AMAZON $119 FENDER SQUIER DEBUT STRATOCASTER - MODS and UPGRADES
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- I have a few Guitar channels that I watch on CZcams. One of them is the GuitarGeek. I like him. I like him because he is just himself and sometimes that is goofy and funny. A few days ago he did a video titled: I Bought the Cheapest Fender Stratocaster on Amazon...
Link in the description.
• I Bought the Cheapest ...
He goes over the guitar not expecting a lot but was very surprised as to what he found. He takes it a part and does a high-level checkout of the guitar.
He suggests in the video that with some upgrades and some tender loving care you might be able to create a “Guitar for Life.”
I was sitting and watching his video a few days before July 4th and thought it would be a cool project for the holiday, so I ordered one.
I did not order the black model that he had in his video. I could see with the satin finish that his fingerprints were showing up very visibly. I ordered the 2 tone tri-burst instead. It also comes in Dakota Red.
The first observation I made was the string height was WAYYYY too high to really be playable for me.
Next, I tried the tremolo and could not move it. When I examined the bridge, it was flush with the face of the guitar and not floating. Although the screws seem to be adjusted to a level that would allow movement.
The springs were probably the most rigid Stratocaster tremolo springs I have ever encountered. I could barely pull them so as to remove them. Once I removed them, I was able to get movement in the bridge.
After removing the pickguard, I cut the two leads going to the output jack and the ground going to the tremolo claw. The three pickups are as Amazon states, ceramic. The switch is of poor quality and so are the pots.
The body is made of poplar and has a Satin Urethane finish. I find the body to be very serviceable and will make for a good modification platform.
Here we start to get to the first area that is really important.
The neck is Maple with a Satin finish. It has a C shape, radius of 9.5 inches, and the guitar has a scale length of 25.5 inches. The fretboard is made of Laurel and VERY dry. There are 21 frets and the bone is synthetic with a width of 1.650 inches. Well, all Stratocaster specs there.
The frets had zero fret rocking from the first fret to the 21st. Amazing and good.
The sides of the frets could use some cleanup, but you will not see blood coming out of your hands while playing.
The tuners are working. Easy to tune and the guitar stays mostly in tune. I will not upgraded them this go around.
After conditioning the fretboard, I consider the neck to be also serviceable.
In the end both the neck and body are playable and serviceable. That is a win for a guitar costing only $119.
For this upgrade session I will strip our the original pickups and electronics and replace them with quality parts.
I start with CTS split shaft 250k pots, an Oak Grigsby 5-way pickup selector switch, and a .1 MF disc ceramic capacitor.
Next for pickups I am installing a set of Fender Vintera '60s Vintage Stratocaster Pickup Set for only $119 which is hilarious that the pickups cost exactly what the guitar costs.
I built a standard Fender Modern Stratocaster wiring circuit. I even used the printout that was in the pickup box from Fender as the guide.
Additional observations that I found finishing setup.
The neck was not adjusted properly, and I needed to adjust the truss rod. I put lighter springs in the tremolo and spent about an hour adjusting the saddles and claw. In the end I could get a real stable Med-High string height that would intonate.
The neck, nut, tuners, body, bridge, and output jack are all adequate and serviceable. They should give any player years of play if taken care of.
The pickups were horrible and so were the electronics. With the replacements I installed they should also last a lifetime of use in the guitar.
The guitar weighs 6 pounds and 14 ounces. It has good balance, and the neck feels good to me to play.
I am amazed as to what you can get for $119. Total upgrades were another $200.
I could see someone playing this guitar now for a very long time. I have Squiers in my collection that are 25 plus years old and all original and playing like they are new.
And I really enjoy watching your videos. They're informative and soothing. :)
Thank you very much.
I also got the 2 tone sunburst one. I really like it, it has good bones. The only shortcoming for me is the electronics. Fortunately, I happen to have a loaded pickguard with alnico v pickups and a wiring harness with big pots and thick braided wires that I plan to put in it. The pickguard itself is parchment pearl with a matching backplate. I've also got a spare set of locking tuners, so they'll go on this instrument as well. It's obviously not on the level of my MIM Fender Standard, but it's not far off from my 2 Affinity Strats and it's almost as nice as my Fojill mahogany light relic Strat (I'm talking build quality, the electronics will be on par when I stop procrastinating and install the loaded pickguard.)
This is why the 1960s was great for music.
Hope to hear you play it.
At the very end of the video there are audio samples.
@@guitarcollectorguy my bad. I had the video playing in the background and thought what was playing was stock music.
@@Spider_Rico my playing is regularly compared to stock music. :)
Check out Jack Pearson from Allman Brothers 97.98. & Gregg Allman tribute & solo videos..Hes been playing Squires for many years & among, if not the best player ive ever heard..🍑
Great video! What did you use to darken the fretboard?
Thank you. Monty's Montipresso. They have it at Chicago Music Exchange. The maker of Monty's is a UK company.
Much better guitars in and around this price range. Tease guitars are way better setup.
Out of curiosity, have you ever seen the Dean Zelinsky ATW loaded pickguards? They claim the they're set up so that the volume doesn't change when switching between the normal humbucker and splitting the coils. Is that realistic and do you know how that type of thing is done? I have a Surfliner HH and the volume change when splitting the coils is annoying :\
That would be a really good idea for an article. You can use resistors in the line that is going to ground and theoretically this will allow you to same some of the volume when switching between humbucker and single coil. I have not tried the ATW loaded pickguards but I guess this is how they are doing it.
@guitarcollectorguy - Whoah, it's really as simple as having some resistors in the correct part of the circuit?
@@Crispy_Music_2024yes