Squier 2020 line

[Avom]

Fret ends are not sharp on mine, so hopefully yours will be the same. I think the other photo might be an ivory pickguard, which I don't have. I do have a few, most of which are an instant no! Think I will stick with the stock dark tort or the cream for now:

Where did you get the creme pickguard?

It was just a cheapish one from ebay, a uk seller a few years ago. Nothing special!

Strung it now with 11's, still not had a proper chance to play it yet. But here's the finished article so to speak:

Hi everyone, first post... what do you think of the orange mustang?

[DavidG]

I love the orange mustang. The board just needed oiling and I put 11's on it which made it feel way better. Plays good, sounds good, looks good.

Only mods I'm looking to do are swap the neck humbucker for a single coil, and some sort of aged pearloid pickguard. Both of those are personal preference though.

[Justjoe]

kobe is here
i'll take a non-blurry picture when i'm not in my work schedule

Properly named! The first time I saw one of these I was thinking how rad it’d look with a gold 24 decal up by the arm rest. Very Lakers!

[manwithtitties]

it has a pearl pickguard now. it doesnt look as blue-gray-ish as it does on this photo. i'm really liking the jag, i expected it to be a price-hiked nicer looking VM, but it genuinely feels nicer. ive kept the stock strings so far because, like i said it plays surpisingly well, even with basically no tension. i remember playing vm jags in store, struggling and thinking these would be so good if they shimmed the neck and put 11s on out of the factory (which is what i ended up doing on mine). this one is just fine, i had to turn the truss rod a bit and lower the bridge (which is very nice by itself tbh).

some other thoughts i have:
- i dont remember the bridge pickup sounding this nice on the vm
- i kind of remember the neck pickup being a bit more trebly (but im not sure tbh)
- the tuners feel different from the vms/cvs i have (had). they seem to do the job just as well
- the upper and lower control plate came without the protective plastic, which has caused some tiny scratches. i dont really mind that.
- fret ends are not sharp and feel good. frets themselves feel a bit scratchy
- the super orange neck tint looks great imo
- stock tort looks pretty good. not as good as some of the earliest CV jags ive seen online (which looked really subtle and basically perfect), but still miles ahead of older squier and fender japan tort
-first time ive seen squiers have these kinds of screw in knobs & pots


- im generally glad to have my dream guitar

[ThePearDream]

The pink jags look great with the cream and pearl guards! Plain ol white would be fine too I bet.

I grabbed a pic of the Toronado pots showing that they are full size:


And before doing a barely needed fret level, I grabbed a pic of the heel and pocket markings:


After the fret level - which seriously, was almost not necessary - I replaced the synthetic bone nut with a new one of black buffalo horn and put some proper strings on (10-52). It feels great now. The pickups are actually pretty decent - if you always use dirt, you might be perfectly happy with them. I need a clean base tone though, so I have some Bootstrap Vintage Clean Humbuggies on the way, and will grab a pic of the body routing when I switch those out.

[vistavision]

I have some Bootstrap Vintage Clean Humbuggies on the way

I just got a set of those put in my CIJ Jagmaster. I love them. They're lower wind HBs and are chime-y and full without being overwhelming in the bass end. I'm mainly a single coil guy and they fit in with my other guitars great.

[CROSS_guitars]

Goddamn! that Pink Jag!

I personally think Pink n Mint is the best combo ever!
If I ever get to buy one of these, that's what I'm doing to mine.

[JPCordingley]

Oh man! Those Shell Pink Jags are getting me all hot and bothered. I'm going to have a hard time not buying one as I technically have the money but am moving house in the next couple of months and need to buy furniture and boring house-things when I do.

[ThePearDream]

I just got a set of those put in my CIJ Jagmaster. I love them. They're lower wind HBs and are chime-y and full without being overwhelming in the bass end. I'm mainly a single coil guy and they fit in with my other guitars great.

Great to know. I'm a single coil guy too, and these sound like they'll be perfect. All of the Bootstrap pickups I've bought have been great though.

[wadeaminute]

I got a chance to play a blue 2020 Squier Super-Sonic at my local Long & McQuade. My thoughts / impressions as an owner of Vista ones and Pawn Shop ones for many, many years:
The 2020's neck is closer to the Vista neck than the Pawn Shop neck. However, the 2020 neck, while roughly the same width at the nut and the same depth, has shoulders. And to me, this is less agreeable.
The neck finish is nice, the frets were not sprouting, and the board actually feels somewhat rolled.
The bullet truss rod is missed by me.
The body shape felt fine. Unlike on the Pawn Shops but akin to the Vistas, the neck plate is recessed - which is nice. The pearl pickguard (not stock on the previous models) looks nice on the blue. Only one of the pickups is reverse-canted - unlike the Pawn Shop but true to the Vista originals.
The neck pickup sounds very nice - like a humbucking strat neck pickup, if that makes sense. The bridge pickup did not work for me - it was relatively muddy and rounded and lacked sharpness / clarity. Which would be fine for high-gain or fuzz pedals, of course.
The pickups mount with two screws instead of three (like the Vistas but unlike the Pawn Shops).
I am not planning to buy one. But if these models fail for the third time in a row and they get blown out for less than half price (as did the previous models), maybe. In a sense, I like these better than the Pawn Shop ones. Better first impression, anyway - except for the colours. If Squier had done the new ones in a yet-unreleased larger-flake sparkle - say green or magenta - I would be way more likely to get one (or two).
Interesting story - Nick Reinhart, who bought one of my white Vistas, brought a couple of his Vistas down to Corona to be measured up last year. I emailed him a week or two ago and at the time he hadn't received one of the new ones yet. Maybe they become his touring guitars, so that he can leave the Vistas at home?

[dwrockdoctor]

First post, longtime lurker!

I just got hold of the paranormal super-sonic in graphite. Like wadeaminute I have a vista series super-sonic to compare (been loving your super-sonic knowledge and collection for years by the way!). I also agree, the neck pickup is wonderful. I was expecting to not like the atomic humbuckers at all but was really surprised with the neck pickup and also love the neck/bridge combo for that hollower phasey mixed pickup clean tone. The bridge humbucker sounds good once the gain is up, less so clean but that's what the the other pickups are for. Poked under the hood and there are also coil splits taped off of the pickups so at some point I will install a push pull so I have that option. The feel of the guitar is similar enough to the vista to hang with it for sure. A few small differences but overall very close.

But.... quality on my one at least isn't up to vista series levels. I can't fully straighten out the neck enough to get the relief where I like it, the truss rod needs more travel. Had to tune down to D standard to get where I wanted to be using 10-52 gauge elixirs. More worrying is a hump in the fret board between the 7th and 15th frets, highest at the 12th. Nothing truss rod adjustment can fix either. So there is a little fret buzz between the 7th to 12th fret. Also a little rough around the neck pocket with finishing. The store I purchased from online has offered either a refund, send to fender to get inspected and fixed if possible or a partial refund.

I really like this guitar already, there's a really nice subtle flame to the maple and some birds eye too and the indian laurel fretboard has a nice grain (some photos I've seen online of other paranormal fretboards can be quite ugly IMO depending on the guitar). I'm really not into a long wait to get a new guitar, only to receive something with a possible ugly fretboard or unattractive grain. The hump in the fretboard could probably be remedied with a fret level and crown (something I can do myself) and from what I've read online, you can take the truss rod nut off and add spacing washers to get more adjustment out of the truss rod. Tough decision to make on what to do.

I'm not here to bag this series, I'm sure my one is one that escaped QC, more likely to happen on a guitar made in the East for a certain price point. I already own a decent amount of US and Japanese guitars to understand that lower price point guitars don't arrive ready to go and can have high frets, etc, I got this one as a back up for my Vista and as a fun knock around at home guitar that I can mod to my hearts content. Fretboard hump is a little more troubling but it seems like it will be made right by Fender and the store I got it from whichever option I choose but thought it best to let people know to check your guitar closely when you go to buy it or when received online especially. Mine might just be a one in one hundred lemon. Otherwise, happy paranormal shopping!

[vistavision]

The store I purchased from online has offered either a refund, send to fender to get inspected and fixed if possible or a partial refund.

Hi, and welcome!
Soooo, I sold guitars at a Fender dealer for 17 years. They don't send Squiers back to Fender for inspection and getting fixed. Fender sends another one, and the store gets an RA from Fender and ships yours back to Fender. If the store you're dealing with is in fact a Fender dealer then Fender will trust them to make the call on the QC issues. Fender's not going to pay shipping each way, plus labor, to fix a Squier. Hope this helps when you deal with your retailer.

[dwrockdoctor]

The store I purchased from online has offered either a refund, send to fender to get inspected and fixed if possible or a partial refund.

Hi, and welcome!
Soooo, I sold guitars at a Fender dealer for 17 years. They don't send Squiers back to Fender for inspection and getting fixed. Fender sends another one, and the store gets an RA from Fender and ships yours back to Fender. If the store you're dealing with is in fact a Fender dealer then Fender will trust them to make the call on the QC issues. Fender's not going to pay shipping each way, plus labor, to fix a Squier. Hope this helps when you deal with your retailer.

It's looking like they want to take the guitar back. I don't necessarily want to roll the dice on something I don't get to see photos of first. That's why I got this one, the store had photos of the actual guitar. There's been enough online photos on threads to see that some of the indian laurel boards just aren't that appealing visually for me. I'm going to push for a full refund hopefully and wait until something pops up locally to try before I buy. Live and learn I guess.

Thanks for the insight on how it actually works vistavision!

[Gordon]

Inside the Toronado; no pool route, but P90s may fit.

[Pacafeliz]

So yesterday after work I decided to go to the MusicStore to check out one of them Squier Esquire guitars. Nice but they're all so damn badly set up there that it's no fun to play 'em.
Then I saw the guys there unpacking a gray and a blue Super-Sonic! Nice!!!

I immediately grabbed the gray one and took it to the booth.
Well I must say the build quality itself is very, very nice. No sharp edges or so, only on the pickguard.
But the setup was just terrible. And the thin 9er strings don't help either. Yes the neck pickup and both on sound really nice (clean and distorted) , the bridge one only overdriven - clean is just too much mids, too "nosey".

What's really weird is why they installed the pots the other way round: the upper one is for the bridge, the lower one for the neck pickup.

But it didn't do it for me, I don't "have to have it". All in all it just felt dull and a bit lifeless.

BUT then I picked up the blue one. That one was , to my surprise, nicely set up and really VIBRANT, even when only unplugged (didn't plug in)! Felt RIGHT!
So there you have it - if possible, try before buying.

Also saw the new Squier Competition Bullets (Orange and Blue), nice nice - but I have my sonic gray one already.

Also played a Vintera Mustang, really nice but again terribly just terribly set up, not worthy a €700 guitar.

I was too hungry and tired so I didn't try out the Tornados they had just unboxed. But they're all stock there now.