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Are Squier guitars any good?

I troll Craigslist regularly, looking for bargain guitar stuff. I keep seeing Squier Strats up for sale all the time.

Are the Squier instruments inferior? I am guessing they are Fender's low end unit.

I have no clue, I am just curious what everyone's opinions of them are.

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Permalink Reply by Chuck Valandingham on October 18, 2013 at 1:33pm

I have Mexican made squire fat strat that is the best electric guitar I have ever owned, it absolutely refuses to go out of tune and it sounds like a beast. I prefer it over my Prs and my epiphone guitars. I have had great sucess turning them into cbgs

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on October 18, 2013 at 5:34pm

As everyone else has said, the Squier Strat is Fender's low end model. They can be had, for example, at Guitar Center for around $100-120 as a starter rocker package, complete with a cheapy amp. As has been said, they come in a number of models, and are made in various Far East countries. Typically, the finish is almost as good as a Standard; body shape and neck woods are the same; the pickups and pots are cheaper, thin sounding and prone to noise; the tuners are cheaper metal and prone to breakage after hard use, blablahblah. Many people buy the $100 version, strip the pups and pots, and put in higher end components (which is essentially what they did with the first versions of the Mexi Fat Strat). You can spend about $350 - $400 on upgrades that can make a Squier sound like an American Standard, which is roughly half the price, for very similar playability. Or you can gut it for relatively expensive CBG parts.

They sell the Squiers here in the Middle East for the same price as what I could get a high end Mex or low end Standard for back in the States.

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Permalink Reply by Thorsten Hinrichsen on October 21, 2013 at 5:50am

Dan, I used to play a Korean Squier Strat through the 90s until I changed to acoustic guitars. I still have it in the basement and it still works.

a few months ago I decided to buy a decent Telecaster and tried about 20 different Telecasters by Fender (Custom shop, American standard, deluxe, road worn, Squier vintage modern etc., also a few by Nash guitars and some German custom instruments. The Squiers didn't sound "worse" than Fenders and appeared quite sturdy. Their sound was more modern and less vintage.

I bought a roadworn because it is a real lightweight and sound perfect (almost as good as one by Nash).

The Squiers are at least as good as the Fender Modern Players (which are only a little more expensive). The new Squiers are made in Indonesia. My friend has a new Squier Bass which sounds like an expensive Jaco Pastorious model.

But note: There are several different quality lines in the Squier portfolio.

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Permalink Reply by Diglydog on October 21, 2013 at 6:57am

I have a Fender Modern Player Jaguar Bass, made in China, and the quality is absolutely superb - at least as good as my 10 year-old Mexican Tele. Recent Fender (incl Squier) product lines from China and Indonesia appear to be very well put together. As previous posters have said, they come in various price ranges and the electrics and hardware will improve as you pay more.

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Permalink Reply by BUGGY (C) on October 22, 2013 at 9:25pm

Early jap ones are a fender basically or as good and now collectors items as they came out of the fender factory I believe, I have a white first off 80's korean one which is cool and plays nicely good quality too.... avoid the later chineese ones...

year and serial number and look for where it was made

I have seen jap ones fetching fender money...anything from japan seems to be very good.. they can copy very well!

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Permalink Reply by BUGGY (C) on October 23, 2013 at 3:06am

Bakc of the neck says country of manufacture

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on October 23, 2013 at 7:33am

My Strat is a cherry sunburst 1994 MIJ Foto Flame.

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Permalink Reply by Rob Ingram on October 23, 2013 at 1:00pm

I've owned two Squire Strats and got rid of them. Couldn't keep them in tune. Didn't like the sound or the feel of them. I currently own three Squire Teles ! They stay in tune and are built super tough !! I did however replace the bridge pickups with Seymour Duncan Hot Rail pickups because the stock pickups are kinda weak. Squire Strats I wouldn't recommend but the Squire Teles I would highly recommend !!!