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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Jan 11, 2019 12:22:12 GMT
As I've stated in other threads, I didn't like strats of any brand. I initially bought my first squire as a guitar I wouldn't care about getting damaged, lugging it to and throw to lessons. But I struck lucky and stole a mint 2011 affinity that had been modded and then basically sat in a cupboard for 6-7 years. My don't give a **** about guitar quickly became my baby! I have since stolen a mint 2007 affinity and to be honest keep looking at sunburst and white ones. I have resisted so far but Squire seem to have me hooked. Back to the original post, reviews by people who own/ purchase a guitar whatever brand tend to be biased if: 1. The guitar is good quality as in playability. 2. Fit and finish is good. 3. If they have gone so far as to purchase it they obviously liked the look of it.
We have all reviewed a guitar or two on this forum, mostly positive unless it's a real lemon.
I think it is really hard to get an impartial review for two reasons.
1. The reviewer normally is ether selling them, or being sponsored by the brand in some way. 2. The reviewer has purchased something they wanted so it's positive biased. OK if they don't like it or it's not what they expected its negative.
I personally look at all reviews I can find and try to weigh up the pros and cons. I'm sure that goes for every one on here. At the end of the day we are targeted because we are addicted consumers. Would you be impartial if you got a fiver for everyone you got to purchase something you reviewed. To be honest this forum and others like it are probably the best place to read reviews as most of us try to be honest and impartial even if we don't succeed.
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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Jan 11, 2019 12:26:35 GMT
I agree that's the same colour and model that's on sale in my local shop, that is mint and the shop was asking offers above £400.
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Post by LeoThunder on Jan 11, 2019 12:39:13 GMT
Back to the original post, reviews by people who own/ purchase a guitar whatever brand tend to be biased if: 1. The guitar is good quality as in playability. 2. Fit and finish is good. 3. If they have gone so far as to purchase it they obviously liked the look of it. 1 and 2 are not a bias, merely a sincere opinion. A bias is when your wife owns the company that makes them or when you resent your neighbour for doing so. 3 goes both ways: some will want to justify their purchase when others will be more demanding of the things for which they had to pay. Anyway, some things are objective. When someone says the frets had to be levelled to get the action below 2mm, when the tone pots barely work or when the thing weighs 5 Kg, the story behind the review doesn't matter. And when someone says it "sounds great" or "plays like butter", they can be safely forgotten for the rest of their reviewing career.
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Post by Vincent on Jan 11, 2019 12:51:54 GMT
From what I've been told and read the Japanese Squier's were quality instruments. I've had a dabble on one (a friend owns) although it's battered to f**k, it did feel and play nice. There is one for sale in mint condition in my local guitar shop but for really silly money. To be honest I've not heard anyone I've known who has a Squier complain or have negative feedback on them. I have seen mention of the poor quality of some of the Asian Squire's but I'm lead to believe it was certain factories at fault. Before I purchased my first Squier I researched what was best to avoid or what ones to purchase. Apparently the serial numbers are your best guide, both mine are Chinese and begin CY which is China Yako factory. The Yako factory is actually Taiwan (not getting into politics of if Taiwan is really China or not). The Yako factory also builds for other name brands. Cut a long story short most Squier's are reasonably good quality, the guitar snobs will obviously turn there nose up but hey ho! I went to buy a Chinese Squier Bullet Stratocaster for someone in a large store about four years ago. After trying several that were hanging on the wall and being refused discount because they were marked (some quite considerably) by people playing them I demanded to speak with the manager. Still no discount so I asked if they had more in stock. He returned with a box as is from the distributer. We opened it up and all was okay. I paid and left with the guitar. It was well set up actually. All I had to do was polish the frets oil the board and fit new strings. The quality is far behind that of a JV but for the money it was a great deal. I played that guitar recently and it is doing well. Back to the Japanese. Other brands worthy of our attention are Tokai, Greco and Fernandes etc. Some claim that the 80's Japanese models were made by the same company as the JV Squiers and I really don't know myself but one time I put an early Fernandes Revival 57 and a Squire JV 57 (I think both were made in the same year) side by side and they really were identical apart from the headstock profile. I did have a Fernandes guitar that was made in Taiwan at one time. It played fine. No complaints at all but the quality not so great to be honest.
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Post by Vincent on Jan 11, 2019 12:59:14 GMT
I agree that's the same colour and model that's on sale in my local shop, that is mint and the shop was asking offers above £400. It is a JV and mint? £401 would be a steal. You need to think this out some more before someone else does.
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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Jan 11, 2019 13:38:06 GMT
From what I've been told and read the Japanese Squier's were quality instruments. I've had a dabble on one (a friend owns) although it's battered to f**k, it did feel and play nice. There is one for sale in mint condition in my local guitar shop but for really silly money. To be honest I've not heard anyone I've known who has a Squier complain or have negative feedback on them. I have seen mention of the poor quality of some of the Asian Squire's but I'm lead to believe it was certain factories at fault. Before I purchased my first Squier I researched what was best to avoid or what ones to purchase. Apparently the serial numbers are your best guide, both mine are Chinese and begin CY which is China Yako factory. The Yako factory is actually Taiwan (not getting into politics of if Taiwan is really China or not). The Yako factory also builds for other name brands. Cut a long story short most Squier's are reasonably good quality, the guitar snobs will obviously turn there nose up but hey ho! I went to buy a Chinese Squier Bullet Stratocaster for someone in a large store about four years ago. After trying several that were hanging on the wall and being refused discount because they were marked (some quite considerably) by people playing them I demanded to speak with the manager. Still no discount so I asked if they had more in stock. He returned with a box as is from the distributer. We opened it up and all was okay. I paid and left with the guitar. It was well set up actually. All I had to do was polish the frets oil the board and fit new strings. The quality is far behind that of a JV but for the money it was a great deal. I played that guitar recently and it is doing well. Back to the Japanese. Other brands worthy of our attention are Tokai, Greco and Fernandes etc. Some claim that the 80's Japanese models were made by the same company as the JV Squiers and I really don't know myself but one time I put an early Fernandes Revival 57 and a Squire JV 57 (I think both were made in the same year) side by side and they really were identical apart from the headstock profile. I did have a Fernandes guitar that was made in Taiwan at one time. It played fine. No complaints at all but the quality not so great to be honest. Are the bullets not the most basic model? I don't say that disrespectivly. With so many variations I don't know how you classify them other than rrp. As for the Japanese one in the local shop I'll try and pop in there over the weekend. I may well be messaging you for advice 😉
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Post by Vincent on Jan 11, 2019 14:12:55 GMT
blindwilly3fingers I think the Bullet is the most basic Squier that you can buy and the RRP obviously reflects this. I would hardly consider myself an expert on Squiers but sure, shoot if you have any questions and I will try to answer them as best I can. Another Squier to consider might be the Pro Tone models. Made in Korea late 90's. Some of them have matching painted headstocks too. I used to have one and aside from being heavy it was excellent. Really well made. The original pickups were a little harsh sounding but these can easily be changed. You can get them cheaply right now but this could change. One to watch anyway.
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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Jan 11, 2019 14:32:34 GMT
blindwilly3fingers I think the Bullet is the most basic Squier that you can buy and the RRP obviously reflects this. I would hardly consider myself an expert on Squiers but sure, shoot if you have any questions and I will try to answer them as best I can. Another Squier to consider might be the Pro Tone models. Made in Korea late 90's. Some of them have matching painted headstocks too. I used to have one and aside from being heavy it was excellent. Really well made. The original pickups were a little harsh sounding but these can easily be changed. You can get them cheaply right now but this could change. One to watch anyway. That was certainly a nice looking guitar, sold already! Re: the bullets are they all hard tail? And are they hss? I've not looked at bullets mainly because I've seen them slated as cheap which they are at a little over £100 new. Also are they the thinner body like the affinity? They look ideal as a modding platform.
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Post by LeoThunder on Jan 11, 2019 14:42:23 GMT
Squier Bullet Strat's are the only hard tails available but they also come with a floating bridge. Some are HSS. Steve From Boston tried the Squiers and made videos a few years ago:
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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Jan 11, 2019 14:50:31 GMT
Squier Bullet Strat's are the only hard tails available but they also come with a floating bridge. Some are HSS. Steve From Boston tried the Squiers and made videos a few years ago: I watched those videos some time ago, basically he makes wrong assertions on a few models. And if I remember rightly tries to cover up the mistakes he made in the 2nd video. I don't like the fact he rattles through each guitar in a couple of minuets. I'm not keen on those guitar shoot out videos. Might just be me but I need a few days to see if I like a guitar and it likes me.
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Post by LeoThunder on Jan 11, 2019 15:22:01 GMT
I don't like the fact he rattles through each guitar in a couple of minuets. I'm not keen on those guitar shoot out videos. Might just be me but I need a few days to see if I like a guitar and it likes me. I would like to agree but I have to say I put absolutely no value on how someone else feels about a guitar. It's their taste and preferences, their habits, their expectations, not mine. The rest can be evaluated fairly quickly if one bothers to look. Do the knobs work in a usable way when they are turned? Can the guitar be set up properly? I like to have descriptive information on weight or neck profile, measurements of course, or comparisons. Then I like to hear it clean in various positions but all the subjective stuff is worthless. Statements like "I quite like these pick-ups" or "this neck feels just like the one I started with" are of no value. What is left is the long term test. Will the neck warp over winter? Will the frets come off?
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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Jan 11, 2019 16:26:22 GMT
I have three Squier SEs. They all have very different necks and one is much heavier than the other two. One of them is my favourite strat for tone and beautiful stability of the floating trem. It never goes out of tune due to trem use. And I have an Affinity. The body thinness put me off at first but I grew to like it. It's one of the few I've found with a maple fretboard which feels really nicely rounded. The heaviest SE has sounded like pants twice, both with its stock ceramics and with some replacement, no name Chinese alnicos. They're all Chinese. What is the SE excuse my ignorance, I have seen SQ stated as a model I know the bullet, affinity, contemporary, standard and classic vibe. I know affinity has thinner body but are they mainly cosmetic variations on the other models? To be honest it looses me all the different names for basically the same guitar.
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Post by LeoThunder on Jan 11, 2019 16:48:22 GMT
The Squier Deluxe is the one to go for There was even one with Hot Rails… Be careful, though, my Squier Deluxe is a Jazz Bass.
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