Worth buying a Squier?

Berto · #1 September 10th, 2007

Ok, just a quick question.

I've come to the realization that my guitar is never going to "get better", and that taking it to a professional would do it little good. It's because it's a rather old, badly made Hohner Rockwood, which seems to be part of the "dud" family of cheap guitars. I think there's some going on ebay for around £20, and that says a lot I think

Anyway, I was already planning on buying a new guitar soon, it's just come a bit sooner than my finances would have liked. I can't keep playing on the Hohner, as much as it pains me, because the sound is so off and only now do I realize it's not because I'm usless at tuning (I'm actually not that bad I think).

To the main point: I don't have much money to spare on a guitar, so the price range is hovering around the £150 - £200 mark, don't need an amp as I got a new one a few months back, and right now the intonation and basic sound is more improtant than the quality of the amp.

Is it worth getting a squier in the £150 - £200 range? As bad as the hohner sounds, and as impossible as it is to get in tune, I still like the basic Strat sound over the Les Pauls and Telecasters I've had the chance to play, so a Squier seems like the safe choice for a begginer like myself, just want ot make sure I'm not heading for another guitar that will bring more frustration than joy (sigh).

I swear I try ot make these posts as short as possible.

krissovo · #2 September 10th, 2007

If you get a good one then why not, one of the guys on here GT has one and it sounds simply stunning. I would suggest you get your hands on it to try out.

I just bought a Wesley for £41 off ebay and that was good for the money so might be worth looking into. They get good reviews from harmony central as well, here is one up on ebay.
eBay.ie: WESLEY COLOMA MIDNIGHT DUST METALLIC ELECTRIC GUITAR (item 290159588731 end time 11-Sep-07 19:58:29 BST)
Reviews show that you either get a great one or a bad one
Wesley Coloma Strat: Harmony Central User Reviews

Good luck

Stratrat · #3 September 10th, 2007

Squiers aren't bad guitars as long as you avoid the rock-bottom models like the "Bullet" (don't know if they even make that one any more). The only enduring rap on Squier is that quality control can be spotty, so it's best if you can play before you buy, or buy from a place that has a good return/replacement policy. Even their quality control seems to have gotten better over the last couple of years.

Berto · #4 September 10th, 2007

Ok, the Squier doesn't sound as bad as I was fearing, so I'm going to try and get myself to the local (30 miles away

) music store and try one out soon.

But as usual, I posted this before really exploring my options, I'm too rash. I've stumbled across another "budget" brand that seems to be right up my street, and to boot I've found a very nice looking deal on ebay for one that could well be what I'm looking for.

The brand is Cort, and from looking around here it doesn't have many detractors, seems like a decent quality maker and has a few different sound "styles". This ones caught my eye: Cort X2

It sounds like a guitar I would get on with, it's a great price and it sounds like it's coming from someone who didn't just pick it up because it was cheap and is now bored of it (although I know ebay can be a minefield when it comes to the truth).

So I think it will be between these 2, but being the rash person I am (and not having the spare time I'd like to travel to the music store) I'm also tempted to just go for it and get the cheap Cort. Heck, it can't be worse than my Hohner and as long as it's going keep it's good intonation I should be happy for a while.

Thanks for the advice guys, it's good to have responsive people who know what they're talking about on here, rather than going by guesswork the way I was

Berto · #5 September 10th, 2007

Just to add, I checked out the X-2 model on Harmony Central and it's got some very good reviews, seems like it could be worth it for the price.

allthumbs · #6 September 10th, 2007

Corts are often overlooked. They make a nice line of guitars. It seems like an ok platform, assuming the neck is good. Jumbo frets are pretty big so take that into account. It will take a while for your fingers to get used to the speed bumps. You could have that rewired for a 5 way switch as well as adding a push pull pot to split the humbuckers for more tones.

Noodler · #7 September 10th, 2007

That Cort look great. Very "1980's Ibanez", which is cool.

I'm not 100% sure but it looked like there was a hole for a whammy bar too.

You'll notice that is has at the bridge a separate screw to adjust the intonation of each string, which is good, considering your concerns. It's got dual humbuckers and jumbo frets, so it's a bit of a "Shredder's" guitar.

The only thing is being ebay, you probably won't be able to play it first, look down the neck for twists, feel the weighting, check it doesn't buzz, the action, etc. Overall though it seems great!

LeeB · #8 September 10th, 2007

I can only speak for Acoustics but believe you get alot of bang for your buck with Cort guitars. A case of Not paying for the name... Not sure if the same applies with electric but am thinking it probably does.

fly135 · #9 September 10th, 2007

I've bought two of the lower end Squire Affinity Teles and there were both great guitars. Sold one and still have the other. No regrets.

hb · #10 September 10th, 2007

I have one of these:
Review of Squier Esprit
I really like it.....seems like it's made well and get a pretty wide range of tones.
hb

Noodler · #11 September 11th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by fly135

I've bought two of the lower end Squire Affinity Teles and there were both great guitars. Sold one and still have the other. No regrets.

Can I ask where they were made, what pickups do they have (eg lipstick or humbucker)? More details or photos. What did you like about them/ not like. I want a tele for twanging, but don't want a huge outlay.

Thanks

fly135 · #12 September 11th, 2007

Noodler, here's a link to a pic and a post of the Tele...

Anutter Squire Affintiy Tele

In a later post I also picked up a Std Tele...

The Guitar Gods are smiling on me....

I like the Affinity because it has a good neck, the frets are level, and the pups sound fine to me. I recently put a Bigsby on my Std Tele, so I took the bridge from the Std, bought some string ferrules and converted the Affinity to a string thru. I'n not sure how much diff it made because went from 9's to 10's on the strings at the same time. It plays fine both before and after.

Edit: Oh yeah, it's "crafted in china".

Stratrat · #13 September 11th, 2007

Here's a pic of my Affinity Tele - it's the one on the left. I'll pretty much echo Fly's comments about it - it plays fine. While the components (especially the tuners and electronics) are a step down from its Fender counterparts, they all work perfectly. I picked it up off my guitar rack the other day after not having played it for 3 weeks or so, and it was still perfectly in tune.

Mine's "Crafted in China" also.

fly135 · #14 September 11th, 2007

I wish mine was the Butterscotch!

+1 I've never had tuning problems with mine either.

Stratrat · #15 September 11th, 2007

Fly - I really wanted a Butterscotch "Blackguard", but wasn't willing to pay the $1350 price tag for a '52 RI, so the Affinity filled the bill nicely at $170.

Of course the '52 RI is a nicer guitar, but having played one I can't say that it's almost 10 times nicer to match the price difference unless you're so hung up on authenticity that you just couldn't live with anything less.

BTW, I just looked back at your "Guitar Gods are smiling on me" thread.....if you haven't picked up a compressor yet, take a look at the MXR Dynacomp. I picked one up last week for $70 and really like it. You can do anything from pretty much a clean boost to totally "squashed" sounds, and at about a 11-12 o'clock setting on the Sensitivity knob it does a really good "Nashville" sound. Adds some sweet sustain, too. It's a keeper.