Fender Squier Stratocaster

Well, I got this strat as a gift from my grandfather, he played it probably 5 years ago maybe. The year is unknown, probably 1998 as a guess. It was made in Korea, and included: Fender case, two budget cables (which aren't very good), a Fender strap, and a set of extra strings. The equipment is great for starting. The tuners were cheap chrome finish, I assume that they are Fender. The bridge and tremelo are basic Fender, passive electronic 3 single coil budget pickups. There's a 5 way selector which kind of buzzes when you switch. I did like the sunburst finish. I don't know what the body wood is, I think it is Alder. The neck is also Alder, with a mahogany 22-fret fretboard. Over all, it has great beginners' features, but that's almost it.

This guitar can play good country and classic rock, but almost nothing else. It probably can have a different style, but the thing is you have to change the cheap strings to better strings. The ones that you get from the box affect the tone badly, I changed them and they sounded a lot better. Also, the amp I got was HORRIBLE. The tiny Squier amp has very low function. You can only adjust treble, bass, and volume, the most basic parts. Get a new amp if you are going to buy the stratpack. Replacing the pickups with Lace sensor or Seymour Duncan would make this guitar sound a whole lot better! If you don't change the pickups, you get fuzzy chords, and on the bridge pickup, you will get very very high annoying treble sound. Altogether, don't expect good music out of the box.

The nut is very bad, I replaced mine with graphite sounds a whole lot better. The pickups were also very bad, replace those too. The guitar I got was very tough, I give credit to the factory for that, and the wood is good for a cheap guitar. The only problems I had was the tremelo bar making the guitar out of tune quickly, and bending too. The tuning pegs are ok, I thought they were ok, so I didn't mess with those. Also, the tone knobs didn't really change anything, I think they broke when they were made in the factory. Change the nut, and most of the hardware when you buy this guitar.

Great durability! This guitar would probably last a lifetime and a half! I wouldn't need a backup for this IF I brang this to a gig. (I wouldn't bring it to a gig personally, I'd be embarrased.) But if so, no backup required! The strap buttons are almost perfect, they can get loose after a while but just screw it back and you're good. The only bad thing is the nut, which falls out easily. I would've rated this 10, but the nut is not very reliable.

Didn't need any.

This was my first guitar, and so far it has done well. If only the sound and hardware quality was a lot better, this would be one of my favorite guitars! BUT I hope I don't get this same guitar again. Great finish, durability, get this guitar for a good beginners/practice guitar.

Made in indo.2008. Candy apple red. Sweet maple neck. Nice finish . Solid squier tuners . Fretwork is good no sharp edges. The body is solid agthis and its a full size stratcaster like the made in mexico standard strats. The 3 single coil Pick ups are stong and sound great but they have a bit of a hum like most single coil guitars that i have owned. The neck is 22 fret. Nice Bridge with a trem but i blocked the trem i dont use a whammy bar.

Well strats can cover it all kinds of music ,pickup changes can help if you want to play metal with this guitar
Just throw some dimarzios into it and let it rip!! You cant go wrong with a strat good to have at least one in your army of guitars! I use all kinds of solid state amps and tube amps with this strat it sounds really good .Full sounding stock pickups.

This Strat was beautiful right out of the box. Bit of buzzing do to the frets not being level
easy to fix with a fret level. now plays clean, no buzz.

This is a solid stratocaster dont spend you money on a made in mexi when you can have a great strat for less than half the price with your extra cash you can mod if you want to.

I love Squier, I own there teles and strats and 2 squier basses Never had to deal with them.

Ive Been playing way to long to remember. I own alot of guitars. The fender squier line to me
has always been a favorite of mine. You just cant go wrong with the standard series stratocasters and Vintage modified series of telecasters and Basses.

well, it was made in the early 90 - 95s*, Its a Japanese Squier Stratocaster California Series, which i LOVE, yes it is a Squier, but remember that nowadays Squiers are built scarily accurate and better than 10 years ago,21 Jumbo Frets with pearloid inlays, 1 Volume 2 Tone Controls, normal Strat set up, 5 way-selector, S S S pickup configuration, the body is from alder, and it has a rosewood neck, it also has a skunk stripe in the back of the neck, and a BIG C shape headstock, the finish is NICE but this guitar is very VERY RARE! it is in a DARK GREEN with flakes or something color, RARE COLOR, ive never saw a green strat before, atleast not this green!, the tuners are good ! it goes out of tune sometimes when you play like a week without tuning it, and it have the squier logo on the back of each tuner.

yes it suits my style of playing, i play psychedelic indie music, but mainly GRUNGE, well i have a crappy peavey amp, but im playin it on a fender princeton and it blows away! the bright sound is good, but it has a little hum, yes hum, but which single coil does not ?
i have a Boss Ds1 and a Boss superchorus ( yes grunge like effects )
it has a very sounds to go for, come on, it is a strat not a FENDER but is a strat and thats ok with me, i really like it, i will put some seymore duncans later but it is excelent better than a few mexi strats i found.

well this is the BEST PART with this guitar, i know that this is not a regular squier, so duuude this one is well made, the action is good and low, just like i like it!
it does not have any buzz, and the neck and body is REALLY nice to play with it, the pick ups are well made and they have this yellow like color
vintage thing which is cool!, i got this guitar used, but it is like brand new and it has almost 3 years! with the original owner, i would say that the only flaw is the selector swich i dunno, but i feel it weak, but thats an easy replacement.

yes it will stand, i would gig with it, i even done it already, and it has last for me, the straps are ok, and it is my main guitar.

none of them

ive been playing since 2000 and i have a fender mim too, and i prefer this squier, if it were stolen or lost, i would definitely buy another one, squiers are good!, i like very much the feel of the guitar, i hate the pickup selector but i will replace it, this one is like a high end mexi strat really it is, dont discount them, they are really good guitars :)

The Squier Stratocaster Standard black&chrome is a black-painted guitar with an also black painted (matching-) headstock, chrome hardware and pickguard, a 2-point free tremolo, SSS-pickup configuration, tele speed knobs which are very useful for violining and a modified tone circuit. The neck has 22 normal-sized frets and a plastic saddle. The tone circuit is modified to a les-paul-like power-wiring, i removed one tone poti because of the broken pickguard. Now I can produce some wah-like shrieking sounds I love very much because anybody has a strat like mine ^^.

Sounds great but that pickups produce sometimes a annoying humming sound because of the singelecoil construction and I miss the sound of position 1 and 5 in the reverse-positions 2 and 4. Position 3 I nearly never use.
Position 1 sounds a little bit flat I guess, but the fat-rich sound of position 5 is very amazing. If you play solos with heavy overdrive it bawls really cool, also the percussion with a powerful tube amp. NEVER USE IT WITH ANY KIND OF BOSS DISTORTION! It will tear your ears off! I'm using my Strat (black&chrome) with many amps (I've only a homebrew Tube-Amp with a VERY strange sound and a peavey Rage 15), a CRATE 120W, an Peavey classic 20 and, my favourite, a Fender ROC PRO 1000. The ROC PRO produce a very nice sound with it and also the flat, high sound of the first singlecoil became nice. This strat is nothing for a Hendrix sound and for some heavy things it's a bit too weak. But it's ideal for playing a solo which cut through the whole band sound. I think I'll replace the bridge pickup by a DiMarzio Blade or something like that.

A friend of mine bought a very great Squier Strat Deluxe so I choosed also a Squier strat, but compared to his, it's a lot of crap. I don't know why but his neck is more fat but very greater playable. I can't remember the factory settings because I modified nearly everything so there's nothing to say. The finish is suffering from plectrum scrapings, and there's a lack of paint because the guitar had fallen off a chair. The chrome pickguard looks very nice but mine loose a great part with the first tone poti mounted on because it crashed with the ground. So I've a big hole there but I'm too lazy to remove the whole pickguard. By the way, all pickguards of the black&chrome series are VERY sensible against mechanical stress.

Hm, yeah, what to say? The body looks bad after a year, because of the broken paint and pickguard. The frets also loose material during the one year I have it now. I played the Strat only one time live and I was very amazed by the feedback sounds but I went one time too near to the amp and got a nasty microphonic sqweak out. The tremolo unit is a difficult thing because it's system anticipiates a easy tuning because if I tune a string, the tremolo also changes it's positon and the other strings are a little out of tune. This happens also if I'm bending the strings heavily, the saddle clamps the G and the B string, also annoying during tuning. The strap buttons are okay but the screw of the lower one is always unscrewing fastly. I fixed this with a match in the screwhole and two gaskets from beer bottles. But all in all, the guitar is a such solid construction that I don't need another guitar for backup. (exept I need an other sound ^^)

I haven't any contact with the customer store but I was in a music store in Rostock and asked for a new pickguard, for ???30 I can get one. Even the chrome one.

To put it in a nutshell, the Squier Stratocaster Standard Black&Chrome is a nice guitar to get on the Rock, exepting the tuning problem, the fragile pickguard and the crazy neck. I went to Music town in Neubrandenburg where I bought it and let them adjust the neck and the bridge saddle, but it doesn't help very much. I got told the neck is set in in the wrong angle. To fix it, the whole neck has to be removed and set in with a v-notch. An expensive game for an ???260 guitar... If I wasn't so owerwhelmed by the bidding of the store I maybe had coosen an other guitar. But the look said to me "I've to be yours". Most I like the tremolo unit because I don't need the lever, it's very nice for producing chorus like sounds. The tuners are fine, I replaced a part of the high-E -tuner because it broke by hitting the ground. Yes, I would buy another strat if mine is stolen (I won't hope!) but then I've to try it more in store before I'll buy it. If I wish, I'll replace the first pickup because of the too weak sound. At least, the volume poti is noisy because I hit it when using the tremolo lever.

I bought this in 2004, as part of a pack. The thing was simply labelled "Squier Strat", so i cannot work out if it is an affinity, standard or what, it seems to be a mixture of both. It's got a smaller headstock, which isn't on the affinity or the standard, the tuners aren't too bad, it has 22 frets, like the standard (affinity has 21). It innotates well enough though.

The features on it, unsurprisingly, are near identical to the real strats, but it is made with cheaper components and doesn't sound so nice.

First off, i had to ditch that crappy Squier SP-10 amp. it was just too crap to use, I use a Vox AD-30VT now, it works quite well. The bridge and neck pickups on their own are a bit noisy, its frustrating, but it's not intollerable. Positions 2-4 on the selector switch are not so noisy, but these 3 sound near identical (positions 1 and 5 obviously sound quite different). Now that the guitar has settled down, I'm starting to find hidden qualities in the guitar. It hasn't got a bad action, it looks good, and surprisingly it doesn't sound too bad (obviosuly it doesn't have the tone of a les paul) I can get some surprisingly good tones out of it and it has more sustain than i had expected.

For the first month or so, everything kept falling off. The socket fell into the body, and it works its way loose quite frequently, the tuners get loose, the whammy bar broke off in the bridge the first time i tried to use it, i had to get the end of it out with a drill, and it was very loose after that, but stayed in. The bridge is too close to the neck, so to innotate it i have to move some of the screws back as far as they go, i can innotate all but 2 strings perfectly, those simply don't go far enough back. The strap, lead, amp that came in the pack with it needed replacing, the book and CD were useless. It seems to have settled down now, it's playing nice (pun).

I have a theory that Squier guitars are simply fenders that fail quality control, and so have some fender components and are finished off with crap. It seems to be pot luck as to whether a specific guitar is close to a fender or just cheap crap.

I also own a really nice Vox AD-30VT amp and a Digitech GNX1 multieffects processor, as well as the usual bag of goodies (capo, tuner, etc.)
It if were stolen, I'd buy a better guitar, probably an Epi les paul [like everyone with an epi LP, i want a les paul, but im too cheap/poor to get one ;-) ] but so long as this guitar works, i'm not going to replace it, it does have good tone and is easy to play.

In the end, you're only going to buy this as a first guitar; you want something low-budget, but not cheap crap; easy to play; easy to maintain (change strings etc). The Squier strat delivers all of these.

Lots of reviews here seem to say it's crap becuse it's got single coils, it's crap because it's got curved frets, its crap because it doesn't have a floyd rose tremolo. Well to those people, i say this; "You're a bloody moron for buying the wrong sort of guitar, don't blame the guitar becuase it's not the one you like, blame your own unforgivable stupidity." (this also goes for all those folks who buy a marshall amp to play numetal, and then slag it off because it's not a mesa boogie dual recto)

1985 E-series Japan made(the best) strat. Black. 21 frets. Maple neck/fretboard. Basic "features". Small frets

This was my first electric. Bot in 1990. So glad I kept it, these things are worth $ now and with good reason, it's a good quality ax that has gotten better w/age. Neck has yellowed, so have the pickups. I retired it years ago when the frets were getting bad, flattened and dimpled. MY heavy handed fault! Although the frets are those thin ones that kinda suck for bending and chords. I recently bot a fret refinishing kit off ebay(Thomas, Highly recommended!) and brought it back to playable. This thing sounds amazing! Wide range of sounds. No need to change pickups. Sure the bridge pup is a little thin for clean but works great with dist. Cuts well. Neck pos. is FULL. Pos. 2&4 are funky cool. Mid is thick with a nice trebly top. This ax just got better without me knowing it. I will refret and it will become my #1 gtr. And I have some pretty nice axes, too. Pure vintage strat tone, Love it.

All good. Would prefer a unfinished neck like my Ibanez Roadstar but I guess that has it's drawbacks. Excellent workmanship. I am totally sold on the 80's japanese gts. They really made some great stuff. This guitar has NOTHING in common with newer Squier's.

Was my only gig ax for years. Everything is solid. Stays in tune. All stock.Only thing that didn't hold up was the frets. I will take a couple points off for those.

I own lots of guitars from Epiphone, Fernandes, Ibanez, Ovation, Fender and amazingly this Squier that I almost gave away years ago is one of my better axes. Find an old Japanese one like this. You can't get much better. Even if you spend stupid $.

This was my first guitar, a 1987 Japanese-made Strat with 19 frets (I think), 3 single coil, 5-way, black body with white pickguard, rosewood neck - at least, it looks like rosewood, it's probably just some sort of generic black wood - plastic nut, regular Strat-style wang bar, you know.

When I bought this I was a bass player and couldn't afford to buy a guitar amp, so for the first seven or so years I played it through my Vox Venue 30 bass amp. It sounded...I think "thin" and "dull" are the right terms, the "rosewood" fingerboard not helping. Then I got a Pignose, and it sounded scrappy and interesting, especially if you turned it up. Through a cheap Kustom 20W practice amp it acquired more character, and now through my Marshall 20W Valvestate it can sound positively gutbucket, if you put it through a compressor and crank up the volume. Over the past 19 years the pickups have lost a lot of whatever it was they never had much of in the first place, but in return they've acquired a generous amount of rust inside and out, so now switching from one pickup to another sounds like somebody sandpapering a record stylus. It was never very full, but it's now definitely tinny.

Have to say, this guitar was stunningly badly set up. Within hours of owning it I'd had to learn to re-set it up myself, and within a week I was a veteran of the Allen key. The action was way too low and the intonation was all over the place. The first time I changed the strings, the tremelo unit leaned out of its hole in the body as if it was craning to see what was going on; I had to go to the shop and blag extra springs out of them. One day, about three months after purchase, the whammy bar just snapped off in my hand. Getting the remaining nub out of it's hole was no fun. I bought a replacement and that snapped off too, so whenever I wanted to divebomb I took to sticking a screwdriver in the hole. That worked fine until I bent the screwdriver, and the threads in the hole are now too bashed about to fit another proper wang bar. The grooves in the nut were far too low and ever since I've bought it I've had to stick paper shims underneath the strings, being too lazy to get a new nut. The hardware, once immaculate, has rusted beyond recognition. The frets were bent and dented after only a year. The cover on the back of one of the machine heads just fell off, one day. This guitar was a dog from the word go.

If this guitar can take the amount of impatience, maltreatment and general physical violence I've subjected it to over the years and still make any kind of sound at all, it's a small miracle. I wouldn't ever use it in a gig without a backup; in fact, I wouldn't ever use it in a gig, unless I were planning to jam with Sonic Youth. One day I may take it to a shop and have it completely rewired and refitted, but I'll tell them not to fill in the gouges in the body, nor to clean off the bits of old duct tape and faded Black Flag stickers. They're part of its history. Once a piece of crap, always a piece of crap.

I've never tried to have this repaired, being too ashamed to take it into a shop.

I'll never sell this or give it away; it was the guitar I learned to play on and for all its infuriating rubbishness, I love it. It sounds awful, plays horrible and looks like a piece of rubbish. But plugged into a Marshall with a Marshall ED-1 Compressor, a Cry Baby, a Boss Overdrive and the Gain turned up, it will do its best to sing the Star-Spangled Banner. Bless its little Japanese machine heads.

Oh but seriously, I wouldn't ever buy one.

I bought this American made Squier Stratocaster in 1990, and paid the equivalent to 450 Euros at the time. Just as a comparison, a JMP-1 from Marshall at the time cost 510 Euros.
It was not an expensive guitar, but, it wasn't also cheap, and I thought I was buying a quality product at the time, as it was an U.S. made instrument.
It's made of solid wood, unlike the Korean and Japanese made at the time. It has 21 frets on a maple fretboard, 3 Fender standard single coils, black painted body with white pickguard, classic tremolo, passive electronics, non-locking tuners and no extra accessories.

My first bad surprise came with my first chords on my JCM900 amp. I had played with it in the store, but, only mechanicly.
The sound came out too thin and almost no sustain, plenty of feedback, and surprisingly noisy when I was not playing. Not to mention the crackles and scratching produced by the controls. I had played many low quality cheap guitars until that day that sounded almost as bad.
Returning it to the shop was not an alternative for me at the time, so I spent quite a few weeks debugging and improving it after a few months.
I was looking for a Pink Floyd kind of sound at the time, and this was anything but it. I had a Digitech GX-7 processor at the time, which was used for mostly chorus and delays, and with the compressor and equalizer I managed to draw a few acceptable sounds out of position 3 and 4 (middle and middle-neck), but still very short of what I had managed with a strat like Ibanez I used for several months.
Excecive highs almost no mids or basses were the trademark of it.
After I rewired, I added a polarity reverser switch to allow me to have the neck and middle PUs in series, which I used with the bridge PU in parallel, which was the sound I used from there onwards, all the time. Still it was bad.

Mechanicly I have only good things to say about this guitar, with an excelent action, and ease of tune which the tremolo managed to keep despite all the use. But I think this was luck, because the rest doesn't match.
For starters, there was no shielding whatsoever on the pickguard or anywhere else for that matter. Every knob and switch use resulted in noise.
Pickups were not propperly tuned from factory, but, I didn't care about it as I know how to tune them myself, but still, that is not acceptable.
The wiring was not good at all. I found out that the groud wire was loose, and only worked because it got tangled in the tremolo springs, it was otherwise loose from the place it was suposed to be soldered in the spring holder in the back.
At least the neck was exelent.
Had I not known how to fix the electronics and it would have been almost impossible to play with it.
I had to shield the whole control/PU cavity and the pickguard, replace the jack plug and solder the ground wire to where it was suposed to, readjust the tremolo springs and buy new screws as the jack plate holes were too large for ones used in the factory and the jack plate got loosen just from unplugging the cord. A final detail, the upper middle screw hole in the pickguard. It stood right inside the PU cavity, so they glued a piece of wood inside the cavity for the screw to hold.

Despite all the problems I had with this guitar, I have to admit that it withstood quite a lot, without ever failling mechanicly. The action has always been exelent, the paint never cracked and the neck and body are still in great shape. I adjusted a Schaller straplock which never gave me any problems.
The tuners are still very precise after 15 years, but, the bridge rusted as did all the original screws after a few years. Just for reference. I left the guitar unnused for 5 years, between 1998 and 2003, and when I picked it up again, with the old strings still on, they were flawlessly tuned, and played for nearly 3 hours before I decided to change them without loosing tuned, despite the horrible sound :-)

I never dealt with the company, as I had no way to contact them at the time, but, the guys at the store were my victims. There were 2 of them that gave me all the help I needed to solve my problems. Unfortunately they left the store ages ago. And so did I...

I used this guitar for 8 years, and mechanicly it is an exelent instrument, but, electronicly one of the worst I ever came across.
I should have plug it into an amp before buying it :-) which was a huge mistake.
I wouldn't buy another Fender as long as I can remember this one, as I have played with cheaper and better overal instruments.
I bought an Epiphone Les Paul Custom in 2003, which is far better built than the Squire. And considering it cost 350 Euros in 1990, I should have bought it instead at the time.
I also own a Digitech GX-7 and a Boss GT-6, as well as a Marshall JCM900 head with a 2x12 Marshall cab.
The Squier is now being rebuilt by me, with new harware and electronics, because the neck and body are too good to waste. If this baby had lectronics to match the mechanics, and it would have been a 9, as it is, it's a 4.

Made in China. 21 frets, daphne blue, 3 single coils with staggerred magnets, comes with tremolo arm but tremolo is fixed, maple neck, body?? Chinese wood?, I would call thin frets, the edges of the frets are very sharp, not rounded, only allen ranches and tremolo is included

Sounds good as a beginners guitar..I bought it form my 9 y/o daughter..Other option was the small squier stat with short scale which could never be tuned in when I tried at the store..As compared to that one this is 200% better coming with the same price. Bought Marshall MG-10 seperately..Through this amp clean tones are surprisingly good, even you can get some Twang through tail-middle pick-up switching..Single pick-ups are noisy through distortion which is eliminated by switching to two-pickup configuration..Then I put it through my Boss and Zoom pedals and 20 w Peavey amp, well I could create the Pink Floyd Sound (The wall, Animals)..Surprisingly good..

Action was high when it came in. I have to paly with it.. With the treomolo fixed like hard-tail strat, stays in tune even with some abuse..Neck is not comfortable, fret work is cheap and it realy hurts your hand and fingers in the beginning if you are accostomed to American/Japanese Strat or Gibson Les Paul..No flaws in alignment though..Not sure about the wood on the body, neck should be a very cheap maple (almost white) with natural finish. Small cracks on the paint job just around the neck-body connection..

I do not think that this was mede for live playing.. It is a good practice guitar for a beginner to play at home or hanging out with friends.. You will not get mad if it is carcked or crashed or stolen..Definitely better than the small squire strat..I will not gig with it period..I will not depend on it as a back-up..But good for playing at home at low volumes through a small practice amp.. Good for anyone who wants to grow out of it with practice..Still much better than other beginner guitars in the market..

I do not know yet..If something happens, would I try it to be repaired? I am not sure..Well hopefully my daughter will grow out of it and I will get her a higher grade guitar..

I've been plaing for over 20 years..I went through many crap before I owned my Gibson Les Paul and Fender Deluxe Statocaster..This guitar is much better than my guitars I owned at my earlier days of playing..Very good beginners guitar for the money and it does not look like a toy..I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a first electric guitar for their sons/daughters..I think this is better than the guitars in the strat packs although they were also made in China..

White Squier stat bought new Sept 1987 for #240. Only left hander in the shop.
serial No. E6322229 If any one could let me know the country of manufacture and the wood it is made from, I would be grateful. Neck is maple with rosewood fingerboard with 21 frets. standard strat combination bridge/ vibrato block.
White 3 ply scratchplate. Schaller style tuners with Fender Japan
stamped on them. 3 single coil pickups and 5 way selector switch.
2 string trees.The decal on the headstock just reads Squier with the serial No. underneath.

Playing mostly fingerstyle I feel so comfortable with this guitar,
I also tend to grab 3 or 4 strings at one time and pull them up before letting them go, which compiments that bubbly strat sound. I play through a Fender HOT amp which sounds good but it sounds so much better through a larger cabinet. I love the sound of a strat, so most of the time I just use a hint of reverb and sometimes
distortion to blow out the cobwebs.

After 18 years of regular use the frets need attention, which is not bad The finish on the body and neck are still high gloss though the white has faded to cream. there are no signs of tarnish on any of the chrome parts but the guitar rarely goes out of the house and is cleaned every time a new set of strings is put on. The 5 way selector switch needed a squirt of cleaner but that's all.

Never used customer support

I started playing at the age of 10 so I have been playing for 42 years.
I tend to sit down and play so the thing I like about the shape is how it has been sculpured to fit the human body also it balances so nicely
on my lap. I don't get involved in which guitars are best, as every body has different needs to suit the style they play. This Squier suits me fine.

Mine was built in 2004 in Indonesia. Basic same old: 21 frets, 3 single coils, 5-way, vol & tone etc.

I was lucky enough to get a 3-colour burst with maple neck. Rosewood (or at least: it looks like Rosewood... )fingerboard. Aything you'd expect buying a Strat-alike

I still don't believe the quality of the sound on this one! I play it at home through a Vox Cambridge and / or Korg Ampworks. Friend of mine plays the real deal (Standard Strat) and was willing to trade me his for my Squier !!!! Probably a lucky shot, but I'm not ever getting rid of it. Full, rich sound. I bought it, thinking I would replace the pups by USA Fenders, but now I actually think it'll hardly be worth the extra cash. This is already really excellent

The finish is great. Not a single flaw. Neck finish great as well (satin). Starting to sound like a broken record, but action was excellent right out of the box as well. Not kidding: no buzz, smooth fret edges etc. Minor tuning and you're off ...

No dout in my mind this can be played live. It looks solid as a rock. My son has abused it many times and it's probably fallen from the stand more often than I've picked it up to play and not even out of tune.

No real experience with 'em. Bought it from a reputable shop, so should be okay

Have been playing for about 10 years now. Not a pro though and should say that the only real regret in my life was getting rid of my 60's SG when I was short on cash. Now,I just own this Squier and an Ibanez Archtop, which is great as well.

If stolen, would probably buy another one although I doubt whether I would be as lucky with the next one. Honestly, sometimes I think somebody in the factory slapped the wrong logo onto the thing.

Squier Stratocaster 1996 (edicion 50th aniversario, letras squier en dorado y logo dorado detras de la paleta), negra, pickguard negro 3 capas (cambiado, el original era el blanco de 3 capas), mango y diapason de maple de una pieza con la tirita de nogal por el reverso, cuerpo (lo mas probable) de madera terciada (pero no estoy seguro), le cambie las clavijas por unas autolubricadas, pero las originales no eras tan malas...3 capsulas simples, alnico cubierta blanca, y...no se que mas podria agregar. llave 5 posiciones, 3 potes, etc, todo blanco.

Desconectada, la guitarra canta!!! mis amigos siempre se sorprenden lo claro que suena aun sin amplificacion. Amplificada es otra cosa, un sonido limpio y cristalino, sobre todo en las posiciones intermedias. el sustain anda por ahi nomas, pero es algo tipico en las stratos. Distorsionada le falta un poquito mas de "punch" pero lo he solucionado con un procesador de multiefectos. Versatil y confiable, a pesar de una ligera tendencia al zumbido, capaz de sonar como quiera que suene (salvo metal mas extremo, por supuesto). Sonido rico en matices y tono "cantarin" tipico de guitarras de maderas duras.

Ligeramente alta, si la bajo demasiado tiende a trastear, pero es mas tocable que muchas otras...cosa de costumbre. Le pondria unos trastes mas grandecitos.

Pobre guitarra, se ha pegado los mejores golpes, y aun asi, conserva su elegante terminacion bastante dignamente. Lo mas destacable de la guitarra.

n/a

He tenido, y probado muchas otras guitarras, y no se porque siempre encuentro en esta guitarra todo lo que necesito, su sonido, su peso, ergonomia, versatilidad y confiabilidad. Nunca me decepciona, suena y se ve como una stratocaster debe ser.
Le he hecho alguna mejoras con los a?os (cambios en el cableado, clavijas, pickguard, etc.) que a mi juicio no hubieran sido 100% necesarias, pero que en algo han contribuido en mantener a esta guitarra de 10 a?os en su mejor estado.
Es una guitarra bonita, que suena bien y resiste muy bien los usos y abusos que le he dado.

Got my Black Squire Strat by accident, in 1986 i think. Never seen one like it. No pick guard, 3- sepperate mini toggless one for each pickup. Coil taps for the brige humbucker, and two more for each of the single coils. Cable plugs in bottom, not the face like most modles. It says Made in Japan, and has the serial # under that. It's all written on the black head stock. The tuneing keys actually are fantastic, even say Fender on each one. Came with a trem. arm, but christmas day, I unscrewed it, aint seen it since, have no use for them. Got a Gibson Les Paul Standard a year later, guess which fretts have the deepest grooves? Sorry Less old-boy. Everyone who's played it insists its some sort of mistake or promo or first ones out. Maybe American parts assembled in Japan, not the Bahamas or where ever these days. Sounds great thrugh the Fender 67 Prinston Reverb I got back in 1986 also. Amazing products. My favorite guitar. It came home in a trash back cause of rain. My dad was out looking for a rat distortion box and being a player also, called and said how about this black strat copy...........plays fantastic, only fifty bucks more give or take. I took. Got the rat also, birthday right after Christmas. Did pay for all my amps, Gibsons, Flying V also, VOX amp, Peavy amp, even an Ibanez faithful copy of a Gibson Les Paul Custom. Still have them all. Back to the squire strat. It is what it is. Wood type, havn't a clue, neck bolt on, rose wood fret board, can't stand maple. The control knobs are all metal like a Tele but also black. Amazing guitar really. Anybody seen one like it out there? DId you buy it? If not your a fucking idiot. Squire strat over Gibson Les Paul in the final round.

Any sound you want. The new Vox amp added another dimention, for years I was content with a Peavy Renown 400 and Fender Prinston Reverb along with my crybaby, rat box, and new strings every now and then. So versitile, you can control every magnet in the damn thing off on, 1/2 humbucker full or no Humbucker. Who ever made this thing was a stickler for versatility and Tone, lots of Tone. Blinding bright or muddy and every place inbetween.

Got it used at Alph Music in VA Beach VA, they have free life time set-up tuneing. They havn't seen it since it left in the trash bag rain storm. Plug in and play. It actually was used, just bought, and traded the day my dad happend accross it.

Make no mistake, strings break, but its always the high E, I get carried away sometimes. Other than that, and some polish once a decade if it needs it or not, I'd gamble and bring only it to a gig, with two extra High E's. It's not a light guitar either, I think THE WHO way back would have looked like fools trying to break this one.

Alph Music Va Beach Va, authorized fender/Squire dealer, I got a Flying V there a few weeks back thier waiting for me to bring in this mysterius Squire Strat.

Im 36 played since 14, i'd hunt and kill the person who stole it. Would I replace it, only if Fender/Squire called me and explained it's origin besides Japan and had more like it. It's always intune, ready to go, turn-key as they say in the car business. My recent purchases have been a VOX Valvtronix with twin 12's, the GIbson Flying V White with Ebony fret board, a Squire Tele special mystery it was called on musicians frinds web site. Light satin maple, brand new, had action lowered once the day I bought it, plug in the bottom, Humbucker at bridge and single at neck. 3 positon toggle, two big Tele chrome knobs, says crafted in Indonisia, backed by and designed by Fender, fit and finish is awsome. THese guitars cost noting. I'm in the market for an M-80 Bolt on neck Squire and the $149 51' with Tele headstock also, cant pass up a deal like that. Prices really aren't different in my case over a 20 years span of Squiring. This guitar chose me, sight un-seen. Took my dads word for it. Good thing.

I don't know when the fuck it was made, but it was made in China. 21 frets, laminated top, two tone controls, one volume control, 5 way selector switch. It has 3 single coil pickups that I suppose are Yang Tzu Squier or something or other. Passive electronics. Body is probably plywood and the neck is maple, like the reviewer before me, it is red and the finish is ok. Everything else is standard strat features, except cheaper. Tuners are cheap die cast, but it stays in tune. Also like the previous guy, this one does not have the big 70's style strat headstock, but instead has the smaller one like a Fender made in mexico model. I bought this guitar for my son as a strat pack with one of those little worthless 10 watt amps. He never played it so I have it now. This ain't a bad little guitar but it ain't the best in the world either. I'll give it a 6 because for the price, it's ok.

Well, nowadays, I play just about anything. I was a teenager in the mid 60's, so basically everything from the mid 60's to mid 70's is what I like as far as rock is concerned. I like blues and I also like country. I'm not into metal, but I do like hard rock such as Deep Purple and AC/DC. Although I've lived in the Philippines since 1991, I am from the south, so Southern Rock and Outlaw Country have a big influence on my playing style. This guitar does ok for country and blues but it is not really a good rock guitar. I quit my band that I was playing in here about a year ago, so I have only kept two amps and that's a Marshall MG10CD which I keep in the bedroom and a Marshall MG30DFX that I keep in the living room. I've never considered any other amps other than Marshall. I've tried them, but for me, other amps just aren't my cup of tea. This guitar is not noisy at all. Has a very bright twang on the bridge pickup and decent blues sound on the neck pickup. The in the middle pickup is basically worthless. I use the bridge pickup for leads and for country, use in between the middle and neck pickups for blues. This isn't a bad guitar, especially for a beginner or even someone who has been playing a long time but is short of cash.

Setup was fucked up. Everything had to be adjusted.

Fuck no, this guitar won't withstand live playing. Maybe you could beef it up by replacing the cheap chinese bridge and tuners with Fender Stuff and drop some Texas Special Pickups and pots in it and it would do ok. Other than that, keep it at home to practice with.

Never dealt with them.

Ive been playing for close to 50 years. I've got way too much stuff to list here. I wouldn't get another one if it were lost and probably wouldn't even get pissed if it got stolen. I take this guitar with me on trips with the small marshall amp.

Not sure what year this thing was made in, but it was made in China. 22 frets, regular strat features, so no need to be redundant about all that. Torino red with rosewood fretboard, has the small stratocaster style headstock with fairly decent tuners and the skunk stripe down the back. You will see a lot of reviews from people like me, who are retired military and live in the Philippines. We all basically have the same guitars and same amps because that's all we can get here. I bought this for 9,000 Filipine Pesos, which is about $180.00 US. If you buy a Fender Made in Mexico Strat here, it costs about 42,000 pesos, which is about $850.00 US, so you may see why we buy cheaper guitars here and soup them up. I have not hot rodded this guitar yet, but I intend to.

I am mostly a humbucker guy. I am a devoted Grateful Dead fan. I also like and play country, classic rock and blues rock and I have come to like some electric folk, for example Steve Earle and also acoustic folk like Malcomb Holcomb and Tom Waite. I even have moods where I play hard rock and sometimes even metal. This guitar is ok for blues, classic rock and country. Sounds good, but not great. It doesn't give you an orgasm if you know what I mean, but you don't want to throw it away either. It's promising for upgrades. I only have two amps, a VOX AD15VT Valvetronix Amp and a Marshall MG10CD. I use a ZOOM 606 effects pedal with the little Marshall. You'll find most of the Americans here in the Philippines are using basically the same stuff. You can get up to the Marshall MG50DFX and the Big Solid State Peavey's here, the VOX Pathfinders, the VOX AD15 and AD30VT Valvetronix and the Fender Frontmans and Champions here and that's about it. I picked the little Marshall MG10CD for the bedroom and the VOX AD15VT Valvetronix for the living room. The guitar sounds good on both of them and even better with the ZOOM Pedal and the Marshall MG15CD. Can't use the ZOOM on the VOX. I basically bought this guitar because my wife messes around with the keyboards and likes pop and country. The pop ain't my cup of tea, but blues and rock ain't her cup of tea either. We just have fun. This basically sounds just like a regular Fender Standard Strat but the pickups are weaker. A little thinner, but you can compensate for that ok with the eq settings and volume on the amp and guitar. It can be bright and twangy and rich and bluesy. Ok for pop, country, classic rock and blues but definitely not a metal guitar. Might be alright for punk and grunge, but I don't play that. I like the guitar, but I don't love it. I have however ordered a set of Texas Special Pickups for it and after I slap them in, I'll write an update and let ya'll know how it sounds.

Fucked up setup. Glad I learned how to fix that. Finish was flawless, just the setup fucked up.

I am a pretty good guitar player, but I don't gig. Always just did it for fun and also love collecting guitars. I think you would have to change all the hardware to gig night after night with it, but the finish is good and the strap buttons are solid. It would be dependable I think with a few upgrades but not out of the box stock. I have never gigged at all, but it doesn't seem like it would be too smart to gig without a backup in case you break a string or something.

Never dealt with them.

Been playin since I was 5, which is about 41 years I guess. Besides what I mentioned above, I also have the same shit most expats here have. I have a Yamaha Les Paul Copy (lots of them around and it's a damn good guitar), an Ibanez GRG270DX (which is an RG270DX made for export to Asia), a Washburn KC600 (made in Korea - lots of them here too) and a Washburn X-21 (lots of them around). I have two Rockstar Guitars, which I think are made here in the Philippines, one is a Telecaster Copy and the other is a Hollow Body Les Paul Copy and they are pretty damn decent guitars. I came to the Philippines 13 years ago with two guitars, one an old Epiphone Acoustic and the other an old Harmony Acoustic. I play a lot of acoustic and I've never really found a reason to buy another one, as I am happy with both of the acoustics I have. I don't really love anything about this Squier strat, but I like it alright. I don't think I would get another one if I lost it or it were stolen. I wish it had a lot of things, but you get what you pay for and you can wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which one fills up first. Think I've rambled enough.

I bought this for my 13 year old daughter for her birthday in August of 2004, so I figure this was made in 2003 or 2004. It came with a Squier SP10 Amp (piece of shit) and a cheap worthless bag, cord, strap, some picks and a tuner. My daughter never played it, so I got rid of the shitty little amp and kept and upgraded the guitar. This guitar is somewhere between a Squier Affinity Strat and a Squier Standard Strat. I say that because their are differences in both. Both the Squier Affinity and Standard Strats have that ugly assed big headstock on it. This one has the small, normal Fender shaped headstock, with Squier by Fender and Strat written on it. The Affinty has STRAT on it and the Standard has STRATOCASTER in big letters, so this is kind of a hybrid. This guitar is also thick like a standard strat and has the skunk stripe on the back of the neck like a standard strat. The Affinity as I recall, also had those crappy tuners on it, but this one has Schaller type tuners, which are pretty damn good. It's a laminated body, 22 frets (like the Standard), Dakota Red, with a Rosewood Fretboard. Have no fuckin idea what kind of wood it is made from, but the neck is maple. 3 Single coil pickups, which weren't too bad, but I slapped a set of Jeff Beck Noiseless Pickups and American Standard Pots in it and it is much better now. One volume, two tone controls and a 5 way selector switch. Basically a Strat for around $200 US. Not bad, not the greatest thing in the world either as far as features go, but then again, who needs all that shit?

I play 60's and 70's classic rock and blues. Think Hendrix, Zeppelin, Stones, etc. I've got about 5 or 6 different amps, a small Marshall MG10CD, a Peavey Studio Pro 112, a VOX AD15VT, one of those Kustom Tube 12 Amps, a Marshall AVT50 and a Fender Blues Jr. This sounds the best clean on the Fender Blues Jr and sounds the best on the overdrive of the Marshall AVT50. Sounds decent on all of them. I don't use effects, a little reverb, and a boss distortion pedal and a Marshall footswitch. It isn't noisy since I put the Jeff Beck Noiseless pickups on it, but had that single coil hum before. The stock pickups weren't bad, a little weak, but then all strat pickups are - except these Jeff Beck pickups really kick ass. Can have a bright or a rich full sound, your choice. Versatile guitar, very worth the money and the money spent for the upgrade. The guitar costed me $200 and I don't count the amp. The Jeff Beck pickups and Fender pots costed me about $150.00 all together, so for $350, I got a much better guitar than a mexican strat - tone wise.

Setup was fucked up. Had to tweak everything. The only actual flaws were that the screws on the bridge saddles were all different lengths so I put a Fender bridge on it for $10.00 and solved that shit. Piece of shit outta the box, good guitar now.

I used to gig, but I don't now. I just play at home. With the improvements, I think it would handle live playing, but not stock out of the box. Finish is good, but the hardware was cheap and I replaced all that shit. Strap buttons are solid. It's dependable now, but I wouldn't have said that when it came from the factory. I never ever did a show without a backup.

Never dealt with Fender

I'm 55 years old, been playing since 1957. I've got the stuff I mentioned above, about 10 various acoustic guitars, mostly epiphones and gibsons. I've got a Washburn KC600, a Washburn X-21, a Yamaha Les Paul Copy, an Ibanez GRG270DX, an Epiphone Hollow Body Les Paul, and a Fender USA Traditional Telecaster. All have been souped up. I tend to buy less expensive guitars and super charge them, not because I am cheap, but because it's a hobby. This guitar is ok, I play it a few times a week.

Made in 1986? Made in Japan, Olympic White (now faded) with white 8 hole pickguard and white knobs, 21 std frets on solid maple neck (shape?), two piece body--probably alder. Japan made 5 way switch and pickups. Fender stamped schaller non-locking tuners. Vintage style trem but with non-iron trem block. The guitar came with black Fender hard shell case and some accessories. I never paid much attention to its details before and have not been in a music store in over 10 years, but recently I read a book on strats and checked out the latest models at a local store and the model that my Squire closely resembles is a '57 reissue from the screws used on the pickups and pickguard to the tremolo--the only exception I found was the tuners.

This guitar suits me just fine. I play it through a Fender Harvard Reverb amp and several Boss pedals. I always wanted to replace the pickups with DiMarzio vintage VS-1's for that vintage sound, but after recently reading a book on 50 years of the strat, I had a set of vintage noiseless pickups and an American 5 way switch installed. The tone controls were wired like a Fender Eric Johnson signature guitar. The guitar is now much quieter but has not lost its single coil sound. I play pop, rock, country, and folk and it seems to hadle it all well.

The trem bridge was a little to high from the factory and I have since lowered it to Fender specs. The fit and finish was excelent and is what made me choose the Squire over an American made Fender in the 80's as the American Fenders at the store did not seem to be routed correctly--the strings were not aligned properly to the pickups. The action seems OK to me. It is not too low for my strumming or too high for fast finger work.

I have accidently knocked this guitar from its stand several times and with the exception of a few dings, the finish has held up well to ordinary playing. The finish has faded which is OK becuase it matches the aged white pickup covers from the Feder vintage noiseless pickups that I had installed. I also replaced the white knobs with aged white parts. I have never had a problem with any of the hardware, it seems to be solidly built. I never had any problems with the orignal contols.

I have been playing guitar since 1979 and this Squire replaced a Sears plywood body strat that I learned on. If it were stolen or lost, I would preferably try to find a good used vintage style statocaster. I would not buy a new Squire. This guitar was a good value for the money.

-Korean made Squier Strat
-21 medium frets
-1 volume knob, 2 tone knobs, 5-way selector
-3 single coil stock pickups
-red with white pickguard

I must say it's damn bugging to tune the guitar every 5 minutes. AARRRGHH!

Well, this is my first electric guitar, I bought it in February 2004. At that time I couldn't believe how great it was. But now I've noticed some problems and bugs in the guitar. I play it with a Peavey Transtube Blazer 15 watts. You can get a decent sound with it, but it takes a lot of work. Pickups...... Oh the pickups... It's damn hard to play artificial harmonics with the neck pu. But naturals sound better with neck pu. Last month I noticed how much noise it makes, though I don't know if it's the cable ;)

Well, the action at least 3 times higher than the RG I played in the store. Notes ring out clearly, it's sort of a blues sound with that action. As I said above, the pickups aren't that responding. It's almost impossible to play legato licks on low volumes.

I like the red finish, it's traditional, doesn't make people laugh :D and it doesn't bug me. I bought it used, so it had some pickswirls and minor scratches, but it was in OK condition when I purchased it.

I've played it twice on a gig (without back-up). It would be suitable for a back-up guitar if the gigs were longer. The tuning stayed perfect, it must be because of humidity. Or something.....

Hardware? There are no signs of wearing or anything.

Never dealt....

I've been playing for 3 years and this is my only electric guitar at the moment, but I'll buy the RG Prestige when I have the money. I have no effect pedals, no fancy racks, cabs, only my Peavey 15 watt-amp.

I wish it had a locking nut and 24 frets. But it's a Squier, so you can have 24 :(

If it were stolen I'd prolly, be depressed, because this guitar has sentimental value for me and I wouldn't like to lose it.

Solid body, made in korea. 22 frets(I think), has two tone pots, one volume, 5 way selector- pretty basic standard Strat stuff. Floating Bridge with Tremelo bar. Gloss Red with white pickguard. All maple neck with skunk strip in mohagany on back of neck. Fender sealed tuners, passive single coils (3).

I like classic rock, with a five position toggle, it can sound almost acoustic on the neck pickup and twangy on the bridge pickup and darker muddier on the middle 3. Does have slight hum, as three conventional single coils, no noise cancellation or anything special. Very bright sound. Only dislike is sometimes I get low E buzz but not normally. I use a Crate 50 tube drive or a Dean markley k20 solid state amp. I don't really use effects much anymore because the Crate has a nice sound but I used to use a Zoom 505, an Arion Tubulator, and Ibanez sonic distortion, and a Dod American Metal pedal.

Action is nice and low but occasionally get a low E buzz. Pickups are adjusted good. Only flaw is pickguard is warped but it's at bottom so I actually forgot about it until now.

I bought this in 1988 and it's still holding up well, slight fret wear but hey, this is 12 years of playing as hobbyist. Finish must be thick, it's still flawless. Strap buttons solid, I can depend on it for sure. Hardware is all stamped Fender, no offbrand stuff here.

I guess it had a one year warranty but I'm not sure- never had to use it nor did I ever had to call them.

I've been playing since 1987(15yrs old) on this guitar;1984 I started period. Nothing regretted, I still love this guitar, its my favorite. I have played on the American Strats and feel no significant difference to justify 1000 bucks more. I say if you are a beginner or just a fender fan on a budget- BUY one. If you are a rich player or a pessamist, buy an American Deluxe Strat and complain about it in that section, don't try to scare off those novices/beginners who would be more than happy with this little offshoot of the Fender Classic for a killer price.

My Fender Squier Series Standard Stratocaster was made in the early 1980's in Japan. It has 22 frets and I think it is a laminated top. Everything is standard stratocaster features, no sense in going through all that. Mine has 3 single coil pickups, and I am told the early Squiers had standard Fender pickups in them. Passive electronics. Body is alder, neck is maple. White high gloss finish (all my guitars are white except my hollow body les paul clone and my acoustics, strat style body, standard tremelo bridge, strings through the body, standard schaller type machine heads, stays in tune just fine, neck is nice and thin, D shaped with a maple fretboard. This stratocaster looks just like a Fender, with the smaller headstock instead of those ugly big ones like the new Squiers have. Mine is old, it has Fender in big letters on the headstock and Squier Series in small letters. Came with a gig bag, cord and strap. This was my first electric guitar and my father bought it for me when I was 15 years old in 1985 when he was stationed in Japan where we lived for 3 years. I've hung on to it and love it. I've changed nothing from when it came stock. I don't think any guitar deserves a max, so I will give this a 9. Looks like a lot of people don't think much of these Squiers made today, but I can tell you that the Fender Squier Series that were made in Japan were excellent guitars and they weren't cheap either.

Well, play lead guitar in an all Filipina woman band (I'm half Filipina). Mostly what I love is alternative country music, classic rock, blues, punk and some hard rock. Our band has to play quite a bit of soft rock and jazzy numbers because that is what people here in the Philippines want to hear. This guitar does it all very well. At home, I'm running this through a VOX AD15VT Amp that I just bought a couple of months ago. Before that I was (and still do occasionally) using a Peavey Blazer 158. Here in the Philippines, the clubs we play at provide the amps, and we gig 4 times a week at 4 different clubs. One of the places has a Carlsbro GLX100, which is solid state, another place has a Fender Pro Reverb, which is all tube, another place has a VOX AC30 (WOW!!) and the other place has a Peavey Transtube Bandit. It sounds the best on the VOX AD15VT I have at home and on the Fender Pro Reverb and the VOX AC30 in the places I gig. I only use a ZOOM 707II Pedal for effects occasionally, and also use the footswitch for the amps I gig on. It isn't very noisy, just the hum that you expect from the single coils, but no noise in positions 2 and 4. Bridge pickup has that nice bright Fender twang, and in between the bridge and neck pickup you get that great Hendrix/Dire Straits sound, especially with some good reverb and that "quack". Middle pickup sounds great in the acoustic mode of the ZOOM 707II, 4th position is good for rythym classic rock and the neck pickup is great for blues and jazz. This is a very versatile guitar and of all the guitars I have had (including a few Fender Standard Strats) is the only one I have hung on to.

It was flawless when I got it and it still is. I take good care of my guitars.

I have been gigging with this guitar since 1988, so I suppose the answer to the first question is yes. It has never broken down, although several of my Fenders and Gibsons have. Yes to all the questions. I don't gig without a backup. What if I were to break a string?

I have never actually dealt with Squier.

I've been playing guitar since I was 5 years old, so that makes it 30 years, as I'm 35 now. My dad started me at it at an early age. I've also got a Fender American Standard Telecaster, a Yamaha Studio Lord Les Paul Copy as well as a Washburn KC600 and I have a Gibson Hollow Body Les Paul Copy made by a company called Rockstar. I've got an Epiphone Hummingbird and an Epiphone Chet Atkins Acoustic Electric, and several Takamine Acoustic and Acoustic Electric Guitars. I've got about 20 guitars all together, and my husband who is American and lives here has another 25, so we are one guitar family. If this were lost, I would cry. My dad gave it to me and I will never sell it for sentimental reasons. Love everything about it. Hey, I know the new Squiers are pieces of crap, but the old Fender Squier Series Strats and Teles are really good guitars.

-2004 made in indonesia
-21 frets
-5 way selector, volume, 2 tone swiches (1 for bottom pickup)
-solid body maple
-whammy bar
-non-locking machine heads
-shallow frets
-thin, playable neck

-It suits my many music styles from heavy metal to rockabilly
-I use danelectro overdrive, octave distortion, phaser and octave pedels.
-It is fairly quiet untill the volume knob gets past 8, then a quiet hum is present when nothing is being played.
-The sound can be changed to almost anything you want with individual adjustments on pickups, from a bright sound to a full and dark sound.
-Great for harmonics!

-The Bridge didnt need any changing from the factory, it was pre-calibrated.
-The guitar was flawless.

-It can get through a whole set onstage without needing tuning, i usually tune it every other day of practice eventhough it usually dosnt need it, with the exception of the whammy bar which can detune the strings slightly but are still in tune with each other.
-The hardware is very durable and hasnt let me down with my agressive playing style.
-Either then a small, almost invisible split in the finish near the neck that you have to look for the finish has no depects.
-It is a very reliable and has never let me down.
-The only reason i would need a backup guitar would be because of the strings, I cant forsee it letting me down in any way

I havnt dealt with the company simply because there hasnt been a need to.

The gutiar is great, very customizable and affordable. i would recomend it to all

I got this guitar used online (from an old pawn shop sight) for $50. It's a 90's Korean Squire Standard with the smaller headstock and a maple fretboard. It was pretty hit when I got it. None of the pickups worked and the finish was shot (had been metalled with tape stripes and then dragged by a car). It was my guinea pig as I had wanted to begin working on my own guitars. I had owned a 79 strat, so I knew what to expect from the feel, and I figured I would add on my own parts. After taking it down to the wood and finding that it was plywood, I almost dumped the whole project but then figured I'd do it anyway. I put about 77 coats of tung oil on it (which kind of made cool stripes with the layered laminates), added some schaller tuners, and got ahold of some mighty mite pickups and popped those in. I immediately liked the feel of the guitar and have since added a bronzed pickguard and a 69 custom shop pickup (initialled by Abigail Ybarra) in the neck. I know the wood will always be plywood, but it's a fun guitar to play, and I get a good sound, so who really cares?

It gets the strat twang pretty good and if I want a chunky sound I'll use a double humbuckered git. Mine's not too noisy. With the right amp (fender super 112, or mesa boogie 22) it gets a good tubey, bluesy thing. When pushed (boogie formula pre into a peavey deuce as power amp), it gets downright raunchy. Not a lot of sustain, but real good bite.

I had to overhaul, but now it's olde-leather-coat comfortable.

Great thing about a strat is that I know it will be around after I'm gone(as long as it's cared for).

Never had to (in 27+ years of owning fender products). What does that tell you?

If it were stolen, I wouldn't run out the door to get another, but I would have a beer and bring to mind certain jams that I had had with it. Now it's like an old friend( had it for about 7 years) since it was the first that I put a lot of work into. I've got much better guitars (a Parker, a nice older Washburn 335 copy, a real good Raven PRS copy, and a bunch other pretty good klunkers), but this one is always fun to fire up.

I bought this guitar off of ebay.Black with white pickguard. 3 single coils.rosewood neck with sealed tuners that have squier written on them. the neck is different than any other squier I have ever played. It's very chunky but feels great, very smoothe, the frets are filed properly so you dont feel them on the sides. very impessive neck. solid. lots of laquer on it? not like these new affinity or standards.the serial number is cae.... which I found out came in a strat pac deal. I am suprised cause this guitar plays like my jap strat.

After playing this guitar unplugged, which btw sounds very resonate. I plugged it in and again was very impressed. I bot a nice heavy metal sound from the bridge pickup and the rest of the pickups sounded good. position 2-4 seemed to cancell out any hummmmmm. which is great.sounded full in the clean position too. It really does quite a job. I could easily play live with this guitar.

The action is a little high on this guitar, but I think I want to keep it this way! it chords nicely at this setting and I can still get fast leads.the guitar feels very solid has a heavy feel to it. I went to the local guitar store today and This one blows all the squires I played today away. the 20th anneversary model was very close.and the older korean model smoked it. but the rest did not compare. very thick finish on this baby

Strats are always needing attention. you have to just keep an eyeand tool handy to tighten something up on your strat

N-A

good little ol guitar,people were getting a heck of a deal on this strat pac> I would of never guessed? must of been a mistake.

It's made from cheap wood, has cheap pickups, cheap tremolo...simple put, the guitar is a cheap piece of crap. The electronics are a mess, they either are from the start, or get to be down the road. The finish is decent, but dents and chips very easily. I hate my Squier so much that I purposely chipped off some of the finish to check out the body wood, it's absolute crap! The tuners do not keep you in tune for a long time, you have to keep tuning up. Also, the tuners are very cheap, they make the cheap tuner sound, which is a cracking-like noise when trying to tune it up. I can't believe I bought this about 9 or 10 years ago, it is one of the worst guitars you can buy!

It's a very crappy version of a real Fender Strat, but is made of the some of the crappiest, cheapest stuff. I have gotten much wiser since I bought this guitar, I now use a Gibson Les Paul, Epiphone Elitist Les Paul Standard Plus, Epiphone '58 V, Gibson '63 Firebird, Fender Thinline Tele., Ibanez JS2000, Ibanez Jem, and just bought a Peavey EVH signature guitar. I use Peavey heads with custom built 4X12 cabinets (either 4-100 watt speakers or 4-200 watt speakers). I have a custom made pedalboard--Dunlop 535Q wah-Digitech Whammy-Boss SD-1-Boss DS-1-E.H. USA Big Muff Pi-chorus pedal-delay. I have a stage tuner that I connect from the dry output of my Whammy pedal. I use either my DS-1 or USA Big Muff Pi for dist. and use the SD-1 for a boost in gain. The Squier Strat can't even compare to any of my guitars, I am saving it to smash for my next show.

Past the 12th fret I have quite a few dead spots, which makes it unuseable because I am lead guitarist in my rock band and lead guitarist in my instrumental band. Everything on this guitar goes on you after a few years, the pots get very scratchy (need constant cleaning), the tuners don't keep it in tune very long, the neck bows easily, the pickups are total crap, the tremolo is very crappy also, I don't think there is anything good about this guitar. Something made from cheap woods and electronics will end up sounding like $hit, and that's how Squier guitars are.

Squier guitars are a joke, you CANNOT be taken as a serious musician if you play a Squier guitar! I've never brought this guitar to a show, but it is coming to my next show to be smashed onstage! A backup for this guitar-I bet someone probably has a cheaper priced backup guitar(s) that is way better than a Squier.

never dealt with them.

I've said pretty much everything I needed to say. I wish someone would have stolen this guitar years ago, so I would have been forced to buy something good and better! I did compare this guitar to others when I was looking 9 or 10 years ago, but I really didn't have the money for anything decent, this was like the only guitar in my price range. Such a sad story that is.

This guitar is the worst and most sorry excuse for a strat copy there ever was.

S/S/S config.
No good tremolo.

The Squier strat doesn't suit ANY style. Not even for the price.
I've played better FirstAct guitars.

I play it on a Peavey Bandit 112.

This guitar is noisy, bad plywood tone.
I hate everything about the guitar.

Kramer Aerostar ZX10 is far superior to this and it's 100$ on ebay usually.

Action feels lumpy and the strings are always unbalanced.
This guitar gets out of tune WAY too much.
Poor quality wood, poorly fit saddle.

This guitar would withstand live playing if it stays in tune long enough.

None.

DO NOT GET THIS GUITAR.
THIS GUITAR IS A WASTE OF MONEY.

You're better off with a vintage Kramer or a new one from MusicYo.
This guitar isn't versatile, it's sound is worse than anything else Ive heard, and you get less than what you pay for.

I wouldn't buy a Squier Strat if it was 50$.

Probably made in 2002 or so. It was after they started making the Squier's in China also. This is different than the other Squier Standard Strats I have seen. It has Squier Strat by Fender on the headstock and a serial number on the back, but it is not the big 70's style headstocks like you find on the Squier Standard and Affinity Strats it is the smaller standard strat headstock. It is also very thick, exactly the same as my Fender Standard (MIM) Strat and my Fender American Standard Strat instead of thin like the Affinity Strats, so I am going to call this a Standard Strat for this and several other reasons, which I will cover later. I bought this for $135.00 in a pawn shop and it looks completely brand new. Has 22 frets, with a standard strat setup with 3 single coil pickups, one volume, two tone controls and a 5 way selector switch. I suppose the pickups are Squier but I honestly cannot tell the difference, side by side between the pickups on this one and my Fender Mexican Strat. My American Standard Strat has a bit more power in the pickups but the tone is not any better at all. A friend of mine who used to work for Fender says the Squiers have exactly the same parts as the Fenders do, and the parts are made here in the USA and sent to Indonesia, China or wherever. I believe him, because other than the fact it says Squier on the headstock, I cannot tell the difference in looks, playability and tone from my Fender Mexican Strat except it was about $200 cheaper. Again, even the tone matches my Fender American Standard Strat, it just isn't as loud, however the neck and quality on the American Strat is quite a bit better. Body of this one is alder, neck is maple with the skunk stripe down it, finish is a nice candy apple red and although I purchased it used from a pawn shop, it has not a scratch on it, so I suspect the guy who owned it before me took very good care of it and hated to have to get rid of it, or he never played it at all. Body is standard strat style, thick and heavy just like my Fender Strats. Tuners are the normal Fender Schaller type tuners and it stays in tune just as well as my other two strats. Neck is C shaped, medium jumbo frets with a rosewood fretboard. If I were to say there is any difference in tone between this strat and my two Fenders, I would say this one sounds a little more rich, especially on distortion, but I've been told that is because it has a rosewood fretboard. Both my other strats have maple fretboards. This didn't come with any accessories at all. For the price I paid for it, and the fact it compares very well to my Fender Standard Strats, I gotta max it out.

Suits my music style very well. I play classic rock, blues and country. I kind of bought this guitar on a whim. I was in the pawn shop just lookin around and saw it, saw how new it looked and asked the guy how much and he said $135.00 and I just shelled out the money, not even knowing if it would work or not because he didn't have an amp for me to test it on. I asked if I could bring it back if it didn't work and he told me, you walk outta here with it, it's yours. No guarantees or warranties. I'm running this through a VOX Pathfinder 15R at home and for gigs run it through a VOX AC30. All I play are strats and tele's, and all I use are VOX amps. I do occasionally use a ZOOM 606 pedal, but usually as a tuner, as I like the crunchy distortion of the VOX amps. You can play anything on this guitar. On the amps straight, it does wonderful classic rock, country, blues, and with the pedal you can crank out some heavy metal sounds too. I like everything about it, especially the fact that I feel like I walked away with a steal for the money.

I don't know what it was like brand new, but it was setup perfectly when I bought it. Everything was flawless.

Seems pretty tough. I've been gigging with it now for over a year, as I like the comfort of having my 3 strats and my tele on stage for gigs so I never have to tune. Hardware is just like the Fender stuff in my opinion, strap buttons are solid, it's a good dependable guitar. I would never gig without a backup.

I've never had a problem with Fender or places where I have bought Fenders. However, the guy at the pawn shop was an asshole, but I'm just gonna leave this N/A because it isn't Fender's fault.

I've been playing about 25 years off and on. I have this Squier Standard Strat, a Sunburst/maple fretboard MIM strat and a Chrome Blue/Maple American Standard Strat as well as a 52 Telecaster that my dad gave me over 25 years ago as my first electric guitar. He bought it brand new in 1952, and it IS NOT for sale. Plays like a dream. I also have several epiphone, takamine and martin acoustic and acoustic electric guitars. If it were stolen or lost, I probably wouldn't be able to find another one like it. I don't like those big 70's style headstocks on the other squier strats. But, I love everything about this one. It's great too for travelling, because I also have a little 10 watt Marshall amp, that I take when I just go out of town or something and this guitar does real well with it.

Not sure when it was made but had to be since Squier started making them in China. This is a Standard Stratocaster with 22 frets, laminated top, one volume, two tone controls, 5 way selector switch and 3 single coil pickups, which I guess are made by Fender. Body is probably Alder, doesn't feel like plywood as it is quite heavy. Neck is maple, with the skunk stripe. I guess I would call this Dakota Red, as it doesn't look like it's Candy Apple Red. Standard Stratocaster bridge, string through body, tuners are grover style, non-locking but it stays in tune quite well. C shaped neck with medium jumbo frets on a rosewood fretboard. Came with a cord, strap and a gig bag.

My music tastes depends on my moods. I write some of my own stuff which would probably be considered alternative country or electric folk, but I also play blues and classic rock. This guitar handles these styles quite well. Not really a vintage sound but more modern, so not so good for rockabilly and late 50's rock. It isn't noisy, even on the single coil settings. Has a nice bright sound at the bridge pickup, but not twangy like the vintage fender strats. Neck pickup is very bluesy on clean and does very well for moderate distortion. This is not your heavy metal guitar. I use this through two amps at home, one being a Marshall MG15RCD and the other being a VOX Pathfinder 15R and the guitar sounds great on both amps. The place where I gig has a Fender Super Reverb Amp and it sounds great on that too. I like the sound of the amps but occasionally use a ZOOM 606II pedal with it. Good variety of sounds and perfect for the type of music I play. Don't dislike anything about it.

It was setup quite well out of the box, but I did adjust the intonation and the strength height a little just for personal tastes. Everything was actually flawless and I was impressed as this was the first Squier I have ever purchased. I used to have an American Standard Strat, but got divorced and had to sell it to pay my lawyer.

I play in a 3 piece band on Wednesday and Friday nites. We play mostly alternative country and classic rock. This guitar does quite well for it and it seems to be durable and tough enough to hang. I can't tell the difference between it and one of the Mexican made strats as far as sound goes. Strap buttons are solid, and I depend on it because it is the only electric guitar I have. No one should gig without a backup, but I do, because I don't have any choice. Looking at buying a Squier Standard Telecaster soon for a backup and a little more sound variety.

I've never dealt with Squier. Ordered the guitar online through american musical. They seem ok.

I've been playing on and off for 35 years. Everything from a street corner musician playing for tips in Nashville to a studio recording guitarist. Now, I just do a small gig, as the divorce wiped me out. The only other guitar I have is an Epiphone Hummingbird Acoustic. The club I play at has a Fender Super Reverb for an amp and that is what I gig with. Great guitar for the money, basically, a Fender Stratocaster that says Squier by Fender on the headstock and costs half as much.

Leo Fender's genius in designing the original Stratocaster is that a Strat is a Strat is a Strat. As long as it's not poorly built, it will do the basic job, and mine is an example. It's a 1990-era Korean-made black Strat with the regular Fender headstock (not a big '70s-style one like Squier has today), a single-ply white pickguard, maple neck (skunk stripe on the back), three adequate stock single-coil pickups, five-position pickup switch, one volume and two tone knobs, and a traditional Strat trem/vibrato arm system. Soon after I bought it (a store demo) in 1990 or '91, I replaced the bridge saddles, nut, and string trees with graphite-coated ones from Graph-Tech. A little while later I had the tremolo blocked and removed the vibrato arm, so while the trem system is still there, the guitar acts like a hard-tail, non-tremolo bridge model. Just this year (2004), I replaced the regular control knobs with chromed knurled aluminum ones, just because I like those. (The old ones worked just fine.)

You get your Strat sounds out of this thing, but the pickups are probably its weakest point: they're not especially beefy-sounding, and are quite prone to hum and noise. Unlike most modern Strats, but like the '50s originals, this model has very traditional electronics. The pickups are not wired reverse polarity, so even when you're in the "in between" settings (neck-and-middle or neck-and-bridge), they do not cancel the hum. Also like the old Strats, the tone knobs control the neck and middle pickups only; there is no tone control over the bridge pickup, which can be very ice-pick bright. The volume knob also rolls off tone, and the tone knobs are almost on/off between muddy and bright.

Over the years I have put heavier strings on it to compensate for the pickups; now that I'm playing .11 through .49 Fender Nickel Bullets, there's quite a nice clangy squawk from this Strat. With .09 or .08 strings, it would probably be too weak sounding. I've considered upping to .12 gauge strings, which I quite liked on one of my bandmates' instruments.

You can get some fine blues tones on the front pickup, nice leads in the middle, and good out-of-phase sounds in the "in between" settings. The bridge pickup is a bit too piercing. Replacing the pickups and re-doing the wiring would probably make this a truly excellent guitar, but I haven't done that. I'm a drummer, after all, so this instrument hasn't seen much stage use since the mid-'90s.

I like guitars to fight me a bit, so the medium frets are lighter than I would probably choose on a new guitar, but they work fine. The fret dressing wasn't perfect when the guitar was new, but it was fine, and has been re-done only once since. The guitar has never been re-fretted. I'm not sure how the action and intonation were, since I had those re-done when the bridge and nut were replaced. The tremolo system tended to throw the guitar out of tune, which is why I blocked it and put in the graphite hardware to start with.

The neck is fabulous. Maybe a little slicker than I like (I prefer the feel of minimally-finished natural wood), but the shape and heft are great. I think the fingerboard radius is 9.5", but it could be closer to the 7+" round of the old '50s Strats--I'm not sure. Other guitarists have commented on how nice the neck is to play, so maybe those medium frets aren't so bad.

The black paint job is nothing special, and has worn and cracked a bit over the years, which is to be expected. Luckily, a Jiffy Marker or Sharpie hides any scrapes just great!

Several of my guitarists used this as their main instrument before getting their own, and it's held up to a lot of shows and quite a bit of throwing around in nearly 15 years of use. All the key components have held up great, and it's never needed anything other than regular guitar maintenance--probably not enough, the way I treat it. Couldn't ask for more. The cable jack did come a bit loose at one point, but I was able to tighten it up with a screwdriver no problem.

No idea. Never contacted Fender. Parts and repairs are, of course, easy to find or do yourself if you want. Nearly any standard Strat part will work in this guitar.

I played classical guitar as a kid, and while I forgot everything in high school, I've been a professional drummer (in the union and everything) for 15 years, and I dabble in guitar and bass too.

But I bought this guitar when I was a poor student. Today I would probably save up for a guitar with Texas Special or Fender Noiseless pickups--and probably a Telecaster. But in the same circumstances this Strat would do nicely.

Bought it in 1986 in France. Price paid 3800 francs ($ 700 equivalent at that time). Silver Squier logo showing black "by Fender" under. serial # E 674311 should testify it's a 1986 model. 21 frets volume + 2 tones controls. Whammy arm.according to heavy weight would call for ash one piece body.
Black finish and maple one piece neck. Fender logo tuners.6 screws "vintage" bridge. Bridge saddles vintage type. Overal look resembles "Eric Clapton Blackie". It was even more difficult to find a strat in 1986 that France was not at the top of the countries list for exporters and Fender's Bill Schultz had serious problems trying to rebuild the Co. I have reckon the finish is absolutely great.
My local dealer delivered a non Fender case for free.

I am now 53 and have been playing for more than 35 years.I mainly play blues and rock. I fell in love with Lightnin' Hopkins music at the age of 15. My late father was american and I grew up in the outskirts of Houston Texas where I met Lightnin but also could see Johnny Winter and many others. I admit the guitar sounded a bit metallic in the beginning but time has given a fantastic bonus and it sounds now the best money can buy. A bit compressed sound when using the neck p.u. Intermediate positions among the 5 by the selector are a bit weak. I also have a 1988 std telecaster US made and a 00028 Martin acoustic which is a rare bird here in France. I play it thru a 1990 Fender 650 performer amp which is an amazing one especially for distorted sounds. I never use any other effect but a Boss delay aged 12. Believe me or not, although I am a Telecaster addict this Squier strat is even more powerful than the tele when using the neck pu.
Deep mellow sound rich harmonics. I have tried US made strats they don't even sound so versatile. Never gets out of tune even after 1 week rest. My guitars are always in the room and they just travel in their case for gigs.

I remember the guitar was OK when first delivered. Action was a bit high and pickups were so new that I didn't change any settings at that time. Have to say I should not be able to do it at that time 'cos I looked at this axe as a precious jewel and wouldn't dare change anything. As time went by I had to readjust action. As I am now an old familiar I now make all my settings by myself and also for my friends.
But anyway, I just had to screw 1/4 turn the trss rod (below pickguard) and lower a bit the saddles on the bridge.
As time made its job pickups are no longer noisy as they used to buzz in the early days. Selector works OK if you just take care of it once a year with W40 use.
Never had a problem with jack connection or any other piece. Maybe I'm lucky. My son is 22 he just got a deluxe Strat Us made and I can say the sttings where awfull.

I have to reiterate that time helped the guitar becoming a great one. All snobbish people who see Squier logo do grumble or smile but when they hear the sound or play the guitar they are just bluffed.
I would even say that I feel more confident in this one than my beloved Tele whose knobs sometimes buzz. I never had to touch straplocks but I have to say the screws on the top pickguard are a bit ternish and the saddles show some coorsion stain. I had to follow Ritchie Flieger's book advices to return to normal conditions. In the contrary it sould have been impossible to adjust the action. But 18 years of daily playing never caused more damage. I can use it without any backup since it's more reliable than my Telly.

Never had to get in touch with Fender.

Guitar suffered some few damages after it was stolen and fortunately police gave it back. The finish had some few cracks and selector was bent. I have to say it was like a kidnapping. I'm not that type of sensitive but I even love it more now. I have been playing many other guitars ranging from Gibson es 335 to PRS and various US made fenders. I will just give it to my son who plays great when I die.
Remember that this is a true FENDER and japanese craftmen are as skilfull as US. I will not chane it for gold.

1989 USA
21 frets
solid top
1 volume 2 tone 5 way selector
s/s/s/ pickup
nec & center picups USA standred,bridge Lace sensor RED
body is alder, neck is maple (62) c shape no trus rood adjustment on the headstock but is placed in the set point of the body like the 1962 Strat
stsndard trim (vintage style)
Fender tuners

This guitar is perfict for all the styles of music I do. I play mainly christian rock but also use it for Blues and some country, ( exclent for the country), Has such a wide range of tone depending on the tone seatings on the guitar and amp combined. I used this guitar in the studio on our first CD and it worked fine. It has abbsolutly no noise in any pickup config. I use several difrent amps depending on where I play, I use a Crate GX 1500 half stack, A Laney 65 hardcore, and a Dean Markley sterio 40.
This guitar has the sweetist action of any guitar I have ever played. Almost everyone that has played it wants to know if it is for sale.

Action was just a little high when I bought it but was very easy to adj.
Everything else was perfict.

I have been giging with this guitar for 4 yrs. and it has never let me down. The finish has a few dings in it mostly put in by me but paint has held up well (Gloss Black)
I usuly cary an Austin Les Paul copy as a backup but only if I berak a string, by then our roadie usuly has another on and tuned.

I called Fender and talked with them about the S# and found out that it was bilt out of older parts that uere stored in there factory in Calf. sent to Mex. to be painted and sent back to the USA to be assembled with Fender USA parts. I was toled it had a 1962 neck and most likly a 57 body.

I have been playing about 12 yrs. I have to much gear to list
Yeah where can I get more of these.
IF THIS GUITAR WAS STOLEN i WOULD SERCH FOR ANOTHER ONE
I love everything about this insterment.
The only thing I wish it had would be an LSR roller nut

Mine was made in Japan in 1983. It was my first electric guitar. I bought it brand new and still use it today. It was olympic white (it has yellowed over the years) with 3 single coil pick-ups, five way selector switch, volume-tone-tone, with what they call today: a vintage 6-point bridge, sealed tuners, and a beautiful rosewood neck. Also the headstock was large compared to todays fenders. 22 frets. Hardshell fender case was included in the price, along with a fairly worthless cable, poliching cloth, and allen wrenched for the brigde and neck.

I think fender strats are some of the most versatile guitars on the market. No electronics or phase switches so I give it an 8.

It sounds like a strat. For the first few years it was ran through a Peavy Bandit and then other assorted solid state amps (crate, Marshal, Fender) tube amps (marshals, fenders, peaveys) and modeling amps (Line6 POD 2.0). Todays's set up is through the POD into a Marshal MG (Direct through the power effect return).

See reliability below for pick-up information. I had to replace the bridge pick-up right away. It would feed-back horriblky on a solid state amp at low volume. Through in a seymore duncan and life has been good ever since.

The neck and middle pick-up sounds great. If you like the sound of a strat you will like this guitar.

The action was a little high but that was easily remedied. The pick ups were setup okay, but the bridge pickup had some problems.

I did need to tighten just about everything (jack, volume and tone control nobs) shortly after bringing it home). The pick-up selecter was noiser than an american strat but the price difference explains that.

I had to replace the bridge pickup, main jack, volume pots, and pick-up switch. The neck and body are fine.

The finish has held up well and I love how it is ageing. I haven't worn any of the finsh off the front or sides after 25 years of playing. The back is in remarkably good shape.

Never called them so I don't know.

I've been playing for 25 years. I currently own a 2002 Fender American Texas Special, a 1988 Kramer Stagemaster Custom, a Charvel from the early 90s, and a couple of accoustics.

I've owned many other guitars, but I will never get rid of this one because it was my first. If this was stolen, somebody would get their ass kicked. I couldn't replace it and if I had just bought it, I wouldn't replace it (It's not my best guitar by a long ways).

For the money, it was better than anything else at the time. The fender knock-offs and gibson knock offs at the time were horrible and the other low price guitars weren't worth the money. For what this guitar cost I give it a 9, compared to my other guitars I give it a 5.

Made late Eighties - part of the Japanese vintage reissue series that is now infamous for it's quality. Solid (two piece!) body - I know it's a two piece as I had to strip an rather tacky refinish off it - wood is probably basswood as very finely grained can't be sure. Medium weight feels very solid. Original colour was white as it is again now. Large headstock - Japanese Ghoto type machine heads and standard config S/S/S pickups.

A rich and kinda mellow strat sound from this one - punchy tho it has a very compressed tone - not sure why. sounds great though especially for rythmn guitar/funky licks. Turn up the gain and it sounds rich - not at all thin and clanky as some Strats can sound.

Ahh - I've set the guitar up to optimum playability. Low action and no buzzing - helped ny a very fine neck, I prefer the larger, chunkier 70's neck - helps intonation and playing in general - like playing a really fine acoustic - the heavier headstock adds to tone too I'm sure.

Built to last - a pro quality guitar - if you see one buy it.

No neeeed!

Classic and still very affordable - high quality all the way. Looks pretty damn cool too.

I don't know what year it was made, but it probably shouldn't have been. It was made in that asshole of a country, Indonesia. It has 21 frets, S/S/S (which stands for Shitty/Shitty/Shitty), the Tone knobs change the tone dramatically from Crap to extreme crap. The Floating tremolo really does float because one if the springs BROKE. In order to tune it to E with 9 Gauge strings, the bridge raises about an inch off of the body, crappy.

i like to consider myself a well-rounded musican, playing everything from Jazz and Blues to Punk and Metal, but I don't think this guitar suits anyone's style, except for Stephen Hawking, and he can't move. The guitar makes an annoying crackling sound when changing shitty-coil pickups. The guitar makes only one sound, the sound of a toilet that your girlfriend just clogged.

Action? What action? Action movies are exciting, and keep you on the edge of your seat, I guess I'm always on the edge of my seat, hoping it'll just explode. Nothing is well done. Everything about it is a flaw, the wood is crappy quality, use of the whammy bar causes the strings to go out of tune, come to think of it, just sitting on the couch for five minutes causes it to go out of tune.

The spring on the bridge broke, springs aren't supposed to break. But I have to give it some credit, because it's still in one piece, despite all of the smashing against walls.

I got this guitar used from a friend, he begged me to take it for free and smash it while playing live, it wasn't even worth the gas money to drive to his house, and he's 15 miles away. In hind-sight I wish I'd just cut off my balls and saved myself sooo much pain. DO NOT BUY THIS GUITAR!

This is a 1997 model, serial # has the MN7--------etc. I found this at Eastcoast Music in CT. and it was hanging on the used wall with the cheaper guitars. It has a maple neck (and as we all know Mexican necks are made in the US and are just finished off in Mexico.) So that interested me. I had owned a couple of Squiers made in China or Indonesia (I also have owned several vintage Strats years back) and the only prime Fender I have now is a 1996 B Bender Tele, which weighs a ton. The Chinese and Indonesian Strats really suck. The wood is low quality and the electronics are garbage...let's face it. Almost everone I have tried has a crackling that comes from somewhere in the guitar's wiring network. I even tried changing pu's on one and it would not go away. But this Mexican Squier Strat is a quiet as any expensive Strat I have ever played...in fact, it might even be quieter. Tnere is no crackle and no 60 cycle hum. Go figure. The finish is candy apple red and the neck feels very much like (same finish) my B Bender Tele.
The body is either poplar or alder, same difference, and is solid.
The logo has the gold Squier decal with the "by Fender" in fine script just below it. I am told that very few of these Mexican Squiers were made. They wanted $200 for it sans case...but I got them down to $149 sans case. A good deal if you ask me. The hardware is typical Mexican Std Strat, in fact the only thing that makes this different from a Std. Strat is the logo decal. The pu's have the tyical twang and quack of a Fender and position 2 and 4 have the characteristic nasality to them. But offer no hum even on quiet settings on my Cyber Champ amp. The previous owner must have changed the machine heads as the old screw holes are there and these look like Shalleresque Gotohs. I had to lower the action, intonate it a bit and tweak the neckrod a bit...but now it plays real fine.

As I said, the sound is basic Strat. Not too hot but not too tame either. It has bite and mates nicely with the Cyber Champ..which is now my all time favorite amp. The sound is Fender without being brittle and thin. Many dudes kind of put down Mexican Fenders and claim the Chinese and Indo stuff is better. Who the hell are they kidding? Sure, if you are talking Japan or even Korea, I might agree but not with the Chinese stuff...not yet...it is getting there though. If they could get rid of the crackle and cheap electronics that might boost them a bit. But I have to say that many of the Mexican items are good...hell, most of the Fender amps are made there too.

The finish is just as good as the Std. Series. This is a Squier but not really. It looks as if they took some Mexican Std. stuff and just fulfilled some contractual obligations by putting the Squier logo on them. As far as I can tell this is just another Std. Series Fender in effect. The look is very much like the Highway One series of today, it has the kind of understated quality to it. The neck is very much like an American Std with regard to feel and action.

hey...you know the drill by now....

my local store will back me up... I buy a lot of stuff from them and Eastcoast is a helpful and friendly place to buy guitars if you are in the tri-state area...come on up to Danbury....say hi to Morgan, Barry and Sandy or Chris...tell 'em Vince sent ya....but this is a used guitar and Fender is not involved.

I have been playing since the mid-1960s...and this is a very pro guitar.....The Squier logo not withstanding....I own a bunch of electrics and acoustics.....the only standouts are the B Bender Tele, an Epiphone Texan and a Godin Multiac....and the Cyber Champ that I mentioned. I would like to come across more of these Mexican Squiers.....they make a hell of a good deal.....

I have an '86 Japanese Squier Strat that is an unbelievably awesome instrument for the price. Of the all the guitars I own, which include expensive Gibsons, it's one of the best purchases I've ever made. It's got the standard vintage style bridge, maple neck, and stock Fender tuners. The only alterations I've done to it are String-Saver saddles and a 3-ply black pickgaurd. Everything else is stock!

The pickups are a little funky sounding at times but it still has an overall good warm tone. I might change them at some point but they sound good enough for gigging. I usually play through an old '66 Super Reverb which definitely helps but even when I play through lesser amps, I still get a decent tone out of it.

After recently refretting the guitar, it plays like a dream! I have three other Strats (a Mexican, an American, and a USA '62 re-issue) and it feels better than any of them. I usally bring two or three guitars to my gigs but I usually end up just playing the Squier all night because it feels so good. It's got a rather thin neck but my hands and fingers are a tad small so it's a good fit for me.

This Squier is as solid as any American Standard or Custom Shop Strat I've ever played. It's a solid wood body, not plywood, and the neck is very nice, strong maple. The hardware also seems solid. It's a very dependable instrument and I could definitely use it on any gig without a backup guitar.

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I would highly recommend old Jap Squiers to someone looking for an inexpensive but high-quality guitar. They're way better than the crappy Squiers made today. Today's Squiers have poor construction and shitty tone. They've made some slight improvements recently but they've got a long way to go to match the '80's Japanese Squiers.

everything you need. mines is a '02 model, metallic black. 22 frets, standard 3 single coils, 5-way switching, maple neck, and synchronised 2-point trem. only way it could have been better would be locking trem. i modified mine. i like tone controls.

sounds bloody awesome for its price. not really noisy. i have a boss amp and alot of effects (i build my own). versatile, smooth warm and fat in the neck, twangy and bright in the bridge, and everything in between. blues, rock, JIMI

action was fine from the factory, but i felt the need to lower it as much aas practically possible. finish was nice. only problem i had was after a while the sides of the neck started to go a funny colour from huge amounts of use, im going to sand it back and re-laquer it soon, and scallop the frets while im at it.

SOLID. i literally tore the pickguard off when i was modding it, and all the hardware was fine. the nut on the input jack comes loose a bit though, easily fixed, ive had it for a year and a half, and there is virtually no fret wear.

i got 2 years warranty, never had to use it.

too good for the price. i love it. ive played 1500 dollar esps and crap and ive always come back to this, second only to its daddy, the big Fender Strat. mod friendly as well :)

according to The Fender Book these ones were made late 80s, early 90s. USA fenders but sent to mexico for finishing, but final ensamble in the US. so they are US made fenders, but named Squier (hmm), made in USA.
mine is sorta fiesta red, white pickguard, 3 standart single coils which have aged nicely. delicious maple neck w/ 21 frets, no rosewood. kind of vintage style tremolo, 1 vol, 2 tones, just like any strat. 5- pos. switch.
serial number is only four digits, starting with an zero. no letter.
guitar is very very light. nice finish.
just beautyful!

i play bluesy retro alternative (?) and this guitar fits just everything. forget about chinese, korean, mexican or japan squiers, THIS IS THE ONE!
i play it thru my 70s fender super twin reverb with pedals as followed: EHX bassballs, mr. crybaby wah/vol, boss ce-2 chorus, boss bf-2 flanger, roland phase 5, boss od-1 (check out review), boss od-2, pearl analog delay.
no noise at all, unlike my '72 stat. pickups sound great!
no nasty feedback like other squiers.
i like everything about it... 'nuff said.

everything just fine. it almost plays itself! jaja
finish does not crack, smoothe and nice.

the maple neck is a dream....

this guitar will withstand years of gigging, it stays in tune, even after massive trem- use (a la hendrix).
has a bunch of nicks in the body but finish does not crackle or come off.
i can totally depend on it, but i always use another backup guitar for the REAL humbucker sound (modified jazzmaster w/ a dimarizio in the bridge).

haven't had to call yet.

i have used it for several years now, and i don't think i'm ever going to sell it. it has a nice vintage look, except for the (original!) kinda grover-ish tuning pegs. looks 50s, 60s... feels 50s, 60s!
if it was stolen i would deffenitely try to get another one, but these ones are rare. very underrated, i have seen these ones go on ebay for the same price as japs or mexican squiers. GET ONE IF YOU CAN! i bet they are gonna be collectibles soon...
i love everything about it, the looks, the feel, the sound. it is like a little bit of a 50s 60s and 80s 90s strat all in one! for the rest i have my '72 strat.
i own several other fenders and gibsons (all vintage) but this is the only more recent guitar i have kept (and will keep).
get your eyes and/or hands on it and don't let it go!

Standard '01 Strat Squier, 'nuff said. The two tone knobs and the five-way switch offer excellent versatility, as I am mostly aa blues and rock person.

Great sound for the price range. With a small 10 watt Fender Frontman amp, I can play everything from bass lines to bright-sounding Luther Perkins riffs and everything in-between. There is, however, an annoying hum on first- and fifth-position pickup selections(it gets worse when your in a room with a lot of hard surfaces for the sound to reflect off of), and a popping sound when switching between pickups. It sounds good overdriven, too.

I have heard of people having trouble keeping in tune when using the whammy bar, but since I don't use it all that often, it isn't a problem for me. The nut on the cable socket comes loose easily, however, and it makes the humming worse.

I don't have a hard case, and I abuse my guitar somewhat, but that hasn't been a problem with my Fender, besides cosmetic problems such as chipping and denting the finish, which is entirely my fault.

The best customer support is making sure the customer never needs support:)

I've been playing two years(mostly self taught, though my dad taught me Johnny Cash stuff), and the Strat is the first(and only, so far) guitar I've bought. I'd recommend it to any casual electric player with not a lot of money on hand.

I purchased the guitar from a friend who was having a Custom one built. The custom job was not as good as this one and he regretted selling it. It has a rosewood fretboard, the three layer pickguard. I believe the body is solid ash (it's very dense) giving it lots of sustain, and has the standard Fender tremelo. The only modifications to the guitar is a DiMarzio double coil pick-up added to the treble posiiton (not by me). The case is typically Fender plastic, with even a slight exposure to heat or hot sun these cases always seem to warp in the same place.

The sound of this instrument has been absolutely phenomenal considering the price I've paid for it. I play many different styles and the tonal variability has suited them all. Many other musician friends of mine comment very favorably on the near perfect intonation, tone and since I am not a tremelo player, the guitar's ability to stay in tune.

Having been a Strat player for so long I am a bit biased toward it's action, and have to get used to the actions of other guitars (like Gibsons). I was initially worried when I saw only three screws holding the neck on but have not had any problems with neck wobble. I have no complaints to other aspects of the fit and finish. I have brought this guitar into many a music store to compare them to newer Strats. Yngwie was right they are better quality and have been for some time. I am not alone in this opinion.

I have had this guitar for 17 years now, and have not had a single worry in regards to it's reliablity. It has always been good to go when I pull it out of it's case. It is also very durable, more so than the newer $1000.00+ Stratocasters.

I have never had to use Fender's Customer Support. This guitar was that well built.

I have been playing for more than two decades now and this guitar has been there for most of that time. Every musician remembers the first REAL instrument they've purchased and what effect that has had on thier playing. The only reason why these early Japanese Strats have the Squier label on them is because Fender was pricing US Strats out of the range of many musicians and needed to recapture the middle market back from Ibanez. These are REALLY Stratocasters! Same materials and quality of workmanship. I will certainly purchase another Japanese Squier Stratocaster. The quality and fit and finish make them a highly underrated value. Besides, on stage nobody notices the "Squier " label if you sound good.

made in 1982, the first squires to hit the road. made in japan so quality is notdisgarded. 21 frets. a standard maple fender neck Standard fender everything actually. the guitar is a fender strat with a squire logo on it. Standard fender floating tremalo and machine haeds etc

i mainly play metal (van halen)and the sound is a ok. the only problem is the slightly tiny sound of those single coil pickups on bridge setting. i use a line 6 pod and the guitar goes superbly with it. there is a range from a deep full sound to a wild trebley tone
The harmonics are also excellent on this guitar, perfect for my eddy style playing

i actually baught this guitar second hand but it needed the action altering slightly but now its perfect. i never adusted the pick-ups and they seem ok. overall, the guitar is absolubtly solid and isnt tiny and light feels very well screwed together with no lose or wobely parts. totaly mint

iv played this guitar on numorous occations and not a single thing has gone wrong from snaping strings to de-tuning mid song.i think it will last forever, i dont think i would use without back up still but that goes without saying for any guitar

Standard looking Strat made in Korea, 21 frets, maple neck, solid top. It has volume and and two tone knobs, 5 way selector, 3 single coil pickups, tremolo. I bought mine as a box set for about $200 and it came with a case(cheap plastic one)picks, strap, cheap amp, a cable, and a useless instructional book.

I give it a 10 bacause I love that I can get a rock, jazz, latin, and a bluesy Clapton sound with that fuzzy quality in one guitar and it's easy to slide up and down the neck being a Beatle fan and they used many barr chords in there songs.

As I mention I play a lot of Beatle tunes. I use a Squire amp wich gives me some real good brightness that other amps can't. I also have an amp by a company calles Kustom which I don't see that often. I love the clean jazz feeling when I play some latin songs that use 5ths, 6ths, 9ths and 13th chords. I love the blues sound when you detone and play certain solos.

When I play rock, I get a good crispy sound which i love but when you strum a chord with distortion on I don't like the backfull of sound. I prefer the isolated sound with not much feedback after you strum so you can keep on strumming and hear each individual strum. For example, it's hard to play Sgt. Pepper's, the Reprise, which has an opening in F major. But otherwise it's great. You can play the solo(s) to The End by the Beatles almost exact by switching the selector switch which in turn lets you sound like 3 different guys

It's real easy to grip while standing or sitting with the designed comfort concavings on the front and back. The tuners are reliable, I hardly ever have to re-tune except when I use the tremolo often. The pickups are adjustable and give a good crisp sound.The neck is thin and allows you to make fast action. The body finish is nice and gives a nice glow.

The only flop it has is that the output jack is wobbly and i constantly have to retighten it and the selector switch is real easy to bend and it came bent when I opened up the box. I give it a 9 overall.

Fantastic for live playing, i dont have to worry about it cracking or breaking on me. I've had it for over six months now and hardly gets scratched, even when I took off the plastic sheet on the pickguard it barely got scratches.
The output jack gets wobbly as I said. The strap buttons never wiggle, tight tuners, I'd trust having it alone for a gig without a backup.

No problems with repairs so far, Thank you Fender!

I've been playing for about three years, I'm 15 and I own a Fender Acoustic DG7, a Yamaha Bass, and two Strats. If I lost it, I'd buy a Gibson or Epiphone bacause I have two Strats, but I do like the color if so I'd be in a dilemma.

I love that I can get a rock, jazz, latin, and a bluesy Clapton sound with that fuzzy quality in one guitar and it's easy to slide up and down the neck being a Beatle fan and they used many barr chords in there songs.

Ordered brand new (I had waited about two weeks for that color), no case nor gig bag included. It is called Squier Stratocaster. Hancrafted in China (s\n CY99012230). Solid alder body with maple neck, large sixties style headstock, rosewood figerboard with 21 small frets and no "skunk stripe" on the back. Sealed tunning machines, 2 sixties style string trees. Truss rod adjustment at the nut. 3 single coils with ceramic bar magnets, 5-way switch, standard Stratocaster controls (2 tone and one volume but 500 k ohm pots unlike Fender's 250 k ohm). 3-ply greenish white pickguard with 8 screws. Traditional style floating tremolo with chrome block string saddles like on CBS Fenders from seventies. 4 bolt neck plate. The body has Galactic Purple polyester hi gloss finish while the neck had modern satin thin finish that very quickly became hi gloss during use. The guitar has mixed Fender features from various periods (late fifties style body with deep body contours and 8 pickguard screws, "swimming pool" single large routing for pickups like on modern Standard Stratocasters, sixties and seventies style large headstock and chrome block string saddles.
I gave 9 for the features because this guitar utilizes ingenous in it's simplicity Leo Fender's design which is so timeless and inspiring for many generations of players.

Before I decided to order it I spend several days at various NY musical stores making comparisons just switching guitars on the same amp. I had them tested thru Marshall Valvestate 80, Vox and Fender Princeton and Twin amps. I knew very well that Squiers get pretty mixed opinions from very negative ones to those actually praising them above most brand name Fenders. Well, there are many different Squiers from different periods and countries and they do vary just like all other guitars.
I compared several various Squier Stratocasters and Squier Strats against some Fender brand guitars of the same type such as American Standard Stratocasters, Japanese and Custom Shop reissue models, and also guitars like Eric Clapton model ($1 499), SRV model etc. I did not find any significant ( or noticable at all) differences in favor of those expensive guitars that would truly justify the price difference. If there was any difference most often it was in favor of the Squiers : ), which often sounded noticebly louder and clearer then most of the guitars I tested against it and also somehow rang and sustained better.
Very few of those guitars had that real Fender "twang" that is so looked after among more experienced Fender players. More on that in the Overall Rating section of that review.
The ceramic magnets are considered to be brighter sounding and giving stronger field than Alnico magnets. The sound of the Squier is bright but I would not call it too bright.
You can play as many styles on that guitar as on any electric guitar.
I gave 9 for the sound because that guitar compares very well both in sounds and looks with models costing ten times as much and it is impossible to tell the difference.

The guitar was superbly finished and ready to play. Of course every player has own preferences regarding action, pickup hight, strings gauge etc. but I just want to say the guitar was properly set up for standard overall use.
The neck is pretty slim for a Fender type guitar which makes it comfortable for younger players or those with smaller hands. The satin finish on it quickly becomes hi gloss after a few weeks of playing. On my Squier it is a little yellowish now after 4 years of use.
The guitar feels (and it is) quite heavy although it is an alder body. I was impressed by the quality of finish, perfect in every detail. The body is finished and painted like any most expensive guitar with solid color you can think of. The tunning machines are very good and smooth, guitar stays in tune as well as traditional tremolo Strat can, but the most prominent feature of it is nice and clear sound and precision intonation of the neck.
There was nothing wrong I could think of so I gave 10 here

This is as durable and reliable guitar as any best guitar you can find. Of course it is always good to have a second guitar handy when going to a gig but other fault then broken string is highly unlikely on that guitar. And regarding frequency of broken strings it is pretty good string saving guitar. 10 here for dependability.

I did not talk to them yet.

I have been played many years owning different guitars like Ibanez musician and performer, Fender Stratocaster 67 Reissue Japanese made, Marshall stack and too many pieces of gear to list here
This is the guitar I would higly recommend to anyone who likes Fender type guitars, it has good price tag for beginners on modest budget but the quality that would be great for very experienced players.. Don't think: "Oh, it is only a Squier and I want a real Fender. These are only names and guitars are as good as the design, materials and craftsmenship used while producing them. This is an exact Fender design built using quality wood and craftsmenship, there is no reason it should not sound like the US made Fenders. It is built in China- so what? China is a very old and great country with interesting history and it is nice to own guitar made there. The price can be so low because people in China work for very low wages about 2 dollars a day but it doesn't mean they can not built a beautiful guitar if Fender provides them with specifications and controls the process. Among this genre of guitars this is as good an instrument as anything else, not only in this but in any price range. Some people prefer Gibson type guitars that give you thicker distortion sound and differrent clean sound some between them really dislike Fender and compare it's sound to "naked wires", whatever, I think both designs complement each other and it is good to have two guitars one Fender type and one Gibson.
Okay, I would like to give you some tips ending this review. First- make use of the tone controls on the guitar. It is false opinion that Stratocaster can not be used to play Heavy metal becouse it becomes thin or shrill when overdrived hardly. If you turn down the tone completely on the first 4 positions (with the exception for the bridge pu which has no tone control) and use bright setting of an amp you will end up with very interesting timbre that is as useful for heavy overdrive play as Gibsons or hi gain modern guitars. Very slight movement of the tone controls just a touch up from zero will give you instant sparkle that you can dose according to your needs. If your guitar seems to you too bright on clean channels just use your tone controls- set them about half way down and it will sound darker. Much depends on the amp here. Very good rhythm position for hi gain playing is position 2 on the 5 way selector (neck plus middle) with bass pu tone control almost totally closed and great solo tone is on position 4 (bridge plus middle) with similarily closed middle pu tone control.
And one more "secret" about the sound of Fenders. Fender frequently used shims to adjust the neck to body angle. They really influence the sound and the way the note attacks sustains and decays. When there is no shim and the heel joint is perfectly smooth and tightly screwed
the guitar will sound wery tight but in less inspiring way, more like neck thru body designs. When the heel surface is imperfect and there is some metal shims the attack-decay will become "twangy"- that is what is so liked by many Fender players. If you experiment a little with those shims you will end up with very interestingly sounding instrument. Perhaps newer Fenders are not so highly acclaimed for the tone as their older instruments because they just have too perfect body to neck joint. Therefore some imperfections can bring more class and character to any instrument.
If that guitar was stolen I would get another one like her.

OK, thanks for reading this lenghty but hopefully helpful review. If you have any questions or comments contact me at the below e-mail address.

made in indonesia. 2 pointless tone controls (they really dont do much), on volume control, 3 single coil pickups (which SUCK @SS!), tremolo (god it sucks, it goes out of tune the second you even dare to touch it), 5 way switch (POS), black...etc etc...

i like to play punk/metal, but i do play a bit of blink and beatles too... its noisier than a monkey getting a bowlin ball rammed up its ass. the 5 way switch sucks, might as well not be there, everytime you switch it makes an annoying popping sound.

if you forget all the stuff that comes standard with a shit squier strat, it wasnt chipped or anything like that. not that i noticed anything when it was new since i was a beginner. but it IS noisy.

i havent really even beat it up or anything. the strap buttons are a joke, the other one loosened and kept falling out when i was practising at home, i had to glue it back and it still doesnt stay properly. it goes out of tune constantly, and dont even mention the whammy bar. one touch and ya gotta tune it again.

havent had to deal with them.

ive been playing for about 2 years, and thats all i own. im planning on getting a new guitar soon, not a bullshit one that makes so much noise and falls apart when you try to play it. its an ok beginner guitar I GUESS... i pretty much wish i hadnt bought it.

I bought a 2000 Squier Strat from a buddy of mine for like 40 bucks. I am pretty sure it was made in korea. It has 21 frets, 1 volume knob and 2 tone pots with 5way selector. There are three pickups. I think the neck is mahogany (its heavier than crap)strat body, i like the big neck because my hands are too big for some of the fender necks.

I play Stevie Ray all the way. It is defintely not a blues guitar it has a hard rock sound and nothing on the 5 way can help that. I have a Fender Frontman 45 watt amp, Tech4 and rp200 pedals.

I like the action my friensd plays rock so he had it pretty low. But i raised it a little from a fuller blues sound. I think im getting the pickups rewound.

I would play my Bullett before playing this guitar live. I seems durable enough. I woudld bring a good guitar and use htis one as a backup at a gig.

Bought it used

I have been playing 10 years. I have aFendeR bULLETT which i love for playing Stevie Ray(R.I.P.). This guiatr amy or may not suit you depending on you musical preference

the neck is mahogany, im pretty sure, with a maple fret board. it's actually made pretty well. i like the whammy a lot and it stays in tune kind of well. i actually pulled the whammy bar up so now it no longer has a right-angled corner. i can now go a LOT lower than i used to be able to. it still stays in tune pretty well.

this is about the nastiest sounding guitar i've ever heard, which i love. when youre on the 1st, 3rd, or 5th position on the pickup switch, there's a slight humming, but it doesnt bother me. i usually run it through two distortion pedals anyway.

i think the action is perfect. the pickups have been messed around with a lot since i first got the guitar, and i'm not sure how i felt about the factory setting on them when i first got it. the pickup switch is very noisy, but the guitar has taken a beating, so i don't mind. the fret bars are wearing a good bit, and there's no reason for them to be, so i am kind of angry about this. it doesnt really matter though... i use it for a crap guitar to just mess around with.

alright. i really have beaten the crap out of this one. i've taken it apart many times, which isnt that bad, but ive parts of it a couple of times (including the pickups) and it works fine. i play pretty hard on it also, and it holds up fine, although i break strings often (which i suppose isnt the guitar's fault). i suppose i can depend on this guitar and i would definitely use it on a gig without a backup, but it isnt the type of guitar youd take to a gig unless you intended to smash it.

havent had to deal with the company.

i like this guitar a lot. it has such a nasty sound. although, if it was stolen, i would definitely not buy another (i'd get something cheaper if i wanted a crap guitar).

A very early Squier strat (serial A013959) made in japan. Would be interested in finding out exactly when it was built, but must be early 80s. Solid cream body with white scratchplate. Lovely rosewood neck with pearl dots. 5-way selector switch which still functions well, with the occasional squirt of WD-40 every couple of years. Cream coloured single coil pickups, but no idea which make. Got a tremelo as well, but it was crap, so I took the arm off and have it in a draawer somewhere..hmm. Sounds good compared with modern USA strats, and has a nice Stevie Ray tone if I use the second switch position down from the neck. Little Wing sounds just like the real thing (well, tone wise, not ability-wise). I have a custom shop Tele which sounds awesome as well, but could never match the mellow tones of this guitar. For the money it was an absolute bargain. (#65 sterling in the 80s - second hand)

Use it with a VOX AC30 and VOX AC125 lead head. Also got a Korg multi-effects pedal with reverb/chorus/echo etc. Play mostly blues/rock, but even playing folk stuff (trad Scottish/Irish music), it sounds great. The treble pickup is too clangy for anything apart from distorted heavy metal soloing, but the 'rhythm pickups sound really clean and warm. There's an earht buzz which comes and goes, and I've never managed to get rid of, but it's only really annoying when nothing is being played, you'd hardly notice it otherwise.

I got the guitar secondhand, and have hardly touched it since. DOne the intonation once a year if that. The finish on the body isn't too bad, but most of the chrome on the bridge and string-guides on the headstock has tarnished. This may be due to the fact it sat in my attic for 18 months, whilst I worked overseas, and was subject to heat and cold out side the norm. Was still pretty much in tune when I pulled it out the case though, so nothing drastic happened. Chrome on the pickups is still deep,shiny perfection funny enough. There's a small crack which I noticed years ago where the neck joins the body, but it hasn't got any worse, and doesn't affect the playing. The neck is straight and a joy to play.

I've gigged with this guitar on numerous occasions, though I usually play a Telecaster. The finsih is standing up very well, though it has the usual dings and scratches associated with gigging use. It's been dropped a couple of times, and seems pretty impervious to the amount of abuse I've thrown at it. The real test of durability will come in the next few years when my sons take up guitar...I hope :).
The cream finish on the body seems very thick, and has one deep gouge where I dropped something on the guitar, but you can't see the wood underneath...Strap buttons are nearly rusted on they're so solid. I'd have no qualms about taking this guitar on a gig with no backup...well, apart from a set of strings..

Been playing for over 20 years, as well as this Squier strat, I've got a Telecaster 62 reissue with bound edges and a really lovely sound. A Les Paul 1992 which I'm thinking of trading for a bass. I also have 3 acoustic guitars, a beautiful Martin D35, a Norman 12 string and a Spanish classical solid top which is batter beyond belief but sounds great, even with my lumbering classical pieces.
I'm very happy with this guitar, and for the money can have no complaints. I've tried Fender USA strats of the same era, and a couple of those were much worse than the Squier. If I saw another one, I'd definitely buy it if the price was OK. These old Squiers are really nice, but you'd have to get it away from mainstream guitar shops as most people are cottoning on to the fact that these are more Fender than anything else. Check the local papers or whatever, and if you see one, they might be a bargain!

Bought this new in 1983, Japanese Squire.

I had just started playing at that time, and was a fan of Eric Clapton's Blues Breakers stuff, and whenever I heard a guitar sound I liked, it seemed to be a Strat. Then I read an interview with Yngwie Malmsteen in which he said he used Squire Strats because they were "better than the new US made ones." I also saw some gear listings for albums which listed Squire Strats, so I figured that was the way to go! Being inexperienced I bought one without really trying it...

Was dissapointed at first with the terrible hum from the pickups, and didn't like the bridge too much, or even the sound really. It is a very well made instrument though, solid with quality parts.

First thing I replaced the stock pickups with Dimarzio, HS-3 for neck and HS-1 for bridge. Then put on a locking tremelo, later had the frets replaced with Jumbo ones, new graphite nut... The stock tuners have always been fine.

I found the original pickups to be harsh, noisey and brittle... but I didn't really know much back then, just wanted to play heavy metal. With the Dimarzios it still has a strat sound, excellent for blues, but also nice for a clean twangy jazz sound. Very versatile. I do mostly home recording, and have used it on over 100 songs, love it!

Was setup reasonably well at the factory. Still the same pots and selector switch working fine after 20 years. Strap buttons good, nothing to complain about, well built!

Very dependable, seems like it will last forever. They sure don't make Squires like that now! Very nice black paint has held up well.

Have never called.

Have been playing since 1981, my other main guitar is an 85 Randy Rhodes Jackson. Really like my strat, would like to get it painted some day, but would be embarassed for anyone to see the bad routing job I did on this... once tried putting in a Dimarzio Super Distortion pickup - didn't sound too good. Has withstood all my tampering, experimenting and tomfoolery over the years, awesome guitar.

This is a 1985 Fender Squier Stratocaster made in Japan. The neck is 22 standard frets, rosewood fretboard with mother of pearl inlaid dots. The body seems to be single-piece alder routed in such a way to accomodate only the single coils that are stock (American Strats had a wider rout pattern). Electronics are standard passive stratocaster hardware.

The passive single coils are ok. The tone is bright, clear and less mid-rangy that what you'd find on an American Standard of the same period.

The tremelo system is nothing to write home about. The bridge saddles particularly are total crap compared with the rest of the hardware. They are covered with a chrome that flakes and hinders the sustain and tone.

Tuners are non-locking, fair quality that differ from those used on American instruments in years previous. Each has the Fender logo stamped on it.

The finish was a basic cream color when I got it. The quality of the paint job was equal to higher-priced American made Fender instruments.

The high point of this guitar is the neck. The single piece maple neck with rosewood fretboard is a testament to the high quality of work that was coming out of Fender Japan at that time. The neck is lighter and faster than American necks with a thick, hard finish on it. The radius may be slightly tighter than Americans, although I wouldn't swear to it. I can't say enough good things about this neck. I have a 1984 American Strat (entirely stock) which I also love- but the finish on the neck has not held up nearly as well as the Japanese one has. This despite the fact that both guitars had spent their entire lives in their cases before I got them 'used.'

This guitar has suited a lot of noodling, west African style lead work and basic blues. Not as warm a tone as I like for rhythm work, but new pickups would change that. With a humbucker in the bridge position this could be an very versatile instrument.

The noise is no more than you would expect from single coils. Again, the pickups have a bright, clear, bell-like tone.

Having got the guitar in a very one-sided swap of $20 plus the world's crappiest bass, I can't speak to factory setup.

Aside from the oxidized and flaking saddles, there were no flaws with this guitar. High quality materials were used throughout and parts fit together properly. Fret work was quite good. A very polished looking instrument.

Some of the hardware has not stood up well over the years. Nothing has broken as such, but the bridge just needs to be replaced and the pickups are not amazing. Locking tuners would be nice.

The finish deserves a medal or something for holding up this well in the 8 years that I have owned it.

The strap buttons are fine.

The instrument is dependable in that nothing is likely to break, cut out or otherwise stop working. I am not a professional musician, but if I were I would bring a backup due to the liklihood of the instument going out of tune or breaking a string at an inopportune moment (what with the lousy bridge adding friction).

I have done all repair and maintinence on this guitar myself.

I've been playing on and off since I was 12. I also own an '85 American Fender Stratocaster, a custom fretless Carvin bass, Peavy backstage amp, Carvin bass amp and assorted lesser instruments.

I would be pissed if anything happened to this guitar but I don't know that I would definitely replace it because I do have another great Strat. The highest point is the neck. That part alone is worth twice what I paid for the whole thing. One thing that I really ought to bother with is replacing the bridge.

If you should run into one of these in a pawn show, buy it. The word is getting out on these things and they seem to actually be appreciating in value now. Old Japanese Fenders have often been lumped in with other shoddy import crap ruining the Fender name. They are undervalued. This guitar is better than most of the newer American Strats that sell for $800 or more. replacing the saddle or the entire bridge is cheap and easy to do yourself. If you don't like the bright tone of the pickups it is worth buying the guitar anyway and putting in new Carvins (wicked cheap, high quality parts) or whatever suits your taste.

As I've mentioned a few times, I own both a U.S. and a Japanese Fender made about a year apart and the comparison is favorable. The sound and feel are different but both good. The bones of the guitar- the neck, fretboard and body are an amazing deal.

Any halfwit can slap some high (or low) quality hardware on a lousy neck and body. It's the woodwork that takes real skill. You'll end up with something that looks great at first but turns into a waste of money and a piece of crap. But a good neck and body take real craftsmanship that is worth investing in even if they are covered with lack-luster hardware. That's what makes this guitar such a good deal. Especially if you are into hot-rodding your instruments, this particular version of the Squire is a great platform(that's what I did with these things all through high school).

Maybe there is some new pickup or tremolo system that you would love to experiment with but don't want to mess with your main, 100% stock vintage instrument. That's one of many great roles for this guitar.

I play a 1995 Squier Strat that was made in Mexico. It's all white with a Maple neck. It has three pickups, two tone and one volume knob, and a 5-way selector. The guitar doesn't, like most Squires, have a whammy bar and floating bridge. The only negative part of the guitar is that there is a cover on the back of the guitar which goes over where you put in the strings. This is not a problem when putting a new string in, but it is a nuisance to take it off if there is a broken string that you need to take out. I just took this cover off and there hasn't been a problem since.

I've been playing it for alomst a year now with a variety of amps - mostly Peavey or Fender - and it sounds pretty good. I also picked up the Danelectro DJ-12 Black Coffee Distortion pedal and it sounds great together. I play mostly rock and it has a very full, clean sound. It can give you almost the same sound as a domestically made, more expensive Fender for half the price. The only bad thing about the sound is that it can get a little piercing when the high notes are played with a ouder volume, but that may just be my amp.

since my guitar was bought used I can't tell what it was originally like.

I think the guitar is quite reliable. It has been around for about 7 or 8 years now and there are only a few visable cracks or flaws in the finish. I have also dropped it a couple times and it seems to have withstood the abuse. It is built quite solidly so it should last you a while.

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The guitar is a great guitar for beginners since it is so cheap and still makes a great sound. I'd recommend it to anyone looking to convert to electric for the first time. I also played an Ibenez which sounds great for metal songs, but the Squier is better for all around uses. I also don't care for the floating bridges becasue they cause the strings to fall out of tune very easily. Overall this Squier Strat is a great buy.

My Squier Strat was made in 1981 in Korea.
it includes 3 single coil pickups with a 3 way swiching swich. and 2 tone controls and one volume. including a whammy bar and a whammy bar bridge.
It is a Classic white strat with a rosewood fretboard.
My neck was customized to a Thin neck for easy playing.

This guitar almost fits my musical needs perfectly, i play punk rock music and i use the bridge pickup for lots of treble.
i play mostly downstroaking guitar with a bit of riffs and soloing.
i using peavey amps with plain distortion with a clean/distortion pedal.

When i recieved the guitar the action and setup was almost perfect to what i would of used.. i moved the action a little bit lower..
and thats all i needed.
the guitar had no flaws and played exellent from the day i got it.

This guitar could easely withstand live playing...
i have been pretty hard on it over the years and its done amazing.
The strap buttons i did have touble with though.
after about 6 months the screw on the forward scrap button started to come lose, and even after tighening kept coming lose.. this happened to a friend of mine as well. i fixed it by dipping the screw in carpenters glue and screwing it back in.

i have been playing for 5 years now. and i own:

-a washburn
-a squier tele
-a strat tele
-a Tom Delonge Signature strat
-Fender d-g7 acoustic


I Think the squier strat is the best guitar for the money.
especially for a beginner guitarist.
i could not recoment a better guitar for the money... i am still playing one after 5 years.
and still sounds great (with a few customizations)
every dollar will pay off..
thanks for reading my review
-Anthony Rosborough