I have several Squiers. I have several Fenders. They’re both good companies. They both make good guitars.
Brief history. My most recent Squier and my most recent Fender have both been Telecasters. And both were purple. One was a Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele. The other was a Fender Road Worn 50s Tele. I had seen a purple Tele and really liked the look, so I decided that I needed one.
I saw the Road Worn, and thought I should get it. But it cost over twice as much as the Squier. So I went with the Squier. It came in, and I quickly realized that it must’ve been a Monday morning guitar because it had issues. So, a few months later, I sprung for the Fender. Ever since then, I’ve said I should’ve just started with the Fender all along. It would’ve saved me getting the Squier.
So I have two purple Telecasters.
Now, I think that Squier guitars have their place, and they are generally good guitars for the money. I’ve, also, always talked about how they are good alternatives to their more expensive Mexican and American made cousins. I’ve always known, however, that there are things about the Fenders that make them nicer guitars, but, until today, I had never looked to see what any of the differences were.
Several months ago I swapped out the stock pups from the Fender. I was never really happy with the ones that came with it. So I got the GFS pups and figured I’d try them. The new neck pup was really nice. I liked it a lot! But the bridge never really caught my ear. I kept hearing about Bootstrap pickups, and thought I’d order them to see what they sounded like. I made the swap today.
I liked that GFS neck pickup I had gotten so well I thought I’d stick it in the Squier. So back to back I had both of those guitars pulled apart. The difference was, to me, absolutely astounding.
The Fender is a Road Worn. So it has nicks and scratches and worn paint all over it. But the cavities were all finished out nicely. They were even shielded. No rough spots or edges. The couple of date and barcode stickers in the guitar were positioned with intent. They were straight, and it appeared that someone had taken the time to do them right. The electronics were looked nice. Taking the parts off, they came off as expected, and the screws came out easily. I was able to change the pickups, and it all went back together with no issues. Start to finish took me roughly an hour, and I was playing the guitar again. The new pickups sound pretty nice if I should say so myself.
Once I got done with the Fender, I started to work on the Squier. And it was a whole different ballgame. First, parts didn’t want to come off. In fact, I ended up stripping the head on one of the screws on the bridge plate trying to get it off. None of those 4 strings came off easily. Then the cavities were all pretty rough. None of them were finished as nicely as the ones on the Fender. And none were shielded. I was, also, surprised to find out that the new electronics didn’t quite fit the old hardware. So off to Amazon to order new hardware. There was also this weird grease-looking stain under the pickguard and a spot of the same whatever-it-was under one side of the control plate.
Folks talk about the fit and finish of new guitars all the time. This Squier had issues from the get-go, but the usual pull-it-off-the-wall-and-play-it fit and finish wasn’t too bad. However, today, after pulling the pickguard and the bridge plate and the control plate all off, any illusion of good fit and finish quickly went away. Under the hood, there was a reason this guitar cost half what the Fender cost.
Like I said, start to finish, the Fender went from one set of pickups to the new set in about an hour. I spent about the same amount of time on the Squier. In that time, I managed to get it apart and realize that I needed to order a bunch of parts. I spent another 30 minutes ordering parts and putting some parts back together so I don’t lose them. Once I get all the parts in, I’ll be able to spend another 30 or 45 minutes putting them all on. Problem is, since one of the parts I had to order was a new bridge, once I’ve got all that on, I’m going to have to take time to set the guitar up again.
Once I get the Squier back together it should be a great guitar, but it still won’t be that Fender. Truth is that, after today, I realize that, no matter how much I’d like for it to be, that Squier will never be as nice a guitar as the Fender. Even though I’ve got some really nice instruments in there (and some really budget ones), I always skeptically looked at the difference in the two and think the nicer ones might not deserve their higher price tag. Today I realized that was wrong. There’s a reason that the Fender cost over twice what the Squier cost.