Silence Kid
New member
Courtesy of waiting at the Toyota Service bay, I should start a review series: “Too Long Ramblings on Cheap Guitars." This year my Father turns seventy, so his fancy to pick up electric guitar is not a true mid-life crisis. He's purchased five guitars in a year, the latest a Squier pack with the 15G amp and a tobacco burst Affinity Fat Strat. He just got an '81 G&L and a modern ASAT, so it's out of place, but keeps him inspired.
Strat Pack Flashback: Found in dorm rooms fifteen years ago, necks like 2x4s, dents wouldn't show wood unless they were an inch deep; they could never, in any aspect, pass for a “real" Strat. Press the overdrive button on the Frontman and fart away. Basically a guitar for five year olds, or to get your roommate's drunk girlfriend out of the top bunk as quickly as possible.
At least the bodies were full-width at that point. But I gave the new one a disassembly/run-down... And I’m actually ok with it. The first impression is the finish; rather than a wavy cm deep screaming primary color (so toddlers can see it I guess) “RED!” or “BLUE!” that no American Strat would be caught dead in, or Grandma's sink "vintage creme,” this reminds more of a seventies Strat. Black pickguard and smooth, natural transparent burst. Convincing in the sense of: Who would duplicate a seventies Strat? The wood is actually beautiful and well matched, including routes. This is a VERY light guitar; the body is a sliver of wood. Light and cheap zinc hardware or not, unplugged it's louder than either G&L. Two things work in the Affinity’s favor:
-The pickups are actually not too high in output, even mounted close to the strings. But the loud-ness of the unplugged tone gives them a lot to work with. So it can offer a nice, clear tone with decent volume, without mudding/fizzing things up like you'd expect from cheap ceramic pickups.
-Important tangent: someone worked to make sure they actually sound decent through the pack-in Frontman, without much work or tweaking. (Example: Other guitars into the Frontman made me burst out in laughter when cranked. But while the Affinity sounded character-less through better amps that exposed its lack of depth, cranking the clean channel on the Frontman actually sounds about as good as that guitar/amp could ever sound.) Ahh. Forget about the overdrive button.
I still dislike the livid white neck with "satin finish," the same way the finish on a toilet roll is satin; but the construction/carving are MUCH better than the old ones. Nice to have dots between the (very nice) rosewood and the maple, rather than totally in the rosewood. Set up nicely, no prob. with frets. Aside from the terrible finish, it reminds of a VM neck, blocky at the heel, but workable.
Long story short: Played Affinity Strat, expected it to not sound or feel like a guitar, wound up actually seeming Strat-like. The trem even stayed in tune with the factory nut, w/ downbends anyway. If I didn't have so much psychological gear baggage, I'd recommend it to a beginner.
Strat Pack Flashback: Found in dorm rooms fifteen years ago, necks like 2x4s, dents wouldn't show wood unless they were an inch deep; they could never, in any aspect, pass for a “real" Strat. Press the overdrive button on the Frontman and fart away. Basically a guitar for five year olds, or to get your roommate's drunk girlfriend out of the top bunk as quickly as possible.
At least the bodies were full-width at that point. But I gave the new one a disassembly/run-down... And I’m actually ok with it. The first impression is the finish; rather than a wavy cm deep screaming primary color (so toddlers can see it I guess) “RED!” or “BLUE!” that no American Strat would be caught dead in, or Grandma's sink "vintage creme,” this reminds more of a seventies Strat. Black pickguard and smooth, natural transparent burst. Convincing in the sense of: Who would duplicate a seventies Strat? The wood is actually beautiful and well matched, including routes. This is a VERY light guitar; the body is a sliver of wood. Light and cheap zinc hardware or not, unplugged it's louder than either G&L. Two things work in the Affinity’s favor:
-The pickups are actually not too high in output, even mounted close to the strings. But the loud-ness of the unplugged tone gives them a lot to work with. So it can offer a nice, clear tone with decent volume, without mudding/fizzing things up like you'd expect from cheap ceramic pickups.
-Important tangent: someone worked to make sure they actually sound decent through the pack-in Frontman, without much work or tweaking. (Example: Other guitars into the Frontman made me burst out in laughter when cranked. But while the Affinity sounded character-less through better amps that exposed its lack of depth, cranking the clean channel on the Frontman actually sounds about as good as that guitar/amp could ever sound.) Ahh. Forget about the overdrive button.
I still dislike the livid white neck with "satin finish," the same way the finish on a toilet roll is satin; but the construction/carving are MUCH better than the old ones. Nice to have dots between the (very nice) rosewood and the maple, rather than totally in the rosewood. Set up nicely, no prob. with frets. Aside from the terrible finish, it reminds of a VM neck, blocky at the heel, but workable.
Long story short: Played Affinity Strat, expected it to not sound or feel like a guitar, wound up actually seeming Strat-like. The trem even stayed in tune with the factory nut, w/ downbends anyway. If I didn't have so much psychological gear baggage, I'd recommend it to a beginner.
