thanks everyone, my friend has a squire and he's getting a new guitar (becuse the squires nut broke and some other stuff)... he said i could have the guitar, i was thinking of modifying it, but i wasn't sure if it was worth the trouble. General opinion is that squires suck, but yeah.
and as for the wood, i thought it was a lower grade of the wood Fender uses, but i wasn't sure.
thanks