By the headstock.lol

I have a 96 Indonesian Squire at home I picked up for a kid and the body is surprisingly much different than my 1979 Strat. Would be tougher to tell in picture than in person but beside the obvious weight difference I find the Squire to be slightly thinner as some have mentioned. Also, the comfort body contour is cut much differently too, the Squire is deeper cut toward the inside of the body but not as wide, if that makes any sense.

About $200.00 dollars worth.

Seriously, thickness, neck pocket, routing and bridge and pick guard screw holes are all so close but just a hair different in some places. Type of wood would be the other factor.

On older Squiers, yes, but any made in the last few years it isn't that simple since they conform to Fender's standards. They are built the same just in Asia.

_________________

So ?

Squire bodies have changed over the years. I purchased a really nice Allparts 22 fret rosewwod/maple neck for a project guitar. I figured I would get a solid Squire body to fit it to. I bought a 1987 MIJ Strat, and the neck doesn't fit the body pocket, it is too big to fit the body pocket without removing some wood from the body. I bought a 1997 MIC Squire Strat, and the neck is too small to fit the larger neck pocket of the body. There is a lot of space on each side of the neck in the pocket. The specs for Squires seem to change depending on the year and country of origin. I would guess that Fender is more consistent than Squire in neck/body fitment.

http://www.squierguitars.com/news/index ... archives=1

2004, Squier conformed to Fender. So everything should match from 2005 on.

_________________