Fender Squier Affinity Series Strat

1999 squier affinity strat made in an obviosly foreign country. Contains 22 frets(that are sucky) 5 way selector , 3 single coiled pickups , 1 volume and 2 tone controls. I don't know the model of the pickups but they... suck.The finish is ok , but it sucks as well.THe tuners are also pretty cheap. Basically a pretty cheap guitar .. along with most other fenders.

ok this is where the guitar really starts showing how bad it truly is. I play mostly metal , classic rock , and blues. Basically it can't suit any style and the pickups really stand out ( IN A BAD WAY) when your trying to play. These things really suck ... the ones that make people want to quit.

THe action was set up ok at the factory. Again this is a 150$ guitar so the pickups were not adjusted correctly and the finish was pretty bad.

This strat defiently could not withstand live playing. In fact , it cant withstand playing in your bedroom. The hardware seems like it will last ... 2 months and the finish starts wearing off after the first week. IF u play punk or jump around alot ... i want to be there when you a playing a live show and the cheap strap buttons fall off. So basically , u cant really depend on this and i would rather quit a show then play this guitar AS a backup to save embarassment.

Well , i have been playing for 3 years now. After i bought this one and found the sheer stupidity of my decision , i quickly sold this one and bought a burns. IF this guitar was stolen ... the person who would risk getting caught to steal this guitar would be an idiot.
Pros of this guitar - i get to hear beginners who think they are great suck.
Cons of this guitar - i get to hear beginners who really want to play quit guitar forever.

I think It's an '03. Made in China. 21 frets. Controls: Volume, Tone, Tone. Pickups: humbucker at bridge, 2 singlecoils - it's a 'fat strat.' Presumably it's made of cheap woods, but I'm surprised by the quality of the hardware. The tuners, bridge saddles, volume pots, etc., are of excellent quality, and work very well. Jumbo frets, rosewood fretboard.

I play rock, blues, country, R'n'B. It suits all these styles well. I'm using it with a Balls M18 and a Vox AC30 TB and it sounds terrific through both. The humbucker is quiet as a mouse. Being a strat, it has a 5-way selector toggle switch, and the 'out-of-phase' settings are relatively quiet, considering that they are single coil pickups. The middle and 5th position setting hum like any fender guitar I've ever heard, even a 2000 dollar one. As for variety of tones, you can get classic strat tones, plus a more groomed les paul kind of tone out of the humbucker.

This guitar was expertly set up at the factory. The intonation is spot on. The action is not too high or too low. Everything as far as the setup is very neutral; the action is low enough to blay mellow singing blues, and tall enough to use a metal slide. Not a single flaw that I can discover. Never underestimate Chinese-made gear!

I'll find out how it does live tonight. It holds tune great. I could care less if the finish will last (laughs). It's a $169 guitar. I wouldn't use any guitar on a gig without a backup.

Don't know.

Been playing 20 + yrs. I have drums basses, keyboards, guitars, recording gear, PA. One thing's for sure, if lost or stolen, could be easily replaced! For the money, you just can't go wrong with this guitar. I've payed far more for much worse instruments, paying for name/status. Basically, I traded a 90s American Telecaster for a Farfisa Combo Compact organ and spent the cash remainder on this guitar. I couldn't possibly be happier with it.

Made in China, Red, typical standard stratocaster, he gave me an awful carrying case free

Though I am mainly a bassist in a local rock outfit, I play leads for a band that plays Indian Film Music etc, so I dont need the tremolo and distortion tone and sustains and for this, the guitar is pretty good. The tone is almost like a mexican strat that I have played on, never tried the real one, but someday...

Low action, and smooth fretboard, but the switch does let off some static noises now and then

Pretty reliable, and I have used it on a couple of shows without backup. Though I had a major problem, trying to use it with the Cordless Unit I have (The Samson L Shaped Jack mount). The unit stands erect on the guitar, and is pretty irritating since it lets out a horrible loud "KHATTTAK" kinda sound when your right hand hits it. :)

I lost my tremolo arm at a gig, and initially got a very cold response from the shop, but after some mails exchanged with Fender USA, they ultimately gave me a replacement, and the best thing was they didn't charge me for it!!! So I could give them an excellent rating for that!!

I've been playing for about 12 years now, and though I must say its pretty difficult to get a decent guitar in India, we now have Fender, Epiphone, Hamer & Ibanez selling some of their oriental make guitars, which are pretty decent. I still own a Peter Pereira (Thane) Explorer imitation which is still going strong!! I use Korg AX300 for effects & a regular Marshall 30W amp. I use the Samson AG1 cordless which is pretty cool too.

Like almost everybody else said, this is a very cheap guitar so the features are all cheapest stock. Nothing incredibly special about this guitar. 21 frets, 5-way selector, One Volume two tone controls. Mapleneck with a rosewood fingerboard. The nut is made of plastic.
I'll give the features a 6 because it's got all your average features, nothing special.

Omg, this is the worst part of this guitar. This was my first guitar, i bought it because i didn't know if i was going to stick with the instrument. So it's an absolutely great guitar to start on, this is only a BEGINNERS GUITAR. I play mostly neo-classical metal, and some blues and yet more metal, and this guitar is NOT good for that.. Not for anything i think. Crappy punk maybe..Anyway this guitar is absolutely worthless for live playing or even rehearsing with my band. At higher volumes the pickups (mostly at position 1,3,5 on selector)start to make a lot of noise. This goes for all pickups... And when you actually manage to play loud without the noise (kinda rare), then the pickups sound really bright and just very bad. Hard to describe really, the best way to tell you this is by saying that the pickups in this guitar are probably the cheapest stock singlecoil-pickups on the market! With lots of hum and noise.

Only thing i like about this guitar is that it is a really good practise guitar for it's price, when i play at low volumes for myself at home it sounds decent, still not good, but at this price what is?

The rest about the sound i pretty much only dislike, Sound is horrible, the tremolo can't be used because it will go instantly out of tune (why do they even bother putting that tremolo on???).. The 2 tone controls are also a bit unnecesary because if they are not on full, it will only sound even more horrible than it already does.

I'm using it trough a Peavey 112 combo-amp, and yes I know, it's not a good amp, but the guitar sounds just as bad trough my friends Marshall combo wich sounds great with his Ibanezguitar..

I give the sound a 3 because it really sounds bad! Too bright and noisy!

When i bought this guitar the action was low, wich i like, the pickup adjustment was ok i suppose although these stock pickups suck! The output jack is loose and tends to fall off. My biggest complaint are the low frets, almost as if there were no frets, but this is only my taste. I have owned it for about 4 years, and about a half year ago the low E string and the A string have started to "Buzz" against the frets, this is really annoying, especially when you play open chords. The pickup selector is as i said VERY noisy mostly at positions 1,3,5 ..
Oh yeah and the white knob on the pickupselector also falls off..

I rate this a 4, it's definately below average, things just should NOT fall off a guitar no matter how cheap it is!

I would never be stupid enough to play live with this guitar, this guitar is only good for practising by yourself at low volumes.
Otherwise it seems like it will last pretty well, strap buttons are regular but i haven't had any problems with them (mostly because i sit down and play) But they seem good.

I don't bother with customer support for cheap guitars like this one. So no opinion on this one..

I have been playing about 4 years, don't own any other guitars, this was my first guitar. If it was stolen i wouldn't cry very much, although i'd be pissed someone stole my first electric guitar!

I really think this is a good guitar FOR BEGINNERS, if you are unsure wether or not you want to continue to play guitar, then this is a great guitar for you! Because it's not that expensive, and the sound is decent if you just practise by yourself at low volumes. So if i could rate this as a practise guitar it would get an 8..

But if you want a good guitar to play with in your band with a good tone then DON'T BUY THIS GUITAR! The sound is bright and noisy in a bad way.. Ofcourse you could always change the stock pickups to hs-3's or something, that would severely improve the rating of this guitar.. So to sum up: GOOD PRACTISE GUITAR FOR IT'S PRICE, WORTHLESS FOR ANY SERIOUS PLAYER!

I got this guitar as a gift from my parents a few years ago (4 or 5 i think) to learn with, they bought this one because they figured I wouldn't stick with the instrument. It's got a 21 fret maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard and some pretty shoddy tuners which sometimes hold their tune and sometimes shoot right out with heavy bending...it's a crapshoot really.... It's got a 5-way selector switch, a volume knob, and two tone knobs. Three passive single coil pickups made by squier which, surprisingly, sound pretty decent. The body, I assume, is made of plywood, but may be agathis. It's got a pretty tough finish ( I used to drop it alot) and, of course, a strat style body. It also has a fender style tremolo bridge which shoots out of tune pretty quick if used extensively. It came with a little Squier amp, a Fender Cable, strap and Gig Bag. These are pretty bare bones features, I'd give it a 5, but I've gotta knock a point off for the lame tuners.

Here's the surprise: this little fella sounds alright! When I first got it I thought it was the greatest thing ever!( It was my first guitar remember) but I recently re-strung it and it's an alright little guitar. I play anything I'm required to, and it does an alright job for most. I'm playing it with a Traynor amp now, and it sounds pretty decent. The pickups are pretty noisy, but hey, this is a cheap guitar, wht do you expect? The sound is very "strat" ranging from bright on the bridge pickup to mellow on the neck pickup. It sounds pretty good clean, and alright dirty. Overall I'd say this sounds good as a beginners guitar, but pro musicians should look elsewhere.

The factory set-up, as I remember, was not good, my guitar teacher taught me how to set it up and after I did so, it was much better. It came with high action , horrible intonation loose tuning pegs and a lame nut. My guitar teacher helped me fix the nut, adjust the tuners, fix the action and re-intonated. Now that it's a few years later I am much better at doing this myself, and I feel that with a decent set-up this is an alright guitar to mess around on. It's a 6 or 7 now, but I'll give it a low score because it came from the factory in bad shape oh so many years ago.

This guitar can (and has) withstood live playing, although it's better used as a back up instead as a primary guitar. It built pretty solid, it can handle dings, it's got alright strap buttons, a tough finish and it doesn't mind taking a beating (and it's taken a beating so I'd say it's apretty reliable workhorse. Maybe with some better tuners it would be a suitable main guitar for someone with a limited budget.

Never contacted Fender, so I don't know. But the people at musicstop are great, I'll give them a 9.

I've been playing for a while now and I feel I know a good piece of gear when I play it. If stolen or lost I don't think I'd get another squier, but I would be pissed with the person who stole my first guitar. I like this guitar because it's good value for the money. I hate the cheap hardware, but with a little adjusting, it does the job. I couldn't compare it with any others because this was my first guitar and I didn't know anything about the instument, I got this cause' it looked cool.Overall I'd say it's a bad choice for an experienced musician (hence the 5) but for a beginner I'd give it a 9, with a little work, it's a damn good guitar to learn on.

Alder body
Maple neck 25.5"/Rosewood fretboard
21 fret
3 single coil passive pickups
5-way selector
Bought at Christmas 2001

All standard Strat stuff ie tremolo etc..
Bought in a package containing a tuner, strap, lead, bag picks etc.

Pretty good as far as features go

I play in a 4-piece alternative/rock band and it works pretty well with that. It can't get really warm, full tones, but you wouldn't expect that from Fender single coils anyway. I use a Squier Champ15 amp at home but I borrow various amps to play live. It sounds good through both. I also use a Boss OS-2 Overdrive/Distortion pedal.
The downside in terms of sound is that the various positions all sound pretty similar. The first three positions (using the neck and middle pickups) sound best in my opinion, but the neck pickup has a much greater output (better for harmonics).
On the whole I like the sound but I'd like a bit more variety.

The guitar came set up exactly how I'd like it from the factory. The pickups seem fine and the finish is great (I've chipped it in one place, its about 1mm thick). However somes major flaws.. one is that the hole for the tremolo arm doesnt have screw thread all the way up to the top, so theres no way to get the arm in. The nut is slightly misaligned at the high E string is prone to jump out. I've had a lot of trouble with the pcikup selector too - at times it has cut all sound from the guitar and I've had to jiggle it around for a while to restore the signal. The neck joint isnt too tight but that hasn't bothered me all that much. This gets a 7 cause the action was good enough to balance out the flaws slightly.

This guitar does withstand live playing very well. I have faith in the hardware except for the selector, which I feel may need replacing. The finish doesn't wear easily, but did chip thanks to its first few months being transported in a soft bag. Strap buttons are solid and hold the strap well, as long as you keep the guitar reasonably still. I sure as hell wouldn't trust them enough to throw this guitar around. I've gigged with this without a backup about 5 times since I got it, cause I didn't have a choice. Even I did I'd have confidence in this guitar though.

Haven't deal with anyone and I have no idea about the warranty.

I've been playing nigh on four years now. I have a Monterey classical guitar, a Boss OS-2 pedal, and a Squier Champ15 amp. If this was stolen I wouldn't bother buying another one as its essentially a (great) beginner's guitar. I'm looking at a Fender Jazzmaster reissue now for a little bit more warmth.
The Squier's a pretty good guitar for the undiscerning guitarists but after a while you start to look for better options. I couldn't recommend this to anyone other than beginners. If you like the features but have been playing for a fair while just buy the real deal and get a Fender.

pick ups: s/s/s
made in indonessia
5 way pick up selector
2 tone one volume knob
rose wood fingerboard
tremelo bridge
pearl dot inlays
20th anaversery special
21 frets
i bought it from a friend for 60 bucks, awsome deal, i took off that ordanary looking pickguard and bought a black one that is outlined with white, and with the white pickups and controlls it looks awsome!!!

i dig the strat sound. it seriously lack sustain though.

i play A LOT of AC/DC, and with the bridge pickup or bridge middle (acorrding to taste) you can get a good sound like ANGUS YOUNG'S.

it isnt really noisy, what do you expect from a squier strat

strats are one th most versitile guitars in the world, you can get a wide variety of tone from country music, to heavy metal. i do

the bridge pickup can get a little twangy sometimes, depending on how i'm feeling.

i use a KUSTOM KGA 30 and it sounds great to it. i don't use any efects, i am planning on buying a distortion pedal very soon, and then maybe a processor.

the strat can fit anyone, i'm a big guy and it is'nt to small for me and it certainly is'nt to big.

very very comfortable, siting and standing

the higher frets are a little harder to reach.

it's ply wood, what do you expect for so cheap?

i'd surely gig with it, the thing about squiers is that they go bad within a couple years, so don't expect to keep it for long.

the out put jack will go loose every once and a while so keep a wrench handy to repair that. and a screw driver to keep those strap pins tight. that is a big problem with mine.

this guitar might take a good bang, i don't really want to try it though.

since i bought it from my friend, if something went wrong i'd say: gimmie back my money jerk...

good cheap guitar,
actually squier is one of the best cheap guitar companies around

if it got stolen i get really pissed off and beat the crap out of the guy that stole it. but i would get over it and buy a new guitar.

a cheap guitar is a cheap guitar, you get what you pay for.

if you wnat a guitar bad, this is the one, or another squier with a humbucker. and even if you don't like it then you can always sell it to someone and buy something better.

Made in 2002 by underpaid Indonesians
All the usual Strat stuff, S/S/S, Vol, Tone on the neck & middle PU
Rosewood fretboard on a Maple neck, alder body
Vintage style trem, cast saddles
Black w/ white pickguard
Non-locking tuners
Came with cheesy gig bag, cable, saddle & truss rod wrench, xtra trem spring ,spare strings

Suits my style OK, string spacing a bit tighter than what I'm used to, so getting used to it. Right now, using with a Berhinger AC112 amp.

The electronics are OK, about what you'd expect from an entry level guitar, Switch positions 1,3,5 have the typical single coil hum, 2 and 4 pretty clean. I will probably redo all the electronics at some later date, could also use sheilding in the cavity.

Yup, sounds like a Strat. Decent sustain, decent sound all around.

OK, here's where somebody could go to town complaining that this was off, that was off, etc.. First let me say that this is a $150 guitar, don't expect miracles. Secondly, I'm becoming more convinced that the people who complain about a guitar completly sucking need to realize that every guitar (even the same model)is different, it's made of wood after all, many will come to life with a proper setup, and you run a big risk if you mail order and can't feel it in person before you buy. Ok, that's my rant for the day.

That said, I was looking for a basic Strat to tinker with and to get to know them, and I found one with a good neck and a good body. The tuners feel quite good. Pickguard was the single ply vinyl, didn't lay quite flat, replaced it with a Fender 3 ply. Didn't care for the Fender strings, replaced them with EB 10's (came with 9's) The nut is plastic, kinda soft IMO. The trem is the cast steel affair, could probably use a detailing, but no biggie. Electronics wiring OK, cavity a bit dusty and rough, but as I said before, I'll probably be doing some mods here. Some of the screws weren't drilled straight, but anyone with decent woodworking skills can correct this. But the trem screws were true; they must use some kind of jig to drill all 6 at once.
I did the standard Fender 'factory' setup routine, with the wedge and all, and I managed to get the action quite low. Also make sure that your bridge to body spacing is correct, having it off can kill your tone, as I discovered after I got it set correctly. Much more projection and sustain after that.

Of course it'll withstand live playing, I haven't seen many dead people playing the guitar..

Finish is a bit thin, but nothing to be alarmed about.

I'd gig without a backup probably, but I'd feel better about it after I rewired it.

N/A, do my own repairs..

For what it is and how much it costs, it's pretty good. Besides, I've seen some factory new MIM and MIA Strats that were in worse shape.

A tinkerer's guitar, not for those that don't know a nut from a saddle. If I still have it in 10 years, it'll probably have a different neck with an ebony fingerboard, a humbucker, tons of other mods, plenty of dings, and be referred to as "Frank N. Stein".

If it were stolen, I'd probably get another Strat, but I wouldn't cry about this one. At $150, it's meant to be used and abused.

Overall, a decent basic Strat. Just be sure to try before you buy, and get a decent setup done before you pass final judgement.

my strat has a three single coils, 2 tone, 1 volume, rosewood fingerboard, pearl dot inlays, tremelo bridge, i don't like the rather large 70's style head stock, but i can deal with it. and if you have a black strat buy the 10 dollar musiciansfriend pick gaurd and slap it on there. it looks totaly bad ass, i did it and it just feels like i am playing something better than a SQUIER.

i play alot of SABBATH AC/DC and ZEPPELIN, and you can get a good variety of those tones with the middle pickup, for other metal i use the neck position pickup, and for my southern rock i use the bridge pickup.

i'm not to hott for the rosewood fingerboard. the pickup selector is quite noisy. lotts of dead spots, i am meaning to get that fixed. dead spots on the 12th and 9th frets, two key positions for my playing. the necks a little smaller than it could be. despite all those flaws it is a great rythym guitar, the leads arent as great.

the finish is okay. i can depend on it for jamming and rehearsing, but i wouldnt use it in a gig without a backup. i put musicman strap buttons on it, but the old ones are ok.

i bought it from a friend

overall, a cheep guitar is a cheap guitar. if is sucks thats okay because it is just a cheap guitar. the guitar value depends on how much you bought it compared to the quality.
this guitar is a great guitar for a starter or an intermediate that needs something cheap to hold them off untill they can aford somthing good. thats why i got it.
if it were stolen i probably would not buy a new one. my favorite ting about it is the versatility of it, a strat can play anything. thats why i like them. i run my strat through a kustom kga 30, which is also a good amp for anyone that is in a band.

My Squire Affinity Strat was a 1998. Made in China
21 frets.
1 volume 2 tone controls
s/s/s pickup configuration
maple neck rosewood fretboard
gig bag included
The paint was thin and ugly when bumped or chipped

I played this guitar for the first two or three years when I was just starting out. Like many single coil guitars the pickups buzz when on neck, middle, or bridge. When I first started it sounded good to me. After awhile it just didn't sound good to me anymore.
Not much expression in the pickups, but to a person who is just learning it is descent.

The action was alright from factory.
Pickups, I can't complain as far as set up.
All parts were in good condition.

It played well. The action eventually got really good.
The finish was low quality, and very thin. After all this guitar is just a begginers guitar so i will take it easy.
Had no problems with it.

I have been playing quite a while, and for a beginers guitar I think this works good enough. If it blew up I wouldn't care.
It is a all around descent guitar, but the tone is limited.