How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

[Edgecrusher]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

No its not stuck in neutral I already made clear that not all wood is equal even if the difference is just species. Just cause you can make a cello sound good out of carbon fiber that doesnt mean that the wood in a squier is as good as any other wood. The 2 things arent related unless you make the assertion that material doesnt matter.

If thats your assertion then why dont they make guitars from cardboard or paper? Cause not all materials are suitable or sound good. Now if thats true it stands to reason that there can be differences between any one material and this is certainly true with a material thats as variable as wood. You dont have to be a scientist to figure out that different species of wood sound different. If the species of wood didnt matter and the quality of the wood didnt matter I assure you todays coporate manufacturers would have jumped on this and gone with the cheapest available material. But this isnt the case. You wont find a single luthier that says wood species doesnt matter.

None of this has anything to do with carbon fiber until they start making squiers from carbon which i assure you they wont cause carbon is expensive.

 

[RorySquier]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

No its not stuck in neutral I already made clear that not all wood is equal even if the difference is just species. Just cause you can make a cello sound good out of carbon fiber that doesnt mean that the wood in a squier is as good as any other wood. The 2 things arent related unless you make the assertion that material doesnt matter.

If thats your assertion then why dont they make guitars from cardboard or paper? Cause not all materials are suitable or sound good. Now if thats true it stands to reason that there can be differences between any one material and this is certainly true with a material thats as variable as wood. You dont have to be a scientist to figure out that different species of wood sound different. If the species of wood didnt matter and the quality of the wood didnt matter I assure you todays coporate manufacturers would have jumped on this and gone with the cheapest available material. But this isnt the case. You wont find a single luthier that says wood species doesnt matter.

None of this has anything to do with carbon fiber until they start making squiers from carbon which i assure you they wont cause carbon is expensive.

How about shovels? My friend, you need a good shot of moonshine! And while you're at it, grab that shovel and finish that yardwork you were supposed to get done last week. :28::naughty:

I hope you understand Russian.:banghead:

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

How about shovels? My friend, you need a good shot of moonshine! And while you're at it, grab that shovel and finish that yardwork you were supposed to get done last week. :28::naughty:

Well cool... BUT and again since when were we talking about shovels? This has been about wood... what part of wood do you not understand? Or you trying to tell me there is no difference between wood, carbon fiber and metal?

 

[RorySquier]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

Well cool... BUT and again since when were we talking about shovels? This has been about wood... what part of wood do you not understand? Or you trying to tell me there is no difference between wood, carbon fiber and metal?

What is the handle made of on a shovel? The answer my friend is WOOD! So now you are telling me a shovel is not good enough to be made into a guitar. Where do you get off saying that? The metal adds resonance to the handle creating a tight tonal response with accented mids and not too harsh highs. Don't you know this? It's common knowledge...just ask a farmer, FFS. BTW, here's a diagram of a shovel to prove to you there is wood. It looks like Chinese alder from this angle.

And here's a successful shovel-pass attempt. This is a maneuver you can teach your grandkids. utahere:

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

I gotcha dude its ok. I really dont expect you to answer questions that you have no answer for. But it was fun seeing you juggle the stupid stick and watch it smack you in the head... repeatedly.

 

[RorySquier]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

I gotcha dude its ok. I really dont expect you to answer questions that you have no answer for. But it was fun seeing you juggle the stupid stick and watch it smack you in the head... repeatedly.

And buddy, I think you really need to get a life! Seriously, you have way too much time on your hands to think about sh!t like this...your mind is playing tricks with you delusional thoughts of wood that's driving you to this obsessive way of thinking you're right all the time. Instead of analyzing wood like some mad scientist, STFU, and play your guitar. BTW my friend, your sense of humour is a bit on the dry side.:33::sleepy:

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

Gentlemen:

Consider that the quasi-anonymity and stand-off capability the internet allows is causing us all (nationally and worldwide) to become more and more coarse and disrepectful of each other. We can say things to each other we wouldn't dare if the other guy was standing in front of us (hey, he might be a lot bigger) and this is causing us all to become increasingly polarized, insular, clubby, and dismissive of anyone who disagrees with us about, well, anything, as a cretin and a subhuman, rather than just as someone who just disagrees.

I know this is far from the worst fight we've seen in here (and I'm not playing holier than thou -- I've participated pretty loudly in a few over the years) but can we just talk about differences between carbon fibre and alder and Chinese wood and whatever else, and ONLY about those differences? Can we debate without the snark, sarcasm and sanctimony? Imagine the guy really is standing in front of you. Would you really talk like that? I'm a winder so I have plenty invested in tonal sophistication, but they're still just guitars for crap's sake. Is this really the kind of hill you are willing to die on? The erosion of civility and community just isn't worth it. (I know that sounds pretentious but you know it's true.)

 

[King IzzO)))]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

Meh, I like to upgrade cheap guitars. The cost to upgrade is a "waste of money" crowd is always loud and in front on these threads. The truth is that a lot of dudes are swapping out the pickups and putting Callaham bridges on their US strats, so there's really not much difference between what those people are spending vs. what someone upgrading a Squier is. Other than that it's wood, come on.. Maybe you can hear a small difference in your bedroom or recording solo into your computer, but once you turn it up and put it in a mix you won't be able to tell **** from honduran mahogany. Give me a break.

The pine tele and VM Jazzmaster are both on my short list of stuff I'd like to get and jack with, the necks are ****ing excellent. Mainly just the pickups and that stupid bridge on the Jazzmaster have gotta go.

 

[RorySquier]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

Gentlemen:

Consider that the quasi-anonymity and stand-off capability the internet allows is causing us all (nationally and worldwide) to become more and more coarse and disrepectful of each other. We can say things to each other we wouldn't dare if the other guy was standing in front of us (hey, he might be a lot bigger) and this is causing us all to become increasingly polarized, insular, clubby, and dismissive of anyone who disagrees with us about, well, anything, as a cretin and a subhuman, rather than just as someone who just disagrees.

I know this is far from the worst fight we've seen in here (and I'm not playing holier than thou -- I've participated pretty loudly in a few over the years) but can we just talk about differences between carbon fibre and alder and Chinese wood and whatever else, and ONLY about those differences? Can we debate without the snark, sarcasm and sanctimony? Imagine the guy really is standing in front of you. Would you really talk like that? I'm a winder so I have plenty invested in tonal sophistication, but they're still just guitars for crap's sake. Is this really the kind of hill you are willing to die on? The erosion of civility and community just isn't worth it. (I know that sounds pretentious but you know it's true.)

I just wish members on this forum would have a sense of humour more instead of always being so serious, in this case, about wood. I used to be in the other camp where I too thought wood made all the difference, but I'm starting to realize that when it comes to electric guitars, it's not that big of a factor compared to an acoustic guitar. Everyone has differing opinions on this so it's a never-ending debate. You made some good points and I hope others will take note. We need more civility on this wonderful forum.:argue::beerchug:

 

[drake55]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

i bought a squire at a pawn shop, as a platform, to build on. i started with a pearloid pickguard and pickups that jay monterose wound for me, neck and bridge. for the middle pickup, i had an old mustang pickup, that cesar diaz rewound, years ago. i did some custom pearloid lamination on the covers and knobs.
recently, i swapped the tremolo block for a brass GFS one and swapped the stock saddles for gotoh brass ones.
i installed a 2" 10-32 screw in the tremolo bar hole, with a brass bushing that supports a bigsby style tremolo bar and use all five springs, for tension.
the anchor screws were swapped for longer stainless steel ones and the six round head screws, that act as pivot point, on the fulcrum plate, have been replaced with countersink oval heads, also stainless.
all the pickup cover screws are longer, heavier, stainless steel, because i care.
the guitar sounded great, when i added the pickups, but just about doubled in volume, when i switched to the brass hardware.
the sound deepened, so now a actually use some treble, instead of mainly midrange.
here's a photo of the first phase, before the tremolo work:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...58946803.17290.100002045372534&type=3&theater

 

[drake55]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

p.s.: jay also included a nicely wired harness, early fender specs, with the pickups, all mounted on a blank pickguard, to be transferred. the wiring was a work of art.
jay does nice work. i guess that's why danny kept him on.

 

[NecroPolo]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

As long as the axe has good songs in it, I don't mind what is written to the headstock. It is a first touch sort of thing. There are dead woods, even among classy ones. PRice is just a thing. If it is a basically low quality axe that is still able to inspire you to pick up, it may be a better fit than a multi-thousand dollar one. Just like girls. It's not always the girl from the best family and the best education and salary is the best to fcuk with. Actually, usually, not.

About upgrade, if the woodwork is not deadly wrong then slapping in a couple of fitting SD pickups, having a careful setup and in cases changing the tuners makes the axe ready for me most of the time. Sound good, keep in tune, play nice. That's enough for me. I add the rest.

 

[Oinkus]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

I would put my custom unique started out as a Squire Tele up against any guitar anyone has anywhere period. You can say whatever you want about this and that but in the end the only thing that matters is if the guitar feels good plays well and sounds good. Everything else just doesn't matter.

 

[Diego]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

My Squier Strat is pretty fun to play. Sweet in the highs, too.
It took a GFS Steel trem, aftermarket pickups and careful adjustment of just about everything to get it right.
I've never tried a Squier which resonates as nicely as this one though. I got lucky.

 

[BeatTheBastard]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

I´ve played a couple of Squiers and they have been very good guitars. I love neck in those, my Strat needed just a little rewiring and the decking of the trem (it just wouldn´t stay in tune) to turn it into a sweet player. Stock pups are okay for me. Only thing that truly sucks in that are tuners.

 

[Kramer Guy]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

I recently got a 2002 Squier Affinity which has Fender MIM Standard pups in it from a 2005 model and I don't have any problem keeping it in tune. To me, if it's set up properly , tuning problems will be a thing of the past. I'm 55 years old and started doing my own set ups about 12 years ago and have never regretted it. Best move I ever made.

 

[Brian Griffin]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

Personally I think the love for Chinese squires is way overblown. Sure, I like mine a lot, but no way would I put it even close to the same category as a MIA Strat. Not close. Lots of wishful thinking and tonal deafness going on. Everyone wants to get something for nothing, and keep the change. IN my opinion.

Absolutely. You can't get very far with a plywood guitar. Ibanez GIOs and LTDs are worth way more than Squiers.

 

[J E C]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

Nothing wrong with a Squire. I got 2012 Affinity Strat with Duncans. It is an Indonesian one with an Agathis body. Plays great and sounds descent.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

I'm surprised by how good a late model stock bullet sounds and plays. You'd think it'd be crap at that price point. The last two I played were great, just needed light nut work and intonation adjusted. Fret ends were good, necks straight... even the stock pickups weren't that bad. Sounded better to me than a stock MIM strat! Better pickups would really tie it all together.
Squier used to be all over the place in quality, but now I feel like they have settled into a good groove.

I have a Squier VM Jazz Bass and a VM Jazzmaster. They are both great and I'm very pleased with them though the Jazzmaster took a while to get the setup right including shimming the neck (but it's a jazzmaster, some even say they were designed to be shimmed). I've owned several Squiers, Mexican Fenders, and American fenders and they all needed a good setup and I've learned I can make the sounds come out that I like without spending $1300. The MIA Fenders all felt and sounded GREAT and really really SOLID out of the box, but that price point is a luxury in my world so I have fun with what I have.

edit: I've had one squier that was a dog. got it from an online retailer, should have sent it back, but didn't. Tried lots of mods, a bone nut, pickups, saddles, a steel trem block, I refinished the neck, none of that helped and it was just OK after months of trying. It was a Squier Deluxe strat and it just sounded thin and choked. The last two bullets I played would have smoked that deluxe. Play before you buy, when possible. I've learned more about what I like in a guitar in years since and I know quality can vary. I'm sure I just got a bad example of that model.

 

[esandes]

Re: How to make your cheap Squier Strat play and sound better

another example on how pickups can make a poor sounding guitar much better sounding.