Showmaster Blackout Review

The Squier Showmaster Blackout looks as dark and heavy as it sounds. It features one humbucker in the bridge position and a single coil in the neck position for various sonic possibilities.

Features:	8
Sound:	8
Action:	10
Reliability:	10
Impression:	10
Overall rating:	9.2
Users rating:	6.5
Comments:	59

overall: 9.2

Reviewed by: The Purple Fury, on february 15, 2007

Purchased from: Freind

Features: My Squier Showmaster was crafted in Indonesia, has one double humbucker and one single coil pickup. It came with a whammy bar which does tend to knock it out of tune a little bit. It has a 3-way selector, a volume knob and a tone knob. It did not come with a strap or a case. One thing I love about this guitar is the headstock on these models is flipped upside down. Of corse that always brings up the annoying question, "Oh, do yo uplay left handed?" This guitar has 24 frets and a bolt-on neck. It is fantastic. // 8

Sound: I play industrial metal, and this guitar works great for that, the previous owner player more melodic and heavier metal wich seemed to better suite this guitar. The top string tends to completely drown out all of the other strings form time to time and I can not seem to fix this, reguardless of the vast amount of effort I have put into solving this problem. I play this guitar threw a DigiTech Grunge Pedal (Cheap But Suprisingly Good), threw a DigiTech RP50 Multieffects pedal, Into a Crate KBA150 amplifier. In all honesty the single coil pickup sounds like dead cows Who are fornicating, but the humbucker more than makes up for this with it's amazingly clean sound. But this is no major problem because pickups are easily replaced. This guitar (with the single coil turned off). Sounds great and is really comforitable, I would suggest it to anyone playing in the metal genre. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: This guitar, besides the single coil pickup sucking horrendously, has no visible our audible flaws. The body, bridge and headstock are all perfectly crafted, and since I'm fairly sertain I just got a flawed pickup I believe this is the most well put together guitar I've ever bought. // 10

Reliability & Durability: This guitar could easily withstand live playing. The only fears I would have playing a Live show would be the input messing up but that problem is my fault for tripping on my chord way to much and even after all that it still barely faults. I love this guitar and If I could ever get a band Who worked well enough together to play a Live show, it would be the first guitar I would grab. Provided I had enough Faith in my strings not breaking during a show I wouldn't need a Backup guitar, this guitar can handle it. unfortunatley in my two years of playing guitar I've never broken a string from playing and I know that's only because it's waiting to spite me when I finaly do play a Live show, so I, personaly, would carry a backup guitar. This guitar has been threw hell and back, the previous owner kept it in an extremely damp garrage where most the hardware rusted, and yet it still plays like new. The paint on this guitar is on there for good, it takes a whole hell of a lot to get it to come off, in all of the incidents I've had with this guitar, dropping it, bumping into things, straps breaking while trying to throw it around my shoulder, that crazy nunchaku incident (no joke), All this thing does is dent. Even the scratches seem to not be able to penetrate threw the paint. This guitar is fantastic, and I enjoy playing it almost every day. // 10

Impression: As I said, I play Industrial Metal and although better fitted for a heavier, more melodic style of playing, it does great. I've been playing guitar for almost two years now and this was my second guitar. My first guitar was a First Act, which I'd rather not talk about and was "disposed of" when I recieved this guitar. I currently own three guitars, wich are A B\.C\. Rich Bronze Warlock, a Davison Flying V, and of corse my Squier. My Squier is most definatly my favorite guitar and if it where stolen, I would track down the thief, and Impale them with thier own testicles because I have never seen another guitar exactly the same as this one that I have. This only thing I wish it had was a better single coil pickup. // 10

Comments

[timeh]

it looks sexy

[Gitarrenspieler]

have you ever thought of adjusting the pickup height or the polepieces? or replacing the pickups w/ a Seymour Duncan Invader and a strat sized humbucker?

[cheese_weasel]

how can dead cows faunicate?

[rougebassist]

Yea man im with Gitarrenspieler just adjust the pole pieces thats what i did on my fender so yea do that.

[SeniorFrog]

j

[Pumpkins4Life]

You gotta love how BS these user reviews are. Giving a Squier a 9.2 is a little over the top. Some people don't want to admit they bought a crappy guitar.

[Gitarrenspieler]

hey pumpkins sometimes you can find amazing deals sometimes. I picked up an Epi LP junior, and its kickass even tho I paid $100 for it.

[eddiehimself]

Pumpkins4Life wrote:

You gotta love how BS these user reviews are. Giving a Squier a 9.2 is a little over the top. Some people don't want to admit they bought a crappy guitar.

well this guy did call the bridge p/u a "double humbucker" i mean wtf

[Tool_fan]

lol a Squier and a Digitech pedal....of course this dudes low budget

[DrosteGuitar]

Hahaha, a stock Squier given a 9.2? I'm sorry, but how is this main-page material? This review is terrible.

[InvaderZim1337]

nigger

[Musicislife539]

look at this idiot.

InvaderZim1337 wrote:

nigger

this is not about a black dude, its about a black ****ing GUITAR

[Musicislife539]

hey it blocks out swears. cheap.

[Musicislife539]

wait how did it not block out nigger?

[Musicislife539]

how did it not block out nigger? anyway ill post a comment about the article. this thing does seem liek bull but ill go to my local guitar center check one out and give u guys the REAL rating hows that sound?

[Sammoo]

ive got a westome guitar which has 2 humbuckers and a fender style bridge and a bolt on neck and i have to say it is an excelent guitar, better than my gibson les paul junior

[NIN&J5]

squiers are n00by. if your going to spend that much get a jackson

[DischargePunk]

hahaha squiers suck, there no way squiers can make descent metal guitars, much less ern a 9.2

[bassbassbass77]

taht guitar sounds like shit!

[SacVille]

looks alike Ibanez - so what is this?

[Pumpkins4Life]

Gitarrenspieler i know you can find good deals on guitars but people actually look at these when deciding on a guitar, and i know that guitar does not deserve a 9.2 rating. lets get real, he said it doesn't even stay in tune and it probably sounds like crap with or without effects. i would like to see people be a little more realistic

[Lambda]

this dude needs to spellcheck and learn the correct terminology prior to writing a review on such a horrible guitar

[vndr8n52]

i just bought the Squier Showmaster from a friend about a week ago and its a step up from my peavey raptor xp...id say its a good intermediate guitar

[Kid Fisto]

dead cows that are fornicating....good metaphor.

[Kid Fisto]

as for a better single coil head for a seymour duncan.

and squires don't suck. they're just not as good as B.C. riches and Fenders and gibsons. but they're much better than like first acts.

[hntngpain09]

this guy has only been playing for two years he doesnt know shit... he has never had a gibson

[codybc1991]

SQUIRE????? WTF?

[metalhead2061]

How come all of you are busting on Squiers? I play metal with a Squier Strat, and it sounds just like a Gibson Explorer. If you guys are talking about newer Squiers, then yeah, they're crap. Hell, new Gibsons are crap. My guitar dates back to the 80s, actually. And it is great.

[mp3stalin]

hntngpain09 wrote:

this guy has only been playing for two years he doesnt know shit... he has never had a gibson

gibson blows. :P

[pilotdude13]

hey hntngpain09, gibsons are a load of BULLSHIT.Might as well put a lil more and get a Carvin! I've played alot of guitars including the SquierStrat and i 'll say it handles VERY well with metal. Although a 9.2 maybe a bit overboard. I'd give it a 8.5 !

[Gojira16]

Is anything really "crafted" in Indonesia?

[ZANGIEF666]

Ok I have a squier skull and crossbones model, the body is just straight out ugly but the neck is insane.

The quality is really good for a 450$ guitar.

The bridge is better then the shitty Jackson Floyd knock off (and I have boughten a Jackson with the knock off Floyd and returned it because the machine screws would strip, I’m a machinist so I know a lot about machine screws and how not to over tighten them.
The quality was good, nice woods, but some of the hardware looked like it was hammered on to the body instead of screwed in.
And for the people who will say “Oh, it must have been a Js series or some cheap model” No, this was a Pro series DK2 and it was in the price range of 600-700$
So in my opinion, the Jackson trems are shit and that’s from my experience. I’ve tested it my self and this is what I observed.

The skull and crossbones model is similar to the blackout, (and it sounds heavy because squier put some really bassy pickups in the guitar) I replaced my pickups because the pickups weren’t the sound I was looking for and they were a little sloppy on tracking my finger work.

The guitar is a good buy, and I have never had problems with it.
The only problem I’m facing now is the fret work, they need to be filed and levelled (this happens because of normal use and also because the factory usually does a halfassed job on levelling the frets)

So all-around this guitar is great, the hardware is really reliable (well the most important parts of the hardware are) the woods used are decent, the pickups are ok but a little sloppy, and the frets would have had to be filed and leveled sooner or later, and this happens simply because of normal use (and because the guitar is mass produced) and it will happen to any other guitar it just takes a long time period to happen.
Once again, it’s a great guitar

So for people who say squire is shit, do yourself a favour and go to the store and try the model first before you make a statement, please!

Back in the 80’s the squire company was making strats that were almost as good as a Fender U.S.A series. And now they have a bad rep for some reason. I’ll admit, some models are just ****ing brutal but for this model they did something amazing.

So every one try out the guitar before you make a comment, and I know most people in this forum didn’t try them out because these models have been discontinued for about a year now, so its going to be hard to convince me that guitar is shit because someone had walked into the music store two days ago tried out the guitar and wanted to smash it because of how shitty the quality is.

[tgd21]

hey maybe hes just a really good guitar player, i saw this video lesson a while ago with jimmy page playing a really peiece of shit guitar through an equally shitty amp, it was from some beginner pack, and he made it sound sweet as hell, he was just jammin and it sounded awesome. i mean a lot of it has to do with the player, if he has awesome technique maybe he can make this guitar sounds good..and for the dude above me who bought a squire for 450 you really could have gotten something better for cheaper even, like an epi lp, or a strat, but to each his own right?

[The Purple Fury]

Hey, I make a whole friggin crapload of grammatical errors, but thats not the point of the review. This was indeed my first review and I'm sure I blows harder than Willy, but still, you all keep bashing the Squier when by all means, I've never let anyone play it who didn't fall in love with it. The previous Owner sold it to me to save up money for a "Better Guitar" He hated that guitar and tried to buy this back. I love it . And aobut the rating, I had to re-submit the review and I guess I slipped up on the rating I did not meen to give it three 10's. I will admit, I am a total noob guitar player, I still have a lot to learn, and yes, I do play on a budget, When your 16 and the only job you can get is a local Dairy queen in a small town, you have to play on a budget. Of corse, now im 17 and unemployed.... :-/. I'd also like to throw out there, just because something is cheap, doesn't make it crap. Thats like not buying your favorite band's T-shirt because it's not brand name. Anyways, I'm sure none of you even care what I have to say since I wrote an oh so terrible review. Although, I'm still not sure how so many people stumbled accross this in the one day its been out....

[Demonikk]

Sammoo wrote:

ive got a westome guitar which has 2 humbuckers and a fender style bridge and a bolt on neck and i have to say it is an excelent guitar, better than my gibson les paul junior

Westone Goth by any chance? I've got that one and it's brilliant for it's price.
Oh and a '10' under Action...etc. even though 'the neck pickup sucked horrendously' I think that's a bit of a major problem.

[Wozzname]

If that squier was £450 and not $450 you have seriously wasted your money there

[warlock300]

i agree with wozzname, i pyed £200 for a squier with an amp strap lead picks and so on, total waste of money, it was ok for a starter guitar i suppose as i am left handed, soon woke up and found that trading it in for a lefty bc rich warlock was a very bright idea!

[warlock300]

anythink made in indonesia is one of two things:
1. shit
2. a copy of a real guitar

[Punk Rock Dude]

i think it looks like the squire showmaster the 1 i have lol

[ibanezguitarkid]

do they make it left handed?

[metalhead2061]

ibanezguitarkid wrote:

do they make it left handed?

I havn't found one lefty. I think that the only lefty guitars are the really big-name models that everyone knows.

[warlock300]

my advice STAY AWAY FROM SQUIERS!!!!!
ther copies of a real guitar (fender stratocaster)
if u want a guitar be prepared to spend a bit more money to buy an actual guitar not a copy of one.

[warlock300]

[metalhead2061]

warlock300 wrote:

my advice STAY AWAY FROM SQUIERS!!!!!
ther copies of a real guitar (fender stratocaster)
if u want a guitar be prepared to spend a bit more money to buy an actual guitar not a copy of one.

Squiers are made by Fender. And any Squier on earth is better than the new Mexicna Fenders.

[metalhead2061]

*Mexican
whoops.

[The Purple Fury]

You people are all stuck on the thought process that guitars are only good if they cost more than your car, by all meens, this is not the case.

[warlock300]

metalhead2061 wrote:

warlock300 wrote:

my advice STAY AWAY FROM SQUIERS!!!!!
ther copies of a real guitar (fender stratocaster)
if u want a guitar be prepared to spend a bit more money to buy an actual guitar not a copy of one.


Squiers are made by Fender. And any Squier on earth is better than the new Mexicna Fenders.

metalhead2061 - REAL FENDERS ARE HAND MADE IN AMERICA, so why o squiers say made in korea on the back of the headstock, i ask you?

[warlock300]

plus each actual fender has an INDIVIDUAL serial code on the back, and unless a sticker sayin made in korea is a serial code, then squiers dont!

[The Purple Fury]

Squiers Do Have Serial Numbers on the back you friggin retard.

[metalhead2061]

My Squier is made in Korea, and it's awesome. The three greatest places to have your guitar manufactured are USA, Japan, and Korean. I'll record myself playing my Squier and prove how good it is.

[warlock300]

SQUIERS ARE SHIT!!!!!

[The Purple Fury]

You are shit.... Du Shiza.

[metalhead2061]

Scheissen.

[ldnovelo]

In all honesty the single coil pickup sounds like dead cows Who are fornicating

Jejeje, how does that sound.

Anyway, there are a lot of fenders in the 450 price range that are a very good choice. And mexican Fenders are good guitars, any mexican Fender is better than those shitty squiers.

[The Purple Fury]

If some of you people spent more time trying out new guitars and giving guitars a chance, reguardless of thier price range, as opposed to wacking your one eyed wonder weasel, you would be able to appreciate a quality guitar over an expensive guitar.

[Erlend Johan]

Single coil pickups are horrible when you turn the distortion on the highest level.

Any single coil on the earth does that.

Even fender custom's.

Buy a mini-humbucker.

[Erlend Johan]

Gibson necks cracks on the "solid" top :P

[bumblepooh]

I have read these comments with amusement. I bought this guitar because it was half price, looked a bit different and I wanted an inexpensive guitar I could leave around the house without worrying what damage my kids would do to it. I have owned two USA fenders and now own a G&L. It appears that there are a few 'headstock' snobs out there! There a re 2 things that make a guitar; sound and playability. If you are lucky enough to get both traits on ANY guitar, you have found the holy grail and you shouldn't worry about too much else. This guitar, now it is set up, played in with new ernie ball hybrid slinkys is the dogs bollocks, I've been tempted to buy a texas special neck pick up, but in all honesty, the single coil neck p/u on this guitar has incredible driven blues tone that can rival that of the MFD p/u's on my G&L S5oo(if you don't know about G&L, google/wikipedia/you tube them, they are probably more Fender than Fender themselves, how pre 65 Fenders used to be made) The humbucker is more than adequate for metal/rock. The s/coil also sounds sweet when played clean. This isn't as verstile as a strat, but in my book, a good strat is really hard to beat, but you have to search long and hard for a good one, whether it be made in California, Mexico, Japan, Indonesia, Korea or Timbuktoo! This particular Squier is made by Cort in Indonesia. Cort make true quality guitars and anyone who states that anything made in Indonesia is Sh*t is ridden with prejudice. Go and play a Cort, Go and play a G&L tribute ASAT or S500 and you'll eat your words and maybe, turn your back on Fender. I love my Showmaster, it has been tinkered and played into an instrument that I would not part company with. The jumbo frets and slinky satin finish neck are, like the commets said above, INSANE, it really flows and keeps getting better. All in all, one can buy an inexpensive guitar which is amazing and conversely buy an expensive guitar which is pure garbage, they are all individuals, just like you and me, with there own quirks, traits and soul! God bless

[bdominationx]

dude i have the exact same guitar as u but i also play more heavy progressive metal and its got a sick heavy tone to it.