Fender Squier Affinity Series Strat

The Features are featured below.

I have been playing for almost three years now. I play different music but I love to play blues. My review reflects this guitar's performance for Blues, Classic Rock, Modern Rock, and pop. This is an excellent blues guitar like any strat. This guitar is not a good metal guitar. It does not do great for jazz rythym but will do. I reviewed this guitar before and gave a harsh review. I did not have such discerning ears then and based my review on rumors of low quality and ridiculuos price. It wasn't until around three months ago that I really realized the excellence of it's sound quality. I've noticed that other oppions with lower ratings are written by people with crappy amps. I, a crappy amp owner, have to agree. This guitar does not sound its best through a crappy amp. Also, it is important to bring and use your primary guitar when trying out amps. My rating represents the sound in porportion to the sound. Yes, a more expensive guitar will probably sound better but for the price or any range up to 700 this guitar is a ten.

The action is low and has good intonation. I changed my strings to 10's and then 11's to give more mid-range and bottom-end. The stock action is perfect.

Built solid like any Fender. I gig without a backup.

The guitar is great for begginers or curious first time strat buyers. Squiers are not bad guitars. The affinity line is, in my oppinion, the best line. I have tried out the slightly more expensive Squier standard but my affinity sounds better for what I play. The affinity line has more color options now as well. I would recommend this guitar to anyone interested.

Made in China, 21 frets, 5-way selector, 3 passive single coil pick ups (traditional Strat), no Floyd Rose, just the basic and classic tremolo bar. Basically the standard Stratocaster you see anywhere (am I saying "this guitar is just nothing special"? Noooooooooo..... :-)

If you buy a Strat with single coil pick ups, you gotta be aware that you're not gonna be playing thrash metal or nything like that, so don't go out saying the guitar sucks. You just don't know how to choose the right instrument for your sound.

I heard people saying all the time: "don't buy Squier guitars, they suck". Is it true? Well... yes and no. Ok, it took me about 5 months to find the right Squier Affinity. Everytime new guitars came into the store there I was to see if they were good. Were they? No.

But one beautiful morning, I found my Strat among many others and for some reason that one was REALLY good, and the others were shit. The wood, the sound, the looks, the tuning... the quality in general was much better then the other Squiers. Why? I don't know. There was a Telecaster that was real good too. I guess Squier Affinity guitars are like that: some are horrible, some are great, just like top of the line americans. Mine is one of those. Great sound, great tuning, no problem with neck whatsoever. Excellent. Remember: I'm speaking for my guitar only. I've seen many others that really sucked.

Sorry about the short answer (as oposed to the other ones), but the only thing I had to change was that it came with 0.09 strings and I use 0.10. Since then (2 and a half years ago), no problems AT ALL!!

Guys, no kidding. Gigs and more gigs with no tuning problems. I have 9 guitars and my Strat is close to perfection when it comes to this. It will go out of tune if I really make sure I WANT it to go out of tune. I mean... I would really have to throw it into a wall.

Never had to deal with this. Can't say anything about it.

I've been playing for about 9 years and I own 8 other guitars: 1 Les Paul Standard, 1 Les Paul Custom, 1 Standard SG, 2 Brownsville (Impala and 12 String Semi-acoustic), 1 Explorer, 1 Fender American Telecaster, 1 Daisy Rock.

This is a japanese made Squier affinity stratocaster for $150 it's a great beginners guitar to learn the basics and has so many options to add modifications onto. It's a beautiful chrome red finish. It's basically a standard strat shape with tuners and a regular tremolo i installed a dimarzio fred humbucke in the bridge though. So i give it a 6 becasue there arn't to many guitar features.

It sounds ok but not the best pickups in the world

It is all great action and like i said a beautiful chrome red finish

It is incredibly reliable i don't gig yet but it's never broken down on me the strings have never popped and it stays in tune quite well.

Never dealy with them

I think it's a great value for it's price becasue there is so much room to upgrade but anyways i recommend purchassing one for just practicing and swinging around not worrying if it dents or anything.

I got my black Squier Affinity in 2001. It was my first guitar. 21 frets, rosewood fingerboard. Three fairly loud buzzing single coil pickups(which is pretty normal for singlecoil). It has 2 tone controls(one for neck and one for middle, I wish it had one for the bridge because its way too bright!), and a master volume. It has a really thin finish that dents and scratches way too easy! And a tremolo that gets out of tune real easy. The tuners actually stay in tune pretty well(unless you are using the tremolo bar). I gave it a 5 because it has most of the standard features but they don't really work too well.

I play mostly alternative and punk rock. It works pretty well for both styles. I play it through a Line 6 Spider 112(highly recomended)! It has pretty good tone for the price, that's about all I can say. The pickups buzz way too much, and the bridge pickup is way too bright.

The action is pretty good. But it's a little too low. It makes the open strings buzz. Mainly the low E and A strings. The finish is way too thin it dents and scratches easily.

This guitar's finish is not very durable. You just barely brush against something and there's a scratch. The finish will probably ware through within a couple of years. But otherwise it holds together pretty well.

If it were stolen I would definetly upgrade to something with humbucking pickups, because I'm sick of the noise. It's a pretty good starter guitar, but that's about it.

Artic White finish, looks great. Has a hum-single-hum routing similar to the new American series models. Vintage tremelo with cheap but ok pickups. Has everything epected in a Strat but stripped down for budget. Overall not bad.

I have been playing for two years now. I play a lot of different stuf but I love playing blues, mostly SRV. I play this through a peavey audition plus. The guitar sounds better than expected for its price and having been made in mexico. The neck and middle pickups are a bit deep but good for blues. Like most strats the 2 and 4 switch positions sound the best but the breidge pickup is good too. Overall this guitar sounds better than the price implies but still sounds cheap. This is an EXCELLENT beginners eletric but I will son upgrade to an American, probably the Texas Special.

Excellent setup for a beginner, the action is extremely low and the neck has a smooth playable feel. The only problem I had was with the intonation after putting 11 gauge strings on it but that was easily fixed. I also had some scrathy pots but a little electronic cleaner fixed that. The Artic White finish is Beautiful but it is extremely thick and I had to look closely to find wood beneath the pickgaurd. This is a very good beginnners guitar and I cant stress that enough.

Built like all other strats other than the finish. Will last forever if taken care of.

N/A

Great beginnners guitar sounds fairly good.

Mine's made in 2001 in Indonesia. 21 frets, SSS pickups. The body is made of Alder (probably cheap though), tremolo, semi-jumbo frets. I think the bridge is a 6 point one, which is cheaper but actually sustains better in my opinion. Basically everything you need in a strat. Minus one point for slighty less than stellar volume/tone pots and pickup selector.

Surprisingly bad at all. The stock pickups are obviously cheap, but at in this 20th Anniversary edition they sound quite convincing. The tone is even, if a little bright (even for a strat). The pickups are a little bit noisy on positions 1, 3, and 5, but they aren't that bad.

The bridge pickup by itself is terrific in my opinion. Maybe it's just me, but for *that* sound I've never heard a better pickup. I've played American and Mexican Fenders and the bridge pickups are incredibly tame compared to this Squier. For some people, tame can mean warm and dark, but for me it just seems a bit lifeless. This Squier pickup is very edgy, and just sounds amazing with a little reverb.

I play through a danoelectro EQ into a Behringer GX210 (terrific little amp by the way)

The guitar wasn't set up that well from the factory, but a free set up at Sam Ash did wonders. Now it plays absolutely perfectly, better than any guitar I've ever played. The neck feels exactly the same as real Fenders.

The paint job was perfect, if a little bit thick. I think I would have prefered a Highway 1 type finish, a little lighter and more breathable. The bridge on the guitar isn't great, but it gets the job done.

The jack plate comes loose often. That's about it, everything else is durable and feels like a Fender. The pickup looks like crap but does it's job.

Never contacted them.

Overall, I feel that the only significant difference between this squier and a real fender is the pickups. Everything else is only superficially different. I've been playing for 4 years only, but I've played extensively all different types of strats, and this one is not lacking.

Made in China(like everything you have in your house),5-way selector,3 single coil pickups........you heard it all before.

Sounds......great!
I mean its not 1000$ strat but it sounds ALMOST as the real thing,it is a copy afterall.I play it trough Roland Jazz Chorus 160,Dunlop Cry Baby,Marshall Blues Breaker II and sounds so bluesy,i love blues and Hendrix sound,well there you have it.
People who are dissapointed that their 100$ Squier doesnt sound as real Fender are not right really,this is budget guitar great for beginnners but everyone can play it.

Strings,neck and everything was setup perfectly for a beginner,strings soooo low you almost dont have to press it at all :)))
But for bends and sustain gotta have some height there,tremolo is great when used normaly not every 5 seconds,otherwise youre out of tune.

This thing will last long time,i think :)

This is a great guitar and amasing sound for 150$,play it trough a good amp and nobody will notice its a Squier.

- 21 frets
- 2 tone and a volume (I don't use the tone knobs. I keep 'em at ten)
- Cheap stock pickups
- Maple neck, rosewood fretboard
I bought it with the Squier strat pack for $279. It's a pretty good value for a beginner guitar. I've had it for about eight months and I really like this guitar.

I play almost everything- punk, metal, rock and some jazz here and there. This guitar can play alot of styles. It's a strat. What do you expect? The bridge pickup has a little too much bite. It's the only one I use. The middle and neck pickups are very, very dull. About two months after I got this guitar, I ripped the volume control shaft out of the pot and had it replaced. The guitar actually sounds a great deal better now. It's more clear and loud. I wanna get a new amp, a marshall maybe. I also bought a Seymour Duncan JB junior in December and still haven't got it put in yet. I think it will sound alot better with the new pickup.

For $150 bucks, you get your money's worth with this guitar. The wood is probably plywood with no sustain and the frets are poorly cut and they buzz but other than that, it's okay. I've banged this baby on the walls and floor a couple of times and it still looks and plays fine. The black paint has a few pick marks but it still looks fine. All in all, it's about an eight.

It's held together so far other than the control pot.

Overall, this guitar is a good biginner guitar. Definately not of pro quality but it's still an okay axe.

Ahh yes, the Squier Strat... First let me start by saying I probably owned this little guy longer than anyone else... So listen to what I say...

Alright, it has a 5-way pick-up selector, 3 single-coil pickups (neck, middle and bridge), 21 fret, a tremelo bridge, and large headstock. And... That's it...

Now for my favorite part...

I mostly play hard rock-metal (like MetallicA), which means that this is a terrible guitar for me. If you play what I play, get either an Ibanez GAX-70 or an ESP EX-50. The neck pickups on this are extremely muddy when distorted, and fairly muddy when played clean. The middle isn't that bad, pretty plain. The bridge, however, wasn't to bad in my opinion. It was the only one of the 3 that did not have a tone adjuster, yet the tone adjusters on the other 2 pickups sucked bad, and really didn't change the tone, so I guess one for the bridge wouldn't make a difference. The distortion really stank, I could hear a loud "HUM" or "buzz" when I played. YOU WILL NOTICE THIS! Strats aren't made for distortion or at least this one isn't. Get a double coil (humbucker) guitar for that.

The Squier I bought (eons ago) came with the world famous STRAT PACK. The guitar was made fairly well, not good, however it CANNOT HOLD TUNING. I had to tune this every time I played, and I hated that. The bridge needed adjusting every 6 months as well. DO NOT PLAY THIS WITHOUT A BACK UP. In fact DO NOT PLAY THIS ON STAGE. The action was good, but it had only 21 frets. Another thing, the neck's finish, was terrible! It could EASILY stain, scratch, and get marked. That was a big factor that made me dislike the guitar's manufacturing. The body's finish was alright. The body is made out of something called "hardwood" or "cheap wood" as I call it, it has a maple neck (good wood on that, terrible finish) and rosewood finger board (good).

DO NOT PLAY THIS LIVE, IF SO, DO IT WITH A BACKUP (THE BACKUP MAY BE BETTER THAN YOUR GUITAR, THOUGH!) The body has good finish, as I said, but the neck has TERRIBLE finish, and WILL WEAR EASILY! Strap buttons are solid, and hardware seems alright.

Never had to deal with Squier, never had to deal with Fender.

I repaired or relighned the bridge myself.

<sigh> Glad I got rid of it. Use only as a beginner guitar, or if play very rarely and are very unserious about playin' the guitar. I've been playin for a few years now, and I sold that Squier and it's accessories (that came in the strat pack) only after 1.5 years of playing guitar. I now have an ESP EX-102 and a Marshall MG-100DFX combo amp. It was easy to play, and that's all I have to say.
If was lost or stolen, I'd be angry that I lost MONEY and couldn't re-sell it, but the guitar, well, I could care less. My current guitar blows this away, easy. I only got this to begin playing guitar, and I commend it for that. If it had Fender American Series pickups or fat strat pickups, well, that would make it considerible better.

So, in conclusion, get this if you just want to begin playing guitar, but if you like hard rock and metal, look for something with humbuckers. There are better low end guitars out there.

Made in China 2002, a Twentieth Anniversary model, 21 medium jumbo frets, solid Alder body with Maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, the usual Strato pickups and controls with a 5 way switch, synchronous tremolo. Supplied with allen wrenches for bridge saddles and truss rod.

I play a variety of styles - standards, soul/R&B, rock and roll, blues, country. I find the Affinity Strat useable for all of them. I play through a Ampeg Gemini II and a Kramer K-15R when I don't feel like firing the old Ampeg up. I don't use external effects, just those that are onboard the amplifiers. The Affinity Strat gives me what I wanted in the sound department - a guitar that sounds like a Strato. It has the usual amount of single coil pickup noise when the selector is in positions 1,3 and 5. The reverse wound, reverse polarity middle pickup produces noise cancellation in positions 2 and 4. To me it sounds like a '62 Fender Strato a former bandmate has.

My Strato was playable right out of the box. It has one of the nicest necks I've ever played. The fret work and finish of the nut was very well done. All the parts are well made and the guitar was assembled correctly. The paint on the body is flawless.

I think this guitar will be reliable as long as its treated like a guitar.

I've never had any dealings with Fender/Squier. I do like the Mr. Gearhead website.

I've been playing close to thirty years off and on and have owned a couple different Fender Strato's and a variety of Gibsons. This Squier Affinity Strat is the nicest Strato I've ever had! I love the lighter weight body and the neck is great. I had to do alot of tweaking to get it to play the way I wanted to - I had to shim the neck a little at the heel but haven't had to do anything to the truss rod. If something happened to it I would definitly want another. The only thing I think Squier should change on this guitar is the way the body is routed for the pickups. Other than that this is a guitar that sounds, plays and looks like a vintage Strato in my opinion. I think the Squier Affinity Strat is the best one out there for the price! I also have a Affinity Tele and I love it! For the price of a Fender one can get a really nice Strato AND a Tele - Is this a great country , or what?!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THIS IS THE CONVERSION:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DUNNO.

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

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

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

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

this thing will last.

never called techies

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

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

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

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

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

Never dealt with them.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Never talked to Fender.

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

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

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.