Fender Squier Stratocaster

um.. i dunno.. same as your average strat i guess. global volume, and tone controls for the neck and middle PUs. oh, and your standard 5-way strat switch. the PUs are single coils, xcept for the bridge which is a humbucker.. um, i guess i'd have preferred a single coil in there. not because the HB doesn't sound fine, it's just that i'd like to have a guitar with single coils and another with HBs [eventually]. the pickups are standard fender single coils, and an unnamed HB. it's a passive-wired guitar, of course. um.. now that i think of it, the neck PU may or may not be wired out-of-phase because i took it out and put it in again w/o looking at the wiring. the neck is made of that dark wood [i don't remember the name right now but there's basically two kinds of strat: dark neck and light neck] which i really like and find really nice to the touch. i used to own a guitar with a light neck, but it had lacquer on it; this one hasn't, and i find that more comfortable. the body is made of some cheap wood of which i haven't seen much because it has an opaque black finish. i'll never buy another black guitar. i don't know what i was thinking.. it's so ugly.. it has the standard strat body shape and bridge. i don't use the whammy bar much, however, cause i find it greatly reduces string life. i had to have a couple springs added to the bridge when i switched from 009s to 011s. the tuners are really crappy, as un-smooth as they can get. i had a set of gotohs in my previous guitar, and they were amazing. the neck is not as fat as a les paul's i've played once, but fatter than a jackson [which i hate]. the neck is what i like more about this guitar.. it just feels so natural. the guitar came on its own, no case, gig bag, no nothing.. and it's made in korea

well.. i think strats in particular suit any music style because they're so versatile.. no wonder they've held up 50 years. i play whatever comes up, as long as i can, but never straying too far from standard rock. i'm using it with a boss blues driver, a zoom box, a practice amp and a couple of homemade fuzzboxes [not all at once, of course]. sometimes i also borrow this or that pedal.. oh, and a wah. of the 5 positions, only 2 are hum-free.. the bridge [hb] and the neck and middle combination. lately i gave up on the others cause hum is drives me nuts. not that it's particularly strong or that i play with ridiculous amounts of gain, but i just can't stand it. the sounds are really full.. the bridge pu has a mushy [as opposed to jangly] sound to it because of being a hb.. but i'm fine with it. it sounds much better for crunchy rhythm that my friend's all-sc strat, which has a somewhat disgusting clangy sound to it. otoh, single coils have this [particularly noticeable in leads] squeaky quality to the pick attack which i really like and it's not here. the in-between positions are really jangly and nice. the middle pu i don't use much on its own, i think it sounds pretty plain.. the neck pickup is nice though.. i often find myself rolling a bit of the tone off so that it sounds somewhat smoother, not so clangy.. on the whole, the guitar is on the brighter side.. it'd be even more if it was an all-sc strat. the sounds are really varied, but i won't rate it a 10 cause i know there are much better guitars out there..

i don't remember the particular way this guitar was adjusted the day i brought it home, but i guess it'd have been pretty normal since i don't recall having any problems with it. the pickups protrude about 1/4" from the body of the guitar, if that makes sense to any of you.. i never adjusted anything, wanting to keep it as stock as possible, my previous guitar having been tweaked to death .. i'll never do that again. one gripe i have about this guitar is that one of the frets must be badly filed because some of the notes cut out around the 12th fret.. i had it aligned once and it went away, but now it's back.. i hate it, really interferes with my playing. the finish is flawless, and has withstood pretty well over time, looking from a certain distance. the volume pot's shaft broke once, but that's about it.. my friend's strat is so much worse.. everything is loose on that guitar. oh, and one last thing.. one of the wires going to the pot came off once, but a 1-minute solder job took care of that..

well.. the finish has some pick scrapes, but nothing bad.. the hardware doesn't seem particularly strong.. in particular the tuners look some- what flimsy.. about the finish.. i thought about taking it off altogether, but i don't know what's it like under it and i don't wanna end up with a crappy looking guitar.. besides, it has withstood well, it'd be dumb to do so. the strap buttons must be amongst the worst things of this guitar.. both of them came off several times and i had to remount them.. they've settled down right now though. overall, i guess i can depend on this guitar, and other that perhaps a broken string it'd withstand a gig perfectly well.

no, haven't dealt with'em

let's see.. if i'm not mistaken, i must have been playing for about 5 years now.. when i got this guitar, i actually was looking for a stan- dard strat [black body, white pickguard] but they didn't have it in stock [this one has no pickguard btw.. rather ugly]. as i already men- tioned, i love the neck. i also love the fact that next time i buy a guitar i'll already know what to look for.. as for other guitars, i've played several, mainly friends'.. but then i'm no connoisseur, so .. but i sure love that neck this guitar is perfect as it is.. it definately has its own niche and has come to the perfect place in the perfect time.. if it got lost or stolen i'd get another strat.. just because they're great guitars on the whole.. but i'd also like to get a les paul-type guitar ..

21 frets, made in Japan, three single-coil passive pickups, tremolo unit, rosewood neck, 1 volume and 2 tone knobs

this guitar is good for those who want a cheap strat to mess around with or those who are just beginning
sound quality is nothing to write home about
guitar is noisy on all settings

action and intonation are generally poor and inconsistent all of the components and hardware are pretty cheap finish was nice though

I would never play a gig with this guitar the strap buttons don't hold the strap too well otherwise it's reasonable reliable

never dealt with them

this guitar is good for beginners and people who want a cheap Strat to mess around with