SE Special Stratocaster Review

Chinese made low end Squier Stratocaster, it doesn't have a serial number so it almost impossible to date, 25-1/2" scale, 21 frets w/maple C shaped neck/rosewood fingerboard.

Features:	9.3
Sound:	5.3
Action:	5.7
Reliability:	6.3
Impression:	7.3
Overall rating:	6.8
Users rating:	6.1
Comments:	19

overall: 5.4

Reviewed by: Bojangler, on august 20, 2009

Price paid: $ 199

Purchased from: Guitar Center

Features: Comes with the guitar, strap, tuner, stand, gig bag, lesson cd, 10 watt amp, cord. Body is agathis wood, maple neck, rosewood fretboard, 5 way selector Switch, 1 volume, 2 tones, 3 single coil pups (passive). I only rate this at a 10 because it comes with a bunch of stuff. // 10

Sound: Ok, here we go... I got this package being fully aware of what I was getting and I knew I'd be spending alot of time setting it up and replacing parts but I'll review it based on the OEM stuff. The pickups are terrible out of the box, they are not made with any alnico parts, pretty much each pickup has 6 steel pins linked together by a cheap black magnet under the pickup. The resistance is somewhere near 4.5k ohms and they sound thin, tinny and do not take to dist well at all. the clean tones arent bad, just a bit bright. I replaced the pickups immediately after getting it home with Fender tex-mex....huge difference and I also wired the bridge pup to the tone pot. the rating is for out of the box sound. // 4

Action, Fit & Finish: The action is hard to describe since the tremolo system is HORRIBLE. The trem springs are flimsy and the guitar will not hold tune with the factory trem set up which also affects the action. The trem bar is made from cheap pot steel and has a tendancy to break off at the threads. I tightened down ALL the trem screws, adjusted the springs and blocked the trem to make it solid but unusable ( I never use trem anyway ). After the trem adjustment the action is ok but still have room to adjust it to how you like it. The intonation is WAY off but still it is able to be tuned at the bridge with no prob. The tuners are OK, seem to hold fine. The finish is not laquer it's polyurethane so it will fade and scratch etc. Since the body is agathis wood which isnt really soft or hard, the screws can strip out easily so be careful, also the strap knob screws should be changed out to keep them from pulling out of the body while playing. The neck is surprisingly nice, maple with rosewood fretboard, seems to be same as an unfinished Fender neck, you will want to hit it with some tung or lemon oil to keep humidity out of the wood. The pickups will need to be adjusted, I like to have mine 3/16 below the strings. The rating is based on stock setup since it's unplayable without setup. // 2

Reliability & Durability: I see this guitar having many problems if not addressed straight away, especially with the trem and agathis body, I can see trems pulling out of the wood, strap knobs pulling out etc... Just make all the fixes I did and it shouldn't be a problem. Rating is based on stock. // 5

Impression: This guitar pack is sold as a beginners item but I would NEVER recommend this to any beginner. It will make you pissed off and quit playing. However, for the price and the low cost mods and repairs this IS a tight little guitar. After the setups I did to pretty much every part of the guitar, I would gig with this anytime and without a backup. With some new parts and some tweaking you can have american Strat tone and reliablilty for about 300 bucks. // 6

overall: 8.4

Reviewed by: RandyRhoads818, on february 10, 2009

Price paid: $ 200

Purchased from: Guitar center

Features: The pack came with a guitar, amp, strap, gig bag, and 3 Fender picks. My guitar was made in China. It has an agathis body and a rosewood fretboard.It had a regular black Strat finsh but the pick guard is sparkly and it is also a single ply fret board. It 3 knobs which are volkume and 2 tones. It has a 5 way selector and came with a whammy. The 3 pick ups are all single-coil. The amp which is the Squier Sp-10, isn't good. It only has 3 controls and overdrive sounds really crunchy? (I can't find a way to put it.) It is good on clean but overdrive is horrible. The gig bag is okay, it doesn't give any protection. The strap kept on falling off. // 10

Sound: This guitar is good for most of the styles I play like ACDC and some Metallica. I am using the Sp-10 amp that came with the guitar. I am getting a Peavey Vypyr so my guitar actually sounds good. It is noisy when you put the overdrive to 10. It starts to make a high pitched noise. It has a very rich and brught sound. // 7

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar was set up really well. Fretboard is good and the pickups were set up perfectly. The pick ups just give a lot of feedback. The problem with this guitar is the strap holders break too easily. it does not have that many flaws it just pretty much the amp. // 9

Reliability & Durability: It probably will not stand Live playing. It will laast a long time but the strap buttons are not really durable. They break easily.I can depend on it with a better amp. I would probably use it at a gig as a back up. The finish is very thick so it will probably be good enough to last. // 8

Impression: I play metal to classic rock. It is a good match. I've been playing for 2 years, just acoustic, and this is my first electric. I don't really own anything else but an acoustic. If it was stolen, I'd probably get a better guitar. I love most things of the starter guitar pack except for the amp. The problem with the amp is that it only has a 6 inch speaker. // 8

overall: 6.6

Reviewed by: random_B-RAD, on february 09, 2009

Purchased from: Kosmic Sound & Lighting

Features: Chinese made low end Squier Stratocaster, it doesn't have a serial number so it almost impossible to date, 25-1/2" scale, 21 frets w/maple C shaped neck/rosewood fingerboard. Solid Agathis top with either sunburst, black or white satin finish. Stratocaster body with ynchronous tune-o-matic tremolo with passive SSS Squier low output pickups with Squier chrome tuners. Can only be purchased in a beginner pack with Squier SP-10 amp, gig bad, strap, cable, tuner, instructional dvd and everything else you need to get started. // 8

Sound: I got this guitar as my first guitar and soon upgraded to a Schecter Omen 6-FR, I play mainly metal so it didn't suit my style well. I am using it with a Peavey Vypyr 30 and I can get some decent blues and classic rock sounds out of it. The pickups are very noisy and give a lot of feedback with high gain channels but with low gain channels it is fine. The pickups give a very bright sound and it gives a very twangy sound sort of what you would expect from a Telecaster. The guitar basically has 1 sound: on. // 5

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar was set up very poorly when I bought it, the truss rod needed major adjusting as with the tremolo being very angled instead of flush with the body and there was a lot of fret buzz. The pickups were at a great height of begin with and only needed a bit of adjustment. There were no major flaws on anything else except some fret wire being a bit sharp. // 6

Reliability & Durability: It is not very reliable, the tremolo bar broke on the first day I had it, the hardware will last but it could do with a few upgrades like on the bridge and tuner. The strap buttons are very flimsy and I have dropped the guitar a few times because of this. I would not use it in a gig without a backup, first of all it has very poor pickups, with some few pickups, tuners and bridge I would use it in a gig but never without a backup, one broken string and your done for without a backup. The finish gets chips in it very easily. // 6

Impression: For the style of music I play it is not a very good match but it does do blues and classic rock quite well, it is routed for HSS so it is an easy pickup upgrade to change it completely. I have been playing for 5 months and I own a Schecter Omen 6-FR and I prefer the neck on the Squier a lot more then my Schecter however it does need a lot better hardware. Since it was my first guitar and it was in a package I should have asked if there were better options by not buying in a package which there were. If it was stolen or lost I would look into buying something a bit more suited to my style, I really love the neck on this guitar and it is one of the reasons I haven't pawned it yet. I really do wish it came as a fat Strat, it would give it a lot more options in term of tone and I would considering buying it if it was a fat Strat. // 8

Comments

[Armagedden66]

not a fan

[DeadlyKombat]

id rather play a real strat, even if i would have to save up some money for one.

[pooflinger069]

yeah strats are not good for metal period...have you ever heard one on a metal muff pedal...it's horrible...I tried my warlock on that pedal though and it was awesome

[TAOD4ever]

I Despise strats!!SG's kick Strats' butts!!

[Serjem]

come on people, what's wrong with strats... i havent really played a squire one, but i own a fender USA standard, and it's the best guitar i've ever played, really. fits me perfectly.

[drCoSmO1]

TAOD4ever :
I Despise strats!!SG's kick Strats' butts!
tard, strats are way better

[fender456]

i need to play a regular starcaster, or not starcaster at all

[random_B-RAD]

I must say that it is not good for metal but you can get some decent high gain tones out of it, also the neck on it is great.

[MetallicStrat8]

I have on its not bad but they dont whistand abuse the tone of the middle pick-up sucks and mine gives horable feed back on high gain. Honastly id prefer my Ibanez RG 1100 over that.

[jwax]

ide get it and put fender neck on it and fender Texas pups on it.

[ma_tt11]

Probably the worst guitar I've ever played in my life (besides a Squier bullet). It needs a Fender neck, new pickups, new bridge and stable tuners before it would be gig ready.

[Mondo Generator]

seriously guys, just save up for a mexican strat. My FSR HSS strat plays like a dream. pretty good for metal, at least in my opinion.
also, do we really have to have "Guitar a" vs. "guitar B" arguments here? SGs and Strats are WAAAAAy different. I like them both, but I'm a strat guy.

[Maiden-Canada]

pooflinger069 wrote:

yeah strats are not good for metal period...have you ever heard one on a metal muff pedal...it's horrible...I tried my warlock on that pedal though and it was awesome

Tell Iron Maiden, Motorhead's Eddie Clarke and Yngwie Malmsteen that strats suck for metal.

I'm sure they'd have a polite rebuttal or two.

[Carcinogenic]

Maiden-Canada wrote:

Tell Iron Maiden, Motorhead's Eddie Clarke and Yngwie Malmsteen that strats suck for metal.

I'm sure they'd have a polite rebuttal or two.

+1

[rancidryan]

pooflinger069 wrote:

yeah strats are not good for metal period...have you ever heard one on a metal muff pedal...it's horrible...I tried my warlock on that pedal though and it was awesome

heard of iron maiden?

i doubt it

[BillR87]

Looks nice but its cheap play a proper strat I say

[Local666Union]

rancidryan wrote:

pooflinger069 wrote:

yeah strats are not good for metal period...have you ever heard one on a metal muff pedal...it's horrible...I tried my warlock on that pedal though and it was awesome

heard of iron maiden?

i doubt it

Let me know when your awesome br00tal Strat gets a REAL heavy sound.
Nevermore for example.

[stanman64]

i have this guitar and it blows. end of story. period. exclamation point. done.

[Strudel]

well i got this guitar brand new for £150 with a stand, amp, 4 medium picks (which i use anyway), jack lead, tuner, gig bag, strap, and also a DVD with it! it is all good quilty and i think i got a bargin it sounds good with or without amp, my mate was surpised how good it was for the quitly soo this is a great guitar i would give it a overall rating at about 8.5ish (i kno thier other great guitars out thier but im still in school soo im not got the money for a big ass gibson or a the fender strat =/