Last step (for now) is a bit of cleanup and some small tweaks.
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I'm trying out these "Raw Vintage" tremolo springs. Seems like 75% of people say they're awesome and worth every penny and a great upgrade while 25% say they do absolutely nothing and have no noticeable effect whatsoever. First impression is that it's not a particularly pronounced night-and-day difference but it does feel quite nice and smooth on the whole. I don't know if I notice any "acoustic" differences but the action is smoother and they're definitely much lower tension. All five of these is about the same as three factory springs. They are relatively cheap so not too bad to try out overall. And you get some mojo points of course.
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Next we will do a bit of fret polishing. Overall the frets are in good shape. I couldn't find any noticeable high spots or really any "work" needing to be done but they could use cleaned up and smoothed out. I'm sure there are a million different compounds that would work just fine; I see some people even just use toothpaste as a mild abrasive. I use this Mother's polish. It's pretty gentle and a tub is about $4 and should last you a lifetime of guitars. I mask the fretboard to be safe, but honestly I'm not sure if it's even necessary. This stuff's super mild and I think you'd really have to be trying to do any noticeable damage. But I digress... I use a small felt wheel in my dremel and the job's done in just five minutes or so.
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My fretboard oil of choice at the moment. I'm sure plenty of others will work just fine, too. I read someone recommending this stuff YEARS ago and bought a bottle for cheap and it's still got plenty left. It does about what you would expect any fretboard oil to do, I guess.
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Straplock buttons are installed. I already have plenty of straps with the locks themselves so figured I could save a fair bit by just ordering a set of buttons. It was only like $6 for the buttons alone vs about $18 for the whole set. I'm honestly not too picky on straplocks but most of my guitars have Dunlops already so I've stuck with them for consistency/interchangeability. My one gripe is that the screws that come with them are so soft. I don't know if it's to prevent stripping out what but they get chewed up SO easily. You really need to pre-drill your hole out a bit or you will probably strip out the screw before getting it seated all the way.
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And finally some strings! It came from the factory with 9's. I usually play 11's and have been a D'addario guy for as long as I can remember. Maybe it's nonsense but I didn't want to jump straight from 9's to 11's so I figured I'd put on a set of 10's to "acclimate" before moving up to 11's and tweaking the setup. But Amazon just happened to be out of D'addario 10's and my local shops all charge like double or triple for a pack of strings, so I just ordered the cheapest 10s I could find via Prime. Here's the result. They sound...like strings. Hahah. I've never really been one to notice a ton of tonal difference between different string formulations. Nickel wound vs pure nickel vs coated or whatever doesn't do much for me. I can tell a difference between the sound of various sizes (though I suspect that has as much to do with EQ/setup/pickup distance/etc) and some seem to last longer than others but I don't notice any big difference between brand new strings of the same size when it comes to sound/tone. They're fine. I have a long-running subscription for D'addario 11's and that's what will ultimately wind up on here.
Overall I am really pleased with the guitar and after fiddling a bit around with it I like it even more! I can't say enough for the value of these Classic Vibe models at the moment. Honestly I have wondered if the CV's aren't in part responsible for Fender making the MIM's into the "Player Series" and upping the price because at the old MIM prices I think the Squier CVs were simply a flat-out better instrument. Makes me wonder if they weren't cannibalizing their own sales a bit and so tweaked the lines/ranges to make it seem more distinct (or to make the higher price have you thinking you're getting a lot more instrument. I don't think the CVs are far off from current Player Series, either).
As far as what's next? I need to do a proper full setup. It's not bad but as above was set for 9's so will need some work for 11s (and probably even 10s, tbh). I may throw on some locking tuners. It's not a "need" and I don't mind the vintage style ones but locking sure are convenient...
Maybe see about changing out the tremolo block. That's another one that seems like some people say it's a huge difference and others say it does nothing. Going to sit on it a while before that one. Same with the saddles. Otherwise though...not a lot left to be done but play it!
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