Okay ... what exactly is wrong with Squier guitars?

[Pepperbelly]

There is a guitar that Squier makes that Fender does not. And it's pretty damned interesting to me. It's on a telecaster body but it's loaded with P-90s rather than the traditional slanted single coil at the bridge and lipstick at the neck.



Here's a link to it. At this price, it would be hard to go wrong. Opinions?

http://www.music123.com/Squier-Tele-Custom-II-P90-i127295.music?match=1

[toddzilla]

1. it's a POS

sand that body down and you'll find it's probably made from about 40 pieces of wood.

the electronics are junk, the fretwork is embarrassingly bad, you'll rarely get the action down low, it will be noisy as hell, won't stay in tune, and sells used for 1/4 of what you paid new.



i don't like squiers, they are trash. buy a used mexican tele and put different pickups in it.

[Pepperbelly]

4. Wouldn't the bod haved to be re-routed to install P-90s?

That is a JOB.

The next least expensive alternative that I have found is an Epi Les Paul Goldtop for $600.

[XNASA]

6. I've got a Mexican Tele with a SD mini-humbucker in the bridge.

And it rocks!!!!

Always stays in tune. Great intonation up and down the neck. I'd like to change the bridge and the jack someday, but I love it.

[dbt]

2. Yo, home!

The only Squier I have ever had long-term contact with was the Strat that a friend of mine's son had a few years back:

1. I could not get the intonation to set properly for more than a few minutes at a time.

2. It refused to stay in tune for more than a few minutes, either.

Of course, the kid wanted the Wang Bar active because it looked so cool-- and that was probably most of the trouble.

HOWEVER, the thought of a Tele with P-90s in it is fatally attractive in my book! (God plays P-90s, you know.)

:smoke:

[Pepperbelly]

3. Home skillet!

I have seen Sqs that sucked the Big One but I also was exposed to a Strat a friend had as a backup and it played extraordinarily well. And yes, the P-90s are the cat's meow.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. Nothing

Anti-Squire sentiments really strike me as snobbery. One gets what one pays for. If you spend $120 on a Squire, one shouldn't expect a PRS or Parker Fly, or my JS. They are durable, they are reasonably well constructed, (not all hand done, but how could you get them for this kind of money if they were handmade), and the electronics sound pretty good.

As long as the end result is sound relative to price, go for it.

Now: Why would you want to put P-90's on anything? Eeeep! I hate those things. Not bright enough for a single coil ring. Not enough gain for crunch. Too noisy! I know, i know! Taste is subjective.
The Professor

[Pepperbelly]

8. It's really simple Professor ...

I have CBD (compulsive guitar buying disorder), I have nothing with P-90s and I suspect that I probably have a great need for such an ax or might at some future date or ... you know ...

I have a single-coil machine I like.

I have a humbucking machine that I like.

I covet another guitar with a different type of pickup. What I really, really want is a Gretsch with either filtitrons or dearmond single coils but with Gretsch, you can't get into one of those for less than $800.

:(

I also covet something with tri-sonics or, of course, a Burn but again, there you go with the money. For a Brian May Special, about 800 bucks is the best you can do. They have another ax with trisonics that is sort of a strat copy but I don't know ...

CBD.

[dbt]

10. A word about P-90s, ProfessorGAC?

I bow to your obvious expertise, taste and depth of experience in matters of the Guitar, but I sure loves me some P-90 pickups; I guess it's a case of "dancing with who brung ya."

My '66 Gibson Firebird had two P-90s. The very next Christmas, I was given a Fender Bandmaster. The combination was more than a teenage hillbilly could hope for: big and fat and greasy! You are certainly right about the lack of crunch, but that was not happening back in my day. "Smeared" is the best word I can come up with for what happened when I drove the amp at about 6--the tone got frayed around the edges. When I would switch to the back pickup and dig the pick in as close to the bridge as possible, a "Revolver" sort of tone came.

To this day, I think P-90 pickups can be overdriven if one hits the strings hard enough--as opposed to overdriving the amp. I think the signal itself comes out of the pickup slightly overmodulated. Those pickups will cry.

Noisy, oh yeah. I even used to pick up an AM radio station from time to time!

I guess I'm talking about the difference between a condenser microphone and a ribbon: the former is Maximum Clean, the latter is Cosmetically Fat. I appreciate both, but I lean to the ribbon.

My 2.8 cents. I learn something every time I read one of your posts!

Best Regards,

dbt
Friendship, Arkansas
Population 206, not counting dogs

[ProfessorGAC]

11. Not Counting Dogs! LOL!

Good one. Yeah, like i told Pep, taste is subjective. Me, i mostly use my JS or new Blackjack C-1, which are humbucker (with coil tapping for a single coil sound). If i want real single coil, i play my Tele or one of my Strats. The two Strats have very different pickups on them so they sound very different. So, i've got 3 distinctly different single coil sounds, 2 different humbucker sounds, and the coil tap sounds on those are different than the true singles. Add to that the various woods that these are made from (JS is basswood, Blackjack is mahogany, Tele and one Strat are alder and the other is maple), the number of tones i can get are quite numerous.

Then, i have my Jazzmaster (1962) which is mostly a piece of junk, (a huge mistake by Fender back in the day) but has a unique sound that's good for some things. The P/U's on that are very much like P-90's. Hence, i know what i hate, and i hate those.

So, if i want tonal variation, i've got it. I just don't like the lack of ring on a P-90. They sound like a noisy humbucker to me. But, if you like them, that's great! Nice chattin'.
The Professor

[dean_dem]

12. Mr. GAC, I know we've gotten into this before...

But my experiences with Squire was that they are just not made to last longer than six months. Even when the Squire I had was new, the neck would bend everytime I made a chord because the bolt-on job was so terrible. That was before everything electronic started shorting out. And with the crappy particle-board body, I could have gotten better sound if I had put guitar strings on a shoebox.
Don't get me wrong, it's not an aversion to Mexican Fenders either, I have a Mexican Tele that's sturdy as hell. I just think Fender could put a little more effort in despite Squires being the "budget" line.

But I totally agree that you get what you pay for. You're only going to get so much guitar for $120.

[ProfessorGAC]

13. Actually, I Think We Agree Completely

I just have some problems with anti-Squire snobbery. Actually, my friend bought one (a Bullet with one humbucker). He's had it for 4 years and it plays like it did when it was new. (Actually better since he and i are insane about action & intonation.) So, if you don't use it for a cricket bat, they last longer than you think.

But, i guess maybe there's a frame of reference. I'm 48, and while i didn't play guitar until 1977, i did play in bands back in the late 60's and forward. I knew guys that had Teisco's and Global's and low line Harmony's. THOSE were junk. So, putting the frame of reference as the comparison between yesterday's starter guitars and today's, i think there is a TREMENDOUS difference in the quality of what $120 buys. Remember, that those friends of mine were paying $100 in 1968 for what was really just kindling with strings!

That's why i don't get the "down the nose" thing with Squire. If someone really did expect to get a Les Paul or a PRS for $120, then they get what they deserved. But, if we think of it as a starter guitar, it's really a pretty good instrument.
The Professor

[toddzilla]

7. work in music retail

you'll learn why squier guitars are so universally reviled.


there are some good squiers, but they come at a relatively high price where you could get a mexican/japanese model for close to the same price.


here's one option..



you can get one of these for the low 300's and it's a decent, well made guitar

sam ash has it for 299.00

[Pepperbelly]

9. Great ax...

Set neck, mahogony body with a maple top.

Thanks. That is suddenly figuring into my calculations.