware, there is a spot on the bridge and one of the saddles where the finish looks rubbed off.

There are odd-looking "streaks" I don't know how to describe them, these lines that look like they're in the wood itself under the finish.

The intonation is great. The guitar had some rusty .009's when I bought it, I immediately restrung it with some .011's, stretched them out, and this guitar stays in tune amazingly well.

I don't know why this guitar wouldn't "withstand" live playing, since it stays in tune.

I don't care for the strap buttons, but also I would never play with ANY guitar without changing the buttons for straplocks, so I plan on putting on a set of those soon.

The finish, as far as the actual paint, seems like it will last. I don't tend to bang my guitars up anyway!

I wouldn't use any guitar on a gig without a backup, but since this one has a fixed bridge (obviously), I'd trust it without a backup if necessary.

N/A (I just bought the guitar yesterday) I have a 30 day warranty with the music store I bought it from.

I've been playing for about 16 years. I also own an Ibanez S470, an Ibanez EX series, and an Alvarez electric.

There's nothing I wished I'd asked about (except I should have thought to get a free set of strings to replace the rusty ones, rather than purchasing a set as I did!) I researched the guitar for about a week online, reading reviews and asking around.

If it were stolen or lost (how do you "lose" a guitar?), I would definitely buy another one.

What I love about it is the stability of a fixed bridge. And I love the look of the guitar, there's always been something about the Tele style that I like, even though it's not normally associated with the types of music I play.

What I hate are the imperfections in the wood (luckily you have to look very closely directly under a light to see them.) The only thing I don't like about fixed bridges in general is that I can't vibrato all my chords as I can with a trem.

I didn't compare it to any others. The only thing I could compare it to would be a Fender Telecaster, which would cost much more than I'd be willing to spend for this type of guitar.

To be honest, I picked it out of 10 at GC for sale for 150US apiece. Standard Strat SSS type arrangement. Offshore bridge with (gulp) cast saddles, a decent steel sustain block, and bent steel bridge plate. I replaced those saddles with the Dunlop ones that are made from Delrin (Stringsavers)...amazing how much the change the tone...alot like the original bent steel saddles but with 1/2 the string breakage (in fact...I've yet to break a string since). Neck is wonderfull, narrow nut width (< 9.5?), frets had to be dressed, but overall, very comfortable...mind you, I dress the back of the neck with 250 grit sand paper to mimic my hand shape as I climb the neck. Pickups are standard wound mexi style (not overwound), I potted them, they have that typical Fender bell tone...cool...more on that later. Finish was the usual polyurethane crap...Torino Red, bad for tone...polyurethane sucks the life out of the wood...I stripped it off and left the guitar with only it's clear sealer coat. And guess what I found, real wood!!! Granted it's a sandwich, but it's not "agathis" (pressboard...uhg!!!)...and it's got decent tone...alder I believe.

This guitar was a project guitar...I've always modded my guitars because I've never been able to afford the Tom Anderton, Pensa Sur, or Paul Grosh I really want. So as to tone...the stock pickups, after potting, were pretty decent...so I added a Dimarzio "Steve's Special" ( a paf with the mid hi "freq boost" leveled out), and wired it "Lifeson" style...3 position Gibson on-on-on... (1) Neck and Middle wire together in series (2) ALL COILS ON (3) Humbucker only...what you get is (1) a "fatter" Split neck/ middle tone (2) a very "tele" sounding split with more drive, (3) PAF from hell humbucker...I also removed all the tone controls, and changed the vol pot to a 500k ohm...more signal is passed, and it sounds less "choked". I also lined the entire body rout with tin foil, and grounded it...no noise, or static.
The fit of the neck to body was questionable so I "weldwooded" he neck to the body and then put the screws permanently into the net...glued in permanently...changed the tuners to locking Planetwaves...and voila'...stable tuning, 3 great tones, barebones, beat-on-able strat...it's just a tool anyway, right?

The guitar was typical mexi...not as nice as my Japan built (it was stolen...had a Carvin neck on it...you see it...it's mine).

I've used it on hundreds of gigs without fail. And sound men rave about it's tone...Brighter and stringier than my G&L, but just as articulate. I don't use a ton of distortion so it plays real well with dynamics. PS: the strap is a Dunlop cam lock with glued in end peices...it'll never come out unless I break the strap :)

Never delt with Fender...I'm a little guy

I've been playing 30 years, have owned dozens of guitars...Fenders are cheap, reliable, and easily replaceable...if this got ripped off (GF), I would buy another, mod, and not look back...although I have grown attached to this beast for sentimental reasons...+ I can't find a neck this comfortable...I have small hands.
For the record, my rig is: Rack tuner/ original Chameleon/ Tubeworks Mosvalve into 2 custom bult 2x12 cabs + midi control.
MIM Fenders are pound for pound as good as the American built stuff for 1/3'd the money...buy one...

S/S/S, white p/g, 2 tone burst, 21 maple neck, plywod body (agarthis - this stuff is a member of the mahogany family as is basswood eitherway both are appaling), synch trem, 2 tone, 1 vol,5way switch, plastic nut. NICE FINISH!!!!

Well I had this Special edition model from GAK i paid ??150 2 years ago and.... Its sound was ok not the best but adequate. I beefed it up with some GFS vintage alnico staggers. Mistake they are sh*tty pick ups!!! I thought this thing was the bee knees - how wrong i was the stock pick ups are not worth it. Sell em on Ebay i say!!!

Action was great as was the neck. Really nice feel. smooth fret ends and a great back shape MAPLE!!!!

hmmm.... wat can i say?? Well the tone pots are ok and the volume sucks, to get full blast needs 10 then as u go down through the numbers u expect to get lower volume however it dosnt it stay at full the at 7 it lowers alot again same vol until 5 where it lowers again and then at 3 no sound at all!!! the pickup selector was fine the tuners where p*ss poor!!!

No experiance

Yeah ok guitar cheap body but comfy an ideal guitar if you want to have a go at modding but if you really want a good strat get a vintage V6!!!