20160213_173818 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr
20160213_173748 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr
20160213_173918 by Hentai No Baka, on FlickrSo issues it had/has.
It has some small spots of black paint on it. Pin size dots of black on the body and some black marks on the neck. I was able to rub the black off of the body. The neck not so much, but it is minor and not easily notices.
The neck was a little crooked. To help it straighten out, I put a piece of paper in the lower left corner of the neck between the neck and body to help keep it turned the little bit to be more straight. Not a major issue. Normally I would loosen the strings and neck screws to straighten, but it kept going back to the slightly off spot. The paper has helped it keep where I want it.
The bridge saddles are a little crooked. After researching, it sounds like these guitars are made using stamped saddles that are a little too wide for the spacing. I ordered a set of narrow spaced saddles for it to help them sit more straight.
20160213_174106 by Hentai No Baka, on FlickrThe strings don't pass over the poles exactly. With the neck pickup, the two E strings are on the inner side of the screws. The bridge pickup's low E pole is outside of string. The guitar sounds good, so it just looks kind of odd. From what I have read about the Squier necks, they seem to stay narrow the full length of the neck instead of getting much wider where it mounts to the body. I have had some string slip over the edge a little, but it still has the thin stock strings. I think when I put 10's or 11's on it, that should help due to the increased tension. I think the narrow neck causes the weird pole alignment. Since it sounds good, I don't really care about that. Could be also that this black guard's pickup holes are a little off center? I am looking in to having a white/black/white guard for it, so also not a huge deal to me.
20160213_174131 by Hentai No Baka, on FlickrI am going to put a nicer set of pots in it and a new switch since I am changing out the guard. All that stuff isn't too expensive and should help it quite a bit. The neck feels great. Frets are great. No sprouts or dead spots that I have found. It has some weird grain on it that I kind of like. I am going to put flat top telecaster knobs on it for the new solid shaft pots. I am not positive what pot values it has at the moment. It should have 1meg to be like the originals, but I am guessing 500K or maybe lower. The neck pickup is very bassy so it leads me to think the pots might not be right. I will use new ceramic capacitors as well. The Kluson like tuners work well and seem installed well. The finis isn't flawless or anything, but very nice for the price of the guitar. Once parts come in, I will add updates.
