CoolCat
Well-known member
i spent a few hours comparing necks (days)?,
strats to strats from indonesia to china to mim to mia....
setups and string height and tuners and fret sizes all is personal and some seemed to suck some seemed small and some clunky and some just right. the calipers usually show thousandths of an inch can seem huge when spacing strings.
the tremelos and blocked tremlos and fat solid piece blocks and thinner Vintage and some say cheap is pot metal and better is the steel parts, that comes to a close brother of pickups and wood tones...some say 2 point is best others like Vintage 6-screw!! omg....its 60yrs of this.
Squiers became guitars in 1982....before 1982 imagine no Squier lines!
following the parts all over the world and the CY and IC's and (Cort or Japan or Smaick or whoever is making these things) it all comes down to like a DNA.
DNA of a mixture to get the recipe right or wrong, a little of all of it makes up the STrats these days, the MIA having Taiwan pots and MIM hardware and the plastic who knows, the tuners are now from Chian or Japan as in Ping and Gotoh.....damn its overwhelming if you spend a couple days trying to absorb it all.
Woods-I dont even have a clue how huge this company is and the DNA of every tree for all the wood that is shipped around the world like mcdonald burgers.
I bought the first year Strat Squier and recall it...it was ok. I sold it as usual, and recall replacing the tuners and it wasnt like a wow guitar.
From my years of experience though the Cheaper Squiers are small and thin for kids probably and the tuners usually arent perfect and some guy in Idonesia Cort factory is told to hurry up.
but !! before writing off Squier theres the Squier Standard that can be found from 2002 20th anniversary that has beautiful Sunbursts in Alder or Agathis most painted are all Agathis) and comes stock with Alnico V's 3 ply pickguard, 2 point tremlo, sealed tuners and 22 fret necks very much like the US Standards!!! but used for $100 to $149.....(sleeper alert)
many shootouts show the Classic Vibes are really nice too etc..etc...
the MIA still can be had for $650 used and no case probably but its the real deal and I dont see a shortage of them any time soon. Some are Mint and with case.... There gets a point its either pay Brand New of the overabundance of used is what it is and the supply of these allow a $650 + mark it seems. Sure a couple dents or dings but thats relic for free. so this for me locks in the price of it all....so Im not dumping a bunch of cash to try to make the Squier a MIA standard.
Theres so many decades of Strats MIA will never be in short demand and the Squiers even less.
VIBE- Competition Results: YMMV
necks my two MIA here lost big time. the MIM 60th rosewood like silk and wow, well done. and nameless Maple neck Hard Rock from Michigan were my choice by far. Both have the US Fender tuners found on the US Strats (tuners made China or Japan)..as I read it. <add: hard rock Michigan Maple is a Mighty Mite>
DNA- its like a global crossbreeding in 2017....and the parts and changes too much for me to track.
strats to strats from indonesia to china to mim to mia....
setups and string height and tuners and fret sizes all is personal and some seemed to suck some seemed small and some clunky and some just right. the calipers usually show thousandths of an inch can seem huge when spacing strings.
the tremelos and blocked tremlos and fat solid piece blocks and thinner Vintage and some say cheap is pot metal and better is the steel parts, that comes to a close brother of pickups and wood tones...some say 2 point is best others like Vintage 6-screw!! omg....its 60yrs of this.
Squiers became guitars in 1982....before 1982 imagine no Squier lines!
following the parts all over the world and the CY and IC's and (Cort or Japan or Smaick or whoever is making these things) it all comes down to like a DNA.
DNA of a mixture to get the recipe right or wrong, a little of all of it makes up the STrats these days, the MIA having Taiwan pots and MIM hardware and the plastic who knows, the tuners are now from Chian or Japan as in Ping and Gotoh.....damn its overwhelming if you spend a couple days trying to absorb it all.
Woods-I dont even have a clue how huge this company is and the DNA of every tree for all the wood that is shipped around the world like mcdonald burgers.
I bought the first year Strat Squier and recall it...it was ok. I sold it as usual, and recall replacing the tuners and it wasnt like a wow guitar.
From my years of experience though the Cheaper Squiers are small and thin for kids probably and the tuners usually arent perfect and some guy in Idonesia Cort factory is told to hurry up.
but !! before writing off Squier theres the Squier Standard that can be found from 2002 20th anniversary that has beautiful Sunbursts in Alder or Agathis most painted are all Agathis) and comes stock with Alnico V's 3 ply pickguard, 2 point tremlo, sealed tuners and 22 fret necks very much like the US Standards!!! but used for $100 to $149.....(sleeper alert)
many shootouts show the Classic Vibes are really nice too etc..etc...
the MIA still can be had for $650 used and no case probably but its the real deal and I dont see a shortage of them any time soon. Some are Mint and with case.... There gets a point its either pay Brand New of the overabundance of used is what it is and the supply of these allow a $650 + mark it seems. Sure a couple dents or dings but thats relic for free. so this for me locks in the price of it all....so Im not dumping a bunch of cash to try to make the Squier a MIA standard.
Theres so many decades of Strats MIA will never be in short demand and the Squiers even less.
VIBE- Competition Results: YMMV
necks my two MIA here lost big time. the MIM 60th rosewood like silk and wow, well done. and nameless Maple neck Hard Rock from Michigan were my choice by far. Both have the US Fender tuners found on the US Strats (tuners made China or Japan)..as I read it. <add: hard rock Michigan Maple is a Mighty Mite>
DNA- its like a global crossbreeding in 2017....and the parts and changes too much for me to track.
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