It is currently Tue Mar 17, 2020 2:39 am

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 63 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5  Next
Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5  Next
Author Message
Post subject: What are the main differences between Squir and Strat
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 8:28 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2013 11:44 am
Posts: 37
As you can probably tell, I am new to Fender. I always played hollow bodies but I observe that you can buy a Squire for around $100. :?:


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject: Re: What are the main differences between Squir and Strat
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 9:25 am
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician

Joined: Sun Jun 30, 2013 9:59 am
Posts: 420
Quality of parts, construction. Things like what the frets are made of, how they are dressed, tuners are cheaper, pickups are usually ceramic vs alinco, the pots and jacks are usually cheaper, the wiring in my squire was worse than the wiring I did and mine was horrible.

There are some cheap strats and there are some really nice squiers. But the $99 squiers are not the really nice squiers. That said, individual guitars vary. So if you get your hands on one and like it then buy it.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: What are the main differences between Squir and Strat
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 10:21 am
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician

Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:14 pm
Posts: 2561
Squiers are Fender's Economy Line and as such are designed to the lowest Price Point. Hardware, Electronics, Woods, Construction all reflect this.

Hardware is usually foreign sourced, copies of Name Brand, poorer plating, metal etc.

Electronics foreign sourced, machine produced.

Woods are often Basswood rather than Alder or Ash. Lower grade lumber for body, neck, fingerboard.

Construction is foreign, sub-contracted. Body often 3-5 pieces of wood rather than 2-4 on Fender brand. Poly finish. Fewer Quality Control points.

Read a few of the Squier threads here and you'll see this is pretty much the case. Those who like their Squiers overwhelmingly start out stating the number of mods they've done to it before ending up with an instrument their satisfied with.

But, you have to consider that the Luthier (worker) at Cort (or any other subcontractor) like his Fender counterparts, in general wants to make the best instrument he can. This can result in a Guitar which plays and feels on-par with a Fender... very subjective. In general they're lower-priced, lesser quality, instruments.

In the end, in 99% of the cases, a $100 Guitar is going to play and sound like a $100 Guitar. Certainly won't sound like a $3000-$5000 Custom Shop, or an $800-$2200 MIA Guitar, or a $400-$1000 MIM Guitar, etc. You do get what you pay for and rarely anything more.

cheers!

_________________
Image

'11 FSR Am. Vtg. Ltd. Ed. CAR '57 Stratocaster (SN# LE02639)
'14 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster
'12 Telebration Empress Telecaster
'99 Deluxe Nashville Telecaster
'12 FSR Telecaster HH
'10 Heritage H-535
'99 Martin DC-1E
'13 Lanikai Tenor Ukulele


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: What are the main differences between Squir and Strat
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 3:09 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jun 14, 2011 9:54 am
Posts: 327
Location: Tidewater, Virginia
Well for starters one is a guitar company and the other one is a model of a guitar.

_________________
1965 Fender Precision Bass, 1994 Fender '54 Reissue Precision Bass, 2007 Applause Celebrity, 2011 Fender American Special Jazz Bass, 2012 Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster, 2013 Fender American Special Stratocaster, 2013 Gibson LPJ


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: What are the main differences between Squir and Strat
Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 6:40 am
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2007 6:51 pm
Posts: 25353
Location: Witness Protection Program
Fender is easy to spell - Squier is sometimes not (Squire?).

But seriously yeah, the above posts nail it.

Even the Mexican Fenders have a much better sound and feel than the Squiers that I've tried, but some do seem to like the Squier Standards (not Affinity) and Pro Tone series.

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: What are the main differences between Squir and Strat
Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 7:06 am
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:10 pm
Posts: 13467
Location: Palm Beach County FL
The higher up the price point you go on a Squier the better your product will be. If there's a $100 spread in street price between a top of the line Squier and the Fender Standard Stratocaster, which is made in Mexico, and you can't afford the latter, you should be happy with that Squier as an intro Fender product. :wink:

_________________
"Another day in paradise!"


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: What are the main differences between Squir and Strat
Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 7:41 am
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2008 4:06 pm
Posts: 534
Location: Northern Virginia
Well all Squiers are not built to the same level of quality (or lack thereof). At the $100.00 price range, you'd be looking at a guitar that uses some of the cheapest parts available. As ZZDoc mentioned before, you can spend some more cash and get a much nicer Squier guitar that is worthy be called a Stratocaster. If you look at the Standard, Deluxe, Vintage Modified or Classic Vibe series, you are likely to find a Strat that would rival some of the MIM offerings.

Also; some of the parts may not be interchangeable which you should take into consideration if you ever decide to upgrade something. I recently purchased a '97 Squier Strat on Craigslilst for cheap and planned on swapping out the entire pickguard assembly with an MIM Standard Strat assembly, but it didn't fit. Not only did the mounting screws not line up, but the guard itself was actually shaped slightly differently. I ended up transplanting the innards, but there again, I had to enlarge the holes for the potentiometer shafts.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: What are the main differences between Squir and Strat
Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 9:17 am
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 7:36 pm
Posts: 638
If you are stuck in the Squier price-range budget you should consider the Classic Vibe line... very decent Squier guitars for the price. Of course, you should also see what you can afford in a used Fender MIM Standard and compare.

Also, back in the 90s Squier had a Pro-Tone line that IMO were even superior to the current MIM offerings... ash bodies with translucent finish and gold hardware. They were very nice but alas are no more!

_________________
Tiger J

my gear:

Jackson USA Phil Collen PC-1
Warmoth Custom-Build Stratocaster (The Andersong)
Fender American Special Stratocaster
Squier J. Mascis Jazzmaster
Fender Mustang GT40
Eleven HeadRush w/ two Alto TS212 FRFRs


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: What are the main differences between Squir and Strat
Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 9:40 am
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:10 pm
Posts: 13467
Location: Palm Beach County FL
93greenstrat wrote:
Also; some of the parts may not be interchangeable which you should take into consideration if you ever decide to upgrade something..... Not only did the mounting screws not line up, but the guard itself was actually shaped slightly differently.

It's likely that this was intentionally done. It makes perfect sense with respect to preserving the integrity of the Fender marque to make difficult or prevent completely, the interchangeability of Fender parts.

_________________
"Another day in paradise!"


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: What are the main differences between Squir and Strat
Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 10:45 am
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician
User avatar

Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 3:31 pm
Posts: 2638
Location: Pacific North West, USA
I had an interesting visit last Friday with Lynn Ellsworth, the founder of Boogie Body Guitars. Some of you might remember his company from back in the 70s and 80s, as he made guitars for people like Eddie Van Halen and others. He is currently doing custom work up in Washington State building Teles and Strats using 1000+ year old Redwood. His choice of pickups???? Squier! :shock: He told me, and I do have to think about this, that the guitar scene is driven by hype, especially when one is dealing with different types of pickups. He builds his guitars and then he'll gives them to various guitarists and ask them to play. They inevitably ask, "What kind of pickups are in this?" He tells them, "Play it and tell me what you think of the sound." He then told me most people were blown away by two facts. The guitar sounds great and the pickups are Squier! I am not sure I agree. :? Your thoughts???

But to the subject at hand, almost every newer Squier I have played had terrible action and was very cheaply built. I have played some of the old E series Squiers that were made in Japan back in the mid-1980s and they were super guitars. But me thinks that one can take about any cheap guitar and work on it to get it leveled out, set-up right and it will play decent. Just take some work to get the poorer workmanship adjusted! :wink:

_________________
Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com
Image


Last edited by Xhefri on Sun Dec 01, 2013 11:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: What are the main differences between Squir and Strat
Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 10:58 am
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 1:20 pm
Posts: 9640
Location: Indiana
I agree that some Squier pups can sound very good, even great, sound being subjective. As far as the setup, some of those rubber-neck Squiers can defy all attempts, and the rosewood fret boards seem to be worse about having horribly uneven fret levels, making a high action a must. IMO, you have to step up to at least a Standard series, or Classic Vibe series to get a decent Squier. For me, the MIA, and the MIM Squiers from the early to mid '90s, are some of the best made, the pups on those are terrific.

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: What are the main differences between Squir and Strat
Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 12:05 pm
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician
User avatar

Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 3:31 pm
Posts: 2638
Location: Pacific North West, USA
shimmilou wrote:
I agree that some Squier pups can sound very good, even great, sound being subjective. As far as the setup, some of those rubber-neck Squiers can defy all attempts, and the rosewood fret boards seem to be worse about having horribly uneven fret levels, making a high action a must. IMO

I was invited to some people's home a few years ago and they handed me a Squier they just bought their son who was trying to learn to play. The neck was so bowed that there was a good 1/4+ gap between the 10th fret and the strings. i tried playing it and when you went up the neck it went out of tune due to string stretch. I was thinking, "What better way to assure a kid will never learn to play the guitar because of garbage like this guitar." (Sorry, that guitar was just that). If you want kids to learn to play, at least make it a bot easier on them by getting a guitar that plays well to one can focus on the chords and scalse rather than the sore fingers and buzzing sounds trying to get the strings to fret properly!!!! :lol:

_________________
Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com
Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: What are the main differences between Squir and Strat
Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 12:09 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:44 am
Posts: 7282
Location: Washington
Miami Mike wrote:
Fender is easy to spell - Squier is sometimes not (Squire?).


I prefer Skwire.

_________________
Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: What are the main differences between Squir and Strat
Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 9:25 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2013 8:03 am
Posts: 575
Location: In the Land of "Stratocaster"
Too bad the Squire's are not what they used to be. The Japan made one's from the 80's were awesome. Played great, good pups, hardware and build quality & finish very good. Actually, my Brother still has one. STILL in great condition. Great guitars.

Agree with the suggestion about grabbing a "Classic Vibe". If you're going to get a Squire, they're decent. Pups aren't bad, play good if setup right, decent build quality and finishes look alright. At least you'll get a pretty good representation of what expect from a Stratocaster.

Nothing beats a good quality MIA or MIM Strat but at least the Classic Vibe's get you in the Ball Park on an entry level platform. Go out and try a few and pick the best one. Sometimes there's a Jewel amongst the pebbles.

_________________
★ ★ ★ ★ ★


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: What are the main differences between Squir and Strat
Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 3:54 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2013 11:44 am
Posts: 37
I know I am going go against some closely guarded ideas but I claim the wood on a solid body guitar does not affect the sound quality. Only the electronics does. The wood hardly vibrates so it should have no effect on it. If a Squire can be bought for $100, just modify to your liking with humbuckers and electronics. You can't even buy a Fender neck for $100.

Ah, but then there is this label thing that says "Squire" and most other guitarists will think "Are you kidding?"

But they might be the ones getting fooled while you laugh all the way to bank.


Top
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 63 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5  Next
Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5  Next

All times are UTC - 7 hours

Fender Play Winter Sale 2020

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: omar59 and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: