any one else here love these lil gems?...here is what my stock one sounds like with some reverb http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjp5py4RQg4...and with some drive...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoJwOk1Agck

I love those guitars. I had one until a couple months ago. In my opinion, the best in the Squier inventory.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

+1

For basically an entry-level instrument, it's a lot of guitar for the money.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

I always hear good things about the Classic Vibe line. I wish they all had vintage specs though like Fender's MIM Classic Series or the American Vintage series. I had intentions of maybe buying a Classic Vibe '50's Strat for modding purposes but it has a C shaped neck instead of V shaped neck like a '50's Strat should.

Nevertheless, I will still probably buy a CV Tele Custom eventually for modding purposes. I wanna put a maple neck on it and playing $1500 plus for an American Vintage and then replacing the neck doesn't make sense to me. So I think I'll just go with a CV instead.

I really like the CV Squiers. I have a CV 60's Strat and a CV Tele Custom

The Good:
THE NECK. I think that the necks on these guitars are AMAZING! I was looking at a US Strat at Guitar Center and was surprised that some of the frets had sharp edges. A GC employee, said: "Check out the neck on this!" and handed me a CV Strat. My hands are smaller, and the CV has a low profile C-Shape that is extremely comfortable and playable for me. I still have yet to find a neck that I like as much. I ended up buying the CV Tele and the 60's Strat. I put 10's on the Tele and the Strat and got the action so low (after a truss rod adjustment) without any fret buzz. (To me, this means that the frets were all installed very well, none of them sitting too high or low, just perfect.)
A good neck goes a long way with me. This one is cool enough to justify the cost of the guitar, FOR ME.

The TUNERS. The tuners are the "vintage style" tuners and I am shocked at how well they stay in tune.

The CONSTRUCTION. These are very nice looking guitars. The Custom Tele looks like a million bucks. Not a visible flaw on either of the two I bought. Although the first 60's strat that I looked at had some weird cracks to the finish.

The OK:
The PICKUPS. On both of the guitars, the pickups were good, but not great. The bridge pickup on the strat is really thin with a very poor presence of the lower register tones. Even with 10's on the guitar, the bridge pickup just has no body to it. However, the middle pickup on the 60's Strat has a really cool sound to it. REALLY. It sounds a lot like I want a bridge pickup to sound. (When you roll the volume off, it has a bold presence with a Texas pickup type feel to it. And when it is cranked, it is a full on gainy bridge pickup.) Because of this, I almost never use the bridge pickup.

The IFFY.
The BODY. I still have to say that the body is better than any squier that I have ever played. BUT, the wood is pretty light for Alder, and the Polyester coating is thick. Remember that Poly coating mutes the natural wood sound of your guitar. It will help your guitar have a cheaper, more muted sound. They look amazing, but if Squier REALLY wanted to do a great guitar, they could paint these with Nitro Lacquer and have a crazy good guitar.

The Trem Block. The trem block is the lighter zinc block. You will always have a quimpier sound due to the small zinc block.

THE MOD that I am thinking of...
I'd like to put a really good quality stainless trem block in it and I'd like to take the poly off of the body to repaint myself. I'd totally leave the neck alone, and I'd like to try a different bridge pickup that might complement the middle pickup better.
You could do all of those mods for 100-150 and have a crazy good guitar.

for the money cant go wrong ...im thinking this will be my first and only strat