Squire Strat $120 on Amazon

[DM60]

First, if you are one of those guys who wan the best, stop reading now. It is a $120 and well, that is cheap money for a guitar. That being said:

I saw a few YouTubes on this and for my next project, I wanted a Strat sound for recording. Strat's have a strat sound and I wasn't sure what else had the same tone. Seeing this guitar and the positive reviews (all things being relative), I thought what the hell. So I purchased it.

I unboxed it, pulled it out, tuned it up and went through the mechanics. I play mostly acoustic with medium strings, so the thing could play like a brick and it would be OK with me. But, all the switches played through, neck seemed pretty decent, fret a tad high, but it is new. No fret ends to snag your hand, and everything played well all the way up and down. Tone sounded good to me and really I think it was not a bad find for my purpose.

If you are in the studio and you are looking for that sound and you know it is has limited use, really something to take a look at. I will use this in my next album. I think I will switch the strings as I am not too thrilled with the ones that came with it, they would do, but I think different strings will work a bit better.

I am not a guitar player, so take this for what it is worth. But for those of you out there who play guitar, but are not a guitar player, this might do for you if you like that sound.

 

[JimmyS1969]

I have had good luck with cheap guitars. I have a cheap Dean that I bought from a member here that is as perfect as a $200 guitar can be. I do not remember his name...Was it you? LOL

Maybe Scott Bax can give some further input. He is a luthier here that has some great skills and advice. @Scott Baxendale

 

[spantini]

I'm going down the same road wanting more of the humbucking sound with a $135-$140 Harley Benton SC450 GT P90. What can go wrong. . . Right?

 

[DM60]

I'm going down the same road wanting more of the humbucking sound with a $135-$140 Harley Benton SC450 GT P90. What can go wrong. . . Right?

Harley Benton seems to be getting a good wrap from what I have seen/read.

 

[Scott Baxendale]

I have had good luck with cheap guitars. I have a cheap Dean that I bought from a member here that is as perfect as a $200 guitar can be. I do not remember his name...Was it you? LOL

Maybe Scott Bax can give some further input. He is a luthier here that has some great skills and advice. @Scott Baxendale

Hahaha! I try to avoid cheap import electric guitars as much as possible. Playability and price point are two entirely unrelated things about guitars, so how the guitar plays has virtually nothing to do with whether it’s a good guitar or not. Sure a cheap guitar that plays good is obviously better than one that doesn’t, but that doesn’t make it a good guitar, just slightly better than the worst.

If someone asks me to recommend a decent electric at a cheap price I suggest Mexican Strats and Tele’s as the starting point for decent quality, then go up from there. Anything below that is not really worth my time.