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Squiers...
There are Squiers, and there are Squiers...
I'm coming in late on this thread, and someone
may have mentioned this,
but there are Japanese Squiers (80's?)that have
<very> high quality....
there are also Korean made Fender labelled guitars
from some time back (80's) that were so bad I have
seen them go for $99!
And the Japanese made Squiers go for $200 or more!
Fender has upgraded the current Squier line a lot in recent years...
even the lowly $99 Bullet is now a solid wood body.
Still, the Bullets and the Infinity models are not that great,
but the higher level Squiers are getting better and better-
really, the bridge hardware on the current crop of Squier Strats
is superior to the Made in Mexico Standard Strats.
To me, aside from the name on the headstock, the
current crop of Squiers at around $200 are very comparable
to the Mexican Standard Strats, with two exceptions:
1. The Mexican Strats have bone nuts,
the Squiers are plastic.
2. The neck on most MIM Strats is wider at the nut.
I own two MIM Standard Strats- I like them, but
I see them basically as a good neck, and everything else is upgradeable.
The finish is thick, the workmanship on the body routs is sloppy.
The bridge hardware is pretty cheap, the trem block is pretty
much your standard Asian pot metal block.
And if you want a vintage sound, the pickups are pretty forgettable
(ceramic magnets)
I have a Korean made Hamer stratoid that has a trem block almost
identical
to my MIM Strats.
I recently bought a lightly used Squier '51, the Tele-Strat hardtail
hybrid
with a modified '51 Precision bass pickguard... the body routs put
the routs on my MIMs to <shame>, and the rest of the workmanship
is comparable... and they only cost $150- $165 new.
(I'm putting up with the narrow fingerboard because it's a Tele neck, and
I expect that;
this is as close to a Tele as I will probably ever go)
If you have fairly small hands and fingers, I would say, take advantage
of the improved Squier quality and save yourself may $150 bucks.
I personally have to have the wider MIM Fender neck.
I've also recently tried some Johnson stratoclones, and was surprised
at how good they were.
Yamaha also makes some very playable stratoclones in the $200 range.
One item in the Squier line that I would think has lots of surfy appeal:
The new model Squier Jagmaster!
I think you can get it a lot of competitive places for around $230.
They recently changed it; it used to have the Jazzmaster scale length,
now it has the Jaguar scale length.
And more vintage colors, now you can get sunburst.
Now, it <is> a humbucker guitar, but there are options.
Duncan Phat Cats are P90s in a humbucker sized pickup.
DiMarzio Bluesbuckers are supposed to give you a sound that
is more p90 than anything else.
I suppose it would also be possible to have a new pickguard cut,
and mount some Duncan Jaguar or Jazzmaster replacement pups
Or Strat pups.
Or P90 soapbars would look pretty Jazzmaster-y
The trem is a Strat trem, but I suspect that is easier to work on,
have worked on, or get parts for.
One thing I have noticed is that the special model Squiers
often have wider necks than the Squier Strats.
Whaddya think- do P-90s do a surf sound?
How vintage do surf bands generally go?
Is getting a generally retro appearance,
but nailing the sound generally good enough?
Michael
Hey Michael, thanks for all the tips. I'm mainly
looking at Squier Strats or low end copies. So far,
for $149 the Wilson Bros. VM-10 looks like a winner.
I have heard lots about an played an older MIM Squier
but their legend seems to be growing, making them more
expensive on eBay. I was eyeballing a couple of newer
Standard series Squiers on eBay but when the time came
to pull the trigger I didn't do it. I'm still
eyeballing a Japanese SQ series Squier Strat, but from
what I've seen in the last few months those earlier
Japense Squiers go for quite a pretty penny. The JV
Squiers go for American made prices. The problem with
buying a "cheap" guitar is that there's a new line or
aftermarket product to cover each price niche in the
market...it's easy to talk yourself into footing a few
more bucks to get the benefits of the next best thing,
but I gotta hold myself to the $200-$250 range here.
In fact, since I don't really NEED another guitar at
all (I already have a Yamaha SGV and a MIJ Squier
Jagmaster, which are now beginning to go for silly
prices) I'm having a hard time justifying the purchase
to myself at all, but what the hey...
You're right, the Jagmaster is an awesome deal for
surf vibe, and I just posted a thread asking about
replacing the humbuckers with single coils. The
humbucker-sized p90 idea was presented to me then and
sounds like a good idea, though I've never heard them
and don't know how much one can expect them to sound
like our clean Fender single coils. I'm just wary of
falling into the aftermarket parts trap and spending
more than I originally intended; there's no point in
having a budget guitar if for the amount of money you
spent on upgrades you could've gone ahead and bought
the non-budget guitar.
What I'm thinking is either holding out to see what
kind of deal I can get on an MIJ Stratocaster (which I
would leave stock) or possibly an MIM series (which I
would also leave stock). What I'll likely wind up
doing is getting the Wilson Bros. VM-10 and if I still
like it in a few months getting some nice pickups and
leaving everything else alone as long as it works.
Richard
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