I have a squier stratocaster affinity series, I put on it the texas special Pickups and I was pretty amaze with it, like a new guitar... Now just thinking what would be the diference between my strat an a american special strat... I know that the quality of the hardware is better (how does it affect the sound?) and has the greasebucket tone circuit... but after that they are from alder got the same pickups... would it worth saving for a american special? I got the same question with the tele... I also have a tele squier with the nocaster pickups...

Just to let you know I'm from costa rica and we don't have down here american special series so I can go out and try one of them :/... and sorry for my english

Hareware's different, tremolo is different. I believe the Affinity has a 6 screw, the Am Std has a two point. One's a lower cost version of the other except for the tremolo's. The body fromt he squire is made from more pieces glued together. Am Std's are 2-3 piece.

Oh, quick follow up; i hope you replaced the pots and capacitor that came on the Squire when you swapped out the pickups. If you didnt, at the very least, change the cap. It can really make a big difference, even if you're using the same value, going from a ceramic to poly, or anything after. Some will say it doesnt, but ive changed a few over the last couple weeks, just the caps, and to the same value, and the tone improved, not "changed" improved.

it's good to know that... I'll buy some pots and caps

Brand new, they both feel pretty darn good. A couple years down the road.......Fenders age better than Squiers, American Fenders age better than MIM. I love my Deluxe players strat, but I've already had to upgrade the Pots and Caps, Replace the Tremolo (pot metal block stripped out at the tremolo arm), and now the neck has an uneven bow, so it's either take it to luthier or replace the neck. Still love it, but my American made '88 Strat has is still in pretty good shape. Just replaced the Pick Ups, the rest is stock and working perfectly.

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Quality of the guitar is very important, but the body of the Squire is thinner than an American, the nut width is a lot narrower, and its wood compositioin isn't of the same quality of an American strat, special or otherwise. Many may not like the American Special (me being one of them) because the jumbo frets and larger 70's style headstock...

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From what I've read there were Squire Strat's made in the US for less than a year when there was a fire? at the plant in Mexico. How do those US Squire Strats compare to a US made Fender labeled Strat?