Squier Vintage Modified, Classic Vibe, Fender Pawn Shop, or....?

[raindog13]

I'm sure this subject is beaten to death, so I apologize. But what's the best bang for the buck? If a Pawn Shop series is worth the extra cash, I'm willing to spend it, but if a VM or CV is damn near as good, then I'm sure I'd be very happy with that. Problem is that I have no benchmark. So, I humbly request you show this padawan the way, lol

[Veitchy]

I'm pretty happy with my CVJM. If I had to benchmark it I'd say it's similar to what Mexican fenders used to be back in the early 10s. No idea if that means anything to you, but I'd say with a good setup they're a fine player grade guitar. You can spot where they've saved some money here and there but aside from the performance of the vibrato I'd say none of it is massively to the detriment of playability.

[raindog13]

If I had to benchmark it I'd say it's similar to what Mexican fenders used to be back in the early 10s. No idea if that means anything to you

No that makes sense. They were very hit or miss. Some were fantastic, others not so much. In general though, they were guitars that were just fine. I'm prepared to have it set up. I expect it from Squier, honestly. Not to say that there's anything inherently bad about their instruments, just that you can't expect the same level of CQ. The vibrato is another thing I'd change; I don't like the absence of the lock. But all told, you'd say it's a fine, gigable instrument, albeit with a minimal amount of attention paid to it at first?

[Sauerkraut]

With the pawn shop ones it really depends on the particular model, they’re very hit and miss imo.

[jagstang]

What kind of guitar do you lurk about? I own a VM Jaguar and i love this instrument. I play it as often and as gladly as my vintage fender mustang. It's a really nice jag. I also had a CV jaguar. This was also good but it had to go because it can't beat the VM. I know a lot of musicians who gig regularly squiers and there is nothing wrong with.
By the way: the time i bought the VM jag i had to choose between the squier and a fender pawnshop mustang special. I played both in a local store and bought the squier.

[kick_the_reverb]

I had/have both VMs and CVs.
VM Jaguar, bought before there were Squier Bass VIs, so it served as a platform for a long scale conversion with a custom neck. I did play it stock before and wasn't that impressed.

VM Jazzmaster - bought on a whim (played it Sam Ash, wife asked aren't you going to buy it? So I did). Wasn't impressed stock, added AVRI62 pickups and vibrato, Staytrem bridge. Sold it to finance an AV65, did not miss it.

CV Jaguar - bought open-box from Sam Ash. Had bad solder joint at one of the selector switches, got that repaired under warranty, and also had the volume pot replaced (limited range, but replacement didn't really help). Swapped on the neck from the VM Jaguar to get rid of the B&B cosmetics and to have a Rosewood fingerboard. With an AVRI62 vibrato and Pyramid Gold Flatwounds 13-56 I am happy with it. Body and hardware are much nicer than the VM.

CV Jazzmaster - bought one to swap a Musikraft neck on. Very nice guitar, of course AVRI62 vibrato swapped.
I have another one I bought later - the color (Olympic White) is not as "aged/yellowed" as the color on the Musikraft neck equipped one, which is a shame. Foil sticking out underneath the pickguard at one place (easy enough to trim, I guess). Was planning on swapping a baritone neck on it, but due to having no money will probably just swap an AVRI62 vibrato and set it up. Still nicer than the VM I had.

VM Bass VI - I have two very early ones and I am happy with them after proper setup with La Bella (one flats, one rounds), and vibrato+bridge swaps.

I have a friend that is way happier with his CV Jazzmaster than his Vintera (which had many issues). This friend is a luthier and has vintage instruments, so he has some point of reference...

Hope this helps,

Ran

[Surfysonic]

Squier Vintage Modified Series

I have previously owned all the Squier Vintage Modified models (a few times over) and like my Squier J Mascis Signature Jazzmaster, they have all been modding platforms for higher quality pickups, swapping out the stock bridges for 9.5" radius Mustang-style bridges, and refinishing projects.

I currently own a Squier VM Mustang and VM Jaguar, both with upgraded bridges, pickups, and the surf green Jag was one of my refinish projects that turned out fairly well (sherwood green). These are my personal pros and cons:

VM Pros

- Slightly fuller "C" shaped necks than the Classic Vibe series. If you have big hands like me, this is a plus.

- At the time, good value - a lot of guitar for the cost. Post-production, prices seem to have gone up for resale

- Excellent modding platform, including refinishing projects, upgraded pickups, wiring, StayTrem bridge upgrade.

- Rosewood fingerboards. I can live with Indian Laurel and Pau Ferro, but prefer Rosewood.

- More finish options than the CV series - see CV Cons section.

VM Cons

- For a beginner (and those that might not give a flying flip), the stock pickups were good enough. I'm no cork sniffer by any means, but I prefer higher quality pickups that will sound like a proper Jaguar, Jazzmaster, or Mustang. The stock ones were rather sterile/thin to me.

- Stock bridge - typical vintage bridge with shallow, multi groove saddles - typically better suited for flatwound strings (not my preference), troublesome heavy handed players like me using roundwound strings, even with 11s.

- Stock pickguards were challenging to find after market ones for quite a while. Now, they seem to be more available.

So, to me, the Vintage Modified series were great value with the understanding that upgrades were needed. As stock, they are serviceable but I think folks new to offsets (or new to guitar) with all the offsets' quirks, may experience frustration (tuning stability, strings staying on saddle, blandness of pickups).

Squier Classic Vibe Series

IMHO, the Classic Vibe offsets are much improved over the Vintage Modified offsets. I currently own 2 Squier CV '60s Jazzmasters (gotta sell one soon - too many JMs) and a Squier CV '70s Jaguar.

CV Pros

- Fit/finish - just from my experience, fit and finish seem to be consistently done well. I'm particularly impressed with the '70s Jag's block and binding. Personally, I'm kind of over blocks but I've come to appreciate and enjoy binding on the neck. I am just as fine without binding, but it's a nice-to-have. I have a Fender American Original '60s JM and the CV '70s Jag's bindiing is done just as well as the AO '60s JM.

- Decent stock pickups - I assumed I would automatically need to upgrade for higher quality pickups. I don't, the stock pickups sound like proper offsets. However, I still upgraded because I wanted to try various after-market pickups. While the stock pickups get the job done, the after-market pickups are my preference (whether for hum-cancelling or tonal quality). For folks new to offsets, though, the stock pickups are good - personally, I feel they are a big improvement over the VIntage Modified stock pickups.

- proper offset (mustang-like) stock bridge for better roundwound string seating/stability. Most quality after-market bridges tend to be pricey (Mastery, StayTrem) and in StayTrem's case, difficult to acquire due to the pandemic over here in the US. I'm very satisfied with the stock bridges on the CV offsets. Not having to buy aftermarket bridges is a nice quality of life change.

- Neck shape is still called a "C" shape, but slimmer than the VIntage Modified offsets. I still find them comfortable. Personally, if given the choice, I'd take a VM neck over the CV.

- Pickguards - maybe I got lucky but I was able to put on a pickguard from a Fender AVRI JM without issue/adjustments.

CV Cons

- Fingerboard - only in the sense that they're not rosewood. I don't mind Indian Laurel at all and prefer it over Pau Ferro fingerboards found on Mexican Fenders. For all my Indian Laurel fingerboards, I simply give them a nice wipedown with Boiled Linseed Oil one time to hydrate and darken up the fingerboard.

- Finish Options - seem to be limited as compared to the VM series. Two finish choices for CV '60s Mustang (Sonic Blue and Vintage White), where the VM Mustang had three finishes (Fiesta Red, Sonic Blue, and Vintage White). CV '60s Jazzmaster has three finishes - Sonic Blue, Olympic White, and 3-Color Sunburst and the VM Jazzmaster had four finishes - Sonic Blue, Candy Apple Red, Olympic White, and 3-Color Sunburst. CV '70s Jaguar has 3-Color Sunburst, Black, Surf Green (I have a FSR Daphne Blue from Guitar Center (I think)). The VM Jaguar had four finishes - 3-Color Sunburst, Olympic White, Candy Apple Red, and Surf Green. FSR options from Chicago Music Exchange, Guitar Center, and Anderton's helps with the limited stock choices.

If having to choose one over the other based on the stock configuration or "as is", I'd go with the CV series with its overall improvements over the VM series.

If purchasing as a modding platform, either is fine but I'd likely go with the VM series because I prefer the VM necks as they are fuller and have the rosewood boards. YMMV but necks are probably the most critical aspect of the guitar to me.

[Wucan]

The Pawn Shop Mustang is pretty unique with all the switching options and the contours, and can be had for relatively cheap if you go for the MIM one. OTOH the Jaguar version is as if someone dropped a HSS strat pickguard on a Jag so... may not be to your taste. In general they'll feel better to play than Squiers but like everything collective they've gotten a lot more expensive since last year.

I also have a VM Jaguar and had a recent CV one. The VM feels a lot better honestly, really hated the narrow-tall frets on the new CVs and everything felt more flimsy and plastic even though the fit and finish were fine. Dunno, it's as if they went with lower quality hardware. I'd try looking for a VM first.

[DavidG]

The current classic vibes are very nice. Take the vintage modified line they replaced, add a bone nut, redesigned pickups and a mustang type bridge, and you've got a better overall package. No immediate need to mod anything, and they feel like a solid instrument

I've had a Squier VM & CV jag, Mascis Jazzmaster, Vintera Jag and Jazzmasters, and most of the American lines over the years. I'd have no problem getting another CV, infact I have a Bass VI on pre order.

Good luck!

[Veitchy]

If I had to benchmark it I'd say it's similar to what Mexican fenders used to be back in the early 10s. No idea if that means anything to you

No that makes sense. They were very hit or miss. Some were fantastic, others not so much. In general though, they were guitars that were just fine. I'm prepared to have it set up. I expect it from Squier, honestly. Not to say that there's anything inherently bad about their instruments, just that you can't expect the same level of CQ. The vibrato is another thing I'd change; I don't like the absence of the lock. But all told, you'd say it's a fine, gigable instrument, albeit with a minimal amount of attention paid to it at first?

A bit of TLC and yeah, go gig it. I had the nut cut for larger strings, as setup that attends to that, shimmed the neck, and if I wanted it perfect there's some fretwork I'd get done. The pickups sound like Jazzmaster pickups, and the electronics work fine.

To be fair, I never saw that many dogs re: Mexican fenders of that era. My experience was fine instruments but you can see where they saved money.
At any rate, always take the opportunity to play the guitar you're going to buy if that option is available to you.

[bessieboporbach]

I'm sure this subject is beaten to death, so I apologize. But what's the best bang for the buck? If a Pawn Shop series is worth the extra cash, I'm willing to spend it, but if a VM or CV is damn near as good, then I'm sure I'd be very happy with that. Problem is that I have no benchmark. So, I humbly request you show this padawan the way, lol

In my humble opinion, the Classic Vibe JMs are not as nice or as stable as the Vintage Modified ones.

Laurel fingerboards look similar to rosewood but they are much more porous and soft. This affects neck stability as well as "speed."

I've never tried a Pawn Shop series guitar but I would characterize the CVJM as well south of any current MIM Fender, including the Player Series. The VM guitars were a little (sometimes a lot) closer.

[Mechanical Birds]

10/10 if you want an actual Fender variant of a Jazzmaster or Jaguar I’d say go for a Squier fix up and will have a more than serviceable guitar that you can be happy about

[ogpuprison]

Re. the bass VI. I had a VM squier VI for a while, wonderful guitar, it came from a decent guitar store and had a staytrem... stupidly I traded it for a deluxe jazzmaster (VM) which wasn't as well made but a great banjo nevertheless. I just couldn't get on with it, it felt too good for me and i was too precious with it.
Recently I got a B-stock CV bass VI, black, which feels cheap compared to the VM version. The intonation isn't convincing, despite some shimming and bridge reversal, nut filling,and new gotoh tuners- it plays and sounds shit. I gotta get it sorted, all fucking wrong.
I use it with light strings- 70 to 11 or thereabouts. I had two snapped tuners so I had to splash out on tuners-£35. Next up a staytrem I suppose, it will force me to set it up right, even if I have to pay someone £40 for a set up.
So in my experience, VM's were better but perhaps I had 2 good ones and a B stock guitar may have faults I don't recognise. CVs fretboard is as good and bridge is better

[vpich]

Just picked ip a vm jaguar that came up insanely cheap locally, so I couldn’t pass it up. Just as i was with vm jm i had a few years back i was floored by the weight. It’s got to be around 7 pounds. The classic player jags i had (single and himnucker) and the marrguar i had were at least 9-10 pounds. This new vm jaguar is great in every regard. Going to switch out the because i prefer mint, and will probably eventuAlly swap out the trem and bridge but honestly I didn’t even replace the strings or tinker with anything. Sounds and plays great.

[PixMix]

My MIJ Mustang from Pawn Shop series is just as good as it gets. Plays amazingly well, it has a ridiculous number of tonal options, and looks killer. With its body contouring and slightly different shape, it feels more like a smaller Jazzmaster than a Mustang. I should have gotten another one when you could pick them up for $400-450 used.

But there are lots of good offerings out there among all other options outlined in the thread.