Squier Guitars

When you buy a Fender or Gibson you are buying more than a guitar...I know to most people that doesn't matter, but your buying a piece of rock and roll legend, I can't remember seeing many video clips of big name bands on stage with Squires or Epi's,
:wink:

Ya go and make a statement like that, ya gotta know some donkey is gonna find an exception. :wink:

I really hate the sound of a Squier Strat!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oTR4F9qqy3U

There are a couple of inexpensive guitars I bought that I don't play much, but for the most part, I play them all. I probably play them more than the expensive ones. The ones I don't play are not due to the quality either. It is the way they hang on the strap and feel. I like Les Pauls alot sooooooooooo ..... I have two Gibson made in USA Les Pauls. I have just about one of every kind of guitar in a cheap Epi/Squire version or knockoff. My Tele is a Squire. I'm not gonna play a Tele much but I wanted to have one. I paid $219 and that price fits for the amount of play it will get. OK So I needed a Strat. Not my main instrument but might play it a little more. Fender MIM was the way to go. Semi Hollow with solid center block? Rare desire to play one but wanted one for my collection. Oscar Schmidt Delta King $129 BINGO! You get my thought process here? There are the guitars I have that were truely deals. Reduced clearance items for a fraction of the origional cost. $600 MIJ Jackson Professional for $399? Good deal? I think so. Is it a "cheap" guitar? No. All I know is that I am happy with all my guitars both cheap and "real" and that is all that matters, so Vic, I truely understand what you are saying about your Squire. Heck, one of my favorite guitars isn't even made of wood! :P As far as a person wanting a top end guitar I understand that. Thats why I bought a Gibson Les Paul back in 1982 in the first place. Just don't feel inferior, cheated or deprived if you don't have one yet and by all means don't feel you have to have one to be happy. So much debate, but it's an individual decision. If your happy with a Squire great. If you want a higher end model .... great to.

I've got my Agile AS-820 semihollow today. It was inexpensive, but i love that guitar!

Ric, didn't you win a Pete Townshend signature Epiphone acoustic a while back? I seem to remember you were pretty pleased with that....

:D :D :D

Vic

It's not an Epiphone, it's a tricked out Gibson SJ200. Yeah, it's really nice! Cheapest guitar I have, too! :wink:

I set up my buddy's old squier strat not too long ago. Had a crazy high action and IIRC the notes were really sharp by the time you got up the neck. I just dropped the saddles a bit and it all seemed to fall into place though, so it wasn't a bad guitar at all, just horribly set up from the factory.

Noff, I picked out the best set up MIM on the wall when I bought mine, and I still had to set it up a lot when I got it home. Alas, guitar store merchandizing sometimes does not include the portion between "taking it out of the box" and "slinging it up there on the wall".

I think Squier's are excellent for their very modest price. The quality is very good, and I have worked in quality for over 25 years, I think I am a pretty good judge in this area. I am talking about having good level frets without burrs, good joints, etc.... Squier is excellent in this area.

What I find different is the woods and hardware. A Fender is made of a better quality wood and sounds different than a Squier. My Squiers have basswood body, my Fenders alder. Big difference in tone. And the hardware on my Fenders is much heavier-duty. They feel solid. The tuners hold tune excellent. The Squiers are good, but not as good.

And the same with Gibsons over Epiphone. The Gibsons have better wood, and better tone. Gibson pickups are awesome, never had an Epiphone humbucker, but I seriously doubt you will get the power and clarity of a Gibson pickup.

Now my Epiphone Casino I view differently. It is it's own model, not really a copy of any Gibson. So you can't compare here. And it gets great tone. But I bet the more expensive Casino Elitist model gets even better tone.

I try to get the name guitar but save on the frills. My Gibson LP Studio and Gibson Faded SG sound great. I have played the more expensive models and I think mine sound just as good. But they are not as pretty, no binding, inferior finish... The difference is more cosmetic than tone. So this is what I do, buy the less expensive model of the name guitar.

But know what? My Gibson SG had two very slightly raised frets I didn't discover until I lowered the action quite low which I like. I had to sand them down myself. My Casino on the other hand has an excellent fret job. And both my Squiers have great fret jobs as well.

Hi,

I'm with Wes, in that I like to get that little bit of extra quality - IF I can find it. The smaller and more subtle difference that you might get on expensive gear is often outside my current ability to pick. If a guitar has a good clean straight neck with no twist, and feels comfortable to the hand, then I can set it up any way I want, regardless of how well it was set up at the factory. At my modest level, the quality of the sound seems to depend mostly on the skills (or lack of) in my fingers, the quality and settings of the amp, and any effects being used. The pickup is obviously important too, but I've swapped out pickups without any problems.

So it seems to boil down to "Do you love something about it or not?" If it feels and sounds good to me, then that's all that matters at this stage. I have several guitars made by Japanese companies (either in Japan or under their direction) and I've found them to be excellent. The workmanship is good, the feel is right, and they sound OK too. For instance, I have a couple of solid bodied Yamaha electrics that are very nicely made and seem exceptionally good value. When I bought one in particular I also played other brands in the shop that were two or three times the price. They all had Seymour Duncan pickups (including the Yamaha) and I couldn't pick the difference in feel or sound. And I preferred the look of the Yamaha - so it was a 'no contest'.

However, I also have a car that cost twice as much as the one I drive every day. It's not really twice as good, on most realistic yardsticks, but I do like what it does enough to have paid the difference. If I was feeling flush with funds and found an expensive big name guitar that had something about it that I really wanted, then I'd probably feel that was worth it too. :wink: Not just at the moment though...

Chris

I do admit I want this Squier guitar. I wouldn't play it though. I'd just mount it.

http://www.ioffer.com/i/JAMES-EARL-JONES-Autographed-STAR-WARS-DARTH-VADER-Signed-Guitar-38830451

Funny that James Earl Jones is always associated with Darth Vader, when all he did was the voice....Vader was played by a British actor called Dave Prowse. Brits of a certain age (ie my age or thereabouts) may remember Dave from the Green Cross Code adverts....

And what's all this "fully functional and ready to hang" stuff? What's wrong with "fully functional and ready to PLAY?" Isn't that what guitars are supposed to be for.....

:D :D :D

Vic

Actually.... In addition to John; George and Paul also bought Epi Casinos in 1966 (?).
And John's Casino was his favorite guitar for many years.
Bought in 66 and played on tracks like 'Rain' while still in original Sunburst finish.... To him stripping all the paint off
himself (for tonal reasons) and playing it on the Let it Be rooftop session.
He also continued to play it after the Beatles disbanded.

Epiphone is now known mostly as a budget branch of Gibson.... Not always so.
The history of Epiphone instruments is quite fascinating and starts in the late 1800's in Greece.
Gibson purchased Epiphone from the original family owners in the late 50's (57?)
Mainly for their Basses.

They were a top quality instrument from the time that Gibbo started the line til Gibbo was sold in 68.

If you think that 'used Epi's' have no value.... Try buying an early to mid 60's Casino!

My old guitar teacher from the early 90's had a mid 60's Casino that he bought new.
Played the guts out of it!
Great guitar 8)
He retired it shortly after I started taking lessons from him.
Went thru a few guitars trying to find one that he liked to replace it, including: A real Gibbo SG standard, a late 70's Strat
(Sunburst with black plastic and a rosewood board - REAL CLEAN!), and another Casino.
He settled on a real ugly Peavy Strat knockoff.... :P
Said it felt, played, and sounded best to him.

I have tested out quite a few of the new Epi's.... Some were absolute junk. They were the lowest models though.
For the most part, I am quite usually blown away with the sound and quality of the imported Epi's.

As far as the name brand battle goes.... My dad and I are engaged in a guitar building project together.
We currently have plans to build two Tele's and a Strat!
The second Tele will be all rosewood - Like the guitar that George used on the Rooftop as counterpoint to Lennon's Casino!

All the components will be how we want them.... and all the materials and finishes will be how we want.
Top Quality for a fraction of the price!

I say.... If you know what you want in a guitar; Go and get it!
Who cares who makes it.

Ken

Interesting post Ken.

That sounds like a great project you've got going with your Dad. Are you keeping a photo record that we can see sometime? I'd love to build a guitar one day. Just too many other things on the go right now though.

John's Casino was his favorite guitar for many years.

.... To him stripping all the paint off himself (for tonal reasons)

For some reason, when I read that John Lennon had stripped all the paint off himself, this photo came to mind....

It appears to have been taken just before Yoko Ono repainted him... :wink:

Cheers,

Chris

Interesting post Ken.

That sounds like a great project you've got going with your Dad. Are you keeping a photo record that we can see sometime? I'd love to build a guitar one day. Just too many other things on the go right now though.

John's Casino was his favorite guitar for many years.

.... To him stripping all the paint off himself (for tonal reasons)

For some reason, when I read that John Lennon had stripped all the paint off himself, this photo came to mind....

It appears to have been taken just before Yoko Ono repainted him... :wink:

Cheers,

Chris

LOL!!!!

It took me a while to get what you were getting at there Chris! :D

Just my natural SouthSide Chicago-ese coming thru in my writing!

I actually just had to go in and edit a post of mine in the slide section....
I could see that Ric would've jumpped all over it :wink:

I said something like:
- I would imagine that there would be a goldmine of slides walking around an antique store -

Well, it makes sense when you SAY it in Chicago....
Either that, or you just need to be on the same chemical frequency that I'm on :P

Ken