could be contentious..... (Fender Stratocasters in general)

Member Name: blackbob

Product:	Fender Stratocasters in general
Date:	06/02/04 (1669 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: True Fender made by Fender, Despite what some say it's good enough for professional use, Not so common as a Korean one but ifinitely better

Disadvantages: poor electrics to bring down cost, tremelo can be ropey, looked down on all squiers the same some will think

My mother has not only a great singing voice a piano technique(classical)but a degree as well.So you'd think I'd be musical from birth but I didn't much like classical,hated her country & western stuff -singing cowboys!!!really? - so it never struck me till age 14 when I heard AC/DC for the first time and that was that.Still it took me till about 18-19 to pickup the guitar.

When my folks asked me ,approaching christmas '93 what I wanted I told them to get me a good electric with a tremelo because I was in a Kirk Hammett phase and my Les Paul copy couldn't dive bomb.Little did I know how well they'd do.....

She's a beauty.10 years old now and looking like she's been carted hither and yon in the boot of my car.a few chips and scratches and other signs of use but then look at Stevie Ray Vaughans favourite guitar - makes mine look shop new.

She's Japanese which means she was built alongside all those hhmm 'proper' strats in the same factory by the same workers and even as I found out on the internet made out of basswood(Japanese Maple - apparently)which is the same as my mate's fathers valued at near £2500 one off custom strat.She's got a 32"? radius neck ,rosewood fingerboard,and as the website said by tracking through the serial number list is basically a re-issued '65 slimeline standard model down to the old style bridge which will sometimes drop her out of tune instantly if you start playing with the trem. or if you're lucky it'll last a few depresses but not many more.Saying that you can leave her propped up in tune come back in a month and she's still bang on perfect.So I usually unscrew the bar and play without.

Now I'll try hard not to be in anyway biased and I'd told myself I'd write some cons so here they are

Though costing £300 new 10 yrs ago they had to scrimp somewhere to bring the price of what's basically a
real strat down so the hardware's cheap.The bridge I mentioned,machineheads are alright but the electrics less so.Plug her into any amp and you get that distinctive strat sound you hear from Jimi Hendrix,Ritchie Blackmore and the rest but it lacks real bite,With a wah-wah switched on and in the flat position you could be Jimi or John Frucanti? playing on B,S,S,M 'specially songs like Funky Monks etc. trouble is the 5 way selector- somedays it's not too bad others I can spend ages tapping the switch to bring the sound back.The other pick ups are'nt so bad but it's the bridge I need I use the neck one quite often,once again with the crybaby and the wee 15W park practice amp I use you've pretty much got any Hendrix nailed 'Fire' sounds perfect.Although I play a lot of Hendrix & Peppers I'm a freak for AC/DC and Zeppelin - Metallica,Black Sabbath classic rock/metal basically I don't like to use any effects except for the Jim Dunlop and a Boss Compression/Sustainer pedal but try as I might she won't get that rich,fat Humbucker sound without muddying it with distortion,I much prefer gain from the amp - I've got a big Laney for pub gigs etc.Stuff like 'Whole Lotta Love' is a bit beyond her present pick up without some kind of distortion.If you don't mind racks of effects or these Boss ME5 computerised effects machines then you wouldn't be bothered but I kike the sound to be overdriven and tight but still with the natural sound there coming through.

That is my only complaint the electrics I've often toyed with replacing the bridge pick up but can't afford to lose that sound - Deep Purple needs that bridge one.She plays like a dream as sweet and true from nut to 21 and perfectly intoned throughout.The actions set low and with 9 guage strings is as flexible for lead as you could want while having enough tone on the bottom strings for ryhthm.

And this is the thing I never knew the di
fference till I had the guitar a while but there are two main Squiers you need to know of Japanese and the others.The price reflects the difference mine £300 new and a Korean £150-180 with amp and all the rest.The Japanese built alongside the normal strats while the Koreans are built under liscence for Fender by someone else?I've come across a few Jap Squier owners over the years and they all swear by them and so do I.My mates father I mentioned before with his Japanese Custom has a beautiful guitar but it plays no better than mine and that's an opinion shared by a few folk.I've heard plenty of opinion by those that supposedly know saying no Squier is up to professional standard well the music teacher I went to for a few months to learn music theory from had a Japanese Squier and had played all over the country with it I've done local pub gigs and it allowed me play all I needed with no troubles ,except when the pick up cut out.

I'd say any Squier whether Japanese or Korean is good guitar but the Japanese are far more on top.Think of it basically as a Fender Stratocaster with cheap electrics and the old bridge etc.The body and the neck-the part that counts,especially the neck are exactly the same as a bespoke £500 Standard Strat.Put in a better bridge and a humbucker and you've got a guitar that'll last a lifetime and more.If you're just starting a Koreans a good enough place to begin though.

I'd didn't go to the Fender website to refresh my memory before writing this but the Jaoanese ones,I can't remember if they all are O series guitars or only the top spec Squiers are I know mine is.If you look at the seriel number - on the face of the headstock below 'Squier' and just infront of 'Fender' you'll see a number if it starts O00...an 'Oh' then two zeros you've got one.I'm pretty sure all Japanese are 'O's and almost as sure they stopped making them some
time back si if you see one for sale try it and I think you'll like it especially if it's black & white like mine BB

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