Fender Squier Affinity Series Strat

it's a strat. the BOTTOM LINE strat. it is a decent guitar, though after playing it for about a year, i am DEFINATELY ready to move up. it's arctic white w/ rosewood fretboard. it's a BEGINNER guitar and i got it when i was a beginner. i wouldn't recommend this to anybody who doesn't want to upgrade in one year.

sounds decent. i played some les pauls and some fender strats today that put it to shame thogh. it's a cheap guitar, but it doesn't sound THAT bad. in fact, it sounds good, just not as good as some others. i like the guitar, i just like others better. when you get one, you'll be the same way.

it looks good. looks the same as a standard strat from 3 feet away. overall good fit and finish. it's a comfortable guitar to play. it look better than sounds.

i've been rough on this guitar and it has held up great. i've dinged it, nicked it, banged it, and it still won't screw up. it seems like it should last a long time, althogh the pick guard will get kindof ugly if it's played quite often.

never dealed with 'em

it's a good BEGINNER guitar. i like it, but i'm to the point where i need better equipment (that gives me a reason to buy a new guitar :) )I've been playing for about a year and it's decent for just messing around.

21 frets, China made 1998, Black With White pick guard, usual strat features - 5-way tone - 3 S/C rosewood fretboard, maple neck etc...

Through my 30W marshall amp the sound is laughable at making bluesy clean tones but isn't really that bad with high distortion and treble (The distortion disguises the poor pickup sounds). The sound is O.K for a begginer but I definatly wouldn't gigging with it

The action on the guitar was way too high, and so too was the pickups, there were no major finish flaws although the finish was lumpy in places (very small). The machineheads are very bad and the guitar goes out of tune ALL OF THE TIME! also recently I accidenty scratched and realised they are made of PLASTIC under a silver covering - very poor. The nut was very bad and needed sanding and also the 5th and 2nd strings were out of place (They should be directly in the middle of th 12th fret markers. Another problem is that the low E-String rattles a lot and I have always had problems with the truss rod

Well I've heard of people who have smashed up their squier bad and it still runs on but mine has given up on me after only 2 years of playing it (Fairly lightly as well). I just cannot be bothered to replace the pickups and it is now collecting dust. Also the finish on the back of the neck has now rubbed off leaving it uncleanable .

Never dealt with fender

I have been playing for around 8 years and I own 2 old acoustics my broken Squier, a heavy metal USA strat, a mexican standard, and a USA standard. I reall wouldn't recommend this guitar to anyone playing seriously, I have been disappointed with my squier since the day I bought it and to be honest I don't know why I did. I would reccommend some getting a mexican strat- They sound great, just as good as both my USA's and not a lot more money than the Squier.

Made in 2000, if you believe the serial. Rosewood or rosewood-alike fingerboard, sunburst, white scratchplate, yer actual standard three single coils and five way switch. In short, it's a Strat.

It's a Strat.

Contrary to popular opinion, this means it isn't a hooligan distortion machine, and trying to make it sound like one will be disappointing.
It's a STRAT, people. Wakey wakey. If it looks like a Strat, and quacks like a Strat, it's not going to sound like a Les Paul.

I've heard better Strat's, but for the money this is pretty decent at a Strat *clean* sound, like Strat's are mostly for, y'know. I will be buying it a set of Stewmac's vintage pickups to improve the clean sound a touch. For a 130 quid guitar, I was pleasantly surprised. It is perfectly useable as is.

Action pretty decent, played well, although I did a) pick and choose the best in the shop (one or two were BAD) and then b) get it professionally set up. It had a trem, but I had it blocked.

Nice woodwork job on it.

If my old Hondo Strat (bought for about the same money in 1980) was
this good, I'd never have switched to Les Pauls.

Looks pretty durable: I WILL be fitting it with straplocks.

It was bought expressly to keep in open D for one song, and I will be quite comfortable not having a spare.

Never dealt with Fender. I am, however, going to mark them down for poor marketing. This is not a metal guitar, Fender. Half your negative reviews are from people expecting one.

Been playing for 20+ years: see a bunch of reviews dotted around this site for the rest of my kit, which includes a Tokai Les Paul, a Squier JV series Tele, a Steinberger Spirit...

The only thing I wish it had is slightly better pickups.

DON'T buy this guitar if you wanna be Limp Bizkit or Steve Vai. It's not that kind of guitar. Think clean, chorused and subtle. S-u-b-t-l-e. Ok?

Korean made.
21 Dret.
Solid, laminated top.
Volune, 5-way selectory, 2 tone switches
S/S/S
Fender pickups (model?)
Passive electronics
Black finish w/ white pickguard.
Classic Gender bridge style w/ trem bar
Fender tuners

Some of the features...dont seem to...do anything

This guitar sounds terrilbe. I run my guitar through a Fender Princeton Chorus 50 watt pedal, and a whole array of pedals (but usually only one at a time) including: a Dunlop 95Q Wah, Electroharmonix Big Muff, and the Chorus/Dist. on the amp.

And without fail, this guitar's pickups fail to satisfy any of these devices. Distortion sounds weak, and far too muddy, individual notes can't be picked out. On the wah, putting the pedal to the toe position causes such a high pitched tone to occur so as to deafen the player. The sound is faaar too bright on the 1st setting, and faaar too muddy on the 5th.

Annnd, the pots on it crackle a lot when moved, with the volume pot, when put below 10, ceasing to work entirely.

The tremolo bar is a joke, and I don't even keep it attached

I had to have the guitar setup after I bought it, because the setup that it came w/ caused the strings to buzz from time to time. After the setup, it stayed in tune relatively well, and the strings ceased to buzz.

Classic black + white Fender finish.

Flaws: The pots crackled/cut out a lot.

Ive dropped it, and beaten it, and done some terrilbe things to this guitar, and it hasn't broken yet.

This is its only redeeming quality.

This guitar of course will never be used for any sort of live venue, simply for at home practicing.

It just sounds bad, and buzzes like a small swarm of bees. Ive been playing it for about 2 years now, though I've bought other guitar in that time frame.

It doesnt really compare to any other guitar over $400.00.

I wish it had pickups that were a) noiseless and b) had more than 2 tones.

I have read alot of BAD things about the Squier Affinity STARTOCASTER, but if you have one and you don't really know anyting aobut guitar then it'll be really good of a guitar to you. But if your an really experince player you might find in to some problem's some time ( such as going out of tune and and Fret farts if you are a beginner ) about the out of tune part you don't have to give a damna bout that one cause all guitars go our tune the LEad guitarist of my band he has an LES PAUL and he's guitar goes out of tune, and i tell ya LES PAULS aren't cheap. And Fret farts only have to inexperince players. Every guitar have it's weakness. The Squier Affinity STRAT is a pretty good guitar if you don't want to spend a million dollar on a guitar that sounds decent. Iam not sAying the STRAT have a really good pick uo but a good i dea would be that when u get really good and u want to keep the guitar just replace teh pick ups with a set of DiMarzio Pick ups and it'll sound like a LEs Paul but like i said it will sound liek it but is not. and a another good id ea would be that you replace the guitar with ERINE BALL strings cause they sound alot nicer. The guitar sometime's dent's easy but works great so if it does dent just buy sticker of you favorite bands and stick them on it. What ever you do DON'T TOUCH THE BRIDGE. The head of the guitar can be annoying goin out of tune but it's orginal. A amp that goes good with is is the IBANEZ IBZ10 10 watt amp sounds great.

This guitar can play many variety of music. i use this guitar during my band practice of couse not live perfromance but practice. and my band is a Heavy Metal band so you decide. I like that it's changable and cheap and comes with the whamy bar. i don't like it becuase it's body and it's head it goes out of tune sometimes but a lil more offent then the LES PAUL

it's set up pretty good but the fishing is not so good sometimes you like things u HAVE To clean it your self but is only a few minor things that won't take long. and the Machines heads that goes out of tune a lil more offen the then other guitars but for a cheap price you get a great deal. the pick up heads look a lil sratch but sound good. and OK quality wood but like any other guitar it dents when u hit something. the neck is jsut the right size but ther si just something witht eh frets i don't like.

after getting dent and dropping and a lot of screwing and spills it still wrok is a good guitar to have for a frist timer and a good lil practice guitar for experince guitar player.

N/C

i have only been playing like 7-8 months but i know alot of about guitars. over all rating is GET IT , it comes in handy in alot of times. i would always love and keep this guitar

I have an Squier Startocaster Affinity series Electric Guitar. Squier is a division of Fender. The guitar has 22 frets and it's made of roosewood, I have it in Black which is more then the other colors I don't know why but it is. I have always been a fan of the StartS but it's about a week ago that i finally got one for my self. I wasn't disappionted at the guitar at all like i usually does with my stuff. the guitar is built in a metal bar inside the nick for later on striagten out. And the guitar have a very changable body you can basicly change the guitar in alot of ways (faceplate,control nobe's,the plates on the guitar, andyou can change from single coil pick to humbucker pick up) the guitar orginally comes with 3 single coil pick up and 2 tone control and a volume control ( in my personal opinion the 3 single coil pick up that the guitar comes with is awesome and shouldn't be replace unless is really need it) and a 5 way switch. The guitar has a orginal Start body.

not just because i have own the guitar but is just as good as any guitar. the guitar has a rich sound that is perfect if you have cheezy amps or even better with a good amp like the Ibanze IBZ10 amp, i use my guitar to play heavy metal cause I have a band and stuff and they got like all these Les Pauls and B.C. Rich Warlock and they even love my guitar even thought Iam the guitarist for the band (iam the Vocal, but plays guitar for fun). i give it a good sound but the pick up it comes with is too strong and it's loud. well it's good for mini amp and best for loud live perfromance.

When I got my guitar Brand new from teh store and I just strum it and it sound so beauitful I can't believe it. I think it's maybe the way they come the pick ups were perfect level (then I change it because I want it louder) for heavy metal.

Well so far still haven't fell me even thought I bang it a few times against the wall and stuff still sounds better every day

AWESOME

i got this guitar for christmas with the package.it seems to work well the tuning keys stay in tune,it has a good neck,nice finish.

i use this guitar to play punk and only punk.it sounds pretty good on distortion and in the 5th pickup posotion.i dont really mess with the tone nobs much but i have a little and it sounds alright.except there is one downset whenever you play heavy(which i do)the low e string rattles a bunch.

i dont know much abot the action cause it is my first guitar.

it seems durable so far i have given it a couple dents but i would play it on stage any day

overall it is a good beginners guitar wether they want to mess a round or become a famous musician.oh yeah,the black guitar looks dank covered with stickers.

Mine is a Indonesia affinity squire stratocaster, it has 21 frets, rosewood fingerboard, vintage tremolo,

it sounds nice and warm, but the bridge pick up is kinda dull,
the neck is very warm, all in all i like the sound i get,

well, lots of people say the squire affinity arn't that good but this one is really good. nice neck, but it will leave marks easily if bumped. The pickups are really good actully, warm and bright at the same time. The electronics ie:5 way switch and tone controls are not very good, they go bad after a few months of playing. i had to change them. The Tremolo stays in tune very well... hardly goes outta tune i love it... i play alot of hendrix so it needs the tremolo and it does stand up to the tremolo bombs i give it.. hehehe :) the out put jack came loose the first night i got it, and i found out all of the affinitys have that... the action is good and low, no fret buzz, neck is straight. the guitar is pretty light. The tuners are very good, i guess i was lucky!!!

Yes it is good, i would use it on stage without a backup...

N/A

The basic Fender Strat configuration and style, made in Indonesia (not sure of the year). SSS configuration, standard tremelo, poplar body, 21 fret rosewood fingerboard on a maple neck, 5 way switch, satin finish, cheap ass non-locking tuning keys.

I play mostly stuff that I've written myself, with a lot of grungy early 90s rock, plus some stuff like Pink Floyd, SRV, and whatever else strikes my fancy thrown in. I only use a clean sound at the moment, mainly because I'm too cheap to spring for a good distortion pedal. I primarily play it through my Fender BXR 60 Bass amp (I started out as a bass player). This guitar works well for what I play. It has a nice, moderately bright sound to it, with very smooth mids (which the BXR brings out nicely) and a slightly muddy low end. A set of heavy strings makes it sound much better, giving it a sort of SRV-ish tone. This guitar has a sort of "warbling" quality to it when I hold a chord for a few seconds, almost like it has some sort of soft tremelo effect going on. I don't think it's supposed to sound that way, but I've never heard another guitar with that tone, and I kind of like it. The pickups aren't that great, which is probably the biggest reason for this, but I haven't had the problems with noise that other people talk about. Through my BXR and through my old Mirage 15W practice amp (a total POS, BTW), I get some moderate hum on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th settings, but nothing too bad. However, I did once plug it into a Crate bass amp that belongs to a friend of mine and the thing made a god-awful racket on those settings. I think the amp makes a big difference here. All in all, my Squire delivers what the ads promise: the basic Fender Strat sound at a lower price. A guitar with the Fender label does have a better sound, but I genuinely like the sound of my Squire.

THE TUNING KEYS SUCK!!!! Because they can't keep the guitar in tune, and reduce the tremelo to an IDD (Instant Detuning Device), it ruins the whole thing. Aside from that, and the mediocre pickups, everything else on it is really good for the money. The action is pretty low, the pickups were set about right, I hardly ever get any fret buzz (when I do it's my fault). The control knobs turned smoothly (though I can't tell that the affect the sound that much) and the volume control really works (unlike what some other people have told me about theirs). If not for the pathetic tuning keys (including a ridiculously bad one on the high E string), I'd give it about a 7 here, but because the tuning keys are so bad (which in turn affects so much else), I give it a 5.

So far, this guitar has been very reliable, and seems to be pretty sollid. I try to take reasonable care of my gear (a $125 *is* quite a bit of money, afterall), so, aside from falling over onto the tile flooring of my dormroom a few times when I had it propped up against the wall (which is how I usually kept it), it hasn't taken much punishment. However, when I bought it, it did have about a 1" X 1/2" chip in the back of the body, where it had been dropped in the store. It seems pretty solid, though. The finish has a few spots where the white paint on the walls rubbed off onto the black body, and it has a couple of small scratches here and there, but overall, I haven't done much to it in the 10 months I've had it. The strap buttons are very solid. Overall, on a scale of 1-10, I'd give the body an 8. The neck is also sturdy and smooth, with fairly low action. I'd give it a 9. Because of the horrible keys, it would be a real pain to play live, as it WILL go out of tune, to some degree, during each song, so it gets a mediocre rating here because of that. If I were to replace them, though, I wouldn't be afraid to use it on gigs. I would have to buy a backup, however. Strings do break.

NA Never dealt with them, and I don't remember anything about a warranty.

This was my first guitar, and I think I made a good choice. As I said, I started out as a bassist. My bass is a Peavy Patriot (which is a piece of crap, but does have a unique, punchy sound to it). I wish I had tried to talk the salesman down a few more bucks before buying it, but if I had it to do all over again, I would have bought this same guitar. I love the mids and that nice little warbling sound it naturally makes, plus it feels very comfortable in my hands. The tuning keys suck badly, and I really do need to change them if I ever plan to use this for anything other than noodling around in my room. It could also use some better pickups, but all in all, it's a good buy and (at least in my experience) is one of the best guitars out there in its price range. C'mon, what else are you going to get for $125? I compared it to all sorts of inexpensive guitars ($200 and under) out there, both new and used, before I bought it, and I can honestly say that this was the best one I found. However, I would caution potential buyers to be careful, as I've heard mine may be of really good quality compared to the majority of Squires. I did try out a couple of guitars in the same line that didn't sound as good.

'00 Blue w white pickguard squier strat. This si my first eletric guitar. I have had it for 3 or 4 months and really enjoy it. I played on my acoustic for 2 years before i bought this. it's made in Indonesia. it has the regular string thru body...just like every other review. Everyhting was in good working order when bought and was a steal for 140 bucks.

I give this a 7 because it was only 140dollars. The big thing i don't like about it are the pickups. Soon i will change them to a (bridge to neck)George lynch lil' screamin demon, a Duncan Hotrail, and a fender red lace pickup. Hopefully that will change some of the hum and other problems. The only way to get a none hum sound is puting the selector in the 4th position. It has a ok sound ,but it was cheap! You cna basicly play anything you want on it. Sure i guess some things sound better on it then others, but i don't have money to buy lots of guitars.

Everything was set up right with the exception of the tuners. I think i might just have to get new ones soon. Oh and one oher problem is that one of the bridge holes wasn't drilled correctly ,yet it is still useable.

Well after a couple months of abuse it has held up. I don't trash my guitar's or anyhting so i didn't thing it would break. It looks as nice as the day i bought it. It sounds good and the tuners/bridge/pick up's haven't pulled any fast ones on me yet.

Don't have a clue.

For $140 it is a great deal. If it was stolen i would just save up for a real fender strat. I liked it so much that i am thinking of buying a squier tele. Once i change the pickup's it will be cool. Solid built and recommended

It's a 1999 model its blue with a white pickguard three single coil pickups which are sloped with the strings two tone knobs 5 way selector switch. Rosewood fretboard 21 frets and mapel neck. I don't know what the bodies made out of but it's one of the lightest electric guitars I've ever used. I've seen and played other squire strats but this is a lot better lighter and is a different blue to the ones that come it the stat pack.

Sounds excellent. Very good sound through all the ranges. Better sound range than a lot of other quitars I've used.

The action is bloody excellent it is one of the easiest and nicest guitars I've ever played. The action is low but there is no string buzz. Nice finish and it looks excellent.

I've played this guitar for thousands of hours and it hasn't stuffed up once. It's been dropped onto concrete when my soft case stap broke and it's got a few dings but it still works.

Never dealt with them.

I am a fairly accomplished quitarist I play anything I'v used a lot of guitars and this is easily one of the best. I've played a lot more expensive guitars and this one is up there with them. The thing I love about this guitar is the neck the action and the wieght, when I'm going to upgrade I'm not going to get a new guitar just some more expensive pickups and a humbucker. Also I never seen another one like this anywhere else.

I'm guessing it was made in 2000, I just got it for christmas.

-21 frets
-Volume, 2 tone knobs
-5-way selector
-Cheap tuners (need new ones so I can use the trem)
-Thin neck, which is really nice

The Pickups buzz at loud volumes, but overall good.

I and others have used this guitar with many music styles, mostly different ranges of rock (from Blink-182 pop to thrash metal to Everclear) and I must say it sounded good on all of them. I'm using a Kustom KLA-10 12w amp. It's pretty noisy on 1, 3, 5. Go with 2 & 4... of course if you don't know that already, you should :D

It was set up just fine. Just tune and you're ready to go. The cable jack has went loose a lot, but is easily fixed.

I think with new pickups, and a new set of Tuners, it'd be fine on stage. The tuners don't look like they will last. I've noticed if you wipe off fingerprints with your sleeve, it leaves those spiderweb-ish scratches that are on cars sometimes. I can definately depend on this guitar for a long time.

Never have had to try.

I've been playing about 4 years. I own a Samick 3/4 size acoustic that I've been playing for years. I'd probably buy another if it were stolen, or save up for something different, if I needed a change. I love the action, neck, sound, and practically the whole guitar. The tuners are okay, but I can't use the trem with them, sadly. Want me to bitch about that some more? :D

If your reading this review you probably aready know all the features; tone x2, volume control, s/s/s pickup configuration. This is really a "no frills" guitar for the begining player.

Sound quality is really a matter of opinion and the type of music style your wanting to play, so this is kind of a hard part to review. I now own a Wolfgang(BADASS!!!!)and it puts the squire to shame, BUT they are two different guitars desinged for different music styles. When I first got my squier I knew nothing about guitars and when I played it for the first time when I got it home I just thought it was awesome, but I didnt know any better at the time. It had kind of a bright flat tone to it, not much Gruughhh. At first I was just playing it straight through my Crate GX-20 amp. Then I bought a Zoom 707 a few months later which helped out a lot because the distortion on the GX-20 blows. Then I realized it was my guitar not just my amp that was the problem so I got the Wolfgang(did I mention that the Wolfgang is BADASS?)
I imagine this guitar(the squier)would sound great playing through the right equiptment, but it just didnt cut it for me. I dont remember the guitar ever being really noisy at any point exept for that standard hum you will get from any guitar plugged straight into an amp. This guitar I would say is more suited for Blues and classic rock type music, not that you couldnt play Hard Rock or Metal through it but it just wouldnt sound as good as a guitar with a nice pair of humbucking pickups. Now if your a young teenage moron like I was and wanted a guitar that you could play Metallica,Pantera, or VAN HALEN with this is not the guitar for you. If want to play the heavy stuff get a guitar with some humbuckers and an amp with a lot of gain and distortion a good distortion box wouldnt hurt with said products either.

Oh, dont use the trem or else every frickin string will go out of tune.

The guitar was set up just fine frome the factory until my dumbass self started dickn' with all the little knobs and things.(I ended up breaking several strings.) Everything was just fine eletronically except for the cable jack that kept coming loose, but thats an easy 1min fix. The body and neck seemed to be crafted quite well, I guess those little kids in indonesia can work a router pretty well for 3cents a day. The finish seemed to scratch pretty easily (mine was black so they stood out more)the scratches were barely noticable unless you were up close.

I dont own the guitar anymore so I couldnt tell you if its an "In it for the long run" guitar, but as I said the finish does seen to scratch easily. Otherwise everything seems to be built pretty solid.

Never needed it. I only owned the guitar for about 9 months then I got my Wolfgang(BADASS!!!)

Id have to say this is a pretty good guitar to start out on like I did, unless you want to start out on the heavy stuff. If I still owned it and it were stolen I wouldnt give a rats ass and would buy another different guitar if I didnt have my Wolfgang(BADASS!!!) But if someone stole my Wolfie God help them because I would hunt them down and rip their friggin spine out.

Check out my outher reviews for my Wolfgang(BADASS!!!) and the BOSS GT-3.

The normal strat set-up: SSS, 1 volume, 2 tones, tremelo.......

It sounds decent, but for the money it is really good. The low end is muddy, and there isn't much treble. i need to get new pick ups, maybe some seymore duncans. otherwise it is all right. When the trem bar is used it goes way out of tune, way fast.

I love the action, just right for all the fast Metallica solos i play. Plus, the neck isn't glossy, so my hands slide real easy. The finish is nearly flawless, only one little raised bump, but that is the wood and not the paint. It is solid black and the only bad thing about it is that it finger prints show up real well on it.

I have dropped it numerous times and it is stil playing.

Never had to deal with em'.

overall it is a good gituar, but i think my next one will be a Fender American Strat.

Model: 1999 Squier Strat
Frets: 21 Frets
Controls: Volume, 2 Tone, 5 Way Selector
Pickup: Cheap Squier Pickups S/S/S
Fretboard: Rosewood
Body/Finish: I don't know about the body, but I've had it for less than a year and take good care of it and it has 3 chips and many scratches.
Bridge: String-thru
Tuners: Non-locking
Neck: It's really easy to play
Accessories: Extra Fender Bullet Strings (Probably Worth More Than The Guitar)

I play punk rock rock (green day, blink) and it works pretty well (wow!) But I also play heavier stuff (deftones) and it doesn't work very well. I play through a Rogue DST5 -> Ibanez TB25 and it sounds ok, but it doesn't have a very bright sound to it.

Just Peachy

Never actually tested the durability of the thing. Poor Poor finish. Great strap buttons. It is dependable. I would use it a gig without a backup because it's all I have.

N/A

I'll live with this guitar until I get my GAX70. :-) http://shootthelionandrun.itgo.com

This Guitar was made in 2000? in Japan
21 fret rosewood fingerboard
5 way selector switch s,s,s
pickups are standard crappy squier
Tocano red strat body
Tuners are crap you can see the mould lines!
neck is quite smooth
no free stuff

My style is hendrix Mick ronson classic rock mainly
im using a 30w marshall mg series amp pretty damn good more expensive than the guitar!

Guitar was set up ok
I had to adjust the pickups myself another thing that pissed me off was that it was covered in some sort of plastic that i had to pull off i ended up taking the guitar apart only a few days after i got it!!!!!!!

The guitar dents easily so far i managed to dent the neck and put a dent in the body its really a throw away guitar U GET WHAT U PAY 4!!!
strap is always twisting!!!
once i had to take it apart because there was a small piece of wire coming off the positive touching the negative on the jack!

Never dealt with em!

A THROWAWAY GUITAR GOOD 4 BEGINERS ACTIONS NOT 2 BAD BUT NOT 4 THE EXPERIENCED PLAYER

It is a 2000 year model, with 3 single coils, and came with a gig bag. it has a rosewood fingerboard.

it isounds like a piece of crap, but what do you expect for $120!!!

The action is horrible. Everything else, besides the fact that it scratched all over.

This guitar was nothing like a fender, i know now not to buy the lower company's look alike, like a squier or an epiphone. I had to replace the jack, 2 of the pick-ups and the 5 way switch within the first 3 months.

The company was very helpful when i called them to ask them what was wrong with my guitar, but they didn't give me any parts to fix it, it is fender so what do you expect, they are gonna be nice, but since it is a squier they weren't gonna give me any parts!

over all, it is a good beginner's guitar, i don't mind if it falls apart!!

22 frets,single coils, you know it.

This is the best guitar on the market at $150.It is perfect for funk and punk.You could guess my favorite band is the red hot chili peppers.This guitar gets a good trebly-dirty sound much like john fruscante(I think thats how you spell it.)The only thing i dont like about this guitar is that it is limited to clean or dirty.Heavy is out of the question.I want to tell all the people that BAD MOUTH THIS GUITAR THAT ARE SAYING THAT IT GETS FEEDBACK,MABY YOU SHOULD TAKE IT MORE THAN AN INCH AWAY FROM THE AMP, AND THAT MIGHT DO SOMETHING TO HELP!!!

Good setup.Awsome action straight from the box.

First off I would not play this in a gig because I mainly play Bass.Thick paint.(arctic white)The strap buttons keep untwisting when a wear it for a while.Input jack comes loose alot, and because if the position of the jack plate its hard to fix.

Never delt with 'em

Good guitar that isn't to serious with it.And to all those people who are using this through a marshall stack with some killer effects,If you have that amp and effects, then why did you get a cheap guitar?

97 Probally Indonisionan or korean Black white pickguard crapy coverd tuners rempved the covers rosewood good finish thisck. Tremelo bridge tunning problems keeps geeting nocked out of tune.

This guiar has crapy pickups. REplace um wit seymor duncan hot railz. They make soo much noise and feeedback at low volumes. Gets muddy on the lower notes.

Set up preety good,when i got the guitar it had plastic all ove rthe pickguard which im stil removing from under the knobs

belive it or not this guitar is very durable i have thorwn it down a set of stairs and nothing has really happened solid guitar. Deffeniotly put straplocks on it. I would gig with out cause it a squier. The finish cracks if it ges hit hard. Would do a show with it hard to keep in tune all fenders are get a floyd rose bridge.

N?A

I give it a 6 only becuse its squier and it sucks. Good for kids but why must eveyone have a fender get some eppiphones or gibsons the sell kits too!!!!!! Whats with that marshaal guitar?

Made in 1998 in Indonesia
22 frets
solid-top
2 tone, 1 volume
sss pickup config.
cheap stock squier pickups single coils
passive
poplar body and the fretboard that is natural wood looking color. Maple i think its called.
dont know what kinda finish just regular red paint
squier bridge regular strat style bridge.
cheap squier tuners non locking
i got it for 131.99 brand new it didnt come with any extras cept for tremelo arm and allen wrench for truss rod.

I play classic metallica (anything after black album is a no no) and some pink floyd etc. i dont like punker music or any of that type crap. It doesn't suit my style for jack.
it's noisy on ever damned setting except for 2nd and 4th. where 2nd position is the one that enables both the neck and middle single coil, or in 4th position the bridge and middle single coil. but when you have it in that position it sounds too muted and sounds like crap too.
I go through my peavey rage158 15watt combo which also sucks but is cheap and then into either boss hyper metal which is a really crappy petal, a danelectro fab tone which sounds pretty good on other guitars but not this one, or a DOD grunge pedal (2nd version) which those two last pedals to me sound almost identical at least on my guitar but I know for fact that the DOD grunge sounds really good into this same amp but using a jackson performer ps-4. thats my friends setup and he can do mad harmonics.
The sound is kinda bright but not bassy enough for metal. its a kinda glassy bell like tone when its on clean channel. actually it sounds ok on clean channel but it just sucks for disortion but then again most single coils suck for distortion. I can get any kinda sound i want cause i got all those different settings to mess with on the pedals and the amp but seriously, as far as i can tell, the 2 tone knobs on the guitar dont seem to change the tone a damn bit no matter which way you have them.

This was my first guitar so I didnt know jack about setups when i first got it but i tried messing with the truss rod once and that ended up giving me fret buzz so i adjusted it back to the way it was originally and i dont get buzz on any frets so i guess thats a good thing. I did lower the pickups to where theyre flush with the body though cause i just like it that way. Also i adjust the bridge pins so that they all line up in a row because when i got them some went up and down, up and down. Also I never use the tremelo arm so I took it off, and screwed the all the bridge screws down so the bridge is flush with the body. it seems to stay in tune better that way. Whenever i restring it, I usually put a little wd40 on a q-tip and lubricate the bridge contact points and the inside part where the ball or bullet of the string sits. Like I said, the pickups were adjust the way all other strats were but I lowered them into the body. Don't know what bookmatched top is or routed bridge but I explained how i fixed all the stuff so thats good enough. I gotta admit their were no flaws on the guitar everything works the way its supposed to I just dont like the thickness of the neck cause its not good for metal as well as the pickups arent hot enough for metal. but the finish wood and all that stuff was perfect. got it at a store called hermes music. I know they have these stores just about all over texas (im in San Antonio, Texas) and I think they also have a few stores in mexico and in California but im not positive about that. This is a really good store they have awesome prices and they kick butt on all other stores here especially their 2 major competitors, Mars Music and Century Music. They have a lot bigger selection and such. I just wish I had a Guitar Center in my city. :)

Don't know if this guitar would withstand live playing cause I play for fun and with friends I'm not in a band or anything but playing guitar is a kick ass hobby. The hardware seems like it will last but I always get paranoid when I use my peg winder cause I'm afraid that it is going to cause the pegs and tuners to get loose but it hasn't yet. the bridge seems like it will last but one of the string trees moves slighty but thats not a problem when strings are on their. the finsh is definitely gonna last. I dunno what it is but ive dropped this thing banged it on the wall and all kinds of stuff and when i take just a cloth to it to remove fingerprints it looks like new again. Yeah the strap buttons are solid. Although sometimes when im playing standing up my strap will fall off buy I think that is more the straps fault cause the holes are getting bigger from wear more then it is the pegs fault. I could depend on this guitar to play but I really wouldnt want to cause I dont like the way it sounds. Sure I would play it on a gig without a backup but I don't think people would like the way it sounds but I have no doubt that this thing isnt gonna crap out or break or anything it will last cause its lasted me two years and I play everyday. The pickups have never died and the frets havent become worn or anything. One complaint I do have is that no matter what I do I always manage to turn the strings that aren't round wound (the plain strings) black after only like 2 weeks of play. Also the fretboard gets really dirty after a while and gets all this gunky moldy build up of dirt from my hands and stuff which I don't understand cause I always wash my hands before I play. Also don't buy stainless bullet end fender strings. I mean they sound great and everything but I busted the A string after only 1 day which REALLY pissed me off. Before that I usually used GHS boomers 10-46 which rarely break on me. But that damned bullet end was a .36 and the winding came unwound during the chorus from fade to black which really got me bitter. I left the rest of the bullet ends on their cause thats all I didn't have a whole set of strings lying around besides the others are still good i guess but I replaced the A string with a ball end fender nickelplated .36 string and I really dont like the way it sounds. Those bullet ends sound really good if only they didnt break so easy. It's almost like the ball end string doesnt wanna cooperate with the other bullet ends because even though its in tune it almost sounds like it isnt or something. I will prolly end up trashing these strings after bout a month or so and get some markley 10-46's which is my favorite gauge or maybe some markley blue steels just depends. I used to have blue steels and if i recall they were pretty good. I also had some regular markleys but I was stoopid back then and I got the real heavey ones 13-52 or something like that because I thought it would make me sound heavier but really they didnt and I didnt like them because they made it more difficult to play speed runs and the G string was roundwound which i really hate. I HAVE to have a plain G string to play my pink floyd stuff because of the bends and with a roundwound you just cant get the right bending off it. Well youre prolly tired of reading cause I've wrote a lot but I'm at school and bored as hell so I'm trying to do something to keep busy :)

I never had to deal with the company so I don't know how helpful or friendly they would be and I've never had to get it repaired and I'm not sure how long the warranty was but if I recall it seems like it was one year so it would be out of warranty right now anyway.

I've been playing since I first got this guitar for my 15th b-day on april 21st, 1998. Their really isnt anything I wished I had asked before buying this guitar except I really wish I wouldve gotten something with a humbucker in the bridge position so my metal would sound thicker. At the time I got this guitar I was really into Pink Floyd and David Gilmour was my idol and he plays a 1957 candy apple red strat loaded with EMG SA's and his own tonal settings. I got this guitar in red cause back then I didn't know better and it looks like his guitar and I asked myself, "gee, their cant be that much difference all the parts look the same." Boy was I wrong. His strat rules, mine sucks. If it were stolen I would find out who stole it cause then I wouldnt be able to play anymore cause it's my only axe and I would really jack that person up. I would then proceed to musicyo.com and get the imperial kramer guitar dont remember the model number but looks like a really bad ass instrument. Its an explorer copy with a double locking licensed floyd, and has all black hardware. It has kramer's own quad rail pickups which is basically like having a humbucker on the size of a single coil and it comes with one in the bridge and one in the neck so it basically has 4 humbuckers. It also has a bad ass slip taper "elliptical" neck which from what I hear people describe it as being very much like the jackson necks and I love the jackson necks. It has 24 frets and gotohs. It also the body is alder and the neck is something or other but the fretboard is rosewood with plain dot inlays but I like the dots better anyways. It's not the neck-thru model though. I was originally gonna get one of their neck-thrus but with further review I decided to get this bolt on because the neck is thinner. I heard that the neck-thru kramer neck was kinda clubby which isnt gonna suit me playing my metal. I'm intensely happy because I get paid this coming friday which is only 3 days away and I'm probably gonna order this kramer sometime Saturday during the day. Their guitars are steals you cant beat em. Everyone I talk to compares the quality to jacksons and jacksons are my favorite guitars but if I can get the same quality for only 200 bucks without having to lay down 500 or more for a decent jackson then hey im a happy guy. I gave it all 5's cause I don't wanna say its crappy completey. It may just be crappy to me but I guess some people might like it that play clean stuff because like I said before I really do think it sounds good clean especially in the neck position. It almost sounds as good clean as some real fender strats ive heard played clean. Oh yeah that kramer has this sweet coil tapping feature which allows you to use just one of the pickups like it was only one humbucker which I hear produces a really good clean tone. On the other hand, when all the coils are engaged I hear it really has a fat tone and that harmonics just leap off the axe. I can't wait till they deliver this bad mofo to my front door. In the future probably for xmas or asap I wanna get a marshall g50rcd amp which is a basic marshall combo with reverb and all the extra goodies that make marshall the company that they are. It drives 50 watts to a 12" speaker which is plenty powerful for me playing for fun at home or with friends. I also want to get a boss metal zone (that pedal is so bad ass.) a boss super chorus, and an original crybaby. I also wanna get (but am not worried about right away) some kinda of multi effects pedal for flange delay etc because I use those effects every once in a while so theyre nice to have but in my opinion they dont constitute buying seperate pedals for. Suggestions anyone? By the way, sorry bout my bad english I'm really a sophisticated SOB that knows hot to build computers and such (no joke) but my typing skills are lazy and I'm just spitting out the crap that is coming off the top of my head. Oh yeah and I dri

It is a 1999 affinity strat, made in China. 3 single coils, 5-way switch, 22 frets, 2 tone controls, volume. Standard strat features. You get the idea

The pickups are very noisy on pretty much every setting, some less than others, but they're all noisy. I'm using it with a zoom 505, and that can quiet it down a bit, but it's still freakin noisy. This guitar can have a good high sound, but it fails with bass. There isn't much variety in the sound you can get from it. I normally use it for hard rock and metal type stuff, and its lacking in that area.

The original action was a bit too high, but acceptable. I adjusted it and made it lower. The pickups aren't set up too well but I haven't taken the trouble to move them. The tremolo really throws this thing out of tune quickly. Neck is straight though. The tuners absolutely SUCK. I would highly recommend upgrading them as soon as you get this guitar.

I haven't gigged with it yet, but I would trust it. Seems fairly durable, but the tuners won't last long. Strap buttons are fairly solid, but I wouldn't call the guitar very reliable.

I haven't used it, but i heard Fender doesn't give a crap about their customers.

I've been playing for close to a year now. This doesn't have much of a sound range... can't get much distortion out of it. If it were stolen or lost, I would probably get a cheaper ibanez instead of buying this again. This was a good guitar to start on, but for anymore than that, it sucks. I would give it a 9 for beginners, but for anybody else - 4.

PS - if anybody's got any good ideas for zoom 505 patches, i'll be happy to tell you some of my good ones if you give me some. i like patches with a metal/heavy sound.

pretty much the same as a fender strat, just a little cheaper....

the sound is decent. the pickups 1,3,5 make the 60's (amp wave length) really buzz, but for what i paid it is pretty darn good. I took it apart once and fiddled around with the pickups and stuff so I made the sound my own.

The action was awsome when i got it, but i put some heavy gages on it so i think it needs to be adjusted. It feels like nothing else, i can play it like a dream. the finish is also awsome. Perfect black body, and the neck isn't glossed so your fingers don't stick when sliding.

i've only had it for 3-4 months but i've dropped it numerous times and it still performs so what can i say

have had to deal with em'

overall, this guitar does what i want it to so i have no complaints

21 frets, s/s/s, black with white pickguard. the tuners suck cock. they're really loose and crappy. black with white pickguard. overall, i don't like it that much

ehhh. it's ok. i'm using it through a line 6 spider 210, and it could be worse. it's very noisey in the first pickup position. wish it had a humbucker. it sounds kinda kool if you have a slightly heavy distortion (like insane on the spider)with chorus and the guitar in last pickup position.

as i said before, the tuning pegs are crappy. the volume knob causes static if it's on 5 or 6. i had to adjust the bridge at the bottom

i'd laugh my ass off if somebody brought this sorry excuse for an instrument to a gig. the high e always snaps if i tune it by harmonics, and the b never stays in tune. after the first time i cleaned it, the pickups and bolts all rusted. it's worthless

do yourself a favor and don't buy this thing. you'll thank me later

this is a typical strat, 3 single coil pickups, 5 way selector, u get the point

this guitar suits my style very well, i play mostly bush, and nirvana on it, stuff like that. i play it through a carvin mts3200, and it feeds back like a son of a bitch!, oh well what do you expect from a $125 guitar. it has a thin, empty sound, kind of, on some amps it sounds like shit, on others great. i put a humbucker in the bridge position(highly recomended), and it still feeds back really bad, but sounds a hell of a lot better than before.

setup=shit, pick up adjustment=shit. whats bookmatched??? the neck makes me pop a boner! its just they way i like it, i love to play this guitar just cos its light, and the neck feels great!

it seems pretty durable. since i got ot for so cheap i plan to upgrade all the hardware and pick ups, it will be more depended on after that. i would gig w/out a back up

never dealt with em

its a great value, and if you have the cash and love the way this guitar feels in your hands, just upgrade the hardware and pick ups. if it were stolen or lost i would eventually get a new one.

The year on this guitar is 1999. I got it at Northern Kingdom Music store in Rockland. It was made in China. I hate that guitar some much. The guitar has two tone knobs. And I a 5-way selector.

The sound sucks. If you put sound limiter it takes away some of the noise but not complety. I try to play creed & Meticalla with this guitar. I play it on a Crate GFX-20 amp with a Zoom 505 multi-effects processor. It is noisy on all setting.

The factory setup were ok but i had to adjust the action of the strings. The finish was pretty nice and the fret were in good conidition.

The finish of this guitar sucks the paint peels off all of the time.
The hardware will last but i am wondering how long the guitar will stay together. I can't depend of this guitar. If you use the tremolo
it put all of the strings out of tune. I would not use with guitar at all for a gig.

I have been playing for about 1 year. Noone would steal this guitar i would have to pay them to steal it. I would not get that lucky if that guitar was lost. I am going to an Ibanez S470. I hated everything about this guitar. I have compared this guitar with an Americain made Stratocaster. The Strato destroyed my guitar. Don't buy this guitar buy an Ibanez they are much better guitars.

Something all guitars have
pickups etc

Well if you have know idea like I did then it sounds sic, now that I have an idea (3 years later) I think I was lucky, man i've heard some shit ones, mines still to thin, needs some beef.

Tunes OK, here's the deal: I've Dropped it numerous times - no scratch
dings etc, back when i was at school a tapped it on the desk, CHUNK-O-RAMA! I don't get it!

It's comfy!

It's all I got, it survives live.

Beginner - 10
Anything other - Screw It!

I think its from China. I got it a year and a half ago. The usual Strat stuff. Three single coils, 6 strings, 21 frets, you kow the rest. I've learned everything with it and now I'm ready for the big time, so I can't complain. Watch for my band. We call it "GuilloTeen" (get it?) We're into the heavy sound like Korn, Everclear, Slipknot, and Limp Biskit.

It's OK to learn on. It would be good for the classic rock sound, like the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Pantera. But we're cutting edge, so I need a Ibanez 7 string for my tone. Right now I ply thru a Squire Sidekick, but I want to get one of those Gorilla Tube Crunchers for playing concerts. Strats are for geezers like Clapton. Remember about the graffitti in London that said Clapton is God. Well that's bullshit, cuz he's too old. Head is now the guitar God, and everybody knows it. He's my main influence. Along with Wes Borland.

Just gimme a guitar and I can play the HELL out of it. I've got a year and a half of playing behind me, and I'm ready to rock, people! Watch for my band - GuilloTeen. You'll be hearing from us.

Works every time.

Like I said, its OK to learn on. But it doesn't fit my heavy style so good. I need that Ibanez to go to the highest levels. Right now, my band is just me and the bassist, Trent. He's awesome, too. We just need to find a drummer who can keep up, then we'll be on the way to the TOP! All the drummers we've plyed with are wankers who just want to pound too loud and steal the spotlight. Screw that. We're all about TONE, man.

It is a GREAT GUITAR FOR WHO KNOWS HOW TO PLAY!!!!!!! These guys that have never used a single-coil doesn't know what they are talking about!!!!!!!!!!

It have a GREAT CLEAN SOUND and a very good distortion when you use 2 single-coils at the same time.

It is seted up from at the factory, so you don't need to pay $1000 for a Luthier.

I have this guitar for 27 years and I didn't change anything on it, and any Luthier touch it!

What? I heard about a costumer support but I have never used it.

PPPPPPPPRRRRRRRRREEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTYYYYYYYYY AAAAAAWWWWWWEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The features are the same as on all these other reviews. I'm only going to talk about the problems I had with this guitar. Horrible tuners,(if youre gonna use alternate tunings, they need to be replaced)
Neck however was great (better than most fender american strats but im sure this was a fluke)

I play rock and metal so this isnt exactly ideal. The pickup only have two sounds, clean and sludge. horribly thin even for single coils. its a beginner guitar and i dont recommend fixing this though because its not worth putting money into. i cant understand how anyone(beginners) can give this above a 5

came set up with buzzing strings on every fret. the guys at guitar center are such assholes that rather than take their crap, i fixed this myself. there is some sort of sharp object in the bridge that keeps breaking my strings when i play hard. probably from fenders mass production. like i said before awesome neck, and not too bad of a finish but other that that ive had problems with the tuners, knobs, selector switch and a creaking when i use the whammy bar

i could play live, but it would still sound like crap. nothing seems like it will last. strap buttons are always bad on pretty much any fender.

fender doen't stand behind their products, so don't expect them to help you with this. I'm gonna buy a new guitar soon (not a fender) and this was my first guitar so now i know what im looking for.

its a $130 guitar and thats what it sounds like. my advise is this. if your gonna play rock and metal, save up and buy a gibson SG (its the only metal guitar that sounds good clean. if you want to stick with the single coil, and they do have their advantages, buy a G&L, they are made with fender custom shop quality and are more affordable than the high end fenders. gibson and G&L both stand behind their guitars (even the lemons) so buy from them instead

its a begginers guitar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

sounds like a 130 dollar guitar should ya cocks

thats your decision.fret board is nice

its not made of styrofoam

dont know

if you like distorion why would you get a guitar with single coils?

'98( got with strat pack), has 22 frets everything standard...s/s/s. The tuners on this guitar aren't very good. A tuner locked up on me and i had to take it apart to see what was wrong. It turns out that the gear had come off the tuner! I put the gear back on oiled it,l so i would't have another problem. Like i said it was a strat pack, so it came with all the bare essentials.

Fit's my sound perfectly! I play mostly 60's rock, and Nirvana, so it makes a perfect sound for that. I also have a Boss DS-1 distortion pedal, which helps the sound put some more.

Very well manufactured, no flaws that i can find.

VERY durable! I have had the guitar for about a year-and-a-half(1st guitar) and it only has a few minor dings.....besides it takes and awful lot to hurt a fender(from what I hear).

not needed

Very happy with this guitar. I am looking to get a Fender Mustang or Jagstang in a year or two. Watch out for the tuners..there crap! I am going to try to get some better quality tuners sometime soon. Needs re-tuning about every 3-5 days with regular playing and standard tuners.

It's actually a quite well made Indonesian strat in may - 1999
Teal Blue i think with s/s/s set up, although after taking the thiung apart i found it possible to fit h/s/h. Two tone and one volume pot. 5-way selector switch and trem-arm that stays in tune pretty well providing the intonation is set correctly.

Made of some crappy wood coated in plastic. well, it looks and feels like plastic anyway. nice 21 fret maple neck and fingerboard though. also curved, not flat so the pick up magnets are set staggered. Crappy pick ups but they dont sound too bad, or didnt till i got my second guitar

The sound wasn't too bad till i got a Fender Pro-tone telecaster. Now it's pretty bad. I used to think it was good. It does have good treble sound but when it comes to adding a bit of bass it is truly pathetic. I run it thru Zoom gfx707 - marshall bb2 - marshall supervibe chorus - ibanez ts5 - crybaby - Marshall cd50 amp.

This sort of makes up the sound a bit but it's not a scratch on my newest acquisition. Still a good back up on stage though

Suits my music however - radiohead, dire straits, stereophonics etc although it does lack a bit of sustain on the higher notes. can get a bit tinny too

well, the intonation was a mile out when i got it. The pickups weren't too bad but they needed a bit of adjusting for my action. the strings were set too high aswell. The rest was fine although the jack input does come a bit loose

It's now only a second guitar on stage but i would still use it (if i was drugged up to eyeballs, drunk out of my mind and couldn't tell the blue of this guitar from the red of my new one)

Ok, so that's exaggerating a bit but i dont think i would choose it as a first guitar anymore. Mind you, it does seem to like annoying me by not damaging in the slightest, no matter what i do to it

I've only been playing a year and a bit now but i feel i have become quite accomplished in waht i play. I wish i'd asked how long it would be before i came runing back saying "this guitar is crap" but it's done and dusted now. The strat-pack amp is built like a tank though. I've even thrown it off a stage and it wont break. I want it to break and it wont. It's like, this amp wouldn't even win a contest to get out of a factory quicker than a marshall amp. It just stinks.

I'm not certain what year it was made but i know it was either 98 or 99. It has 24 frets, 5 way selector, s/s/s. The pickups are stock(in other words, crappy) and i plan to replace them. I dont know what wood this thing is made out of but it has a pretty good sound. It's a standard strat and has pretty good sound.

I play mostly rock and alternative and some blues. I have a little Peavy 10w practice amp that i am borrowing, hopefully i can get a new one soon. The guitar sounds good clean and excellent distored. It has a nice bright sound on all of the pickups, the neck has a bit more bass, the middle has a nice mid-range sound, and the bridge has a nice amount of treble.

The action was pretty good but i had to raise the bridge a bit to stop the buzzing. Everything else was set up alright from the factory, but i had problems with some of the wiring.

This guitar has been dropped, stepped on, and almost anything else that can be done to hurt a guitar and it still works. I think it'll last a while. I can depend on it for live playing.

Haven't had to deal with the company.

This was my first guitar and i've used it for about a year. I would probably buy a different guitar if this one was lost or stolen.

I think it was made in China, 21 frets, 5-way selector, s/s/s, rosewood fingerboard, tremelo, non-locking tuners.

It is very good sounding for blues and rock. I use it for grunge rock too. I use it with a Squier Champ 15 amp and a Crybaby Wah. It is noisy with overdrive on 1, 3, and 5. On clean channel it sounds great with the neck pickup. I can get a relatively good hard rock sound with the middle and bridge pickups.

My guitar had tons of buzzing on it and was very annoying. So I made the saddles to almost as high as they go and the buzzing went away. the pickups were set up almost perfectly. I got one noticable scratch, but what are you going to do. The volume control was loose, but I fixed it.

I would use this guitar for live playing cause I have no other guitar. I think it could stand live playing. The strap buttons are solid, and I would use it without a backup (I would have to).

I have been playing for 1 year. I have a Squier amp and a Crybaby. I soon will be getting a Fender Princeton 65. I would buy another one if it were stolen. I love this guitar. I have compared it with a Ibanez RG? that was $200. My guitar was better, except for the buzzing and pickups noise. It was well worth whatever cheap price was paid for it. Fantastic Value

I bought it in 1999 at GC and it was made in Indonesia. All the features have been descibed already. I have no idea what kind of wood it is made out of. I've had over a year to evaluate it.

I use this guitar to play rock and blues. I'm currently using it through a silverface Champ with a Weber P8Q speaker (no effects). It isn't any more noisey than to be expected of a single coil pickup guitar. In fact, I never notice any noise at all! The pickups have a nice sound and are higher output than the Mexican 50's Strat I also have. Bottom line: I like the sound of this guitar!

The action is set pretty low on my guitar, but I'm going to have a professional install a bone nut on it. I'm sure that the nut that is on it is made out of plastic. The fifth and first strings sound dead when played open. The guitar has a pretty Arctic White finish.

I'm going to replace everything with gold plated hardware! I think it will look even prettier with gold hardware. The finish is good and seems like it will last. I'll replace the strap buttons with gold straplocks in the future.

I've been playing since 1971. I really like the tone of this guitar! One other thing that I'm going to do is replace the Tremelo with a gold plated model. I don't like the way the stock bridge works. It doesn't work smoothly.
The important thing is the sound of the guitar and I give it the highest rating! Everything else can be fixed.

OK, Not loaded up with stuff, but enough for a beginner...
21 Frets, 1 volume, 2 tone controls.
Standard strat pickups, 3 single coil
Rosewood Neck, strat body, stringthru body
more than enough fora beginner.

It's sort of regular sound, the three single coils are quite noisy tho. Fits my style ok, I play alternative
I use a tiny crate amp, sounds nice under distortion,
If you set it to the neck pickup both the tone controls at 0, it sounds mellow and sweet.
If you set it to bridge both the tone controls anywhere else, it sounds more biting..
Lotsa variety. I like the sound, it's a strat sound.

I can't say much about the action...
Pretty much everything was fine, the finish was bright, nothing chipped, but the strings were a bit weak.
The only thing that's annoying...
The input (or output, im not sure) jack's nut is loose.

That's all, it's ok,

Very durable construction. I would definitely use it live if I had nothing else, I would otherwise use it as backup. The hardware will last, it's pretty strong. the finish is good, it hasnt chipped or been scratched yet, and a I haul it around a lot, it gets bumps and stuff, but everything is ok with it. I can depend on it.
I would not use it without backup, because i guess it could break if something went wrong, but it's a good construction.

I havent dealt with fender or squier

Great guitar, for a beginner. Ive been playing not too long, but i know my guitars by now. If it was stolen, I would get a different one with better pickups, but, it's a great guitar anyways. What I hate about it is that it has all the dials and the pickup switch in a bad place. They get in the way.
I wish it had better quality pickups.

made in china. 21 frets. basic strat s/s/s. maple neck, body is "select hardwood". my friend sanded his and it didn't look plywood maybe poplar but i doubt it. crappy tremolo. cheesy tuners but get the job done. got this guitar in the strat pak which is a pretty big ripoff but i got it for $230 so it was ok.

i play mainly just rock. pure rock and a little alternative (zeppelin, aerosmith, everclear) and this guitar did not suit my taste. but that is because almost all my guitar heroes used les pauls and we all know strats and les pauls are 2 different worlds. i use it into a line 6 spider and use to run it into a cheesy squier 15w amp that sounded like poop. pickups hum alot but they're ok. the guitar can make alot of strat type noises because it is a strat! i think it sounds somewhat good it will proabably stay with me forever as my strat (maybe new pickups and tuners and it will be pretty good). its a good sounding guitar for so cheap.

the guitar seemed pretty well set up out of the box never had to adjust the neck (i think i need to though the action is getting high). pickups adjusted good. really nice feeling guitar and good for so cheap.

this guitar is a nice guitar for $130. really, i'm going to keep it around as my backup guitar i am pretty proud of it. i think if you treat this nice and keep it in its case at home it will last forever. plus, a guitar like this is good to carry around to places you don't want your real nice guitar to get dinged up so you throw this thing in a case and its out the door. my friend took his apart completely even the neck then put it all back together. seems to work well! i wouldn't gig with it but thats just common sense.

i've been playing over a year now. i own this guitar and a dean evo special. the dean acts as my 'les paul' guitar and this one acts as my stratocaster guitar. this is a good beginners guitar and lasts a long time as a back up guitar. i can't really complain, i got a well built guitar for very cheap. now of course when i say "very good" and other praises in this review i'm referring to household use and small practices. i would not gig with this guitar because its mainly a practice guitar. i'm sure you could gig with it but it wouldn't go over too well. probably get alot of feedback.

so if you want a good beginners guitar and a good backup guitar, this guitar might be your buddy.

read the others

read the others
hum on 1,3,5 but its single coil
quit your bitching

good for the money

by the time this dies you'll know what u really want and wont need it.
its durable anyway

deal with your shop/dealer, screw the manufacturer

This is ezily the best guitar in this price range, regardless of what style u play... best for beginners who are unsure of they're "style"
best axe for the cash, 'nuff said go get it

made in china-1999. 21 frets. 3 single coil p/u's;1 voume 2 tone. rosewood fretboard and artic white finish. standard vibrato system/bridge.

before i bought this guitar, i read the many bad reviews written about it here. but, i bought it anyway. i wasn't going to do a review, but someone has to do this guitar and the Fender/Squier name justice. i'm 30 years old and i've been playing guitar since the days when Studio 54 was alive and well (and i was barely out of diapers). so read this review knowing that i KNOW what i'm talking about. This guitar is very good. 15 years ago you could pay alot more for a guitar that couldn't hold a candle to this modern day affinity strat. and it's not a "beginner's" guitar...it's a guitar!!! before i discuss how it sounds just remember- if you want your guitar to sound good, then you have to learn to play good. if you've only have played for 1 or 2 years, don't blame the crappy sounds you hear on the guitar! go take a look in the mirror,my friend. anyway this guitar is perfect sounding when it's in a clean setting. perfect for rock, country and blues. it can be used for metal too folks! just get a Zoom 505 pedal and you can play hard rock. and on top of that,
the Zoom pedal makes the guitar sound like it's worth $1500. remember, it's not a les paul. strats are known and were built to sound "twangy"(high treble). best part of all if you decide to install more powerful pick-ups, the guitar will sound even better. i have Select/EMG's in an '86 strat of mine. they are inexpensive, powerful and quiet. i have the original single coils in the affinity and i like them just fine. also remember- all single coil pick-ups hum...not just the ones in a squier guitar. just be glad fender took the time so they operate quietly in the 2nd and 4th position.

the strings needed to be raised slightly to remove fret-wire buzz. the finish is beautiful and flawless. remember to wipe clean the metal parts at the end of everyday. if they rust or corrode, it's because you neglected them. again, don't blame the guitar maker if this happens! it can happen on any guitar.

unlike most of the reviews i have read, i will say that i would use this guitar to play live. but if i was some of you, i would wait a few years until you actually know how to play the guitar.....anyway it's a solid rugged guitar....just don't be suprised if you have to replace the pick-up switch at some point. that happens on lots of strats and copies.

never had a problem that i needed support, but i am a "Fender Historian" and i love this company.

like i said, i've been playing since the 1970's and have owned and played lots of guitars. the biggest point i want to make is this isn't a beginners guitar...it's perfect for anyone. i know from past experience that maintaining a guitar properly is extremely important...it's a daily commitment. if you do this, you will love your Squier Affinity...i love mine! i named it "Cricket" in honor of Buddy Holly. MOST important, if you want your guitar to sound good its up to you, not the guitar. Fender deserves alot of credit for making a quality guitar that anyone can afford....back in the 1980's, when everyone was buying guitars, you couldn't...i repeat- COULDN'T get a brand new guitar as good as the affinity at the affinity's price.

99' model, China. 22 frets, s/s/s pickup config. Agathis body. Solid Baltic Blue finish. Strat style body. Standard Bridge. My brother got his included in the squier strat pack. Includes a video, a set of extra strings, a gig bag, a 15 watt squier amp, and a cable. This guitar has the most basic features, clearly intended for beginners, but I think even the most incapable beginners deserve more. Don't you think that beginners should be using guitars that are easier to play rather than harder to play than more expensive ones ? I'm giving it a 4 in this category because of what's included in the whole package. The amp may be crappy, but at least it's 15 watts and not 6 or 10.

Well, it doesn't suite my musical style at all. I like Metal and Blues. While some would argue that this "Strat copy" is great for classic rock and blues, playing B.B. King on this guitar sickens me. It has a fine classic rock sound and feel, but with it's limited features, that's pretty much it. It sounds terrible with any kind of distortion. The sound comes out cheap and thin, with no tone or sustain. On my brothers amp it sounds absolutley terrible, but not even my 35 watt Brownsville with reverb can save this disaster of a musical instrument. It has tons of frett rattle, especially on frets 1-9 on low E and A strings ( The ones I most like to use for Heavy Metal and those Haunting Melodic Instrumentals I like to write. The only thing I could possibly like about this guitar is that it's compact, reletively light, and reminds me of Jimi Hendrix ( not the sound or look, The fact that sometimes I'de like to set it on fire.)
I hate everything else about it.

What a disaster. What where they thinking? Just because beginners would most likely buy this hunk-o'-junk they think they can get away with charging over $140 for it ? My brother only bought it cause' that's all he could afford, and being his first, he would've just taken anything. I would pay $40 or $50 for this Hideous Clone of a great guitar. As far as the set up of this guitar, It feels as if it was slapped together with tape and elmers glue ( may not be too far from the truth. ) It feels like it's gonna fall apart in your hands. The pickups suck terribly, after a month my brother is already having minor problems with the neck pickup. The frettwires are all uneven and if you look at this guitar from it's profile it looks awful. The pickup selector is just too noisy. But the guitars construction isn't totally crap. The finish looks fine ( allthough the color, baltic blue is hideous ), The Agathis body seems to be good wood for a beginner guitar, and the controls are just fine too. Judging by all it's problems and it's few slight upside, this guitar was put together by Three year olds working a Sixty year old broken down assembly line. this guitar is basically a cheap toy. Maybee an adequate guitar just to have lying around, no, then again, not even that.

Live playing ? it won't even withstand practice. The hardware hasn't lasted, after a month, there are already problems. The finish seems fine now, but it also looks like with a few good years of playing (If the guitar could last that long ) the finish would definatley wear off. The strap buttons suck, I wouldn't play this guitar standing up unless I was gonna purposley drop it at a gig for the sheer pleasure of the audience seeing a piece of crap hitting the floor. It's not a dependable guitar, it's a TOY. I would only use this guitar at a gig as the backup for the backup's backup, and then I'de olny use it if all three of the other guitars completley exploded and dissintegrated into microscopic pieces. On the other hand, it may be fun to bring it to a gig just to smash it on the stage.

Not dealt with them although me and my brother might be soon.

I've been playing for 2 1/2 years, but my brother ( It's his guitar ) has been playing for a month. I've got an Ibanez acoustic and an Ibanez RG-170 ( great beginners guitar. )I should have asked "What the hell was wrong with this store for having this product for sale". If it were stolen or lost I would tell my brother to count his blessings, be glad he and this guitar have parted ways, and go buy yourself something better. I don't love anything about it and I hate everything about it. All the features suck. My brother didn't compare this to anything before he got it but that's basically all he could afford. After the purchase though I compared it with my Ibanez, a Fender standard strat, and a B.C. Rich warlock wich my friend owns. The Ibanez kicks the shit out of this thing seven ways to sunday for a little less than double the price. The Fender standard Strat should be proud that it isn't a squier, at least it stays together and sounds good. And the B.C. Rich warlock although alot more expensive will destroy the Squier in any category. There are too many things I wish this guitar had, It would be a totally different guitar. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT PURCHASING THIS GUITAR it's worthless and awful. Don't even buy it if you're an early beginner who knows nothing about guitars and is on a tight budget. Save up for a better beginners guitar like the Ibanez GRX-40 or RG-170, or even a Fender strat, they're only twice as much, but twenty times better.

This is a follow up report to my review made almost six months ago of my Squier Affinity Strat. Now that I've had some time to do some serious stuff with this guitar, I feel it's time for a "Long Term Challenge," to rip off Popular Mechanics. It's still the same Baltic Blue strat made in 99, with the maple fretboard, same tuners, same EVERYTHING except for strings. I replaced the regular stock strings with Fender Super 250 bullets and this guitar KILLS with them. It was made in Indonesia, apparently that's for imports to countries besides the US of A. It has an agathis (pseudo hard pine) body. Paint hasn't chipped or anything yet. I looked behind the pickguard when I opened it up and found it was HSH routed, so that may be an option in the future.

With a few mods I've made here and there, the guitar fits my style of sound. I'm still using it at my house with my (Now fixed) Fender Frontman 15 Reverb amp. When i perform with the band I'm using a quite nice Fender Princeton Chorus. Yes, it still buzzes on 1,3,5 but I don't really use those positions with what I play. In case you've forgotten, my style is Classic rock, heavy rock, etc. like Pink Floyd, Santana, Cream, etc. Good music. =) I can get good harmonics out of it on pos. 2, since it combines the bridge pup. Roll the tone back and you can get a good, fat sound on pos. 4, which I use for most of my rock stuff. The basic sound hasn't changed, which is good for me.

When I first got the guitar in december, I fiddled around with it. I didn't really know how to adjust a guitar until my band director at school showed me how to make certain adjustments. Since I live in massachusetts, the weather changes in the seasons and requires a change once in a while. The guitar keeps in tune extraordinarly well. I was thinking about changing the tuning pegs, but I eventually didn't because these ones, although difficult to turn, keep the guitar in tune for weeks at a time. Action needed a slight adjustment, but worked well.

This guitar, as stated before, could withstand being run over a semi. Nothing has broken on it yet. Which is good. I think It will withstand live playing, since i've been with our band at a few gigs and it works great.

My Explorer is my backup. =) Never leave home without one, kiddies.

Never dealt with fender.

I just like the damn thing. I wouldn't get rid of it. When i get a new axe, this will be right beside me. I'll make it into a clock, like my brother did with his flying V. This guitar will never leave.

Mine was bought late February of this year (2000), and is a Chinese made model made in 1999. It has the large headstock and chrome enclosed tuners that looked exactly like the ones on the American Standard models. (note not all of the Squier models had these tuners, some had the older F style ones that had a finger indention shape to them and they mostly could not or would not tune properly) I wouldn't care to guess on the wood type of the body but the finnish is very nice, a shiny black body with the bare bones white plastic pickguard. Rosewood fretboard and what I imagine is a maple neck. The tremolo on this baby was the sweetest part. Most of the other Strats in stock had stiff or un-natural feeling vibrato arms but this one feels good and stays in tune well. I assume this one was made on a Wendsday cuz it really is hard to imagine such a well made axe coming off an assembly line. The action is as low as I would have set it myself, the frets and neck were all well set and needed no adjustments. The only thing I have changed is raised the neck and bridge pickups and lowered the middle one. I have the neck and bridge just as high as they can go without the strings touching when i play a note on the last fret. True the pickups are a little cheap and very microphonic but this is easily worked around with the right effects and amp settings. I have found the 2 and 4 out of phase positions to be fine even under the highest gain situations but you have to be more careful in 1,3, and 5. Pickups are the stock three single coils and I had planned on replacing them but have since changed my mind and rock on as is and love it!

I wanted a fender guitar to compliment my gibson and at 129 bucks it was a no brainer. It suits my style and I can get pretty much what I was looking for with the Squier Strat. I get a higher treblier tone and a classic whammy bar style that i think has much more life to it than the locking type trems and certainly doesn't jut out of the bridge the way most locking systems do. I manage to use the bar for even dive bombs right to the pickups and it stays in tume 95% of the time if the stings are new enough and not overwrapped on the tuning pegs. Definitely was worth playing every Strat in the place (even the 1,000 dollar ones) before picking out this winner because some had major flaws and/or could not be tuned or played properly.

All cosmetics are great on this gipfiddle and now only the test of time will tell whether or not the components will hold up. I do always keep my guitars in their cases so i have high hopes that it will be around for a long time.

Everything appears well built and solid, i would gig without a backup but I have a backup...

no idea as I'd usually rather do it myself or bring it to Mr. Music in Allston who does all the work that I know better not to try myself.

How can you beat the deal. My drummer had me help him shop for a good first guitar and we opted for an Affinity Tele that I began to really like so i read some other reviews here on the Strats, played a bunch of them til I found one that felt nice, plugged into a Prosonic amp and that's all she wrote...

This underestimated guitar was made in China, 1999, I think. It has 21 frets.... Volume and 2 tone controls, S/S/S pickups..(Very nice for me). Not really sure of model though..but their plastic. It has a nice baltic blue finish. The body is like a Fender strat replica, although the headstock is way bigger. The bridge is just simple but very strong...Rosewood neck... It came with picks, whammy bar, cable,
strap,and a Fender gig bag..this one was cheap, but really
underestimated by some.

It suits my style like this guitar was meant for me..I play rock/punk/hardcore/contemporary and others... I use this with a Crate
GX15 practice amp through a Zoom GFX707 processor with 90+ effects,
through a DOD grunge and a Boss Xtortion. This thing rocks!!! I think
my pickups are quite different from the rest I looked at the store.
The similar strats had different and lousy looking pickups. I saw this one and started playing it..It sounded way different from the rest. This thing has never been noisy with me. The technique is knowing how to use the 5 way switching system thingy..I use distortion
a lot and on very high levels..You have to switch to the 4th setting
to get quiet..I do this and use the dist. without any problems..
This guitar has really rich and bright sound. Has good tone too..
Using my GFX707, I can imitate tons of artists..A lot of variety if
you ask me..I like everything about this guitar. I only wish it had more pickups...hehehehehehehehe....

I got this at Mars Music. They sell quality merchandise.Good
and very good pickup adjustment..This thing is proper in so many ways,although the bridge isn't the greatest..This thing was top quality when I got it..Like brand new..and it still is..This wasn't
some knind of used material..When I look to buy something, I'd rather
get something new than used...No glitches as far as I know..I love
this guitar!!

I've giiged this for countless times..Inclusing jumping around with it and playing hard on it too..Strap buttons are way solid...I surely
can depend on this thing...Like I said, I have gigged with it, and I never needed backup...

It had a warranty with it..I think 1 year..But I never had to deal with Fender.

I've been playing for a long time now. I just wish it had more pickups and a better bridge and tuner...If stolen,I'd certainly check
something better..I compared it to some Gibson guitars and this is pretty good..(for the price)I recommend buying this if you're looking for a very good guitar for a cheap price..

"crafted" (yeah right) in China

21 Frets

Nice finish (baltic blue)

Have S/S/S configuration (plan to change it)

Rosewood fingerboard

Plywood body

Normal Fender Tremelo

Came with wammy bar and hex keys

I usually play rock, hard rock, and metal

I use a Line 6 Flextone XL (digital amp) so I get tons of sounds

It sux under distortion

Good intonation and the pickups were fine

I gave this a 10 because it is just what I wanted, a piece of crap. I'm 14 and i was looking for a project guitar. I have never changed anthing about a guitar other than strings and I wanted to learn to wire it and all the electronics. I plan to change the pickups for Semyour Duncan Hot Rails stacked humbucker in the bridge, a DiMarzio Fast Track 2 stacked humbucker in the neck and then just change the middle with a lace sensor. I'm gonna change the nut to a roller nut and the tremelo to a Hipshot Multiple-Tuning Bridge and the machine heads with Sperzel Trim-Lok Machine Heads. Also I'm gonna change the white pickguard to a white pearloid one and (If i ever get good enough at this wiring thing) install a push/pull 250K pot and coil tape the bridge pickup. This is just what I wanted.(I would have bought all the parts seperatly but most bodies cost more than this guitar)

Made in China. It is a really cool blue color, I believe it is called Baltic Blue. It has 21 frets, 3 single coil pickups, a single ply, white pickguard, and it is thinner than a standard Fender. Very similar set-up to the Mexican Strats. It cost me $150 dollars

I play punk rock, and I wanted a cheap guitar that I could play until I saved up enough to get a Fender Toronado. This guitar sounded allright at first, but after playing it for a while, I recognized some problems. First of all, I am playing through a Fender Princeton Chorus. I love this amp. My Epiphone Firebird sounds sweet through it, but the Strat sounds to buzzy. It makes terrible humming noises on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th positions. I know it is bottom-line, but the feedback is pathetic. I thought it was doing this because I was using to much gain, but it buzzes even on the clean channel. It does sound really bright though, which could work for my music, but it won't work right without sounding generic and cheap. I play mainly MxPx, Blink-182, and The Ramones type stuff, I think a humbucker would really suit me better.

As I said before, the paint looked great, but it chips really easy. I finally decided to cover it with stickers, it looks very sweet now. The string action is nice however, and the pegs keep it on VERY well. It has never fallen off of me, which is rad cuz' I'm always hoppin' 'round. The pickup selector also makes a clangy echoing sound when I touch it, and the volume and tone knobs are too sensitive, and act like a mic and pick up noise from my hand brushing against them.

This guitar has worked allright so far. It hasn't cut out on me yet and it stays in place. It doesn't sound of high enough quality though to be played at a big gig (mainly because of the hellacious feedback it gets.) I would definately carry a backup however.

Fender is great. They are the greatest company ever. Very helpful. I am a true Fender man. Hopefully I will have my dream guitar--the Toronado soon.

I would not buy this if you plan on playing anything with distortion. It is far too noisy. I wouldn't leave the Fender camp however, go with their other cheappies, the DeArmounds, they sound great. If it were stolen, I'd buy a DeArmound to have as my backup.

This is hopefully the last follow-up to my reports of 1/29/00 and 2/8/00.
The problems with the sound (the hum and cutting out) eventually were traced when I opened the guitar and found the the ground wire from the jack had parted company with the pot it was soldered to. It had broken, not become unsoldered.
I fixed this and ever since then the guitar has acted fine. I intend to rewire the whole guitar when I get some new pickups.
Re the sound: I had only heard this through a guitar amplifier when the guitar repair guy played it. It sounded good, and because the repair guy's amp was hidden behind his bench I specifically asked him what it was (all I knew was that it was a Fender of some kind). It turns out that it's a FrontMan 15 reverb - hardly the kind of amp to make a cheap guitar sound great! All kudos to Fender for making a guitar that sounded good with an amp at this price.
I bought a replacement pickup, which I thought was a Bill Lawrence blade stacked humbucker. It blew away the stock pickup in the neck, so I called Bill to get a couple more. Turns out that what I'd already bought was a fake! I paid $55 for a fake pickup when Bill sells the real thing direct from www.billlawrence.com for $36 + $5 shipping. Be warned! Even if it says "Bill Lawrence," it doesn't mean it *is* Bill Lawrence.
I still haven't bought pickups from Bill (hopefully I will this week) but I did buy a Line 6 POD which makes all the pickups on the Strat sound good.
So, to reiterate - this is a bargain. A Fender VP on the Fender Forum says that incidents like mine are rare. I believe him because if everyone had the same troubles Fender wouldn't make any profit on them because of warranty claims.
Since buying this I have looked at the Fender Made in Mexico Standard Strat and the American Standard Strat. While both of these feel better acoustically I couldn't justify the price. I also tried a Yamaha Pacifica 112 and I would advise anyone who could afford the $200 this costs to try it. However, you should also try the Squier Standard Strat as well.
But for anyone who sees the Affinity for around $129 and thinks "That must be a piece of cr*p for that price," just try it. You'll be amazed. I'm already making excuses to myself about how I really *need* an Affinity Telecaster and/or a bass.

1998, or 9(?) it seems to be a leftover model since it was "Blow out" priced, and has slightly different features than the current ones. It was made in China. 22 frets. Unknown wood, but feels and sounds like Alder. Standard Stratocaster pickups(staggered polepieces, which seems to be pretty rare in the Squire line)and the regular compliment of Strat controls. Maple Neck with Rosewood fret board, small(Pre, post CBS style)headstock. "Artic White" finish(Looks more like a creamy blonde though, very pretty), White one piece Pick Plate(11 screws). Came with Whammy bar, allen wrenches, no case.

This Guitar has a very Sweet sounding Strat tone, lots of Quack in the in between positions, and nice and juicy in the neck alone, and middle alone positions. The bridge pickup is the weak link, it doesn't sound bad, but it's just basically a more trebely version of the others(This holds true for the more expensive Fender Branded Strats too, though.) I actually prefered the sound of the Squire over several Mexican Standards, which I tested on the same amp at the same settings,(A VOX Path finder, in clean, and distorted mode) the Mexi's had surprisingly less volume and punch. I intend to replace the Bridge Pickup with a Seymour Duncan Little 59 humbucker - which I have experienced on another Squire, and it sounded AWESOME, great snarling Gibson like Blues tone, and yet it still sounds completly Straty when combined with the middle pickup. The Pickups don't seem to by very noisy, at least not any more than the ones on the "Real" Strats(I've owned a few California ones of various vintages, and this Squire sounds a whole lot like them!) Pretty much the same deal as with any Stratocaster - swap the bridge pick up with a powerhouse, and you've got a great Axe for just about any style of Music.

The Action, and intonation are as good as any Strat I've owned. Pickup adjustment is fine. The Machine heads are obviously of cheap origin, compared to the Mexi, and American(and even the more expensive Squire)standards, but they seem to work ok - about as good as the CBS "F" heads from the '70s. The one piece white plate looks good on my creamy white model - but it looks kinda cheap and tacky on the darker colored ones - I'm going to replace it eventually with a MOTO Pearl, which will really give it a Classy look. This Guitar plays like Buttah - no exess glue guming up the frets like you usually find on budget models, and the wood on the neck looks great with nice swirly grains. I can't really think of any complaints in this area, considering the cost of this machine, it's pretty darn Amazing, actually. Once I get better tuners, this Guitar will definatly be a keeper - even as it is, it reminds me quite a bit of the '68 I used to have, and always regreted selling.

I wouldn't use this Guitar for steady gigging, unless you put better tuners on it, the ones that come with it seem to work - but they shure look cheap, I don't think I'd trust them to take the punishment of performing Live on a regular basis. The rest of the gear seems ok, the bridge is solid, and has the CBS style saddles. If you get better tuners, this would be a great Guitar to take on the road - because it looks, plays and sounds like a Cali made Strat, but if it got trashed or stolen, you're only out pocket change! I'm giving it a 5 ONLY because of the Toy tuners - with a better set, I'd give it at least an 8, maybe a 10.

I've never had this serviced, it's pretty simple, and everything works.

I'm giving a 5 rating here for Squires in general - because there are good AND bad ones out there, but for the Guitar I bought, I'd give it a solid 9, if it had been equipt with heavy duty machine heads, I'd make that a 10. I've been playing since Dinosours ruled the Earth, I've owned several "Real" Strats - ranging in vintage from a 1968 Cali made early CBS(My personal favorite)to a 1987 Japanese model. I can honestly say, that this Squire is about 90% "There" as far as being what I look for in a Stratocaster - a few hardware, and cosmetic enhancements, and I won't be missing that '68 so much anymore! I would caution anyone in the market for one of these though, to try SEVERAL of them before you lay down your money. You will notice that the quality control on these is all over the map - if you get hold of of a good one, it'll make you wonder why anyone would want to pay 6 times the price for an American Standard - but get hold of a bad one, and not only will it not stay in tune, it won't tune AT ALL. I have heard Horror stories about People getting real Lemons in this catagory - but just use comon sense - if the thing is all THAT BAD, why would you walk out of the store with it?! By the way, I got this Strat at a leftover "Blowout" sale price $100.00, the "Current" ones go for $130.00. Also note that the features have changed, the new models have a slightly thinner body, and they went back to the bigger CBS style head stock. These variations don't seem to effect the tone, or playabilty, but I kinda prefer the thicker body - the new ones look slightly Cheesey when seen from the side next to the costlier ones.(I suspect Fender may have done this on purpose, since the earlier ones were a little too close to the real thing for comfort, perhaps they thought making the Squires look a bit lower budget would sway more buyers towards the costlier Mexi, and American Standards.) Overall, I consider myself quite Lucky in finding this Gem, cheese ball tuners aside, this is definatly a Stratocaster that compares very favorably to most Cali built ones. The specs on these tend to change, I think Fender just farms them out to the lowest bidder, but there ARE really good ones out there waitng to be discovered. So if you want to get that classic quack at a next to nothing price, look around and definatly try before you buy - one thing is for shure, it's ALOT more fun to be pleasantly surprised by a $100.00 Guitar, than it it is to be dissapointed in an $800.00 one!

This guitar is an exact copy of a fender stratocastor except it is made with cheeper parts. The features are a strat shaped body, tremelo system, 3 single coil pickups, 5 way pickup selector switch, rosewood fingerboard, plastic tuners.

I mainly play thrash metal (slayer,slipknot,biohazard etc) and to be honest this guitar is shit for this kind of music. The guitar was built for blues and soft rock. I anyone out there is even thinking about taking this thing to a metal gig i would have and escape root planed as the crowd would probable try to get on stage and break the guitar

The guitar needed a tiny bit of adjustment as they kept snapping but i sorted that problem out easily.

After saying how good the feratures of the guitar were i am going to have to critisize now. At my first gig i was thrashing the gitar like hell when all of a sudden the top strap button fell of and the guitar fell to the ground. The damage was the neck pickup wouldnt work nor would the selector switch and half the paint had come off the front of the guitar. That is one fucked guitar. AT the next gig i took this guitar along and at the end smahed it on stage, however someone after the gig picked the guitar out the bin and have subsiquently fixed it for under #10.

The guitar is currently being played through a fender frontman 15r with a gfx 707 effects unit. This guitar is crap so i bought a ibanez gax 70 and most recently a jackson ps3 signed by fear factory. DONT BUY THIS GUITAR IT IS TOTALLY SHIT

I go this guitar in 98 so i guess it was made in 97. It was made in China. It has 22 frets and the worst and most easily chipping paint job. It has 2 tones one volume and a five-way selector, it uses the s/s/s pickup config'. I got the one with the rosewood fret board but i think the maple looks better. The only thing it came with was the tools that really do nothing for the guitar

This is a very versatile guitar but only because it is based on the strat. if ur looking for some good tremelo action you've picked the wrong one , it detunes easily. Actually i was able to break my tremelo off. It got stuck in the guitar and wouldn't turn any way so i yanked it and the thin (some kind of metal) broke off and now i can't use it. It is very noisy no matter what u plug it in to.

THis thing was set up alright at the factory of course at the time i couldn't tell being my first guitar. Actually it was the third one i brought home. THe first one chipped while i was bringing it home! the second one had some weird fuzz every time i hit the 5th and 3rd strings. And the third one was alright at the time.

THis guitar will not withstand live playing. First of all i would never bring it out in public just for the sheer fact that it's a squier. Second of all it never stays in the straps especially if ur the type of player that likes to move around a lot. The selector switch on mine went crazy. Maybe soemthings wrong with the wiring but when i switch to the neck pickup the guitar goes mute! I might use it as a backup if the place was really dark and my other guitar exploded.

No

I have been playing for two years, But i have progressed really fast and just have more needs than this guitar can provide. I own the boss distortion pedal which i think is too weak and A Brownsville Choir boy amp. I wish i had know more about guitars when i purchased it. THere are some many great guitars for this price range including the Epihone LP special II and the SG specialII also ibanez has a better begginer guitar. TH one thing i love about it is that it grows on you . IT's light and easy to just pick up and start playing anytime. It's sleek and has easy access. I prefer an Epiphone LP studio or the G-400 Custom. I wish it had better pickup s and everything else.

Squire bottom of the range Affinity . "Crafted" in China . Normal Squire strat features ; Maple bolt on neck, rosewood fingerboard . S/S/S cheap pickups . Red finish, white scratch plate . Vintage style tremola system . No Accesories ( I bought it from a catalogue that sells TV's etc...0

Until I tried other guitars I thought it sounded great . Then I tried my brothers Epiphone Special 2 . The strat sounds bright and clear (not far off a "real" strat). But has a (and I don't like saying this) "cheap" sound . It's an excellent beginers guitar, if you can't stand Gibson/Epiphone . My advice is this :
go around and try out guitars (don't just buy it 'cause Jimi or Angus have one).
If you choose a squire strat go for the standard series (not too much more $/#), with a maple fingerboard .
Don't choose Red go for black or white .

My guitar was set up VERY well, however there are rumours that squire quality goes from almost Fender-like to dismal fall apart in your hands . As i've said try and see your guitar in the shop . Changing the pickup selector sounds like a gun going, but this was my only comlaint, although you've got to watch that the control jack doesn't come loose (happens all the time) and the volume knob fell off (easily fixed) oh, and the tremola system puts the guitar chronically out of tune . But that's all

This guitar is quite tough, i wouldn't throw it down the stairs though . The neck chips easy, and the SQUIRE transfer can be scratched off . It's a well built guitar though

Have'nt dealt with anyone, however if anyone out there lives in Stirling (Scotland) they should buy from Andy Simpson, he really knows his stuff . Not roadshow music .

If you're considering this guitar, then my advice is go for a Epiphone Special 2, or an SG G310 . If any one has a left-handed Epiphone or Gibson SG for sale under #200 . Contact me .