Squier Classic Vibe 70s Stratocaster Electric Guitar, with 2-Year Warranty, Walnut, Laurel Fingerboard

I'm a casual intermediate player of roughly 10 years on and off. I've borrowed or owned several budget to mid-range guitars including a Yamaha Pacifica, Early 90s Japanese Fender Heartfield, mid 2000s MIM Stratocaster, and Peavey SC-3. All of these were either sold or given back 6 months ago before a series of moves. Recently, I decided to buy another guitar to get back into it.I was prepared to get the American Strat of my childhood dreams, but I knew that kind of money would have been overkill for my skill level and intentions. The Player Strat was the next best alternative, but I wanted to test out something a little cheaper just for kicks. Research led me to Squire, particularly the Affinity and Classic Vibe series. I can’t lie. Seeing "Squire" on the headstock instead of "Fender" stung a bit at first, but I realized I'm not nearly talented enough to be that picky so I swallowed my pride. I ended up testing this guitar alongside a Squire Affinity Telecaster. Long story short, this guitar is my personal favorite over anything else I've owned/borrowed, and it's also what I believe is the greatest value I've ever gotten for a guitar.When I first received this guitar, I was very disappointed because it arrived with some cosmetic damage and blemishes. It definitely appeared to be a factory QC issue or was a return/floor model. Fortunately, Amazon was able to fix the situation quickly. Overall, it appears this was an uncommon issue.With that out of the way, I'm glad I gave the Classic Vibe another chance. This guitar screams quality and classic style. The color is a beautiful Fiesta Red that I swear changes throughout the day. Sometimes I see hot rod red, sometimes coral, and sometimes even orange. The neck, fretboard, and headstock of the guitar are maple with a heavy lacquer "gym floor" finish that make moving up the fretboard quick and smooth. The headstock has a classic narrow shape and vintage style tuners. What sets this guitar apart is that the quality of the materials seem very high for the price. This is an Indonesian factory model while the Affinity Series Tele I tested was a Chinese factory model. It honestly had shockingly good sound and looks for just over $200, but I could still tell the quality of materials took a significant hit and probably wouldn't have stood the test of time. I had the same experience with my Peavey SC-3 from six years ago; great sound for $399 but cheap paint and materials immediately started to degrade. I will update this review as necessary with time, but I have a great feeling about this Classic Vibe.Sound-wise, I'm pretty blown away. Out of the box, I experienced zero fret buzz and great action. The sound is bright and clean, and I believe it matches or exceeds the sound quality I got out of my mid-2000s MIM Strat. I'm no audiophile, but this guitar truly sounds like something more expensive.Make no mistake. This is not a $1200-$2000 American Strat. However, based on my experience and that of several Youtubers, it appears Classic Vibe can at least give the $699 Fender MIM Strat and even the $899 Fender Vintera a lot more competition than you would expect. Now knowing what $300-$500 gets for a guitar these days, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to justify the cost of a name brand Fender as a hobby guitarist.Conclusion: This is a lot more guitar than I expected for $399. It screams quality, and I've fallen in love with its classic style. This appears to be as good as it gets for the beginner/intermediate casual guitar player, yet I bet it could hang just fine with a more talented gig musician too. Unfortunately, they may get fewer groupies with "Squire" on the headstock!Additionally, the price jump between the Affinity Series Telecaster at $229 and the $399 Classic Vibe Stratocaster is definitely something I advice biting the bullet for. While the sound quality of the Affinity really was impressive, the quality of materials and construction are pretty far apart. I can't speak on behalf of the Affinity Stratocaster, but I assume the same. Do yourself a favor: buy this guitar and play your favorite song from the 50s to break it in. I don't think you'll be disappointed.Edit: One picture has a switched out pickguard

The Squire Classic Vibe series of electric guitars are an incredible value. It’s hard to believe you can get a Strat this good at this price point but they really are great. The quality of construction, the pickups, niceties such as a bone nut and a beautiful flawless finish along with great playability and classic Fender tone make these guitars a steal at this price.The setup was fine out of the box and I was playing in minutes after tuning up. In fact I wound up playing for hours until it was two in the morning here because I was having so much fun with it! I was plugged into Fender’s GTX 100 modeling amp (with headphones on!) trying it out with various tones and the sound was great. What a blast!I am not going to compare this to other Stratocasters made by Fender although I can tell you that over two decades ago I owned a Custom Shop Strat and Tele as well. Of course you don’t get that for under $500. Each of the Fender product lines incrementally improves various aspects of the instrument as much as possible at a given price point.What I can say is that the Squire Classic Vibe guitars truly are a great value for the money. Both I just purchased are fun to play, are well made with good quality parts and best of all give you that Fender tone you want. Pair any of them that pleases you with your amp of your choice and let the fun begin!By the way, the other Classic Vibe I bought was a Tele in Butterscotch Blond of course because Classic! It’s nice too. I could have bought one or the other in MiM form for about the same money and yes it would be a little nicer but I wouldn’t say dramatically so. I have no regrets. I don’t think you will either if you decide to get one or more too!

I got this for Christmas, so I have given it a good workout since then. To be brief, this is a Stratocaster, and a very good one at that. I had an American-made Highway One that was not at all as good as this guitar is. The CV sounds like, and is, a real Stratocaster. Yes, it will require a setup, as all guitars will. For people who are into that sort of thing, no, the trem block is not full size, but it doesn't make any difference in the sound. Once you get this guitar set up, it plays very well. It plays smooth, sustains well, and sounds great. I have to admit, it sounds very good. I am getting all the sounds I want out of it, all the sounds that Strats are supposed to make and then some. There's no need for a pickup swap or really anything. The only thing I've found is that one of the tuners on this guitar is cranky. I may have to change tnose out, maybe, which is like a $30 investment and takes about 30 minutes. But that is not a deal breaker. The pickups are a little more modern-sounding than strictly vintage pickups would be; again, not a deal-breaker. The fact that the bridge pickup has a tone control is amazing. That should be standard issue on all Strats. Volume and tone controls are effective and smooth. I have no problems with the build quality. The neck has some nice flame to it, actually. Overall, to be honest, this guitar is an absolute steal for the money. I could take this on any stage anywhere and play it live with no regrets or reservations. I doubt anyone but a cork-sniffing headstock-trainspotter could tell from the audience. If you are looking at this and have read this far, I think you should probably go ahead and get one. I don't think you'll regret it.