My Squier Classic '60s Strat Review

[Jason]

Squier Classic Vibe '60s Strat! Okay so I finally got one of these things after reading rave reviews all over the place. I'm impressed in some areas and disappointed in others.

The Good:
Playability is great! Tone is amazing for such a cheap guitar! Definitely has some decent pickups in it. The clearcoat is polyester which looks and feels good... though it has a weird softness to it... feels less dense than nitro and is even easier to scratch. The guitar was set up great already... though I need to change out the 9s, the sound of thin strings makes me grit my teeth.

The Bad:
I'm no Strat expert, but the tremolo doesn't quite feel right. Seems a bit flimsy perhaps? I still need to set it up properly though. The tuners feel REAL flimsy and they're definitely a pain in the ass... not capable of such fine adjustments as my Grovers. Oh well, I guess they're going for the vintage thing, right?

The WTF! :
Look at that f**king burst! Apparently mine was painted by a trainee. That shit doesn't line up even remotely with the pickgaurd on top! Speaking of the pickguard... that tortoise shell looks horrible up close. It looks like someone scanned some tortoise shell and printed it out at Kinko's or something. I really love the look of tortoise shell, but not this bullshit. Oh well, it looks okay from a few feet away.



The Verdict:
Are they an "amazing deal!" for the money, like everyone else is saying? Eh, I don't really think so. Mine seems to be a fairly solid performer, but it's definitely got cheap hardware and that pickguard kind of annoys me. All that stuff can be upgraded... worst part is that damn burst job. It's not worth it to me to deal with the hassle of returning though. All in all, I'd say this guitar is a good deal maybe compared to MIM Fenders. As far as MIC guitars though, I think you might find a far better deal at rondomusic. (Luckily I have an SX on order as well, and I'll post a review of that next week )

It's still a keeper though just because of the great tone and playability. Just not up to the hype I've been hearing.

[needlespauls]

Looks great to me bro!!!! Love it! Hey, in one of my reviews of these guitars, the one thing that I mentioned, the only thing I didn't like was the bridge/tremolo set up. I little light and flimsy.
Check one of these out bro. Its drop in ready and supposed to be a great improvement. Cheap too.
"Made in Mexico" Import Strat UPGRADE trem- Solid STEEL block
Give her a whirl bro!!
I'm probably getting the 50's one that I tried in the next couple of months if shes still there. Awesome guitar!!

[dennistruckdriver]

Originally Posted by JasonC

....Okay so I finally got one of these things after reading rave reviews all over the place....

The Verdict:
Are they an "amazing deal!"? Eh, I don't really think so....It's still a keeper though just because of the great tone and playability. Just not up to the hype I've been hearing.

Originally Posted by needlespauls

....Hey, in one of my reviews of these guitars, the one thing that I mentioned, the only thing I didn't like was the bridge/tremolo set up. I little light and flimsy.....

As I have stated previously; not bad guitars, but just not worth the hype or price. In response to the MIM-bashing, at least all they need are pickups; trem, tuners, and other hardware are up to the task.
To buy one of these Road Kill models and 'upgrade' it, the price will be WELL above the cost of a MIM Standard. Consider one of the MIM 'Classic' series. I just bought one, and the quality, fit and finish rivals or even exceeds the American Standards!




Good luck!

[Jason]

Good point Dennis. I think maybe I was being a bit too picky though.. I mean the TONE is definitely there. The fit and setup are there as well (once I removed one of the springs from the tremolo it was very close to where it "ought" to be). The pickups are above and beyond anything I've ever heard in a Squier for sure, that's probably the biggest selling point.

It's my first Strat, so I went in cheap. Basically I wanted an actual "Strat tone", rather than the BS I'd heard on the low end Squiers. I had no idea how often I'd end up playing it, so $300 wasn't too awful bad. The only reason I didn't go with an SX/Douglas/Agile or other cheaper Asian guitar was because I was scared of getting wimpy pickups.

It's still weird playing on these single coils... they sound great but it's hard to match my playing to it. I can see why SRV used 13's and bigger on his Strat! I might try some 11's once I decide not to be too lazy to do all the required adjustments. I just don't think 10's are quite gonna get me where I wanna be with it!

[Jason]

Originally Posted by needlespauls

Looks great to me bro!!!! Love it! Hey, in one of my reviews of these guitars, the one thing that I mentioned, the only thing I didn't like was the bridge/tremolo set up. I little light and flimsy.
Check one of these out bro. Its drop in ready and supposed to be a great improvement. Cheap too.
"Made in Mexico" Import Strat UPGRADE trem- Solid STEEL block
Give her a whirl bro!!
I'm probably getting the 50's one that I tried in the next couple of months if shes still there. Awesome guitar!!

Yeah I remember reading your review as well and I've definitely been considering one of those GFS trems. I figured I would play it stock for awhile to get the feel of it. Wouldn't learn as much about how things work if I just replaced all the stock parts before getting to know them! I still am a total trem noob.

[korn101]

Uhm.. I love my CV 50's

Man, that sunburst looks horrid, why did you even buy it? :O

[circusboy28]

The two that I played in shops felt outstanding - especially the Tele. The quality of Asian guitars at these low price points is incredible nowadays. Compared to when I started playing, entry level is just a whole lot better.

[Ricochet]

Originally Posted by korn101

Uhm.. I love my CV 50's

Man, that sunburst looks horrid, why did you even buy it? :O

I had a CV'60 and the burst looked nothing like this...

[snaredrum]

i had to sell my CV '50s two tone sunburst, and really regret it. the burst pattern was lovely...

[possumkiller]

I have a CV 60s just like yours. I agree with the trem being the weak point on this guitar and the plastic being less than lovely looking. The tuners on mine have worked just fine. I just have to be more sensitive with them because of the lower ratio. However about the cost of upgrading. For about 50 bucks on Welcome to Guitarfetish I have new pickguard, knobs, switch tip, pickup covers, USA trem bar, and steel trem block. Those are the only things I would change on mine and the total before shipping is $44.83 quite far from costing a lot more than a MIM.

[hollowbody]

I had a CV50's Strat on loan to me for a bit and in a shootout between it, a MIM HSS Strat and a heavily modified US Deluxe Strat, it had 95% of the tone of the US Strat and was way nicer to play than the MIM.

Yeah, the tuners are a little flimsy, but I also have a CV50s Tele, and let me tell you, they hold tune really well for me. It feels like it's going to fall apart when you're tuning up, but they stay where you tell them.

As for the trem, yeah, it's a $5 piece of cheap metal-substitute, but I never really use the trem anyway, so it was irrelevant to me.

Great bang-for-the-buck guitars.