Why does everyone have the 51' Squier

[grungeiceman]

Why does everyone have the 51' Squier? I Played one a while ago and didnt see anythign special about them but i only played it for 2 minates. And now i see on everyones gear list the have one did i miss something?

[Spudman***]

You most certainly did miss something.

Although most of these guitars are a little rough when first encountered, a little bit of attention to setting them up turns them into great axes with a different sound.

A majority of the folks that own these guitars swear by the bridge humbucking pickup (me included). They sound great. Not too hot - plenty of tone, but not made for metal. In my opinion the neck pickups are a tad weak compared to the bridge too. Some owners have gotten good neck pickups and haven't changed them though.

For the price, now around $99, they are hard to beat. Even if you don't like the stock pickups and are a metal player, just change the pickups and you'll have a very unique, highly playable, inexpensive fun hammer with which you can crush skulls and make ears bleed.

[tot_Ou_tard]

I don't have a '51 & kerc is selling his.

[stingx]

[marnold***]

I got it because I was looking for something along this line and then I saw Robert's videos with it. Mine took a good amount of setting up, but once it was there, it's really grown on me. I agree with Spud that I would like a bit more "oompf" from the neck pickup, but it's not a big enough of a deal to make me consider swapping out the pickup. I wanted to be able to get some single-coil sounds that I couldn't get from my one-humbucker-only Fender. My original plan was to gut my Charvel to accomplish the same thing. The '51 itself cost about the same as the pickups I was looking for the Charvel. Plus it would have needed totally new electronics and a new neck. I still may do the "rocket surgery" on the Charvie one of these days. For now, I like my '51 too much to bother.

[tot_Ou_tard]

Man Stingy!! Just what izzat? Lemur, sloth, Michael Nesmith?

I think we should rename this place TheTree.

[grungeiceman]

Kerc who, i might have to see what you guys are talking about

[kerc]

Kerc me. Yep, I'm selling my '51, a vintage blonde model...I have too much gear that I'm not using. It's a very nice guitar--mine has the GFS toploader bridge, a definite improvement over the stock one.

[ShortBuSX]

I dont have a 51, but I was really interested in getting one becuase it seemed like the cool thing to do, get a cheap guitar to mod...but I dont really like the pickguard or the idea of filling the holes and refinishing it, but I still wanted one. I was ready to get one and spotted a Squier HSS Strat for similar cash and bought that with the intention of modding it...Ive recently gathered up almost all of the parts Im gonna need...just looking to get settled into my new place and some time to do it.

In my opinion if you have to ask "why a 51?"...then consider another $100 guitar as a platform for you to mod...that is if the idea of modding a guitar is appealing. *shrug*

[NPauly]

I too considered buying a '51 after watching Robert's videos and reading about all the mods people were doing. But then I got a chance to play one and I wasn't impressed. All of the '51s I have seen have had extremely sharp fret ends and the stock pickups were way too bright for my tastes. And while I know both of these are fixable issues I just didn't see the need since when I finally got my hands on one in person it wasn't really doing much for me.

On the other hand Robert's black on black '51 looks extremely hot and the other modded guitars I have seen at the Squier 51 Modders Forum have been pretty impressive. At the moment though I'm pretty happy with my $200 dollar Squier Master Series M-80 (now that I've found a good one), so I don't really see a '51 anytime in my immediate future.

[oldguy]

Although it's not on my gear list (cause I don't have a gear list, yet...) I do have a black '51 Squier... er... actually, I have two...
Hogfulloblues posted some time ago that overstock com had the black 51's for 89 dollars, plus add'l 10% off for new customers. That came to a whopping 80.99 total, so I ordered one. They messed up and sent me two! Both for the new customer price, too, quite a deal, although I only wanted 1 when I originally sent the order.
I kept the 2nd one, however, as I see the possibilities for modding, and 81 bucks for a 2nd 51 was a bargain, and, truthfully, I play the 51's stock quite often. I've ran them through a Zoom 505II and into a ValveJr. head and gotten a really nice, full-on overdrive sound. The aforementioned fret sprout is indeed a common problem on these little foreign made axes. The pickup selector switch doesn't feel too stout on either of the ones I have, either.
Not being a regular guit-modder, I felt that for $81 I won't get a better chance to practice than on one of these little guys, if I scratch it up, bang it around, or goof up some soldering job, I've got very little invested, it will be a cheap platform to learn on, and if I decide to delve further into building/modding axes, I'll have some experience under my belt.
I mean, think about it...most places you can't buy a body or a neck for 80 bucks, and the 51's offer that, plus some decent pickups, tuners, and the base for a good little guitar.
Of course, you can spend more and not worry about dressing frets, changing out pots, replacing a bridge. But as I said before, I play the 51's pretty regularly as-is, and in time I will begin deconstructing one as a learning tool.
Being the eccentric tinkerer, I will have no qualms about stripping all the finish off a neck just to see if it can be dyed to a vintage yellow, and how it feels with a tung oil finish, or stripping the body and refinishing it with danish oil, and screwing eye-bolts in it to use as super-straplocks. Maybe trying my first Bisgsby install. I'd just feel more comfortable not doing it to a $300 Tele, until I get some more practice. I've had my ValveJr. head torn apart to look inside, changed tubes, and may do some mods to it in the future. But I'll leave any work on my '65 Super Reverb to the pros.
So, that's what I see in the '51's. Sure, you could say "nothing special" about them, and that's true if you're looking for an axe that is finished out professionally, frets dressed, polished, etc, and will likely need nothing for a long time except regular maintainance. I don't see many of those for under $100, tho.
I can fully understand wanting an axe you can just pick up and play out of the box, and love doing it w/ no work needed to make it not only playable but comfortable.
And I can also understand wanting to take something apart to see how it works, wondering if you can improve it, and experimenting w/ ideas. That is what appealed to me with the 51's.

Edit...
I'll post a clip of the '51 run through a Zoom 505II into my ValveJr. head w/ a Celestion loaded Avatar sp. cab in the member's clip section, if anyone's interested. It's just me playing around, no BT.

[oldguy]

Speaking of modding the '51's, here's a nice one, with a nice price to go along with it.
Not sure I'd spend that much, but it does make me want to do a few mods to one of the ''51's I have...
Really nice job on the string-thru Tele bridge and single-coil pu, though...

http://www.themusiczoo.com/FenderMas...nde_JC577.html

[Tim]

I do not own a Squire "51, but I sure do enjoy my Squire Custome Delux Tele. The two humbuckers sound great and I get just a tab of twang from the bridge HB. The Tele is my main guitar for every day playing.

[oldguy]

I do not own a Squire "51, but I sure do enjoy my Squire Custome Delux Tele. The two humbuckers sound great and I get just a tab of twang from the bridge HB. The Tele is my main guitar for every day playing.

Tim, a buddy of mine has one, but w/ two P-90's instead of HB's.
Says it's the one guitar he'll never trade or sell!

[Tim]

I love mine too! Does your friend know what pups came with the guitar. I am not sure who manufuactured them. I know they are cheap stock pups. One day I hope to upgrade the pups.

[oldguy]

I love mine too! Does your friend know what pups came with the guitar. I am not sure who manufuactured them. I know they are cheap stock pups. One day I hope to upgrade the pups.

I don't think he knows, Tim. He got it used from a friend of a friend who's a tinkerer on guitars, always doing something different. It looks really professional, tho, whoever set it up did good.