Squier Strats

cokecan · 20 Oct 2007 at 00:12

hey guys

A friend of mine is a guitar teacher who gives me free lessons for fixing up his guitars and any of his students guitars that develop any minor problems (loose wires, broken input jacks etc), really simple stuff pretty much but means i get to bring home all sorts of shapes and sizes of guitar

anyway, one of his students has just inherited a guitar, i think from a family member, possibly something thats been in the family for a while. It's a Korean Squier Strat with rosewood fingerboard, I noticed it had a smaller headstock than most, but was just cutting out and crackling on a couple of the pickup selections.

When i got it home and stripped it i found it seems to be from 1990 according to the date stamp on the neck (1990 2 22) assuming i'm reading it right??

I have to say it feels a lot heavier than the squier strat i bought a fair few years ago, it's thicker, also it looks like this older Squier still has all the original pots, switch and pickups in it yet sounds better than mine to me (i even replaced all the electronics in my squier a few years ago with somethin better lol). tbh mine really does feel cheap compared to it

How do you guys rate these older Squiers? Accordin to wikipedia Fender only started making them in the 80's and were regarded as a cheap and pretty good quality guitar? anyone own or ever own any?

Andelusion · 20 Oct 2007 at 00:46

Squiers can be fantastic, the only way to be sure is to play as many as possible if you're in the market for one.

I don't know the specifics (there will be countless Fender fanatics out there who could bore you for days with their knowledge I'm sure!) but the early Japanese Squiers are supposed to be great, they were apparently made with a lot of the same components as the 'proper' Fenders.

I've played some Squiers before that felt better than some American Fenders, but as always it's down to personal opinion.

To this day they're still great starter guitars.

THMRK · 20 Oct 2007 at 01:37

My guitar teacher always says that if you played 10 Squier guitars, 1 will be as good as a Fender, 1 will be really terrible and the rest will be about right for the price range. He always jokes that the good ones are made on a Wednesday, but hey, he might be right.

I once knew a guy who bought a Squier tele back in the 80s not too soon after they first started making them. Since then he's played various Fender teles over the years and never replaced the Squier because it's just that good.

One More Solo · 20 Oct 2007 at 01:53

I've played Squiers that play like MIA Strats, MIM Strats that play like MIA Strats (wish I'd bought that one) and MIA Strats that play like Squiers, Fender's quality control isn't what it could be but that's to our advantage I suppose.

I remember playing a lovely MIM Strat in a shop, one guy came over to ask what kind of Strat it was and seemed genuinely appalled to find out it was "just a Mexican one".

SexyGreyFox · 20 Oct 2007 at 09:55

We have a local Stevie Ray Vaughan tribute band and even though the guitarist has got two SRV Strats on stage he always plays his Squire which was bought for £35.
Apparently the old Squires (like the one you seem to have) are well sought after because they were made like original Strats (so I was told).

m3csl2004 · 20 Oct 2007 at 10:53

There very well made - even the korean ones (my friend has 1 in artic white with a maple board)

new pickuups and there awesome guitars

v0n · 20 Oct 2007 at 12:47

Every Squire I ever had contact with was appalling quality given the name (not the price). There is way more consistency among sub £150 Yamaha's Pacifica range guitars, Washburns or Peaveys than there is in this alledgedly cheap Fender.
I guess it's all down to small quality control details in all Squire factories, sort of like Czech Epiphones with B serials almost always turn out better in almost every aspect than their Chinese or Samick counterparts.
Talking about half breed Fenders, there is one gem in a crown among all the underdogs - mexican made Richie Sambora Stratocaster. It's a $500 guitar, with none of the awful garishness and tackiness of MIA Sambora Strat - so no star inlays etc, but all the goodies of the original - it's fitted with DiMarzio PAF Pro, two Texas Special singles, Floyd Rose tremolo, every single one of three I encountered were very well made. And of course, as everything that's good from Fender stable, it was discontinued immediately after it got more successfull than few grand more signature series...