Those new "Classic Vibe" Squiers

[madtho]

Looks a lot nicer than my '93 Fender MIM reissue.

Funny, I was just about to crow about the 90's Duo-Sonic reissues.

Like he said, it's MIM. The original tuners suck bad, it's short scale, and I've since replaced the pickups, but I think it's a pretty nice guitar.

You can certainly find one for way less than $279, they were $200 new.

-mad

[thieves]

Hey, so I've had this for about a month now and have even gigged with it a couple of times, I thought I'd post a little review of my Squier Duo-Sonic:

- The tuners are the #1 weakness of this guitar. I can play a whole 45 minute set without tuning, they're just very very touchy. I definitely prefer the modern Fender tuners like on my '00 MIM Tele.

- Which leads me to the tone. This guitar has a very unique tone. I kept reading that it was Tele-esque, but that isn't really the case, it's not a jangly or twangy guitar at all. The tone is very light (the color of the guitar suits the tone really well), almost like what i'd imagine those old Teisco's sounding like if they had 'real' pickups on them. The sustain is similar to a Mustang/Jaguar/Jazzmaster in that there isn't much at all, which makes this a terrible lead guitar, but an excellent rhythm guitar. Open stringed chords sound great on this thing.

- The rest of the machinery on this guitar is pretty acceptable. The bridge, even though it's fender's "vintage" style, allowed me to get the intonation way closer to perfect than i thought was possible. There have been a lot of complaints about the color of the neck, but the neck itself plays great, a lot better than other squiers out there. The wiring seems to be legit, I don't have any humming/grounding issues, and the switches and knobs all feel really sturdy. The body, being so light, probably will get beat up pretty easily, but I've been a bit overprotective of mine.

Next step for this guitar? I'll probably take it to a pro to install some better tuners and check my setup while they're at it, but i'll be gigging with this quite regularly. I used to take my Cyclone out a lot, but i don't like playing a guitar with a tremolo for a whole set, and my tele isn't versatile as i'd want it to be.

[Dr Rubberfunk]

Nice review man, cheers for the update. I'm fiending for a Jazz Bass at the moment, and had spotted the Classic Vibe model (along with the Vintage Modified with the block inlays which I like alot too) They're both the best part of ?250 over here, so I think I'll keep looking for a late 80s / early 90s Korean Squier to match my Strat and Tele

[Paid In Full]

Very late to the thread, but I picked up the Classic Vibe Tele last week and it is a quality guitar. The fit and finish are flawless, it looks great, and sounds like a Tele should. I haven't found a thing wrong with it so far, which is more than I can say for the last two Fenders I bought. As a bonus, it's routed for a neck humbucker. Highly recommended.

[calaverasgrandes]

"crafted in china"
thats an oxymoron.
not that I am racist and dont think Chinese can make anything of value.
I love my chinese china and my chinese cleaver (still sharp after 10 years!)
but guitars are just not part of their culture the way they are to us western folks.
Now if they are $100 or so I suppose they would make a good backup axe.
About the pine part.
Lately I have been making some random experimental instruments out of pine I had left over from some shelves I made. It actually doesnt suck too much, except its rather soft wood. Not terribly dense, but it'll hold string tension.

[Paid In Full]

guitars are just not part of their culture the way they are to us western folks

I'm sure they are using the same assembly line, computer designed and controlled manufacturing process that Fender uses in their U.S., Mexican, and Japanese factories.

I don't see what cultural relativity has to do with building a musical instrument or any other mass produced product.

[weatherbox]

for an Irish/Norwegian I make a mean goddamn burrito.

And, that 50s P bass looks about right to me. I'd rather play that than the Sting signature model, and I'm not taking my old ones on the road anymore. Cheap? Cool? Nice. I gotta check that thing out.

[inverseroom]

Squier is my favorite guitar company, period. I love the '51 I bought for 100 bucks a couple years ago...I modded it pretty heavily, and it plays and sounds great. The neck is just genius, right up there with my 80's MIJ Strat and '64 Mustang. It was made in Indonesia.

[calaverasgrandes]

guitars are just not part of their culture the way they are to us western folks

I'm sure they are using the same assembly line, computer designed and controlled manufacturing process that Fender uses in their U.S., Mexican, and Japanese factories.

I don't see what cultural relativity has to do with building a musical instrument or any other mass produced product.

To continue my previous analogy, I make very good stir fry in my chinese wok, with my chinese cleaver and eat it in my china (from china).
But anyone raised cooking chinese can doubtless cook circles around me.
Guitars are not just another "mass produced product". Doubtless some of you have experienced playing two different guitars of the exact same model and vintage and found them to sound quite different?
I also have to note that in traditional chinese music there is no pitched bass instrument! Its just drums, metalophones and some reeds, strings and flutes.
The good builders like Musicman that use CNC lathes still hand select woods and do rigorous QC at several stages of production.
The guitar mills of Korea and China are pretty well known for not doing either of these.
Japan I find to be an exception because they have very deep traditions of fine woodworking/metalsmithing and have been emulating western music for quite some time now. They know what a guitar is supposed to do, and they know how to sand wood and dress frets.
But hey thats just me. I'm a gear snob.

[Winstontaneous]

I was pretty impressed with the Vintage Modified Squier basses I recently tried at GC. I think they're Indonesian. Fit & finish seemed OK for the price but nut cutting/fretwork/setup/hardware left a lot to be desired compared to MIM,MIJ, and MIA Fenders. They were fun to play but none had the magic of the better Japanese and American Fenders I tried (which, to be fair, cost 2 1/2 to 4 times as much).

[flapmaggot]

I have a pretty busy home studio - sometimes I take on clients that bring in junk for guitars or guitars that just don't tune. Therefore, for the studio, I bought a vintage classic squire for $299 and a Reverend Flat Rock. I have a Dan Electro bass and a Daisy Rock 12 string. I took the squire to a well know guitar guy in LA to get it set up and fix the jack (which my 13 your old broke). He looked at it, played it, and said, "This thing is bitchen." I left it there so he can fix the jack, when I picked it up, he reiterated its bitcheness. Last year, two clients used my inexpensive guitars, so made my money back, and the guitar genius in my band has used my 12 string Daisy Rock.

IMO - the Vintage Squire is a wonderful guitar for the price and I don't care who makes the gear as long as it suits my needs. I'll admit that I'm not a gear snob, just a music snob.

Thumbs up on the Vintage Squie IMO Hope this helps those who are looking for a good, yet inexpensive guitar.

Chuck

[Barry Jive]

I'm salivating over the vintage modified basses, particularly this one:
http://www.squierguitars.com/products/s ... 0326902500

I've yet to wander into a shop that has one, but the few reviews I've read are glowing (but what reviews aren't these days). I also have an old JP-90 (anyone remember these?:http://www.newjerseyguitarandbasscenter ... erJP90.jpg) with a junker body but a lovely neck. Hmmmmm....

[calaverasgrandes]

Amen to the reviews are BS concept. That is one of the things I like most about Tape Op mag. Its reviews actually point out drawbacks of real world use.
I also hate how alot of the user reviews on Amazon, Musicians Friend, American Music Supply etc are so lame.
I swear these guys unbox teh gear. Jerk off over it for 5 minutes, than go post a review. You dont really grok a guitar/mic/mixer until you have had it for a month or so and run into its shortcomings.
EG; that awesome big sounding mic sounds like tin foil when in the context of a mix. Or that gnarly flame maple bass never sounds like its in tune no matter how much you do the intonation on it.

ps. ask any mexican, they dont eat burritos in mexico. You ask for a burrito and they may point you to a small donkey.

[comfortstarr]

"crafted in china"
thats an oxymoron.
not that I am racist and dont think Chinese can make anything of value.
I love my chinese china and my chinese cleaver (still sharp after 10 years!)
but guitars are just not part of their culture the way they are to us western folks.
Now if they are $100 or so I suppose they would make a good backup axe.
About the pine part.
Lately I have been making some random experimental instruments out of pine I had left over from some shelves I made. It actually doesnt suck too much, except its rather soft wood. Not terribly dense, but it'll hold string tension.

My brother-in-law is a respected violin maker who has worked with some Chinese builders. There are people building fine violins there, their are mass producers building very very good mass produced violins, and there are builders and mass producers building crap violins. I don't believe the violin to be part of "Chinese culture."

Generalizing about China is almost ALWAYS a mistake. It's the world's most populace country made of many different cultures and ethnicities.

[vvv]

You ask for a burrito and they may point you to a small donkey.

Dude, you gotta stay outta those kinda bars!

But actually, reminds me how the Greeks don't really eat gyros (but didja ever tried burrito or taco al pastor?) and the Chinese don't eat chop suey.

I'm old enough to remember when Korean guitars were considered dreck, and Japanese stuff was just barely acceptable.

Now I have a MIJ super-strat and a Korean Sheraton 2, and an Indonesian Washburn acoustic (close to dreck but good at cookouts.)

But then I keep hearing how problematic the USA Gibsons are in the last few years ...