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Post subject: Re: new affinity strat specs.
Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2014 8:51 pm
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There is truth in the statement re different weights of the alder body. The 1997 Squier Strat was the the last year the Sq Strat was made to US specifications- body precisely same size, I believe 1/4' thicker depth-wise than Chinese-made Strats....great guitar to mod. The new ones are smaller than US Fenders...even nut width narrower.


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Post subject: Re: new affinity strat specs.
Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 4:21 am
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kiss nation wrote:
I do know that two pieces of the same wood can be different weights.
I have just never come across two pieces of the same wood with such a weight difference.


I have a Squier Strat Affinity series..model from 2000 i think...and... i've been walking through the music store and picked up a brand New Squier Strat Affinity...and it was much more heavier than mine ...than i found that the body of my Strat is more Thiner than a new One.... i gues that is the point...


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Post subject: Re: new affinity strat specs.
Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 3:02 pm
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I must agree with the comments made above. When you consider you have bought two complete guitars for less than the cost of a replacement US Strat body, it is obvious there is going to be a difference.

Wood of any species can be of dramatic difference in weight subject to how fast and where it grew, how old the tree was, how the timber was dried etc etc. Even if it was cut from the top or base of the tree.

Perhaps the previous body was routed only for SSS pickups and the new one routed for single or humbuckers.

Perhaps the new body is thinner.

Perhaps you are imagining the difference. I was convinced one of my guitars was heavier than another. It transpires there is almost no difference. Perhaps it was because they had different straps or I thought one of them should be heavier.

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Post subject: Re: new affinity strat specs.
Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 10:16 am
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As others have already indicated, YES, two pieces of wood from the same species of tree CAN in fact have fairly significant differences in weight. Mainly has to do with the density of an individual slab of wood...and if you check around on the internet, Alder tends to have a rather signiciant degree of density ranges...26 - 42 lb/ft3 (as per http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wood- ... -d_40.html). This doesn't even factor in the various sub-species of Alnus incana or even whether either of the two given bodies the OP mentioned were laminates or not (wouldn't surprise me if that '97 was a partial laminate). Likewise, Basswood also has a fairly significant range as well...i.e. a heavier piece of Basswood could be close in weight to a light piece of Alder for something as small as a guitar body...and that doesn't even factor in that the OP said himself that he's unable to weight the two instruments side by side.

In other words, it should NOT be surprising at all that there is a significant difference in weight.


In regards to the OP's comment "it's more than a few pounds, the weight is quite noticeable", I would also point out that this is a tad subjective. While it's perhaps an unusual analogy, consider bowling balls. Swing a 12 lb and a 15 lb...its ONLY a 3 lb difference, but it is VERY noticeable, yes? Perception can be a rather tricky thing :-)

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While I could certainly debate shimmilou's (rather rude) comment regarding the "quality" of the wood or the parts in general with inexpensive instruments (gee...don't Affinity's use the exact same Ping tuners that A LOT of instruments do? Are the jack plates and plastics used not the same as other instruments costing hundreds more? Really dude...), I would simply remind people of the reason Leo Fender started using Alder (and Ash) in the first place; because it was easy to machine, plentiful and CHEAP. As I recall the history, Leo was simply trying to create an instrument that wouldn't squeal when amplified, that would be easy to produce in large numbers. I suspect there was very little thought as it being some kind of "superior tone wood". It's the same reason that Fender has used Poplar on and off over the years and why you see a lot of Agathis and Basswood as well (and despite some people's claims, Basswood can be a wonderfully resonant tone wood which is why we're starting to see is used in some higher end instruments today).

Some days I really don't know if it's a matter of arrogance or simple ignorance, but the thing to remember is that with the exception of the Custom Shop, Fenders...regardless of their place of origin and whether they're branded Fender or Squier...these are MASS PRODUCED PRODUCTS. While I have been unable to find sales statistics regarding specific models, according to Musictrades.com, last year Fender earned an estimated $677,300,000 making them the 5th highest earner in the music world. That's -A LOT- of guitars (and amps, gadgets, etc). While I'm sure that some folks like to pretend that their guitar was crafted by some ethereal, otherworldly zen master of guitar building who's very hand was guided by the Goddess herself, the truth is these are assembly line instruments...pretty much always have been. Beyond the nature of wood and the individual characteristics of any given slab of wood, if you watch videos shot at the factories, you'll see stacks and stack of those bodies, with the body blanks being loaded into the CNC's 3 and 4 at a time. Here's a fun little vid and if you watch around 2/3'rds of the way into the vid, you can really see what I'm talking about here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVs98GmcrU4

Here's a vid from the Ensenada factory...someone really want to try and rationalize the difference based on location here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_ayKlYfeZ8

Seriously...that's A LOT of chunks of wood there! It's rather difficult to imagine that any serious, indepth thought really goes into any one body blank as being somehow "superior" to the next piece laying on the pallet (beyond an obvious defect).

Again, short of Custom Shop where you pay to have something built specifically to your own unique specifications, regardless of whether they are made in the US, Mexico, Japan, Indonesia or China, people really need to keep a degree of perspective when it comes to mass produced products in what is a global market economy.


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