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When I first started playing bass I went right to the
top and bought a USA vintage series Precision. Since
that time I've downgraded and found that the best
values were in the mid-range stuff, like the Mexican
and particularly Japanese made, and since I'm not a
pro musician that's more than good enough for me.
Lately I've been wanting a Stratocaster but I just
can't drop a lot of money on it, even for a used
Mexican or Japanese Strat. eBay has driven the price
of these up beyond what I'm willing to pay
sight-unseen and there's nothing particularly
desirable in any of the stores around here for the low
budget shopper.
I had a Squier Affinity Bullet Strat for a while. It
was a complete piece of garbage and the most useless
piece of gear I've ever owned. I own two Vista Series
Squiers (a Jagmaster and a Musicmaster bass) that are
fantastic and worth twice as much as what I paid for
them. As far as Stratocasters go, what do you guys
think is the best deal in the Squier series? The old
Korean made Squiers? Are the newer Standards any
good?
Richard
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I play a Korean Squier, i think from the early 80's but i never
bothetred checking that out - i love the guitar, mainly for the neck,
which is a lot like the one on the mexican classic 60's series,
including thick shiny yellowed lacquer (sp?).
pups were bad, put Seymour D SSL-1's in it.
mind you, the body is plywood, and by all this list standards its a
crap guitar. but I am with you completely, over the last 5 years or
so i sold about $5000 worth of guitars. all my investment has been in
amps, speakers, reverb and fuzz ;-).
WR
--- In , Richard <errant_jedi@y...>
wrote:
> When I first started playing bass I went right to the
> top and bought a USA vintage series Precision. Since
> that time I've downgraded and found that the best
> values were in the mid-range stuff, like the Mexican
> and particularly Japanese made, and since I'm not a
> pro musician that's more than good enough for me.
> Lately I've been wanting a Stratocaster but I just
> can't drop a lot of money on it, even for a used
> Mexican or Japanese Strat. eBay has driven the price
> of these up beyond what I'm willing to pay
> sight-unseen and there's nothing particularly
> desirable in any of the stores around here for the low
> budget shopper.
>
> I had a Squier Affinity Bullet Strat for a while. It
> was a complete piece of garbage and the most useless
> piece of gear I've ever owned. I own two Vista Series
> Squiers (a Jagmaster and a Musicmaster bass) that are
> fantastic and worth twice as much as what I paid for
> them. As far as Stratocasters go, what do you guys
> think is the best deal in the Squier series? The old
> Korean made Squiers? Are the newer Standards any
> good?
>
> Richard
>
>
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site!
>
Richard:
For the money, these days it's hard to beat the Wilson Bros. VM-10, which is a
"Ventures Model" strat copy. Music123.com is selling them at $149.00 (and if
you order other stuff like strings, etc, to bring the total order to at least
$199.00, I believe shipping is free!) I own several, gave one to my 20 year-old
son, who's learning guitar. When he started his lessons, I gave him an original
1962 Fender Duo Sonic, which he loves, but after he got his hands on the Wilson
Bros VM-10, he went into raptures over its playability, sound, sustain, and
unbelievable level of quality for the price.
In my opinion, it blows all the Squier Strats away.
Having said that, if you can go $300, a good mid-late 80's Japan Strat is mighty
hard to beat!
Bruce D
Richard <> wrote:
As far as Stratocasters go, what do you guys
think is the best deal in the Squier series? The old
Korean made Squiers? Are the newer Standards any
good?
Richard
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I own a 2002 Affinity Strat made in Indonesia. It's my first and only
guitar so what I say may not mean a thing, but it's been great. I got
it with their "strat pak" deal, along with a front man amp for about
300 after tax. Even though I got it because it was a good deal, I
don't see how much better a Fender strat would be in comparison. But
again, I wouldn't really know.
Alex
--- In , Richard <errant_jedi@y...> wrote:
> When I first started playing bass I went right to the
> top and bought a USA vintage series Precision. Since
> that time I've downgraded and found that the best
> values were in the mid-range stuff, like the Mexican
> and particularly Japanese made, and since I'm not a
> pro musician that's more than good enough for me.
> Lately I've been wanting a Stratocaster but I just
> can't drop a lot of money on it, even for a used
> Mexican or Japanese Strat. eBay has driven the price
> of these up beyond what I'm willing to pay
> sight-unseen and there's nothing particularly
> desirable in any of the stores around here for the low
> budget shopper.
>
> I had a Squier Affinity Bullet Strat for a while. It
> was a complete piece of garbage and the most useless
> piece of gear I've ever owned. I own two Vista Series
> Squiers (a Jagmaster and a Musicmaster bass) that are
> fantastic and worth twice as much as what I paid for
> them. As far as Stratocasters go, what do you guys
> think is the best deal in the Squier series? The old
> Korean made Squiers? Are the newer Standards any
> good?
>
> Richard
>
>
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site!
>
Hi Alex:
First of all, in all fairness, Fender has dramatically improved its product
range over the past decade, and this applies to the Squier Series as well as
their other models. However, the fact remains that starting with the body wood,
the hardware, and the electronics, the Mexi Strat is a decided step up from any
of the Squier Strats, and the American Standard is another step up from the
Mexi.
I've played several Squiers over the years and never found them to compare too
well agains the Japanese-made Fender Strats, nor against the US Strat Standards.
First of all, the Asian Squiers are made from Agathis or Poplar, while the Mexi
and American Strats are made from Alder, which most Strat players prefer for its
traditional acoustical properties. The US Strat bodies are normally 3-pieces of
Alder glued together, while the Mexi bodies are normally 5-6 pieces of Alder
glued together.
I strongly recommend the Wilson Bros. VM-10 Strat copy as an excellent
bottom-end alternative, ($149.00 from Music123.com) and to my player's
sensibilities clearly superior to the Squier Strats. According to Music123, the
VM-10 unlike the Squiers, is made from solid Alder! At the price, you have the
room to spend a few bucks on upgrades, like a better bridge with beefier sustain
block, (about $120 retail), at which point you're blowing the Mexi Strat off the
map. With a set of Fender Fat 50's pickups, (About $125 retail) you're
approaching American Deluxe territory in terms of hardware and electronics, and
are still in the VM-10 less than $400.00!
Now, if you can budget $1,200 for a guitar, the current American Deluxe Series
Strat is a pretty serious axe, and numerous players who've recently purchased
them have gone into raptures over how strikingly improved this model is over
prior years and over the Standard series.
The few I've picked up and played at the Music shop were clearly better than
most other Fender or Squier Strats in most every detectable way, especially the
area of SUSTAIN, thanks to significant design improvement in the
bridge/tailpiece/sustain block. Also, Fender's assembly quality has leaped
several light years forward since the early 90's, and necks now fit very snugly
into the neck pockets, which also helps improve sustain and tone.
I have numerous collectible vintage Fenders and Mosrites in my collection, but
my favorite "Strat" is my modified Wilson Bros. VM-10. It's a new, low-buck
guitar, even with mods, so I'm not paranoid about the little mishaps that can
put dents, nicks and scratches on the finish, when rehearsing or playing out.
Plus, I get a kick out of the official "Ventures" logo emblazened on my VM-10's
headstock! (That feature alone, sets this Strat apart and above all the others
IMHO!)
Bruce D
Alexander Thorburn Hoffman <> wrote:
I own a 2002 Affinity Strat made in Indonesia. It's my first and only
guitar so what I say may not mean a thing, but it's been great. I got
it with their "strat pak" deal, along with a front man amp for about
300 after tax. Even though I got it because it was a good deal, I
don't see how much better a Fender strat would be in comparison. But
again, I wouldn't really know.
Alex
--- In , Richard <errant_jedi@y...> wrote:
> When I first started playing bass I went right to the
> top and bought a USA vintage series Precision. Since
> that time I've downgraded and found that the best
> values were in the mid-range stuff, like the Mexican
> and particularly Japanese made, and since I'm not a
> pro musician that's more than good enough for me.
> Lately I've been wanting a Stratocaster but I just
> can't drop a lot of money on it, even for a used
> Mexican or Japanese Strat. eBay has driven the price
> of these up beyond what I'm willing to pay
> sight-unseen and there's nothing particularly
> desirable in any of the stores around here for the low
> budget shopper.
>
> I had a Squier Affinity Bullet Strat for a while. It
> was a complete piece of garbage and the most useless
> piece of gear I've ever owned. I own two Vista Series
> Squiers (a Jagmaster and a Musicmaster bass) that are
> fantastic and worth twice as much as what I paid for
> them. As far as Stratocasters go, what do you guys
> think is the best deal in the Squier series? The old
> Korean made Squiers? Are the newer Standards any
> good?
>
> Richard
>
>
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site!
>
.
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
--- In , bruce d <wizzbangg2003@y...> wrote:
>
> I strongly recommend the Wilson Bros. VM-10 Strat copy as an
excellent bottom-end alternative, ($149.00 from Music123.com) and to
my player's sensibilities clearly superior to the Squier Strats.
According to Music123, the VM-10 unlike the Squiers, is made from
solid Alder!
According to the Wilson Bros website, the VM-10 has an Agathis body:
Shawn Martin
Life is short. Play for the music. Wear your heart on your sleeve.
I think they are good station wagons, especially the 60s-era Ford Country
Squires, but I
think we can all agree, the earliest Squire Woodies ('46-'49) were best! Nothing
beats real
wood.
Gavin
What you say is true, but in Music 123's on-line catalog, they state the VM-10
has a solid Alder body, and judging from the grain on the 3 Sunburst VM-10's
I've purchased, it sure looks like a nice chunk of Alder to me.
Here's the link to that page of the Music 123 website:
Bruce D
Shawn Martin <> wrote:
--- In , bruce d <wizzbangg2003@y...> wrote:
>
> I strongly recommend the Wilson Bros. VM-10 Strat copy as an
excellent bottom-end alternative, ($149.00 from Music123.com) and to
my player's sensibilities clearly superior to the Squier Strats.
According to Music123, the VM-10 unlike the Squiers, is made from
solid Alder!
According to the Wilson Bros website, the VM-10 has an Agathis body:
Shawn Martin
Life is short. Play for the music. Wear your heart on your sleeve.
.
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I put a link in my earlier posting, to Music 123, but it doesn't link you
straight to the Overall Spec's page on the VM-10. This link will do that:
You may have to scroll down the page to reach "Product Overview & Specs", but
you'll be on the correct page.
Bruce D
bruce d <> wrote:
What you say is true, but in Music 123's on-line catalog, they state the VM-10
has a solid Alder body, and judging from the grain on the 3 Sunburst VM-10's
I've purchased, it sure looks like a nice chunk of Alder to me.
Here's the link to that page of the Music 123 website:
Bruce D
Shawn Martin <> wrote:
--- In , bruce d <wizzbangg2003@y...> wrote:
>
> I strongly recommend the Wilson Bros. VM-10 Strat copy as an
excellent bottom-end alternative, ($149.00 from Music123.com) and to
my player's sensibilities clearly superior to the Squier Strats.
According to Music123, the VM-10 unlike the Squiers, is made from
solid Alder!
According to the Wilson Bros website, the VM-10 has an Agathis body:
Shawn Martin
Life is short. Play for the music. Wear your heart on your sleeve.
.
Visit for archived messages,
bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
Yahoo! Groups SponsorADVERTISEMENT
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