Price Paid: $450 CDN
Description: built in Japan in 1983. standard 3-pickup strat. 3-way switch. alder body. whammy bar. maple neck,rosewood board. generic tuners. classic style bridge,saddles.
Tone:
Comments: Tone-wise,this guitar gets a 9 out of 10.Very balanced sounding. Warm but with lots of clarity in the bottom end and not too shrill on top. A slightly scooped sounding mid-range but still punchy.The original pick-ups in this model seem to varie widely from one guitar to the next.My own axe had a good sweet sounding set of pick-ups, how-ever over-all I have heard that if Squire dropped the ball anywhere on the construction of this model,it was in the cheap pick-ups.(easily replaced) Also I did put in a 5 way switch to replace the 3-way. This guitar sounded wonderful through my 1983 Rivera designed Fender Deluxe Reverb amp.Other than replacing the stock"special design" speaker with a J.B.L. this amp was un- modified. Played clean,this combination yielded some very punchy rythyms and jazzy,bluesy, sounding leads. Engaging the over-driven second channel produced a beautifully full,harmonically rich palette of tones. Another way to describe the sound would be to think of an original 62' strat played through a Mesa Boogie Mark two. This is easily the best guitar-amp combo I have ever owned.
Quality:
Comments: I have knocked off a few points for hard-ware flaws.The bean counters at Squire definitely cut some corners when they decided upon tuners and pick-ups. Over-all craftmanship on these instruments was very good,much better than what was being produced at Fender in California at the time. I recall that the set-up was excellent right out of the box,and never experienced any major problems with the neck or intonation.
Overall:
Pros: These instruments still offer great quality at an affordable price. In the building of these guitars the Japanese gave Fender America a much needed wake up call. Very highly recommended.
Cons: Aside from some minor hard-ware glitches that can be easily rectified,you would be very hard pressed to find a better bargain anywhere.

Submitted by:
sonic931 (eltonpearce@telus.net)
Playing Experience:
over ten years
Musical Tastes:
blues

[Submit a Review]