NGD - sort of - MIK Fender Squier series strat

[Kramertron 2000]

I was weak yesterday... I put a Fender Squier series Stratocaster (CN serial number MIK with the silver Fender logo) on layby at my local second hand store. I think the price was too low to resist - $200Aud. Its black with a single ply white pickguard and in reasonably good nick. A couple of weird things is that the pickguard and bridge pickup are pristine white, while the other two pickups have yellowed quite a lot, and the knobs are all white except the one on the P/U selector switch, which is black. My guess is the bridge pickup is original and the other two have been replaced at some point with older ones.

So, what are people's opinions on this series? Did I make a good buy? I only gave it a quick test on a crappy Line 6 amp with the typical pawnshop cable that only works half the time (on a side note Iv got $50 off a Squier VM Jazz bass because I thought it was broken, but it was actually their shitty cable), and it sounded fairly good on all settings. The neck, as is my experience with all squiers (even my first old bullet strat), is pretty good, and the maple fretboard seems to be very flat, without direct comparison, it looked even flatter than the 9.5" radius on my Jaguar.

As far as I can tell they are about equivalent to a current Squier Standard series or maybe the MIM Standard, but probably has a plywood body, and a mixed bag of hardware from korea, japan and possibly even the US. Another odd thing, but seems to be normal going by pictures is the saddles (fender stamped) look like they are too wide for the bridge, which could be because the plate is made in korea while the saddles and block are made in Japan or something, so they arent actually directly compatible, and Cort just threw them together so they could at least have something to differentiate the line from the Squier by Fender guitars.

I think seeing as I prefer my offsets, and this is so cheap it will be a platform for some minor mods, and maybe to practice a refinish before I ruin my Jaguar. As far as mods go, Id probably replace the pickups, tuners and maybe the pickguard, electronics and knobs.

Im thinking either a black pickguard with some nice single coils, or maybe even make a stratoblaster with one or 2 WRHB, or just replace the knobs and pickups with black ones. Does anyone know which style of pickguard fits without having to drill new holes?

Anyway thoughts/opinions etc?

[HNB]

Everything is hit or miss. I have seen $1,400 Strats with a neck not mounted straight so the strings were off center. I have got EXCELLENT Squier guitars and some cruddy ones. I have one MIM strat I love and one that had a bad neck. I guess my point is that a good guitar is a good guitar. Lots of pros play Squiers happily. They don't hold their value like a US guitar, but they are fun to modify and play around with. I used to go for vintage and expensive guitars. I found I didn't like playing them because I was worried I would dent it or ding it and mess up the value. The cheaper guitars don't worry me. A large amount of custom builds I have done used $50 Squier necks. I like the satin finish they tend to have over the high gloss ones. Personal preference of course. Since I tend to like to mess with pickups and pots anyways, Squiers are great for that. To be honest, the stock pickups on many of the Squiers I have picked up were actually pretty cool. I just like to mod and such.

Post pics when you can! I have a glitter purple Squier coming in that I am going to have fun messing with.

[Kramertron 2000]

Thats it hey, I have a TVL jazzmaster, but I tend to keep going back to my Squier VM Jaguar at least as often. The Fender is just too hard to setup with the neck heel adjustment for the truss rod, and I think I like the shorter scale length. Every squier Iv played has had an excellent neck, and I also prefer the satin finish the cheaper models have over the thick, sticky gloss. Iv never been fussed about getting an actual vintage instrument, but it would be nice to have an AVRI jaguar in the lineup. Cheap guitars are a lot of fun though because you can be a bit more creative and rough with them.

This one has a Fender logo with "Squier series" on the ball of the headstock, which means it was slightly higher in the range than the Squier by Fender models of the time (late 80s-early 90s), which is cool. The pickups sounded alright, but not as good as the beat up MIM strat I tried at the same store that they wanted $500 for (this thing was almost a total write-off; it looked like it had been dragged behind a car for a while, the strap buttons had been replaced with these weird tubular things that I cant imagine holding a strap, the hardware was rusted, but it sounded excellent). New pickups would probably be my first mod either way, Im just not sure what I want for them. Im liking the Stratoblaster idea, but Im not sure.

[Kramertron 2000]

Might as well bump this. Does anyone know what pickguards fit these without having to drill new holes?
I'd like to put a B/W/B 3-ply pickguard on it first up I think.

Still going to be a few weeks before I can pick it up though unfortunately.

[MKR]

i owned a korean fender guitar like this and i will say it wasn't that easy to find a pickguard for it. you're probably going to have to re-drill a couple holes.

[Kramertron 2000]

Thanks for the info. I guess if the body is just plywood I can live with having to drill some holes. The other option is just making my own with a blank, using the original guard as a template.

[Acidhouse]

My recollection on those is that are laminate bodies. They were made by the Cort family. There was a MIM version as well that might have been a poplar body. I know on Squier-Talk there are a couple of members that have those and really seem to like them. It's nice that someone didn't sand off the Squier series part. That's a common problem with those models. Also, these are actually considered Fenders and not Squiers. Anyway, I think you got a good price for it. Congrats.

[Kramertron 2000]

Yea, Iv heard most are laminate, some arent (for $200au I cant complain, and it sounded alright through the crappy amp and cable I tested it on). There is actually a whole thread of some 6 or 7 pages on talkbass devoted to the MIK Squiers/Fender squier series too and the general consensus is they are good guitars (some even prefer them over their more expensive counterparts). Im glad the Squier series hasnt been sanded off the headstock too - I just dont see the point if it has a CN×× serial number (which anyone can look up) and made in korea on there anyway, its not fooling anyone.

Most of my guitars have been Squiers or Epiphones, and Iv found all the Squiers to be either great guitars or fun mod platforms - the only one so far that leaves a bit to be desired is my Jagmaster (standard series), and thats mainly because I hate the strat bridge, and prefer single coils over humbuckers. The epiphones Iv had on the other hand have all been a bit lackluster.

[Kramertron 2000]

Wandering around my local hardware chain-store today (I was originally looking at wood to build a guitar rack, being distracted from what I actually went out to do - look at laptops for when I go back to uni to do a PhD...) and thought of something that might be cool to try.

You can buy spray cans of glow in the dark paint, which I think goes on white or clear(ish). It might be interesting to grab a can of that and do some kind of glow in the dark design on this guitar. Im thinking bioluminescent mushrooms, because Im a biochemist/botanist, and have been fascinated by them for a long time. The paint glows green, so it would look like they actually do. Im thinking I could make a stencil out of something kind of flimsy, so I can make a repeated background, that has a bit of inconsistency and overspray to look a bit more natural/artistic. Being a black guitar I think the effect would be cool - just a faint impression in the light and as the light gets lower the green glow intensifies.

Not sure if the paint would go onto the gloss clear coat well or not though. My parents had some they sprayed onto their gate for some reason years ago, and it still glows quite brightly, so I should last a while too. And I suppose if it turns out crap I can always refinish the whole thing - its a $200 guitar made most likely out of plywood, so its not like there is any resale value or any reason it has to stay original.

And Im probably going to buy some w/b/w pickguard material and cut my own pickguard so it has a black guard instead of the 1-ply white. I always think white on black looks too formal (reminds me of a tuxedo or penguins).