Fender Squier II Strat

made in 1990 in korea; volume, 2 tone dials, and a 5-way selector switch that sometimes made the sound go out completely. but since then, i got it replaced and it works beautifully. it had 3 single-coil stock pickups, but i changed the neck pickup to Fender Gold Lace sensors and it sounds bitchin now.. i'm about to replace the other two with the same. maple neck (i don't know about the body)and blood red satin finish. the bridge is starting to rust, but it's still holding up. the tremelo was bent (probably by the previous owner), but i never use it anyway (besides, it makes the strings go out of tune). the tuners were hard to use: they didn't turn very smoothly, but i since replaced them with Sperzels, and they work great.

i've compared this to an american standard strat, and the sound is, amazingly enough, comparable (probably because i always use the neck pickup, with the tone turned all the way up.. sounds less tinny that way). my theory is that it's all psychological -- US strats, of course, FEEL better on the fingers, so they tend to almost SOUND better because of it. and since i've replaced the pickups to Gold Lace Sensors, the sound quality is really really excellent and, in my opinion, even better than the US strat with stock pickups. i run my Squier II through a Marshall JCM900 (marshall distortion is the best!) and various Boss effects, and it sound just plain awesome... thick and heavy with the neck pickup. i can make it sound like the pumpkins easily.

the pickups and action was just fine when i bought it off my friend (of course, him being the guitar expert, it would have to be). however, the pickguard screws are rusted (but the pickup screws weren't... hmmm. sounds like different metals in the screws). the tuning pegs are a bit cheap, but i replaced them. the fretboard is glossy, i'd rather it not be, but it really doesn't bother me too much.

this guitar has been through hell and back with two equally clutzy owners. i have never broken a thing on this guitar except for strings. the finish is pretty durable so far, strap buttons fine. i can totally depend on this.. i usually use this as a backup guitar for my gibson SG standard, but strangely enough, i have more faith that this one will hold up in the end. save for the breaking of strings, i would use this one without a backup.

never contacted the company

i've been playing for five years, own a gibson SG and my good ol' marshall half-stack, and the sound comes through the best with this fender through my marshall. the fretboard isn't as lovely as the US strat, but i can live with that.. paid less at least. i love the fact that i totally revamped this guitar from being a stock-everything to having the best tuners and pickups, and sounding just like a $1000 guitar. for those of you who complain to no end about your cheap-squiers-wish-i-never-bought-it-in-the-first-place, just spend a bit more and replace things on it. don't let it go to waste. experiment!!

1990 made in Korea.22 Frets. Pickups S,S,H (unknown make and model). Controls Volume,Tone(bridge),Tone(middle). Body made of pressboard,red with no pickguard.Looks pretty good with black pickups and no pickguard. Neck appears to be Pine(probably maple). Like the feel of the neck,but had to tighten it down was loose when I bought it.Changed tuners to sperzels because of constant tuning problems(helped tremendously)

Use wah and DOD FX7. Bridge sounds good but very noisy.Bridge and middle less noisy,but still noisy.This may be due to lack of pickguard for shielding. Humbucker sounds good but a little thin.Next project to change pickups and maybe rewire for tone adjustment to humbucker.Volume pot a little noisy when changing volume and middle tone has to be lifted up to adjust, not sure if this is by design to keep tone from being changed. I found a great site on strat wiring on Harmony Central. I haven't been there in a while but it was at johnatchley.com.

As stated above the neck was loose. Intonation was terrible. The neck was straight but had to adjust string height because of various buzzes. After not to many uses had to change input jack because of intermittent(constant)outages. My wife helped me with the soldering she used to work at Fender when it was in Fullerton,CA and she told me she could't believe how sloppy the wiring and soldering were.

This guitar would not be a good live choice maybe not even a good back up live choice. Guitar is great for practice and jamming with friends at the park. I plug into a Pocket Rocket and then into some 3 watt headphone speakers. Actually doesn't sound too bad. If it got stolen during my travels, I would be more bummed about losing the sperzel locking tuners than the guitar itself. 8 years may say a little for duability but I keep it in a hard case.

Never dealt with company. I've done all repairs and modifications myself. $149 kinda take the pressure off screwing it up.

I've been playing off and on for 26 years. My first electric was a 1960 Fender Mustang, I still have it but I took it in for a new nut and pickup and they screwed it up almost beyond repair.(sob)I would love to by a new guitar but its hard to plunk down $1000 bucks for something decent when yesterday I was bitching about $200 dollars for my daughters 8th birthday party. I sure wish I'd met my wife when she worked at Fender, I'd proabaly have a couple of top of the line American Strats.