[Skrik]

I'm going to buy a fat strat. I want the humbucker. The two in my immediate budget (I hate saving up) are those offered by Squier: the affinity series or the standard series. The affinity is 2/3 the price of the standard series, and the only differences I see are the following:

• The affinity is made of alder, the standard is made of agathis.
• The affinity has 21 frets, the standard has 22.
• The affinity has a traditional trem-bridge, the standard has a two-pivot wammy.

I fail to understand why the differences make the standard 150% the price of the affinity.

Can the difference be explained by anything other than branding? Should I save some money?

• The affinity series strat.
• The standard series strat.

[krissovo]

I had a squirer strat standard and that was ok, the quality was quite good once it had been setup by a pro. I have herd horror stories about the quality of the afinity series and I have herd glowing reports about them. It seams that it is a bit of a lottery if you get a good one or not.

[ics1974]

Be aware the Squires neck is not as wide as a regular Fender. I returned mine because my fingers were way to cramped on the fretboard.

[GotDeeBlues]

Check into a good used Mexican Straat.

[TigerKraw]

At one stage while looking at guitars I was thinking of getting the all

Black Squire Fat Strat $425 AU, but after reading the above post

from ics1974, I'm glad I did not purchase it, would be a lot harder to

learn chords with my fingers struggling to be in the right place.

Has other forum members had trouble with the Squire's fretboard ?

[felixdcat]

Check out Vintage guitars. That's the brand name. Google.

[fly135]

The fretboard on my Squire Affinity Tele is great.

[TigerKraw]

FLY

If you had no troubles with the Squire Fretboard
then everybody please disregard my previous post.
Thanks

[Ben_Sir_Amos]

The affinity series is great value for money. It does have a thinner body that the standard series and some of the components might be not so great - a plastic surround for the jack socket on the tele was one thing I remember. And Squier standards have narrower necks than Fenders (as ics1974 pointed out) and affinity series necks are thinner again.

The specs from the Fender site are:
American Stratocaster®: Width at Nut 1.6875” (43 mm)
Squier Standard Stratocaster® (Maple): Width at Nut 1.650” (42 mm)
Squier Affinity Series Strat® (Rosewood) Width at Nut 1.61” (41 mm)

This might not matter to some people, but it makes the affinity series almost unplayable for someone like me (I do have big hands and porky fingers).

[fly135]

I figure that width of the string spacing is a personal preference. So my response is only referring to quality issues like fret leveling, ability to adjust action, and straightness of the neck. I have noticed that the fretboard is a bit more cramped, but my hands aren't that large and I can get used to it quickly after switching around my guitars.

[Stratrat]

I'll echo Fly135. I have an Affinity Tele also, and while I do notice the narrower nut width, it doesn't cause problems. I have big hands/long fingers and my main/favorite Tele has a 1 3/4" nut with a very fat neck. Even so, I can transition to the Squier and not feel like my fingers are jammed up.

The best thing to do is go try one. Play a Standard Fender or Squier Strat, then try an Affinity and see if you notice a huge difference. If so, then you're better off buying one of the others with the wider nut.

I think the Affinities are great bang for the buck as long as you get a good one. Squier's quality control seems to have gotten much better recently, so it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue as it used to be.

[Ben_Sir_Amos]

Originally Posted by fly135

I figure that width of the string spacing is a personal preference. So my response is only referring to quality issues like fret leveling, ability to adjust action, and straightness of the neck. I have noticed that the fretboard is a bit more cramped, but my hands aren't that large and I can get used to it quickly after switching around my guitars.

My experience is that in these terms, the Chinese-made Affinity range is better than the Indonesian Squier Standard range - it is just the quality of some of the Affinity components that is down. But they have to make their money from somewhere and the Affinity range is great value. I just wish I had slimmer fingers: I'd buy several if I did.

[Stratrat]

Originally Posted by Ben_Sir_Amos

My experience is that in these terms, the Chinese-made Affinity range is better than the Indonesian Squier Standard range - it is just the quality of some of the Affinity components that is down.

They do use the cheap foreign pots and switches - but those are easily and cheaply replaced if/when they go bad. The pickups are decent; the tuners are cheap, but my Affinity holds tune just as solidly as any of my other guitars. All in all, while I can notice a difference in the quality of some of the parts compared to my other Teles, I don't find anything on it to be horridly bad. I've had mine for close to a year and all the electronics still work fine.

[ics1974]

Best to go to a guitar store and see if the neck size is ok for you.
Try doing some really cramped chords and see if you can get all strings to ring properly.
My only complaint was the nut width. It's only a 2mm difference from my American series strat but it's really a huge difference for my hands.

[ozboomer]

Like others here, I'd suggest physically handling each of the guitars in your 'short list' and see how they feel to you.

Notwithstanding that, I've had some troubles with the intonation of my Affinity Strat... and it's taken a few set-ups to get the tuning stable...

Also, I've had to change the pots recently (after having the guitar for a year), as they seemed to work the wrong way (the tone pots should have a linear taper, the volume pots should have an audio taper -- I think that's the way they work!). What with the quality of the builds, etc I've also seen/heard the "lemon" versions of the Affinity models...

Overall, I think the Squiers are quite Ok.. as beginner guitars; I'm not a professional player and I can't justify the $$ for a 'real' Strat (yet!)... but looking at a few brands of "look-alike" guitars, I'd still say the Squiers are a nice compromise of quality and $$.