These things are $100 on MF right now. I am seriously looking at picking up a pair to convert into nashville and baritone tuned guitars. Are they at least playable or a they a complete waste ?
These things are $100 on MF right now. I am seriously looking at picking up a pair to convert into nashville and baritone tuned guitars. Are they at least playable or a they a complete waste ?
Last edited by TheArchitect; 11-23-2006 at 03:31 PM.
They're noy bad. The necks are a bit crummy but generally they're great for the price and sound pretty good to boot.
Even if you changed the bridge, neck etc. it's still a pretty good buy.
A friend of mine has one. For $100 I think it's quite a bargain. You won't mistake the neck for an American tele but it's still amazing for the price.
s'all goof.
Oops, my bad. Those are what I am asking about. I corrected the subject line.Originally Posted by fezz parka
If you're talking about Squier 51's, everyone I've played has been worth every penny. Which basically means that you get what you pay for.
They don't need to be extraordinary. For my purposes servicable would be plenty good enough
I couldn't help it. This thing just looks to cool, got one on order. Vintage Blonde for me. I figure if it sucks it will take the brunt of my kids instead of my strat. I'll be happy if I can get a good setup on it.
I'll post my thoughts after I get it.
i had 2...
kept one
played it last night after playing guitars worth 10-20x more $
it held it's own. .....maybe i just got lucky
all i can say is if they made a US version, i'd buy 1 in a heartbeat
Imanidiot.
+1 Mine will be here tomorrow. We shall see.
I bought 2 last year - one for me and one for my son. We both like 'em, although the pickup wiring in both (!) was faulty. Anyway, I put new pups in mine and now it sounds even better. For $100...how can you lose?
"I'm gonna find myself a girl
that can show me what laughter means
And we'll fill in the missing colors
In each other's paint-by-number dreams..."
It just arrived. Considering the poor condition of the box and the virtual lack of cushioning materials, it stands as proof that miracles, in fact, do occur. UPS dodged the bullet on this one for sure. The only damage is a very slight flat spot on the top of the headstock. The blonde finish is rather unremarkable asthetically but well applied. The satin finished maple neck is well done and the tuners are ok. The frets protrude ever so slightly from the edge of the neck. I'll wait and see if the Houston humidity solves this problem before attempting any remedial action.
The hardware and electrics are fine. I plugged it in, tuned it up, and am well pleased with the thing. It does seem to scream "mod me please", but I'll leave it stock for now.
Out of the box impressions.
I’ve only checked it out for about 30 minutes or so. I’m at work and can’t just screw around with my new axe all day. Before I nit pick I’d like to say “Holy freakin’ six-strings, Batman!” For $99 shipped this is a hell of a deal, I see great things coming out of this little prize. Now, lets nit and pick.
Neck
Setup is horrible out of the box! Even before tuning up the neck was very concave and even worse after putting some tension on the neck. At this point I’m a little worried, but I soon discover the truss nut was not even finger tight. Gladly I was able to at least sight adjust to it with little effort. Over all the neck looks straight with no warping, very happy it’s one piece. The nut is a fine rough in cut but will need some attention. If anything the slots could go a tad bit lower, which is much better than too deep. The frets appear to be level but until I do a full setup I can’t judge, they could at least use a good dressing to smooth them out. Running my hand up and down I don’t feel any sharp frets or burrs. But they could be smoothed down some. Overall the neck feel is comfortable for my smaller hands. There is a tiny but noticeable nick on the back just below the head stock. The tuners are adequate. They rotate smoothly all around and I wouldn’t replace them.
Body
From what I can see it appears to be a 3 piece body, one piece is quite a bit darker but you really have to look to see it. Its very light as expected from basswood but not quite as resonant as I expected, but this may be because of the crappy dead strings. I like the finish but it far from perfect there are a number of discolorations under the color, most noticeable is a dark line on the top side of the body that is in plain view when playing. The color is not even around the edges and corners but it’s not at all objectionable (by design?).
Electronics
While I have not plugged it in yet the knobs feel cheap, the selector knob is noticeably bent and is sitting a little higher then the volume knob. I am sure that these will all be replaced fairly soon. I am going to try and keep an open mind about the pickups, but I have a feeling that in the end alnicos will be in order.
I think the big thing to mention here is that 80% of the issues can be addressed with basic care. 10% can be fixed though a little more advanced techniques. The other 5% are not that big of a deal.
Tonight …
Fret Dressing
Full Setup, nut, neck, and bridge
Probably dig a little deeper into the construction.
Thanks for the review. But please don't make me want to get one.
s'all goof.
That has now become my offical goal!
Someone must have tipped you off as to how weak-minded I am. Be kind to the addled, jjankosky.
s'all goof.
Shoot, almost everyone replaces the pickups. I put a GFS Retrotron in the bridge and the GFS lipstick in the neck and it was a vast improvement. Though it's hard to spend $75 on pickups for a $99 guitar, if you're going to keep it and play it, it's worth it.
"I'm gonna find myself a girl
that can show me what laughter means
And we'll fill in the missing colors
In each other's paint-by-number dreams..."
Overstock.Com had black ones for $69.99 on one-day sale and $89.99 after -- shipped.
Because they were once $69.99, I could never pay a penny more or I'd never sleep right again...so that information saved me from getting another cheap guitar I have no room for..
I don't know. Maybe, but I just don't see it.
There's some guy on the Seymour Duncan forums who has all these $80 guitars with $250 in aftermarket pickups & electrics on them. In his listed gear he has at least two grand in pickups and not one single decent guitar.
I think he may work for SD and get them free, but that's all I can think of that would explain it. Crazy!
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