how come the specs from the squier site say alder bodies with maple necks?


also i saw some good pickups on ebay..

anyone know anything about wilkinsons? all i read on the internet is good opinions but im still not too sure considering the price

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... %26otn%3D2

Alder is realy not that hard of a wood in fact most species of Pines are harder then Alder which is Janca 590, and Basswood has a Janca #410 not much difference when you see White Ash is janka#1320 and there is only two Ash speacies that are just under janka#1000. And I think Agathis has hardness rating of #630 and it's species name is Kauri Pine.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Wilkinson pickups are good within their price range. They dont compare to lollar or frailin though.
On squire QC i dont see any problems. They seem very consistent, much more consistent than either fender mexico or america. No doubt because their level of acceptance is far more generalized. By that i dont mean that their better just that they seem to producer fewer duffers within their standards.
Fender do limit the quality of output as you go down the price ranges most notably on wood selection. The mexico plant will let more mistakes pass than the american plant. Its not due to inferiority of qc its simple economics. They can afford to put out a few guitars with bad neck pockets or bad pickup routes (as seen on the baja tele's) where it would never be accepted in batchload at the american plant. They are given a set of parameters to stick to, those parameters change as the price lessens.

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No no and no

I would add up what you are looking at for a total dollar amount. Then I would compare that to what you can get a nice mim on e-bay. There are some good deals out there if you are patient, also buy from a person with a good track record. I would think you will spend a lot of time and an equal amount of money upgrading the squire. If you buy a good used unit you will have 2 guitars, and more time to play rather than tinker. Many people stop playing after a while or it's harder than they thought There a lot of good +/-10 year old strats on e bay that haven't been altered.

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With every mistake we must surely be learning..

Music is the space between the notes.

I would do a search of this topic.There have been many discussions about this.In comparing the Squire to the MIA guitars one needs to play them side by side thru the same amp to tell the differences.The MIA necks feel better and play better.For sure they are set up better.If you compare a Squire sunburst to a MIA sunburst, the differences are like night and day.MIA is a much better looking finish.The hardware is of poorer quality.For sure the tuners are.It may not seem like a big difference , but try putting on 12s on the squire and see how well it holds up.There are some descent squires for sure, but they are more the exception than the rule, whereas in the MIA its more the rule, even with the MIM line the quality is very good for the most part.

Well you didn't specify which model--I was just on the Squier site and some of the guitars listed under Stratocasters have bodies other than alder.


Hardwood isn't a term that is used to refer to wood that is hard--oddly enough. So it doesn't go by any scale in that regard--and so the terms Hardwood & Softwood are not done that way--I am aware of that.
Hardwood is the wood of a dicotyledonous tree, or broad-leaved, flower-bearing trees.

Softwood is the wood of a coniferous tree, which in general are tress that bear cones--although there are some exceptions.

Some woods are easier to tool than others--some may be softer or harder, but differ in the way sound will resonate through them.

Some woods are more porous meaning to finish them properly it takes a lot of grain filler--and that affects how they work for guitars--this is not necessarily a bad thing as mahogany is a wood well loved for solid bodies--and even for hollow bodies--and it requires grain filler.

As I mentioned before-some people like basswood and agathis for tone, some do not--some form an opinion without trying them. But the fact remains--a guitar made of basswood, one of agathis, and one of alder will have different resonant qualities--those will affect the sound of the guitar.

This may or may not make a difference to you--and that's fine either way--but it is something you should be aware of in case it makes a difference to you.

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It wasn't Willy-Nilly, it was at crows.

The Janka scale is the actual measure as to how hard a wood is at 12% which is a good average for dry wood . I understand people call trees like Pine soft wood but it truly is not when talking lumber. And you are correct the reason Alder is used as much is because it except's finishes well it is a good tone wood. Basswood is almost the same maybe not as bright but it drinks finish. And Poplar is almost dead match to Alder as a tone wood but its greenish and streaked, good for solid color when painted well or it will show and not used for anything transparent.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

hey

me and my best friend are actually in the process of doing this EXACT same thing to his squier stratocaster right now

what we have done so far is stripped ABSOLUTLEY ALL the parts out, down to the neck and neck plate

we then sanded the body down to the wood and had it re routed at Guitar Remedy for a dual humbucker set up

from there i am currently repainting it with a wear effect similar to but not entirley like the road worn models

then we purchased a liscenced fender neck with 22 nick medium frets on a rose wood fretboard and a 9.5" radius on a maple vintage v contour neck from Mighty Mite
it fits PERFECT

we have sent the pickguard out to have a new one made custom fit for the guitar by Pickguardian, we havent gotten it back but we did just ship it out

also we have purchased all new hardware, were putting in a one meg volume pot, fender greasebucket tone circuits, a fender lsr roller nut, fender schaller locking tuners, a vintage '62 reissue strat tremolo bridge (it fits perfect), chrome knobs, a three way toggle switch, mounting rings, neck plate, output jack, jack plate, tremolo cavity cover, a fender hipshot tremolo stabilizer, a Seymour Duncan SH-6 Distrortion Humbucker in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan SH-6 Distortion Trembucker in the neck

IF YOU HAVE A VINTAGE BRIDGE YOU ABSOLUTLEY MUST GET A TREMBUCKER OR TB SPACED HUMBUCKER OR YOU WILL NOT GET YOU E STRINGS PICKED UP ON THE NECK

so far everything is working fine and honestly it costs just as much to buy a already made fender american strat but you get to pick your parts feel and sound this way

we are paring the whole thing on a marshall tube head with amp and a boss metalcore distortion pedal