Played a bunch of recent Fender/Squiers in TO

[Mike]

Does anyone care what I think? Probably not.

Squier Classic Vibe Duo Sonic
Right, so this thing is ridiculous for the price. The fit and finish is superb, the pickguard and body finish are classy, as are the knobs and bridge. Tuners feel good. Neck is glossy as hell, and the frets are dressed really nicely, but the neck is SO GODDAMN PALE it's like Casper the Friendly Ghost's Johnson. It's just absurd and ugly and wrong. It's like ET in that Oxygen Tent. ELLLIOOOTTTT. The toggle switch had HAZE-ITIS so I didn't plug it in, but acoustically it was very nice. Basically try before you buy, but a winner

Squier Classic Vibe Stratocaster 60s
This was Sunburst and just lovely. Fantastic tinted glossy neck that felt great to play - tasty sounding pickups, nice hardware all over. If you want a Strat, buy one of these - just don't even bother with anything else, ever.

Fender Road Worn Stratocaster 60s
Sunburst, worn and all that jazz. It was the only one in the shop so I didn't get all butthurt about the relicing being the same as others. The neck wear is very similar to my old Jaguar - some gloss left up at the headstock and down by the heel and the rest worn to a satin that does in fact feel genuinely old. I think this gets you 75% to the feel of an old guitar, I have to say, playing it in isolation with an open mind - that I really liked it. Way too expensive though.

Fender MIM Telecaster Standard
A bit shit really, did not like because...

Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster
... just buy this one instead. Mercy. What a neck. I really liked the big stupid 1ply black plastic guard also - and the pickups sounded great - on a par with the Baja - Tele vibe for cheaps. Brilliant!!


What did I play all these through?

Marshall Class 5

Guys - this seriously fucking brilliant. Clean with single coils to practise volume no worries, and then just crunches up and gets more aggressive as you dial up the volume - pretty damn loud. I annoyed a lot of people when I dimed it. But it's brutally good. Dig in and get the CRUNCH and back of and have the lightly dirty cleans. Fantastic stuff. Looks cute as a button also. Would love to play wide open with a drummer through a 2x12" or 4x12"

[Bacchus]

I agree with the Duo Sonic and the Classiv Vibe Strat. They were awesome when I played them. I spent about forty five minutes with the Strat and JVM 410H in New Zealand. Very enjoyable. I can see myself picking up one of these at some point.

The Tele, I was less impressed with, but that's probably because I A/B'd it with the Baja, which I think is more or less the perfect Tele. The manager of the shop was pretty much in love with the Classic Vibe and was nearly trying to talk me down from the Baja to it instead, but it sounded kind of dull and, I dunno, cardboardey or something compared to the Baja. That might have been my ears playing tricks, because I liked the Baja so much, it might have been this particular example or it might have been because I only spent about five minutes with it before going back to the Baja, so I didn't adjust any amp settings or anything.

I spent several hours across two months playing the Squier Vintage Modified Fretless Jazz Bass, too. Buy one. I would.

Squier's range at the minute doesn't just offer famous guitars at an accessible price, it pretty much offers the best of every example (except the tele, but that might be just me). The Strat is as good as any I've played, I can't see how the Duo Sonic could be made any better, and the Fretless Bass sounds stupendously good. I've heard good things about the CV Jazz bass too.

[stewart]

as far as the cv precision goes, i love it. i must admit, through laziness i haven't actually played it plugged in, but gavin's been using it at rehearsal and a fair few gigs and it sounds fine amped. definitely wouldn't spend £800 on a US precision in favour of it at the moment, put it that way.

[Mike]

Yeah, I obviously also own the P-Bass from the CV series and it is fucking immense. It makes me smile to play it. There is no higher praise.

[Bacchus]

definitely wouldn't spend £800 on a US precision in favour of it at the moment, put it that way.

That's it. That's the point I didn't manage to make. On all these guitars I can't see where the mark-up between the Squier and the American Fender goes. I can't see the £800 difference. There might be some, small things, but not anything worth that much.

[stewart]

Yeah, I obviously also own the P-Bass from the CV series and it is fucking immense. It makes me smile to play it. There is no higher praise.

i didn't want to like it, cos i was in cheapskate mode and the VM precision was cheaper... but the quality was undeniable. i had to get it.

didn't really like the CV jazz that much, and the tort guard is just vile.

definitely wouldn't spend £800 on a US precision in favour of it at the moment, put it that way.

That's it. That's the point I didn't manage to make. On all these guitars I can't see where the mark-up between the Squier and the American Fender goes. I can't see the £800 difference. There might be some, small things, but not anything worth that much.

i borrowed a US precision for that last batch of recordings we did, and while it was nice, it wasn't £500-extra-nice. i mean, it had a pretty smooth action, but surely that's down to strings and setup? it was before i'd got the CV tbh, but my memory's good enough to gauge the differences.

[Mike]

Yeah, I obviously also own the P-Bass from the CV series and it is fucking immense. It makes me smile to play it. There is no higher praise.

i didn't want to like it, cos i was in cheapskate mode and the VM precision was cheaper... but the quality was undeniable. i had to get it.

didn't really like the CV jazz that much, and the tort guard is just vile.

Not embarassed to say the Tort heinousness on the Jazz CV bass makes it a complete no go. I'm all for banning aesthetic in favour of value, sound and playability - but butter my arse and call me a crumpet that is fucking uggo.

[Bacchus]

I hate the way it only comes in Olympic White, too. I'd be happy enough without a pickguard, I like that look (Jaco fanboi), but not with a white guitar, it'd be awful looking.

Hmmm, maybe a white guitar with a black control plate would work.

[stewart]

Yeah, I obviously also own the P-Bass from the CV series and it is fucking immense. It makes me smile to play it. There is no higher praise.

i didn't want to like it, cos i was in cheapskate mode and the VM precision was cheaper... but the quality was undeniable. i had to get it.

didn't really like the CV jazz that much, and the tort guard is just vile.

Not embarassed to say the Tort heinousness on the Jazz CV bass makes it a complete no go. I'm all for banning aesthetic in favour of value, sound and playability - but butter my arse and call me a crumpet that is fucking uggo.

that's the thing, i'd have been willing to get a new guard cut as it was £50 cheaper, but the one i picked up didn't feel that nice to play anyway. plus, sonic blue > olympic white in this instance.

edit: paul agrees with the colour verdict, presumably!

[taylornutt]

Does anyone care what I think? Probably not.

Squier Classic Vibe Duo Sonic
Right, so this thing is ridiculous for the price. The fit and finish is superb, the pickguard and body finish are classy, as are the knobs and bridge. Tuners feel good. Neck is glossy as hell, and the frets are dressed really nicely, but the neck is SO GODDAMN PALE it's like Casper the Friendly Ghost's Johnson. It's just absurd and ugly and wrong. It's like ET in that Oxygen Tent. ELLLIOOOTTTT. The toggle switch had HAZE-ITIS so I didn't plug it in, but acoustically it was very nice. Basically try before you buy, but a winner


Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster
... just buy this one instead. Mercy. What a neck. I really liked the big stupid 1ply black plastic guard also - and the pickups sounded great - on a par with the Baja - Tele vibe for cheaps. Brilliant!!

I have good CV Duo and it's the cat's meow with .11s. So much fun to play. I agree with Mike's comments, especially about the neck tint. The other CV series guitars have gorgeously tinted necks.

I recently went to Guitar Center and played a Vintage Musicmaster, CP Jaguar HH, CP Thinline Telecaster and a Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster with pine body. The CV Tele was my favorite and blew them all away except for the Thinline. I agree with Paul about the Baja, but you can't beat this guitar for $329. I can't decide whether to get CV tele or wait for the Baja. The input jack barely worked, but it's an easy fix and a negotiating point.

[dots]

great thread! really want to check out that marshall now. . .

[Bacchus]

I played the big block Jazz Bass today. I think they look great, but are a bit too seventies for my tastes. It felt great though, but I think a large part of that might be because I prefer Jazzes to Precisions, and I've been playing a Westfield Precision copy for a few months now.

[chisa]

i wanna get hold of one of those cv teles when money permits, i haven't heard a bad thing against them.

[benecol]

OK, here you go then: the CV tele left me cold.

The 50's strat, however, was a dream. And I keep seeing those maple'n'blocks "OMG WTF THEY'RE PAINTED ON!" basses around the place.

[sonicmansuperb]

I know of an improvement to the Classic Vibe Line, A 60's Duosonic with neck tinted!

[Josh]

OK, here you go then: the CV tele left me cold.

The 50's strat, however, was a dream. And I keep seeing those maple'n'blocks "OMG WTF THEY'RE PAINTED ON!" basses around the place.

how many have you played?
i find them rather hit and miss, some i can't get on with at all, and some i find great.

[paul_]

Fender MIM Telecaster Standard
A bit shit really, did not like because...

Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster
... just buy this one instead.

This

I actually prefer Squier standard teles to Mexican Fender standard teles because of the necks as well, the pickups are also more characteristically tele-like on the Squier, the MIM ones have the twang switch turned off.

[Blurillaz]

So... Squier surpasses Fenders now? Cool.

[Haze]

The Classic Vibes that i have played have surpassed the feel and quality of the MIM standards. And they keep up with MIA's pretty well too. Its mainly been the necks that have set the CVs above the MIM standards. Which is odd, iirc the MIM necks are made in america then shipped off to the mexico factories for finishing/assembly.
Either way, play one and you'll love it

[Blurillaz]

The Classic Vibes that i have played have surpassed the feel and quality of the MIM standards. And they keep up with MIA's pretty well too. Its mainly been the necks that have set the CVs above the MIM standards. Which is odd, iirc the MIM necks are made in america then shipped off to the mexico factories for finishing/assembly.
Either way, play one and you'll love it

Good to know, $$$ doesn't always = Awesomeness
I picked up an American strat for $500 though which I believe is better than a classic vibe lol.