Squier Stratocaster

Strat standard, three p/ups. Fat 70s style headstock. Dual pivot trem. Standard tuners, nothing special - 21 fret Squire strat. Maple neck, maple fretboard. I have had it for 5 years.

I play mostly blues and classic rock SRV, Brian Setzer, Clapton, stones etc, although I dabble in mainstream rockabilly. I play with a fender frontman 25R and a Princeton 65 reissue S/S. A Danelectro Fab overdrive - thats it.

little buzzy at times, but thats to be expected of a strat american, MIM, or otherwise. i've been playing for over 20 years and I like this guitar. I can make this baby sound like clapton, SRV, you name it. Over the years I have played everything from American Strats, LPs, SGs, Teles, Gretsch, etc.

I can't speak for those who say these guitars are crap because maybe they got a dud (or maybe, just maybe they suck or are guitar snobs). I have played out with it as my stand alone guitar with no back up. Crisp clean channel, gritty overdrives, you just gotta know how to work it.

Having said that I will say that there is not much range in the tone controls. A cool strat trick is turning down the tone on the neck p/up and all the way up in the bridge then slamming the 5 way back and forth for a cool wah effect. This guitar can do that pretty well.

All in all, for a one-trick-pony like myself, I leave jaws on the floor when I shred on this baby. I have other guitarists heading out to buy one after they hear mine though my less than average set up.

Nice looking finish, clean even clear coat over a sunburst finish with a tortoise shell pickguard.

The input jack comes loose from time to time. Easy to tighten it though. This is a common strat problem (american or other). My dual pivot bridge pulled loose so I pulled if off, filled the holes and screwed a 6 screw standard, vintage style into it. This was a quick, easy, and cheap fix. since then it has been a tank. it is my only guitar.

After the bridge pulled loose (3 years after I had it) I called the customer support at fender. I was able to talk to someone right away. The guy said it was past warranty and said I got enough use from it and did not offer any help

I have been playing over 20 years. If this guitar was lost or stolen, I would replace it with the same thing (probably a different color - just for something new). There is nothing I hate about this guitar.

I have never written a review before, but I wanted to give a response to all those guys who are afraid to get squire on their hands if they touch one. This guitar is great for the beginner or pro who wants a great sounding guitar and don't want to spend a ton. If you gotta have the fender at the top then get a fender, but if not get one of these.

If you're any good the sound will come from the sauce on your fingers, not the spaghetti on the head.

Made in 2007. It's a plain strat - 5 way switch, 3 single coils, yadda yadda yadda. Mine was made in INDONESIA. No special features. so this section gets a 5.

It sounds OK. Let's just say it "gets the job done". This guitar is not meant for anything other than beginners, or a toy you don't mind slinging around.

The body is made of agathis, which looks like a very red wood UNDER the paint. The wood feels very cheap. The neck also feels very cheap. The whole thing feels cheap....and looks cheap. cheap! cheap! cheap! The guy at guitarzzz.com will probably give you one for free. haha

No it is not very reliable. Although I'm sure it can hold up to some abuse. It has tuning problems by the way.

never dealt with, and never will.

Like I said - It's made cheap for beginners. What do you expect. The neck of a guitar is the most important thing, and the neck on this is a disappointment. Alsmost feels like a childs toy to me, compared to a USA made strat anyway.

Covered by many previous reviewers. But let me just clear one thing up for you. The reviews that claim this is on par with a Fender Stratocaster (Mexican) are not giving you the facts. the fender strat is an entirely different animal with much better quality conrol, wiring, pickups and playability. To compare it to Fenders is just immature and not the case. These are nice guitars for the money but do NOT confuse them with Fender stratocasters, their not and to tell someone that is really a bogus review. You get what you pay for. These are nice guitars but are DEFINETLEY not real stratocasters, that said I think for the money it's the best buy out ther in it's price range but it is NOT a FEnder strat.

Sounds Ok for the money but anyone who says this is on line with an American Strat has NEVER played an American strat most if the reviewers of this guitar are teenagers or pre-teens excited to have their first guitar. Don't compare this to an American strat. It sounds Ok and for the money it's a very good buy vut to say it's on par with even a Standard Mexican strat is just immature and not to be believed. The sound is better than average for the price but still thin and weak compared to a REAL Stratocaster. Don't believe the posters (who should really be called POSERS) who tell you it's on par with a Fender strat, it's not, in fact it's not even close and to say so smaks of real immaturity.

You'll need to take this to a GOOD tech to get it set up proplerly, The frets need to be dressed, sharp ends filed and pickups adjusted as well as action and intonation adjustments. The factory setup is very, very, poor. I would highly recomend you play SECERal of these and find the one that feels the best as these guitars can vary widely from guitar to guitar (this is true with all Fenders) but ESPECIALLY on the Squire line where quality control is almost non-existant. One last piece of advise NEVER,NEVER buy these sight unseen over the internet (that goes for Fenders too) as no other guitar manufacturer has such a wide difference from guitar to guitar and on Fenders cheapest line buying without seeing is like playing Russian roulete excpet they'll be 5 bullets in the gun instead of one.

This is a very inexpensive guitar and it's built that way, the wiring is extremely poor so don't expect to get years from this with no problems unless your good with wires and a soldering iron. The wiring on these things can be a disaster. Another good reason to try befor you buy. I have seen these with the pickup selector switch wired completely wrong and the tone selectors not even wired. These are good guitars IF you find agood one. TRY it first. You may go thru a dozen before you find one that "speaks" to you. If you get a good one you'll love it. Anyone who says they'd gig wwith this has never seen a stage. It is not profeesional in quality by ANY measure or even intermediate quality. It's a nice beater or a great first guitar but you'd better try before you buy.

Good luck. Fender probably has the WORST customer service in the business followed closely by Ibanez.

This is a good guitar for the money if you take your time and find a good one. To compare them to Fenders is ludidrous and speaks of a reviewers immaturity. It is a Great first guitar if you find a good one and then after you've gotten into being able to play with some competence graduate to a Fender Standard Stratocaster. You will hear the difference as soon as you plug in...assuming your using a decent amp. A tube amp will bring out everthing that single colis have to offer but don't believe the reviewers that tell you this is as good or on par with a Fender strat. It's not, it's not even close.

The initial features sound exciting. You have a single coil, double coil, and hum bucker along with a nifty switch that allows you to change up your sound choice a lot.

Basic 21 frets.

The sound for this beginners guitar in my opinion is very average.
I've heard many different guitars. If you play jazzy, blues toons and thats it, then this guitar isn't bad. But I play punk rock and there is a horrible amount of feedback and string humming when you turn on the distortion.

You might be thinking "maybe your amp sucks". Well, I tried it on my brothers much more expensive Line 6 medium Amp. And the problem remains.

Definitely not a guitar for gigging. But then Again, this guitar was only about 200 dollars so Its ok for the price.

The pickups for this guitar were very sturdy actually. I haven't experienced any problems with them. The turn knobs are conveniently placed and work pretty well.

The guitar is definitely durable partially due to its size. Its also pretty heavy but at least its not lopsided.
I've dropped it once, and hit the neck against a wall a couple times and it didn't even scratch it that bad.
The gloss seems well applied. I've had the Squire for over a year and it looks like new with a bit of polish.
I got mine in Black with chrome knobs and pick guard so it gets dusty pretty easy.

This is a great first guitar. But it will probably sound like crap if you try to play it loud and live. Best for practicing.

Squier Strat SE100 Special. It's basic, but great - agathis body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. The neck's bolt-on, solidly built and very smooth. Plenty of travel on the 22 medium jumbo frets, more than wide enough for my sausage fingers! My Strat's got the gloss black vinyl finish with three generic (I hope Fender, but probably not) single-coil pickups, with the five-way selector and angled bridge pickup. Pretty simple tremolo on the bridge - mine was second-hand and didn't include the whammy bar, but oh well, not really used it! Generic tuners as well, but they hold firm and the Strat stays in tune well enough. It came out of the SE100 starter pack, but I didn't get the tuner - I use a Korg CA-30 instead. I did get the bag, Fender strap, Squier SP-10 amp with cable and a couple of picks. Suits me fine as a beginner - good action and very easy to play. And for the price I paid, it's a bargain.

My style is more alternative metal and prog rock - AFI and Muse dominate my music life. Initially you realise that single-coils aren't good if you plan on heaping on the overdrive, but a little trick with Strats is to put the selector in pos. 2 or 4 for rhythm and lead respectively. This chains the single-coils together and gives basic humbucker function - sounds different to a humbucker, but that makes it unique. I generally chain the middle and neck pickups together to play lead parts and find that it sounds great - nice sharp sound from the pickups, very pronounced through the SP-10 amp. I'm waiting on a Korg 105od stomp box and a Laney HCM30R amp - linking it to these two should give a better sound, but it could pass as basic Muse level on Starlight and Time Is Running Out. Playing Killing Lights on it is great.

This Strat was built in China, so it's basic. But the action is very good - very smooth, everything lined up properly. Remember I'm not the first owner - this guitar has survived another rock-obsessed teen before me and bears a few battle scars, but the axe itself is fine. The black gloss vinyl is beautiful under light - perfectly reflective, but it shows up fingerprints like a bitch! Needs regular polishing, but it's so worth it. There's a couple of chunks of the vinyl missing - clearly been dropped, but is coping well, and not really noticeable from the front. Manufacturing must have been painless, cos everything works fine.

Totally solid. Beautifully built - the build quality is easily on par with a full Fender Strat. It's been dropped at least twice by the previous owner, and I thrash it regularly when I get really into practising. The body seems indestructible - really strong, and good weight too. I've often thought of putting together a band and gigging - sure, I'd use this without a backup (only cos I don't have another electric guitar! I've been playing since Jan 2007!) The only worry I'd have is strings, but Ernie Ball's got that covered ;) The hardware's good quality, though I'd probably put hot rail pickups in for gigging, as the single coils aren't quite my style. I don't know just how tough the finish is, but I bet it'd survive the odd knock. (I'm careful with my stuff - it's the only guitar I've got, and it means so much to me that I take good care of it). Only quirk I've had is the strap falling off when I pick it up - it stays on perfectly while playing, so it's just an old strap. Buttons are solid.

Never had to deal with Squier directly, but I found their website easy to navigate. I found out about the guitar before I bought it, and found the user manual easy. No warranty to speak of, but I bet they'd help out if I needed it.

Been playing since January 2007 on an acoustic guitar. I finally bit the bullet and upgraded to this Strat in May same year, after my guitar tutor mentioned one of his students was upgrading. I loved it the moment I saw it, bonded the moment I picked it up. So far, I've been using it straight, with the SP-10 amp, but I'm gonna have a Laney HCM30R amp with a Korg 105od distortion pedal - this thing will shake walls with power chords! I find it easy to play, and the ergonomics are awesome - it moulds straight into my lap when I sit, making practising easy. The neck's thin and easy to fret. If somebody stole it, I would wish them a slow and most painful death; failing that, I'd find them and torture them to demonstrate how much this guitar means to me. Oh, and I'm not stupid enough to lose a guitar, btw ;) I love the sound and ease of play - it's a solid guitar that will survive many years of active service. I'm gonna upgrade it when I get the opportunity with two humbucking hot rail pickups (bridge and neck), a Floyd Rose double-locking trem and maybe get a Korg 411fx. My favourite feature is just owning it - being able to play a guitar and having one that I can just work so well with. If forced to get a 'proper' guitar, I'd either have a full Fender Strat, or a Strat-styled Ibanez. It's comparable to my mate's Ibanez GSA-60, except for the humbucker, but otherwise an ideal beginner's guitar. I can see myself playing this for many years to come.

Normal, strat-like features.

Tuners are bad. The fact that the tuner that comes in the SE100 value pack (where I got this guitar) dosen't work adds to that problem.

My guitar has a maple neck and rosewood fretboard.

I started playing guitar over half a year ago. I didn't really consider music styles, I just bought this because it was modelled on Fender, and I thought Fender was good. Bad mistake.

Soon after I bought the guitar I really started to like AC/DC. I also realised that most of the music wasn't suited to this guitar.

However, it has a great sound (at least as far as a beginner like me can judge) when it plays the music that its made for. Eg. Smoke on The Water.

With three pickups you can get quite a variety on sound.

I haven't used any other guitars, so I can't really comment so much on its sound compared to the industry. But, it sounds good enough for me.

Overall, its got a good sound for the price, but if you like rock music, don't buy this guitar

The guitar was very well set up. I haven't had to do any modifications (apart from changing strings occassionaly).

The finish is flawless, and so far it has only attracted minor scratches which are only visible from up close.

The guitar seems very durable. I haven't had any problems with hardware, and I've hit the guitar on walls several times, but it still stands strong.

I wouldn't use it on a gig.

I've had to deal with customer support when my tremelo arm got stuck in the bridge, but it wasn't the Fender customer support - I just took it to my local music shop.

I own no other guitars. This guitar is good for a beginner. If it were stolen, I wouldn't buy it again, I'd buy a better guitar.

The only problem is that its been half a year, and I'm already hungry for a better guitar.

Overall, this is good for its price, but if you have the money, you'll be better off getting something else.

Black Strat Copy.
It had a tremelo I think
Very light compared to a "real" strat.

I bought this on an extended business trip to the US in 1987 for about $150 with an real Strat case. Used it to plink with, and then brought it home and P/Exed it for US strat. THe case was worth a lot more than the guitar - For some reason Fender cases are overpriced here.

Generally OK
Hummed like crazy, but then so does my Fender.

Pretty decent. Played well. Set up was OK. Poor quality machine heads, but again - some Fender Strats have just as bad.

I wouldn't gig ithout a backup, period. But, this is decent enough to be used as a backup.
Big advantage of owning a playable but cheap guitar is like driving a beater. You don't actually care too much.

Never tried.

I've been playing 30 years, have had 3 Fender Strats, a Gibson Les Paul,
Godin LGX, Aria ProII Les Paul, Yamaha Pacifica 812, a few Acoustics and this Squier.

It's probably low on this list, but then it was bought almost as a throw-away.

What I would say is that one of my Fender Strats, a Mexican one, was certainly no better guitar - and quiote a bit more expensive.

I'd say if you can't afford a decent Fender, then while Squier are OK, there's a lot of choice out there in this price category. Personally I think Yamaha Pacificas are better as an entry level, but if you can find a decent older copy (and I think Aria ProII and Ibanez from the 70's were the amongst the best) then you'll be happier.

Squier Strat, 21 frets, red "finish" (Looks/feels like it was dipped in a vat of that wax they use to seal bottles of Makers Mark) Generic tuners, electronics. Came with a gig bag.

The guitar plays well. Don't even bother with the tone knobs, they're worthless. Plugged in, it sounds like a $100 guitar. It's noisy. But its not like you are going to be gigging with it...

Finish sucks- But what do you expect for the price? The action, however, is where this guitar shines. It plays just like a Fender strat, with nice low action. It was set up well, no fret buzz anywhere. Do yourself a favor, and take the tremolo arm and throw it away. If you don't use it, the guitar will stay in tune.

I've left this guitar in my car for 3 days in freezing weather, dropped it, let my 10 year old cousin use it unsupervised for a week, burnt it with a lit cigarette, and all it's ever needed was to be tuned. This guitar is a built pretty well. When you factor in price, it gets a 9.

No need. If it broke, i would just buy another.

You have to factor in price when considering this- it was dirt cheap. It plays like a real Strat, and it stays in tune. Personally, I think it is the perfect guitar to learn on. You don't have to drop a lot of cash, it is durable and does what it is supposed to do. The electronics are muddy, the tuners are garbage, but it stays in tune (just don't mess with the tremolo) and I got it for under $100. If someone stole it, I would laugh- imagine the effort they put into stealing a guitar they could probably only get $50 for. Price/Quality ratio, I have yet to see anything better.

Japanese Strat from 1983/84, customised with a DiMarzio humbucker in the neck position & an unbranded humbucker in the bridge position. everything else is standard.
2 tone sunburst finish & all the usual strat features.

Mostly using this for blues / slide playing & rock at the moment with small amps. I have the trem blocked off with a chunk of wood.

Solid build, good wood & electrics on these old Squiers gives a very close Fender sound & great sustain. The humbuckers suit my taste although the bridge position one lacks bottom end & punchy mids. It is good for slide playing & dirty or clean blues though & the DiMarzio humbucker is very smooth. Also, mixing the middle single-coil with either humbucker gives a delicate, almost acoustic tone.

A poor score here mainly due to the hatchet job the previous owner did while customising the guitar. The neck will go out of position if it gets a solid knock, probably due to the number of times it's been removed. The scratchplate is a nasty 1 ply white plastic affair, badly cut to accomodate humbuckers & with very few screws holding it in place. The body has been crudely routed & the electrics were a mess when I first got it.

On the positive side:
Hard laquer, quality wood, excellent neck profile, super low action (currently raised a little for sliding), quality electrics (after a little rewiring) & hardware.

It's been dropped, thrown, stamped on, had a hardcase dropped on it, covered in stickers, covered in Beer & sweat etc...
...basically every situation you can imagine during my teenage years. It survived beautifully & has only a scattering of chips & cracks. A very tough guitar. I had to replace the bridge saddles after allowing them to rust because I never cleaned it & the nut was raised due to wear & tear. Thats it! The frets & neck are showing some age & wear but there's still loads of life in the old dog.

never dealt with them

My 1st guitar & therefore has sentimental value & is irriplaceable. Had it for 12 years. I'd definately get another Jap Strat if I lost it though. Seriously, these are better than the vast majority of Fenders out there. You need a good USA Fender to find higher all round quality.

Buy one now if you can! The prices are just beginning to creep up on these early 80's squiers as they are getting collectable. You still see some in pawn shops / second hand stores for bargain prices though.

Squier standard stratocaster with maple neck. Nice 2 tone sunburst. Neck is way off, partly fixed that with truss rod adjustment. Horrible tremolo, it takes the guitar 5 minutes to get back in tune after use. It looks nice though...

Thin, buzzy, treblish-one of the worst sounding electrics I ever did play. Strumming a chord is even worse than playing single notes. Chords sound like 10 differently tuned guitars playing at the same time. Pickups are so bad I can't find a word for it. This guitar plays better unplugged than plugged in and still sounds so bad it's useless.

Action is crap, but can be adjusted. Finish is allright and it looks nice. Frets are way too small and harsh.

Wouldn't know-sold mine a week after purchase...

Who knows?

Playing for 20 years. This guitar is terrible. Buy a mexican Fender, it's 10 times better and at least it's usable. I own or have owned at least 15 guitars, all in the above 700$ price range. Bought this as a jam session guitar, but sold it straight away. I bet there's better guitars out there for 250$, but I won't ever take my chances again. Fortunately I sold mine, but if it was stolen I'd pitty the guy who did it. Yes, it's so bad...