Spudman
May 11th, 2006, 10:46 PM
I purchased unseen and untried a Special Edition Squier Strat from Musicians Friend around the beginning of April 2006. For less than $200 I got a brand new Silverburst guitar delivered to my door. It is black with silver around the edges. I must say that I am pretty impressed. Not only is it good looking, but the guitar comes with alnico pickups with a vintage type low output (not sure of the ohms yet), a 3 or 5 piece solid Alder body (not plywood), 70's large headstock, 2 point tremolo, MOTO pick-guard and a 22 fret rosewood/maple neck.
Although the guitar is made in China it is well made. No fret sprout or high frets.
Initially I was unsure of the pickups. While the neck and middle sounded good the bridge had that 'icepick' brittleness to it. Very nice sounding quack at positions 2 & 4 though. The action, intonation and setup were very well done before I got it. It came with 9-42 Fender Bullets and I played them till they died before switching to my usual 10-46 nickel set. I had to adjust the tremolo claw tension a bit to compensate for the heavier strings but did not have to add another spring. It came with 3.
I merely stretched the strings a few times by pulling on them, re-tuned and off to the gig I went with my new, untested Strat in hand ( I did take a backup).
Another untested thing I did was to take my freshly re-tubed Peavey Classic 30 and Bad Monkey (also gig untested) along with my usual analog pedal board.
I ran the Monkey first after the guitar and then into the pedal board. I didn't use a power supply with the Monkey just the battery, and I left it on all night. I turned the amp to 4 on the clean channel and went to town. I haven't had a guitar and amp do exactly what I've wanted it to do for over 20 years, but this did. I achieved tones that I never have before and had supreme control over all the nuances I could imagine. Sweet singing sustain and feedback without effort. Fat tone and clarity like never before. I was impressed. It even stayed in tune.
Am I going to change anything about my Squier Special Edition Strat? Ya. I'm going to get it a lot sweatier.
Although the guitar is made in China it is well made. No fret sprout or high frets.
Initially I was unsure of the pickups. While the neck and middle sounded good the bridge had that 'icepick' brittleness to it. Very nice sounding quack at positions 2 & 4 though. The action, intonation and setup were very well done before I got it. It came with 9-42 Fender Bullets and I played them till they died before switching to my usual 10-46 nickel set. I had to adjust the tremolo claw tension a bit to compensate for the heavier strings but did not have to add another spring. It came with 3.
I merely stretched the strings a few times by pulling on them, re-tuned and off to the gig I went with my new, untested Strat in hand ( I did take a backup).
Another untested thing I did was to take my freshly re-tubed Peavey Classic 30 and Bad Monkey (also gig untested) along with my usual analog pedal board.
I ran the Monkey first after the guitar and then into the pedal board. I didn't use a power supply with the Monkey just the battery, and I left it on all night. I turned the amp to 4 on the clean channel and went to town. I haven't had a guitar and amp do exactly what I've wanted it to do for over 20 years, but this did. I achieved tones that I never have before and had supreme control over all the nuances I could imagine. Sweet singing sustain and feedback without effort. Fat tone and clarity like never before. I was impressed. It even stayed in tune.
Am I going to change anything about my Squier Special Edition Strat? Ya. I'm going to get it a lot sweatier.