StratDudeDan Posted January 13, 2005 Report Share Posted January 13, 2005 i recently aquired an old squier strat. plays nicely, needs a little bit of fret work and setup, but otherwise it's along my standards as squiers should go. however, its tone is so freaking dark, it sucks. normally, i'm for a warmer, deeper tone, but in this case, it's gone far too much. i have 250k pots and a .047uF cap. should i go to a higher value cap? lower? change the pots? btw, this is universal. the bridge sounds like a quiet neck pickup, and the neck sounds like a pickup truck in the mud. thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted January 13, 2005 Report Share Posted January 13, 2005 sounds like you are describing a plywood bodied guitar.they tend to sound quite mushy. maybe some really snappy pickups would help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marossy Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 I am willing to bet it's a combination of a plywood body and lousy pickups. New pickups might help some, but your guitar will never really have a singing quality with a plywood body. It might work good for fast, jazzy stuff, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javacody Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 (edited) First of all, lets not jump to conclusions, not ALL squiers are made out of plywood. However, MOST squier pickups suck mucho ace. The $159 Made In China Infinity squiers are made out of solid Alder. Squier standards are made out of solid Agathis, again, not plywood. Last but not least, early Squiers are excellent, excellent guitars. Also, keep an eye out for the protone series, ash bodies and fairly decent pickups. Most of these Asian made guitars have fretwork that rivals Gibson and Fender factory stuff. My guess would be that the pickups and the bridge are at fault. The magnets in the pups are probably really crappy ceramic and the block in the bridge is probably pot metal. Upgrade the bridge block to steel and get some Tex-Mex pickups and you will have a smokin, inexpensive blues guitar. Also, if those pots are the stock pots, get rid of em and get some decent CTS pots. Most Squiers with the really crappy pickups come with 500K pots, I would guess becuase the pickups are dark. Edited January 14, 2005 by javacody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crafty Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 Uh oh, Squier Fanboi alert!! Quite honestly, Squiers have ranged from okay to dismal quality. Comparing Squier quality to Fender quality from the early '80s is like shooting fish in a barrel. I've played a couple good Squiers and many really bad ones. Sounds like you just got a bad one. Let's say it's made out of agathis (japanese for "really bad wood") and it might be worth keeping. If you want a bright single-coil sound for not-so-much bread, try some Texas Specials or some Rio Grande pickups. If you can spend a little more dough, an EMG-SA set, Dimarzio HS-3 set, or SD Quarter Pounder set may work nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 Squier standards are made out of solid Agathis, again, not plywood i do not assume that it is plywood ,except that the sound he describes resembles a plywood bodied guitar. but agathis....ugh it ALSO in my experience is one of the most mushy,dead sounding woods i have heard...as bad as luan imo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javacody Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 (edited) "Uh oh, Squier Fanboi alert!!" Them's fightin words, pilgrim. Let's just leave it at that. Also, Fender USA and Gibson USA have both been going downhill quality wise as of late on their fretwork in my opinion. That's why my "strat" type guitar was made out of premium USA Custom Guitars wood with awesome fretwork right out of the box. After two years, the only thing I've had to do to the frets was tweak the bass side of the 8th fret ever so slightly. Also, there is no way Texas Specials represent that "bright, single coil sound", they represent, muddy, fuzzy, moldy-turd-covered-in-green-and-purple-horseflies single coil sound. Custom Shop 69's are the best Fender Single Coil on the market. That's my opinion, but I'm going to present it as fact. LOL Last but not least, I'm sure Agathis isn't anyworse than mushwood, er, I mean basswood. Edited January 14, 2005 by javacody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted January 15, 2005 Report Share Posted January 15, 2005 Last but not least, I'm sure Agathis isn't anyworse than mushwood, er, I mean basswood. don't be TOO sure...because you would be wrong i am no fan of basswood.but the fact is that it has a more toneful predisposition than agathis,to my ears. and since i have more than one guitar made of each,i guess i am qualified to make a call on it. to be honest,my best sounding guitar at the moment for metal is a maple neck through with basswood wings...but basswood complements a high amount of maple very well for such things. i would NEVER use basswood on a strat with single coils though...but i would use that before agathis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crafty Posted January 15, 2005 Report Share Posted January 15, 2005 Them's fightin words, pilgrim. Let's just leave it at that. Yeah, yeah, I'm just busting some chops here. School has started back up and one of my professors has put me into a sour mood, so I'm taking it out on the forum. Anyway, Squiers have gotten better in some cases, but with the variety of manufacturers and countries of origin, the quality tends to vary. I did play the limited edition Chinese Affinity Alder Blonde Tele last week and it was a very nice instrument--especially for $155. You're the fourth person I've heard complain about the tone of the Texas Specials. The first three are the primary reason why I didn't buy some last week, but I've heard some pretty wicked tones out of 'em from Jimmie Vaughan, and the price isn't bad. I personally prefer EMG-SAs and SD Quarter Pounders, as I have used those before. I'd be willing to bet that his problems have more to do either with bad pots or a short somewhere in the wiring. Even stock Squier pickups don't sound AS BAD as he's describing, no matter if it's plywood, agathis, or cow pie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StratDudeDan Posted January 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2005 well...it's a mexican squier, which means it mostly likely is a maple ply like my first. however, that one sounded wonderful. i'm gonna get a set of Lace s-100's (out of production, very cheap). granted they have a slightly lower output, but that doesn't really concern me. just getting the sound brighter. and as for knocking squiers...whoa...don't go there. most of the guitars i work on are squiers, and i love them. yes, they have a ton of room to become better, but the neck on my "dragon strat" that a few of you have seen pics of is by far the best neck i have ever played on. also, it's a 2-piece alder body, which was factory. gorgeous, and wonderful tone. and finally, IMO, the big headstock is way cooler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivin Posted January 15, 2005 Report Share Posted January 15, 2005 I couldn't agree with you more Dan: thats my squire i jazzed up a bit - its got S100's in it and as far as i know its not a plywood body, but I really dont care cause it sounds great and plays wonderfully. With the parts i've put in it im confidant that I wouldnt get too much (if anything) more out of spending the money on an american strat. I just love this thing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javacody Posted January 15, 2005 Report Share Posted January 15, 2005 Jimmie Vaughan uses the Tex-Mex pickups. They're a little hotter than stock pickups, but they aren't nearly as muddy as the Texas Specials, they still have some chime and shimmer to them. However, some folks say they aren't as "complex" sounding as more expensive Fender pickups, could be the plastic bobbin (could be the snob mindeset of more expensive pickups are better)? Who knows, but I like 'em and for $80, they are hard to beat. I personally don't see anything wrong with Squiers. I love the big headstock, and for $150 new, they are a damn fine instrument. I prefer the infinity series because I prefer a vintage style trem, but the nut width is a little on the small side for my hands. My USA Custom Guitars Strat type guitar uses the US-3 headstock (Large Fender style), because I guess, the first time I really noticed what type of guitar someone was playing was when as a kid I saw a film clip of Jimi playing a big headstock strat. That was THE guitar for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted January 15, 2005 Report Share Posted January 15, 2005 one of the most accomplished old school rockers around my part of the woods plays a $50 pawnshop squire that he painted bright orange, installed one hot dimarzio humbucker right dead center between neck and bridge and a volume pot. 'course he's got about 27 stomp boxes in his arsenal but you couldn't buy the squire from him...probably Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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