Squire vs Kit - platform guitar

jessenator

jessenator

Well-known member
Forking the discussion (since it's 4 years old and some of the kit suppliers links don't work 😬) for kit building, pivoting to this:

I'm wanting a platform guitar, something that I can shove pickups into, but doesn't need to be the best of the best, just ideally <$500, which is easily found, no trouble. A friend recommended guitarkitworld (and it seems others also have finished body kits), that maybe it would be a as-good-or-better sub for something like a Squire Affinity or Classic/Vintage Vibe model. I'm pleased with my Paranormal Tele, FWIW. Excluding the bullet series, if that needs to be said.

If a reasonable amount of time (a week or two) is not an issue, is there a large QC gap between them, to warrant a kit over a Squire? I'm planning on, obviously, ditching the stock pickups and maybe the tuners, but that's secondary.

I don't really have resources/space to finish a body, so it'd have to be a finished one, scratch'n'dent perfectly fine.
 
There's a sizeable contingent of people clowns on other guitar forums who insist Squiers are better than CS guitars.

I guess my point is they can't be that bad.
 
Jet Guitars 300 series is worth a look. I picked up a Tele model for $230 new in a guitar store. It plays great and has impressive fretwork. Punches way above its price range.
 
Are you only interested in swapping pickups or do you want the experience of doing the whole build? And are you set on one of the standard fender models? If so, I would probably recommend a squier, particularly a used classic vibe.

As a point of comparison, in the last few years I’ve had two Jazzmasters: one a classic vibe and the other a full partscaster. The full parts build was significantly more expensive and required some unexpected troubleshooting (pickguard fitment, drilling for ground wire, aligning and drilling vibrato screw holes, etc). I certainly like that one a lot better, but can’t say it plays that much better than the CV after a setup, wiring overhaul, and improved bridge / vibrato (I ended up moving a bunch of parts from the CV over the the partscaster).

I really wanted a lighter body and a nitro finish, so the process was worth it to me. If I didn’t care about those things the CV would’ve been absolutely perfect.

ETA: kits are supposed to include everything, but I’ve read a lot of them come with questionable hardware that you might end up having to replace or at least fight with.
 
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The advantage of a Squier is that you know the parts fit together and what the problems are (if any) before you buy it. A kit is good if you want the luthier experience, but don't want to risk getting incompatible parts. A partscaster lets you pick exactly the parts and features you want, but you run the risk of incompatible parts. and you won't know what the problems are until you start assembly—or until you create them due to inexperience!

If you just want something to slap pickups in, get a Squier strat with a swimming pool rout. Any money you might save buying a kit will be paid for in time with assembly, setup, and troubleshooting.
 
The CV series has great bones. The necks and bodies are rock solid. If you gut the electronics and put in nicer pickups, switches, pots, jacks they sound and play as good as (or better than) any off-the-shelf Fender for not much money or effort.
 
I've had small issues with kits. Parts missing, measurements off, crappy hardware, but the guitars came out the way I wanted I could have never bought off the self. A lot more small issues to solve. A partscaster is easy, as long as you make sure the pieces are comparable. Some kits like to use basswood, which isn't a bad thing. Light weight, sounds good, but soft as butter, so you need a poly finish for protection. Lots of the kits are from China. They're getting better, but it's a wide range of quality control.
 
I would also look at the G&L tribute series if you’re thinking Squier. They are more expensive but they have USA made pickups and in my experience play really well. You can still find them used for cheap. Who knows how long that’s gonna last.
 
speaking from the experience of building an LP and a firebird with a kit - as fun as it is building a kit guitar and having the opportunity/satisfaction to finish a project like that, ultimately the result will likely be underwhelming, as a kit guitar probably just isn't going to be as precise and well built as a good squier, or even a partscaster. (unless you've got mad skills).

both kit guitars i built had fret level issues that i couldn't resolve myself (shit's fucken difficult, no matter how easy @MichaelW makes it look), i was pretty bummed about it and had to pay a tech to fix the frets & truss action for me so i could actually play the damn things the way i wanted to.
 
That reminds me, I did build a Guitarfetish kit many years ago. Definitely a fun and cheap experience (cost me a bit over $100 back then) but the hardware was very cheap, body wood (pawlonia) really soft and easy to scratch and ding, the pickups very mediocre. The result was ok but I did screw up the bridge position by a hair so it has intonation issues. The frets were actually ok and the neck relatively playable. Not comparable to a professional instrument of course. It was fun to shape the headstock and paint the body. I kept the neck unfinished (it’s hard maple so it looks good). In the end I never actually played it. So if you want to try the experience I think it’s worth it but if you want a working instrument I wouldn’t recommend it.
 
I'm in camp "buy-yourself-a-complete-guitar".

Given everything Jessenator said in the OP — platform guitar, no facility to finish a raw body, etc ... any kit or parts-caster build will
NOT "be a as-good-or-better sub for something like a Squire Affinity or Classic/Vintage Vibe model."

My parts-tele body sits unfinished because one neck-bolt hole is off — a friend helped me determine which one, we marked it with tape and then another friend who helped me to start a refin on it went ahead with more of the refin without me and removed the tape — haven't been able to confirm which hole is off a second time (can't remember exactly how we deduced it the first time — 3 holes line up, it seems, no matter which 3 you select out of the four).

Luckily the neck I bought separately for aforementioned Tele-body is a good fit in the neck pocket — but may still need to be shimmed for the right action? Then tuner-holes of differing sizes (at least for bass mods) is always a crap-shoot even if you measure meticulously.

As good as Solo guitar-bodies are, or Warmoth, dealing with the neck-pocket, making sure the neck is straight and aligned with the bridge for even stringing gaps side-to-side on the neck, and if not pre-drilled for the bridge it's a PITA drilling the bridge-mounting holes while getting the scale length right — wayyyy more important than getting the holes of a 6-knob pedal to all align — so yeah, gonna say no to a kit or parts-caster.



I'd look for the type of guitar-body shape I want in a colour I like — I bought a yellow guitar and never play it 'cause I hate the colour but it was a "deal" — oh, and I'd be looking for USED. You could get quite a good guitar for the $5C you mentioned if you wait like a Great Northern Pike for the right frog to swim by...



Way back when, there was an article in Guitar World or whatever about modding a Strat, and the guy did a swimming-pool route and added quick connectors for the wiring — he had at least a dozen different loaded pickguards with all manner of odd-ball pickup combinations that could be quickly swapped out.

Fast-forward to today and you can do away with all pickguard-screws and install neodymium magnets instead for even faster pickguard-swaps.
 
Yeh but where am I going to get a 7string 27" tele headstock neck for my tele body (that has a belly cut 🥲) and has a bridge humbucker and single coil like I'm dreaming of?
 
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