MichaelW
Well-known member
Uhm......yes
Ok this was total impulse buy. Fender and PRS are both blowing out excess inventory and there's some really good deals to be had out there.
Fender has me on text, and sent me a coupon code I couldn't refuse. So I used it on one of the new Squier Stratosonics.
Some history, I remember when Fender came out with these Stratosonics back in the mid 2000's. They only had them a short while.
I've been going back and forth about whether this was the most stupid idea I can imagine to whether it's the most ingenious, heh.
I think I've landed on the latter. Mashing up two of my favorite guitars, a Strat and a Les Paul Special.
I love the ergonomics of the Strat, probably still one of my most favorite guitar shapes. Between the Strat and Tele, I just love how they sit in my lap and how I can mold myself around them. Leo had it right all those decades ago.
I also love the sound of P90's, probable not a great secret if you've been following my gear escapades here on the forum hahaha.
So some of the things I like about these new Squier Stratosonics vs the Fender ones from the 2000's.
First off, the price, I recall the Fenders were like 1500-1600 back then. But they're USA made.
The originals were short scale but 9.5 radius. The new Squiers are 12" radius, which I like a lot better since it allows me to use a Gibson style tailpiece.
The originals used a proprietary tailpiece that was adjustable to radius as well as intonation. Probably much more functional but I thought/think they're fugly.
I also didn't quite care for the colors of the original Fenders. They were "neither fish nor fowl" as I recall. Not really Fender colors or Gibson colors.
The new Squier ones come in a Gibson transparent cherry and a TV Yellow.
I kinda wanted the cherry one but it's a crap shoot whether you get one with decent looking grain. The Squiers use solid Okoume bodies, the original Fenders used chambered Honduran mahogany. I actually like Okoume a lot. It's sometimes called African Mahogany (along with Sapelle and Khaya) but it's not a true mahogany. Yet it shares many of the same properties and is generally lighter. There's a lot of custom bass makers that charge extra for Okoume.
Problem is, at the Squier price point they are multi piece bodies and can look crappy under a transparent finish. So I got the TV Yellow.
I have to say, that they did an EXCELLENT authentic TV yellow finish. Much better than my Epiphone Les Paul Special (which is opaque).
Once again, I am blown away at the build quality of the Squier guitars. I can't think of a good reason I'd ever buy a Mexican or even Corona made Fender when you can get usually BETTER build quality in a Squier. The action was set up perfect out of the box, the nut was cut perfectly.
The fret work was really well done, frets completely level and fret end dressing quite well done.
Having said that, I still dressed the frets to my liking and polished the frets to a high shine. But I did not have to do any leveling. Neck profile is a bit on the thin side for me, as most stock Fenders and Squiers are, but it's playable.
The wrap tailpiece that came on the guitar is "Epiphone" branded, which is interesting. But I already knew about this from the reviews I've watched on the guitar. So basically, it's crap pot metal and the studs were really loose in the bushings (see pics below).
The pickups actually sound pretty good. They are very low wind P90's. (Like 6.4k neck, 6.7k bridge). I've heard some reviewers say that it doesn't sound "Gibsony" enough. Well, that's true, they're a bit too low wind but they do sound GOOD to me.
Here's a shot of it after I finished all my mods and "massaging". I forgot to take a pic of it out of the box.
Check out the gorgeous TV Yellow finish, just translucent enough to show some grain. This is much better than the TV Yellow on my Epiphone LP Special.
Here's the bridge that came on it.......same bridge that came on my Epi.
This was definitely a problem that needed addressing.....
So first upgrade was new steel bushings and some locking studs from Faber.
The Faber kits come with a metric bolt to make stud removal easy. Just run it down into the old studs until it bottoms out and pushes the old bushing out.
Making sure the ground wire is in the right place on the lower stud. Super important to ground the bridge. I usually pull the wire out a little before installing new studs to make sure it's making contact when I drive the new studs in.
You can use the same removal bolt to drive the new studs in. If you're not comfortable with a hammer or mallet, you can use a large C clamp or even your drill press to push the new bushings in....
I've done this so many times that I have no qualms about whanging away at my guitar with a claw hammer
Continued in next post......
Ok this was total impulse buy. Fender and PRS are both blowing out excess inventory and there's some really good deals to be had out there.
Fender has me on text, and sent me a coupon code I couldn't refuse. So I used it on one of the new Squier Stratosonics.
Some history, I remember when Fender came out with these Stratosonics back in the mid 2000's. They only had them a short while.
I've been going back and forth about whether this was the most stupid idea I can imagine to whether it's the most ingenious, heh.
I think I've landed on the latter. Mashing up two of my favorite guitars, a Strat and a Les Paul Special.
I love the ergonomics of the Strat, probably still one of my most favorite guitar shapes. Between the Strat and Tele, I just love how they sit in my lap and how I can mold myself around them. Leo had it right all those decades ago.
I also love the sound of P90's, probable not a great secret if you've been following my gear escapades here on the forum hahaha.
So some of the things I like about these new Squier Stratosonics vs the Fender ones from the 2000's.
First off, the price, I recall the Fenders were like 1500-1600 back then. But they're USA made.
The originals were short scale but 9.5 radius. The new Squiers are 12" radius, which I like a lot better since it allows me to use a Gibson style tailpiece.
The originals used a proprietary tailpiece that was adjustable to radius as well as intonation. Probably much more functional but I thought/think they're fugly.
I also didn't quite care for the colors of the original Fenders. They were "neither fish nor fowl" as I recall. Not really Fender colors or Gibson colors.
The new Squier ones come in a Gibson transparent cherry and a TV Yellow.
I kinda wanted the cherry one but it's a crap shoot whether you get one with decent looking grain. The Squiers use solid Okoume bodies, the original Fenders used chambered Honduran mahogany. I actually like Okoume a lot. It's sometimes called African Mahogany (along with Sapelle and Khaya) but it's not a true mahogany. Yet it shares many of the same properties and is generally lighter. There's a lot of custom bass makers that charge extra for Okoume.
Problem is, at the Squier price point they are multi piece bodies and can look crappy under a transparent finish. So I got the TV Yellow.
I have to say, that they did an EXCELLENT authentic TV yellow finish. Much better than my Epiphone Les Paul Special (which is opaque).
Once again, I am blown away at the build quality of the Squier guitars. I can't think of a good reason I'd ever buy a Mexican or even Corona made Fender when you can get usually BETTER build quality in a Squier. The action was set up perfect out of the box, the nut was cut perfectly.
The fret work was really well done, frets completely level and fret end dressing quite well done.
Having said that, I still dressed the frets to my liking and polished the frets to a high shine. But I did not have to do any leveling. Neck profile is a bit on the thin side for me, as most stock Fenders and Squiers are, but it's playable.
The wrap tailpiece that came on the guitar is "Epiphone" branded, which is interesting. But I already knew about this from the reviews I've watched on the guitar. So basically, it's crap pot metal and the studs were really loose in the bushings (see pics below).
The pickups actually sound pretty good. They are very low wind P90's. (Like 6.4k neck, 6.7k bridge). I've heard some reviewers say that it doesn't sound "Gibsony" enough. Well, that's true, they're a bit too low wind but they do sound GOOD to me.
Here's a shot of it after I finished all my mods and "massaging". I forgot to take a pic of it out of the box.
Check out the gorgeous TV Yellow finish, just translucent enough to show some grain. This is much better than the TV Yellow on my Epiphone LP Special.
Here's the bridge that came on it.......same bridge that came on my Epi.
This was definitely a problem that needed addressing.....
So first upgrade was new steel bushings and some locking studs from Faber.
The Faber kits come with a metric bolt to make stud removal easy. Just run it down into the old studs until it bottoms out and pushes the old bushing out.
Making sure the ground wire is in the right place on the lower stud. Super important to ground the bridge. I usually pull the wire out a little before installing new studs to make sure it's making contact when I drive the new studs in.
You can use the same removal bolt to drive the new studs in. If you're not comfortable with a hammer or mallet, you can use a large C clamp or even your drill press to push the new bushings in....
I've done this so many times that I have no qualms about whanging away at my guitar with a claw hammer
Continued in next post......
Last edited:
