Squier Squier Standard Strat MN AB Antique Burst

For the price this instrument is surprisingly good.

Its not the real fender strat sound and quality of course but for less than 300eur it does a very good job.

Stays in tune fairly well, sounds pretty good and also plays comfortable.

Squier strats are imo the best starters guitars, so if you are looking for your first guitar this is a good choice. And if you handle it with care it will live a long live aswell! A keeper.

Had the guitar for a month and i am very pleased with it. The sound of the pickups are great with a nice strat twang on the bridge pickup. Having owned American & Japanese strats in the past this one stands up well to those. It"s a lot guitar for money a bargain

I purchased one like this about 1 year ago.
I was afraid it wouldnt be a good guitar but it turned out to be an excelent sound/price guitar..
I get my "twang strat" tones with it and they sound great. Its a guitar i recommend not just to every begginers looking for an electric guitar but even for more professional guitar players.
The pickups deliver a great sound and im never going to sell this great guitar.

Squier was always the synonym of "cheap, low quality" Fender.
Man, I am so nicely surprised with this model!

First - BUILD QUALITY
The guitar is surprisingly well made. Neck is most impressing. Very high quality fretwork (I had some Squier guitars in my hands in the past - the fret crowns were sharp and poorly finished.
In this model the neck feels like from 1000+ Euro American Fender. Maybe I am lucky, but:
- professionally finished frets
- great, smooth wood finish (satin) allowing fast position changes (and fast playing)
- no fret buzz at all (I set quite a low string action)

I like the finish of the body. Very evenly painted. Which again is quite surprising for a guitar in this price range.

SOUND
The guitar sounds nicely "from the wood". Agathis body was my concern, but it sounds well also. There's a bit different story, when we plug the guitar in. I tested it with Boss Katana 50 - using only clean channel and then using BIAS AMP on Mac (with Impact Twin interface).

I compared it quickly with my Strat equipped with Kinman pickups. The Squier is more flat, with less bite, and definitely much more noisy (checked that in positions 2 and 4).
But... I replaced the stock pickups with DiMarzio Area 61 (mid) and Injectors (bridge and neck), and little brave Squier started to sing immediately :-)

SUMMARY
This Squier Standard Stratocaster is very good entry to mid level guitar. Crafted very solidly, with very nice finish. It came nicely set up (next nice surprise), well tuned.
If you can replace the pickups with some better ones (like I did), and put some locking tuners - you may have very good sounding, and very playable guitar from Fender family. To beat it you will have to reach for models way over 1000 Euro.

Ordered this last week from Music Store Professional, who it later transpired, sent it to me in Scotland from Germany. Received it within 4 days which was superb, was quite anxious about the condition it would arrive in, given it'd have to travel by air then courier van. But alas, fears were unfounded. A1 condition and I'd use Music Store Pro again. I bought this Strat at a great price, much better price than anywhere else online or locally. In fact, I thought it was a mistake, but no.

Anyhoo, I've been a guitarist since 1985, first Strat bought then, and I have the same level of contentment now as I did back then, when I played my first Strat. The guitar came with 9's strings, a bit too light for me and the tone wasn't what I was after, so I purchased D'Addario 11s, I usually plat with Custom 10s, but I'll be using D'Addario 11s Nickelwound from now on. So new strings on and I had to install the spare spring which came with guitar, as the heavier gauge strings pulled the Bridge up too much, so new spring in place and al sorted.

The sound I now have is superb. The guitar plays well up and down scales, and the sustain on chords is excellent. Clean or Distorted, sounds really good, good clarity between light strings and heavier ones. I've been used to an old 20th Anniversary Affinity Strat, so this new guitar has inspired already. I play Blues/Jazz, heavy rock (Vai, Led Zep, Hendrix) so it's perfect for me.

The guitar feels lighter than an Affinity Strat and Im used to a glossy neck, but that shouldn't take long to adapt to a new wood/finish, as with this one.

Happy customer here :-)