Fender Squier Affinity Series Strat

This one was made in China in 2005 and is a Guitar Center special (metallic red finish on body and headstock).

Sound quality is incredibly high for a guitar in this price range. The pickups are strong and, if properly adjusted, sound just as good as you could expect from stock.

The action, fit and finish are probably the biggest surprises of this guitar. Based on what I've seen in the past I was not expecting anything of even decent quality to carry the Squier name. Also I didn't think much of guitars built in China. For whatever reason last year I walked into Guitar Center and they had several of these by the front door. I have built guitars myself and have an appreciation for precision. I looked at 4 of 5 of these and they were all extremely well made. Most of the parts were obviously built and assembled using CNC lathes which assures a much more uniform quality than you can get even compared to handmade guitars although for most musicians there is such a stigma around 'machine-made' vs. 'handmade' instruments that it's kind of insane. The use of machines to built most of the parts of guitars like this is a huge benefit in my book and this guitar is a great example of that--it's tremendously well-made to a degree that would have been impossible just a few years ago in this price range. The tolerances appear to be extremely tight and everything fits and feels just like it would on the far more expensive American strat with very few exceptions (such as weight and depth of the body wood and the poly matte finish on the neck). There were no flaws in the finish, hardware, tuning pegs, saddle, nut, etc. I have been extremely impressed with the quality of this guitar. I could afford an American made Strat but I'm no longer hypnotized by the need to have the word "Fender" in big letters on the headstock so this one does just fine and gives me plenty of money left over for other equipment.

This has been a very reliable instrument so far. I don't play live so I can't give an objective opinion on that. The finish is not quite as durable as it would be on a more expensive guitar (it has chipped out in a couple of places exposing a yellowish undercoating). It will look pretty ghastly as it wears off but it would be more expensive to repaint it than to just get another one, at this price.

Never tried to contact the company.

I've been playing guitar for 25 years and have owned a LOT of different guitars both electric and acoustic. Right now I play a Martin OM-28V, this Squier strat, and an Epiphone LP standard. I play the electrics through a Digitech GNX3000 into my recording software.

If you can just get past the stigma of "Made in China" and "Squier" long enough to try one of these out, you will be very impressed. Overall, this is a 10 in terms of value. You couldn't begin to approach a guitar of this quality for $125 bucks when I started playing. Perfect for the beginner, home recorder or weekend warrior.

i have no idea when it was made. a 90s thing probably. i think its MDF. no joke. standard strat configuration, hardware etc. pickups... well, we'll get to that. passive electronics (if u want to call them that), thick plastic varnish, a bit like one of my old woodwork projects. tuners are strange beasts, dont go out of tune, but thats probably because the strings are so old they're fossilised. neck is the standard strat 'c' shape, though the quality is lightyears off. no included items as i remember. it gets a '3' for effort.

if you enjoy shredding your ears with a ludicrous amount of toneless treble, this is the perfect guit for you. use it with any amp whatsoever, and you'll be at best slightly disappointed. used it through an old fender blackface (drool, drool) and i cried. not with glee, i can tell you. tinny, nasty sound, this guitar can make sounds i'd never thought could exist. not good ones. after i'd moved on, many, many issues of guitarist and several guitars later, it came to me (in a dream) that i cud change the pickup height, so i lowered the treble side on all the pickups, and raised the bass just below where the strings might connect, and it actually sounded bearable! it put my little brothers amp into a reasonable distortion (tho, it is a 10 watt crappy carlsbro) and the treble wasnt deadly anymore. 4, after the adjustments

this guitar was scary. i thought it was a dream come true, in xmas '99. then i realised that my brother had a better one. and i realised that he'd bought his for about #35 more. hmm. everything is not particularly good, tho i dont expect it to be. noise and crackling is commonplace. as well as 60-cycle hum, it gives a LOT of microphonic feedback. i scratched it up in anger, before giving it to my little brother, who expressed much shock, and attempted to play metal numbers on it. to no avail.

i think it wouldn't withstand MY version of live playing (well, at least my rage filled version playing this) but i wouldnt have the audacity to take it on stage neway. i really wouldnt depend on it, except for jimi hendrix style guitar burning... tho i am afraid of the fumes that thing might release. and demons.

never ever dealt with any guitar companies, only distributers, and i do all my own modding. equal or (probably) better parts are on wd music.

ive been playing about 6/7 years, since i was 14, and im addicted to blues and jeff buckley, sometimes of which go together (live at sin-e, ooh yeh). i looooove telecasters, own 2, and am looking at a 3rd. if this guit was stolen, i would jump for joy and then choose a decent guitar for my parents to buy my little brother. i really dislike this guitar. can you tell? i wish it wasnt what it is, then it'd be gd ;-)

I have three. One in the late 90's, one in about 2001 and one in 2005. Why three? I dunno. Why do I breath oxygen? I dunno.
I just like them. I hand picked each one at our local Guitar Center. The first has an ultra slim neck. Just a few thousandths thicker than a Wizard neck. Why? I dunno. But I had to have that git when I picked it off the rack at GC. The neck is FAST! Has a skunk stripe too! Frets are smooth with no issues. It's a 9.500" radius. I like it.

The second is a 9.500" radius board with a standard C shape/dimension. The body is a little heavier than the one above. There is nothing I dislike about this guitar.

The third is essentially the same as number two above, but with larger frets and a slightly flatter board, say 10.500" radius. Why?
I dunno. It is advertised as 9.500" but measures flatter with my gauges. There is nothing I dislike about this guitar.

I smoothed the fret edges on #3. They were 'ok' but needed a slight deburr with my Dremel and fabric wheel.

All have very good tuners that stay in tune. I don't use the whammy (Tremelo). All have good switches and pots that are linear. I've adjusted the truss rods to suit my low action requirements and have not needed to readjust them. The intonation has stayed perfect after initial adjustment. I've used a variety of strings but I keep going back to Fender 250's @ .009 and sometimes .010" size. They seem to quack and sting better than others and seem to be better after the first couple of sessions.

They sound good! I use them clean and with all sorts of effects and have no complaints. Higher end models may have higher-end electronics, but the gap is closing. Effects and good amps do the trick anyway.

Adjust 'em the way you prefer and you'll be happy!
Check out the fret edges and look over the neck in general (straight/fret seating) and you'll be happy.

Well built. Same basic engineering as all other Strats. I am in the entertainment business. A good (long time)friend is the owner of a band that plays literally 300 nights per year. He uses Squier Strats and Teles.

No Issues.

Playing close to fifty years. I currently have a Fender Standard Strat (It's fine too). Squier Tele, Eastwood Sidejack (one hell of a guitar!), Dano, Yamaha Pacifica, Squier Bronco bass, Ibanez bass.

Fender Princeton (original). My wife has instructions to build the coffin to include the Princeton! :) G-DEC which is an over-achieving piece of equipment that I'll never live without for home entertainment. Squier Champ (crisp sound). Dano Dirty Thirty. Digitech JamMan (another terrific tool)!

BTW, I hand picked the Squier Tele too. It plays perfectly!

You would think a guitar fanatic like me would just have too own a >$1200.00 Strat. Why don't I have one? I dunno. I can afford one, but after playing several of them for endless hours over the years (and many other designs such as Gibson and others), I see them as very nice instruments but they are built and deliver essentially the same goods. To each his own! Everyone should play what they like to play!

20th Anniversary Affinity Strat, Black, Rosewood fingerboard. 3 stock single coil pups, vintage style tremelo, 5 way selector switch, 2 tone, 1 volume, 21 frets, stock tuners, can't remember the body wood, but it's not Alder. All standard stuff. Came with a 15watt Fender Frontman amp, strap etc. no bag.

I think 8 might be a bit generous, but I can't think of a real mark. I play it through a wasabi overdrive - Boss DS-1 - Boss BD-2 - Boss ME-50 - Zoom 505 MKii - Behringer PB100 - Fender Frontman amp. Clean it's amazing. Every pickup combination sounds different, you get 5 different sounds. The bridge pup is VERY bright when tone and volume are on tops, but they all get pretty dud when you turn the volume down. Distortion is where things get a bit pear shaped, every time I use distortion I get this high pitched ending to everything I play, almost like its squeeling and it's bloody annoying. With chorus, flange, phaser etc. it's a treat. The distortion sound itself is pretty good and you can get a variety of sounds (good for me - I play everything) it's just it squeals. The middle pickup gets quite mid rangey, good for Rock, and the neck pup sounds a little bit like a Jag. Like the sound at the start of Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers. With light distortion its pretty cool!

I haven't done anything to this apart from agusting the pickup's height now and then. The action is fine and everything else works. The finish is still perfect after almost 3 years, apart from an area on the back which is all scratched, last time i used that belt... Everything else was perfect.

I've used it once live, and the amp fucked up - wasn't mine. :( It all seems pretty solid and I can't see it falling to pieces any time soon. I've never yet gigged without backup, although that's just because I don't want to change strings in the middle of a gig! It would survive on it's own with fresh strings no problem. The strap buttons are solid and wont fall out.

Never dealt with anyone so I can't say. Don't know anyone who has.

I've been playing almost 3 years and own 4 guitars (squier, fender japanese telecaster - best guitar I know!), Ibanez Talman Acoustic, some cheapy classical guitar. If it was lost I wouldn't need to buy another guitar as I have the tele. It does sound very different to the Tele, so I do use them for seperate styles but I could cope without it. Overall a good started instrument, but once you get past that stage I would start to think about changing pups - already am thinking because of the distortion issue. Overall I think I've been a lucky one and got a good one. By friend has one aswell, from Argos, and we can't work out if it's affinity or standard, but that is amazing, he got really lucky.

Got this as a gift. I don't know what features warrant a ten besides the thing making me play like Hendrix or Page or insert guitar hero here/I thas all of the normal strat features. I would like to get new tuners for it though, and that should be happening soon. i would also recommend a new strap lock for these guitars as the buttons provided aren't that good.

I play a lot of rock. I replaced the pickups with a prewired mighty mite s s s pickgiard. The new pups were a little more lively. It was my first guitar mod. I know its not an american or signature strat, but it wasn't $1000+ either. The single coils hum, but thats why they're not called "hum" buckers.

Beautiful guitar. It needed to be adjusted after a year due to changes in humidity, but the fretboard and frets are nice, and the color is beautiful. I got the metallic blue version

Has been dropped and smacked into things, and keeps on ticking.

Some hardware will probably need to bechanged like the input jack and I would like new tuners and a strap lock system

NA

I have been playing for more than three years, but I am not an expert. Solid purchase for the money, but you should do a little comparison shopping when it comes to these things.

2004 Fender Squier Afinity Strat (indonesia).
Stock Features:
21 fret maple neck and stained fretboard.
Arctic White.
Volume, Tone, Volume knobs just like on most any Strat.
3 single pickups (5 way selector).
Maple body with resin finish.
Wilkinson Bridge.
Stock chrome tuners with string guides for every string.
Custom added features:
All wiring redone with gold plating.
Noise gate swich added.

It Suits most every style that i play. from metal to blues, its all there.
Assuming that you are using a good amp it hums very little and not below 8 or 9 on the knob.

The only flaw that I can think of is that the bolt that holds the plug to the jack plate and strap knob screws loosen after constant use.

Fender's are bullet proof and although this one is a Squier it is no different. The only reason for me to have a backup it incase i break a string so that i can swich instead put on a new one and retune.

I bought the guitar through a guitar shop and not through fender so i couldnt comment. Although i do know that you cant get their paint without having to go to a body shop to get it scanned for a paint code.

I compared it to an SG before buying but i rpefered the Strat

I don't kow what year it was made, but I think, this guitar is an older one. Made in China. 21 thin, nice frets, S-S-S stock pu config, vintage style vibrato, simple, non die cast tuners. Black color, one ply white pickguard, the smaller Fender headstock, may be rosewood fingerboard, or something like that.

Read along, and you will see how it became 10!!!
This guitar is an old, broken down Squier, with the followig negative things: very cheap tuners, wich are placed not properly! It means, that the holes were bored little too close to the first fret - that's why the first tuner doesn't fit well on the headstock. But it stays in tune anyway - OK I don't use the vibrato. The bridge is also not placed properly on the body: it's not straight-placed enough, so it's now impossible to adjust more the E sting octave at the bridge. It's now on a correct position - luckily! The elektronic parts are very tuch-sensitive: It gives a light hum, or something touch noise if I touch the plastik knobs. But no special hum from the pu-s during playing. When I got this guitar from a friend, it had a .008 string set on it. I plugged it in a very cheap Fender Frontman 10 W combo amp, and I just stood there with an open mouth!!!! It sounded unbelievable!!! The clean sound was just as I allways dreamd of!! Believe or not: it's fantastic! May be GOD wanted to give me some gift, but even it is an old, and cheap chinese made guitar, it sounds clean just great!!!
I played on several Squier Strat, and no one was even close to this tone!!!
The string set was very old on it, so I replaced it soon to a .009 set - and that gorgious clean tone was gone. I have to change it back to a new .008 set. But this guitar can give me the clean sound I like: so it's a 10!
The distorsion tone is of course not a humbucker fat sound, but very great overtones with this stock pu set. Only to thing for this: The volume pot is too close to the strings and the bridge - disturbig my feeling of playing comfort. The second one: there is no tone control on the bridge pu. I prefer the common tone control of all pu-s. But it's just a matter of personal taste ... I like the neck of the guitar, the thin frets even if this is not the best neck I've played on. But it's 10 for me anyway for the clean sound.

No! It was and is not the best action on this guitar, the neck and the bridge allows not to adjust to a really comfortable hight of the strings. As I said before: cheap, badly placed tuners, badly placed bridge - but the strings run straight on the fretboard, and the tuners stays in tune if I don't use the tremolo bar - wich I did not get with the guitar from my friend. And it's not hard to play on this guiar.

I play live with this guitar but I think there is a need of changing the tuners. I wonder how great it could sound with vintage pu-s! And I wonder if it is worthy to spend that much money on this cheap guitar. Anyway: the body, the neck, and the neckjoint looks like it would last for a while. Strap buttons are all right. I'm not jumping with this guitar, and I don't use it like an axe or sg. So no problems with the strap buttons. I have to depend on this guitar, becouse I don't have any other. An that means: I use it on a gig without a backup. It's a simple instrument, so too big troubles I don't count with. But OK it's not a first class guitar, but I am not a first class guitarist either. If I was Mark Knopfler, I would use something else!!! I like the guitar, not the name, the brand!!!

Never dealt with them.

I've been playig 20 years. I hade som e good guitars: Charwel, Ibanez Roadstar II (A perfect guitar!!!) and a Peavey Backstage 110 - a friend of mine have lost them all!!! That's why I play on his Squier and Frontman 10W of my friend. No I have an Ibanez PF 10CEDX el.acoustic, and that small Frontman 10 W combo. I hope it wouldn't be stolen, 'couse it's not mine guitar, I just use it! If it was stolen, I would have to buy it for my friend. Anyway I'd like to buy an Inbanez SAS32 FM DRS, and may be a Mexican Fender Stratocaster Satin Candy Apple Red wich are beatiful looking and sounding guitars for me. I love the great clean tones with the .008 string set, and the great overtones on distorted use. I don't hate anything on this guitar, just I would change the tuners, and may be the pickguard to a tortoise one - just becouse of estetical grounds. I wish it would have a common tone control for the pu-s,and the the wolume pot placed not this close to the bridge.
It is a good learner guitar, but can be used on the stage also.

A right handed model, bought as a Christmas present for my fairly competent left handed 15 year old son. Chinese made, gloss black finish white pickguard, maple fingerboard, 60's oversized headstock... in fact a doppelganger for the Hendrix 'Black Beauty' CBS strat.

Played through a Jim Dunlop Crybaby Wah and an Ibanez Tubescreamer it certainly floats my son's boat...and I'm not asking him to keep it down, must say something?

I maybe just lucky, or perhaps there's a bit of snobbery about non-American built Fenders, but the quality of this Chinese built guitar is really good! No flaws to report. Mind you this guitar went straight to a guitar tech. for alterations. First flipped to left hand (upside down Hendrix style) a new strap button fixed to the smaller horn, new nut and new strings and set-up. Not easy to judge the factory set-up in this case.

Don't know yet it's new!!

No opinion.

I've been playing for 25 years; however, this guitar was purchased for my son. His favourite axe up to now has been his beloved lefthanded Epiphone Les Paul. Being a Led Zeppelin fan (I know it's mad isn't it!!??) of course he favour the Les Paul; however, he has taken to the strat. and come to appreciate the difference.

A nine because this has everything you would expect on a real Strat.

This guitar makes a quite unique sound. It has a tone that I haven't from any other guitar, that is apart from an expensive Fender -that is not to say that this guitar sounds like an expensive Fender though- rather a muffled kind of sound that is of very poor quality. Each of the pickups sound very similar, but nevertheless, you can get a fairly pleasing sound out of this.

This was my first electric after an acoustic, so I was in no position then to comment on the setup. Now, this guitar has worn in nicely and fits comfortably, like you have been playing it for absolutley years.

The agathis body is a bit dodgy, as is the neck, which I can assure you (no matter how many times you are told) is not maple, nor does it have a proper rosewood board. It seems to be some cheap laminate.

My guitar is positivley awful to play. I my experiance, all Squires are. They reek of that desperatley low quality feel that I would recognise if i was blindfolded and handed any Squire. They desperatley want to be good to play, but unfortunatley fail.

Will this guitar withstand live playing? No. My friends and I take great pleasure in throwing heavy objects at the poor thing and covering it with stickers, and the finish has suffered greatley.

However, the trem unit is extemely stable, with an almost Floyd Rose like ability to stay in tune after being pushed flat to the body constantley.

Have never gigged it. It's too embarassing.

First things first: THIS IS NOT A FENDER!!!!! I am sick and tired of people saying that 'I've got a Fender Squire'. There is no such thing! The Squire occured when Fender was sick of all the strat copies on the market, so they endorse this. They do not manufacture it. It's more or less what an Epiphone is to a Gibson (except poorer quality). Just because it says 'by Fender' on the top does not mean it is a Fender. Please belive me.
An example:
WANNABE GUITARIST (Squire owner): 'What guitar did Hendrix use?'
ME: 'A Fender Strat, of cause'
WANNABE: 'What, just what I have?'

If I'd have had his Squire, I'd have smashed it over his head right then.

I own an Epiphone G400 Vintage, a REAL Fender Strat, and a PRS Santane SE, alongside various basic acoustics.

Despite all the negativity, this guitar is much loved and you would be hard pushed to make me sell it.

My recomendation: Buy a Strat. Even to a basic Mexican, the quality jump is astounding. There much more playable and sound a hell of a lot better.

P.S. The Fender 15R amp included in the starter packs with these guitars has a GREAT clean tone!

Just bought it from Sam Ash and it's the metallic blue one with rosewood fingerboard. so I guess it's the most current version available. Made in China. blah blah. You guys all know the features so I won't go into it. Has more than what I expect for a $150.00 guitar.

My main axe is a gretsch hollow body but I really wanted to get a practice guitar to thrash around. I've always liked the strat "feel" so I decided to go with something made by fender. I looked at the mexican strats and the american strats and a bunch of different squiers. I had to remind myself it was going to be a practice guitar so pulled myself away from the american standard strat that I tried out. (loved that one). The mexican ones I tried out really weren't that much different from some of the squiers I played. I tried out the squier 51's, the affinity tele's, affinity standard strat and on and on. I must have went through about 30 of 40 different squiers before I found one that felt real nice and sounded good. Like many have said before me, it's a numbers game with these guitars. MOST that are hanging in the music store will sound and play like their price tag. However, if you get lucky and find a good one, you get a guitar that's worth WAY more than what you pay for. I found one like that. It sounded great. Didn't seem to have any problems with the electronics, the tuners were pretty accurate, the action felt very nice after I did some adjustments, and the intonation was right on. It sounds bright and shimmery clean through my set up and it can also get going with some nice overdrive. My rig is: Barber LTD Silver>Monte modded Boss SD-1 (modded to TS808 specs and sound. It's very nice)>Line 6 Tone Core Space Chorus>Danelectro DJ-5 Tuna Melt Tremolo (Only use this for 2 sounds and it's great at what I use it for)>Ernie Ball VP Jr. 6181 Volume Pedal>Line 6 Tone Core Echo Park Delay>Powered by Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 Plus (Eliminates all hum on line 6 pedals. It's a must have)>All connected with George L cables>Fender HotRod Deluxe. It's not an amazing rig but it sure does get the job done. Through this guitar, each position has it's own character. Positions 1, 3, 5 have a little hum to it, but that's to be expected with single coils. 2 and 4 are dead quiet. I like 4. Someone mentioned that it wasn't ballsy enough. Sounds good to me. I am a professional jazz saxophonist with a passion for guitar as well. I've been playing guitar on the side for the last 15 years when I'm not on my sax. As a wind player on a "lead" type instrument, I know what sounds good as far as timbre goes. In fact I have a lot of buddies who are amazing guitarists who are always trying to emulate the saxophone, riffs and all heh. If you find the right one, this guitar is a STEAL. I give it a 10 because in this price range, it rocks EVERYTHING else I tried out. It even rocks guitars that are several hundred dollars about it. I won't compare it to the american strats though...that's just not fair, although this guitar is not THAT far off.

Well, there was some annoying buzz when I first got it on the G but the guitar sounded real nice and played well so I overlooked that when deciding to buy. The pick ups were fine. I wanted to go to a lighter guage string so I had to make some adjustments to the saddle/bridge and truss rod. After the adjustments, this guitar is butter. Intonation is right on. In fact, it stays in tune better than my gretsch...go figure. I suppose if you wanted to, you could upgrade the PUPS and change out the tuners, etc...but for me, it's a practice guitar so I won't go that far. My next guitar will be that American double fat strat I was playing. Feel wise, this guitar was pretty similar.

Well, I just got this guitar so I can't really say. From what I hear, it's a Timex.

Not sure yet. Haven't had to talk to em yet.

I give this guitar a 10. It is truly a fantastic value if you find the right one. When I went shopping for my horns, I didn't just buy the first one I tried out. Much like saxes, you gotta try out a bunch of guitars to find one that YOU like. All squier affinities are NOT created equally. Spend some time looking. I visited 4 guitar centers and 3 sam ash stores to find this one. I think good squiers are the best kept secrets for guitarists who want a nice guitar without breaking the bank. This one does everything I want from it. If I didn't know any better, I would have easily spent much more for the sound I can get from this thing. Just make sure you try out a bunch. Don't settle for a dud. I do gig on guitar once in a while and I have enough confidence to use this guitar as a back up. I am not sure I would say that about any other $150.00 guitar out there. I also really love the color. If it were stolen, I'd buy another for sure.