New Squiers and Epis...

darthed1981

Been watching some NAMM coverage trying to get back my guitar mojo, and found some guitars this year that have really peaked my interest...

https://www.andertons.co.uk/squier-classic-vibe-60s-jazzmaster-laurel-fingerboard-olympic-white

https://www.andertons.co.uk/squier-classic-vibe-70s-telecaster-thinline-maple-fingerboard-natural

https://www.andertons.co.uk/epiphone-dc-pro-in-wild-ivy

Genuinely tempted to buy all three and risk the divorce threats!

Anyone else find themselves more tempted by a farm of mid-range guitars?  Dropping thousands on a single one never has much appeal for me, as there is no single design or type of guitar I can really identify as my "one".

Anyone else excited to see the expansion of the Classic Vibe range (presumably with a bit of an up-spec of the old vintage modifed models)?  Anyone else actually think Epiphones are great guitars?

rico

The Jazzmaster and the Tele look nice but I think that the DC Epi looks like a poor copy of a PRS of some sort. Also the colour is hideous.

Keen to see the new CV range too!

JezWynd

The cynic in me says they've just rebadged the Vintage Modified 72 Thinline as a Classic Vibe. But Fender wouldn't do something like that, would they? The VM was a very nice guitar, shared the same pu's as the Mexican version.

darthed1981

JezWynd said:

The cynic in me says they've just rebadged the Vintage Modified 72 Thinline as a Classic Vibe. But Fender wouldn't do something like that, would they? The VM was a very nice guitar, shared the same pu's as the Mexican version.

Certainly occurred to me, and the VMs are excellent guitars as well.

Would expect some changes, though I suspect would be a challenge to tell the difference.

darthed1981

rico said:

The Jazzmaster and the Tele look nice but I think that the DC Epi looks like a poor copy of a PRS of some sort. Also the colour is hideous.

Keen to see the new CV range too!

Haha - horses/courses - I like the colour more than anything else - I need a green guitar

CasperCaster

I haven't watched the NAMM announcements slavishly, but the Fender Mexican 12 string looks interesting, as does the Epi Jared James Nichols Les Paul. I also like a lot of the new Squier CV's, though I was a little disappointed that they didn't do more with the existing CV's - a few more colour choices/ FSR's would have been nice. For example who wouldn't want the 50's CV Tele in sunburst, or the edge bound 60's CV Tele in CAR or LPB? It's been ages since they did any interesting finishes on the traditional CV Tele's, so a missed opportunity there, but that doesn't take anything away from the new CV models which do look good.

Sassafras

That pickup switch placing on the Epi really annoys me.

TheMarlin

Sassafras said:

That pickup switch placing on the Epi really annoys me.

It’s not as bad as that headstock. Looks like an infected wart. I’ve never liked Epiphones. 
Never got along with my Sheraton.  

The only Epi I would like to own is the 1962 50th Anniversary Sorrento in olive green. Even the headstock looked nice in that one. Gibson mini humbuckers...just needed a Bigsby to complete it. 

CasperCaster

Regarding the 72 Tele Thinline, the old VM version looks better to my mind. Anderson's suggest that the new CV version has a Poplar body, rather than Ash. And the neck on the VM version I played a few months back was superb too.

stickyfiddle

I don't mind too much about body wood, but I haven't liked the thick neck finishes on the maple CVs I've tried. Other than that I'd love a thinline. 

Funkfingers

JezWynd said:

... rebadged ... Fender wouldn't do something like that, would they?

Some of the Squier VM instruments were rebadged Squier Standard series models. e.g. The Jazz Bass with Sixties style appointments. (All that was necessary was to lose the "Standard Series" decal near the G tuner. All other features remained the same - including, for a few years, the Duncan Designed pickups.)

One possible reason/excuse for this rebadging could be a shift of production from one factory to another. e.g. From Indonesia to China.

LuttiS

That Tele looks great! Epi looks great, not a finish i would personally choose, but still very pretty. The JM looks cool too.. 

You know what you need to do Ed.. or should we call the Gas Negotiator?

earwighoney

TheMarlin said:

The only Epi I would like to own is the 1962 50th Anniversary Sorrento in olive green. Even the headstock looked nice in that one. Gibson mini humbuckers...just needed a Bigsby to complete it. 

This was another cool recent Epi along those lines. 




**
One of the few things I have spotted for the Squiers shifting from VM to CV is the bodies are changing from Basswood to Poplar, and the fretboards are Indian Laurel. 

Gerz6558

darthed1981 said:

JezWynd said:

The cynic in me says they've just rebadged the Vintage Modified 72 Thinline as a Classic Vibe. But Fender wouldn't do something like that, would they? The VM was a very nice guitar, shared the same pu's as the Mexican version.

Certainly occurred to me, and the VMs are excellent guitars as well.

Would expect some changes, though I suspect would be a challenge to tell the difference.

Somebody from the offset forum tried some of the new CV's at Namm and was impressed.  He did say he wasn't a fan of the quality of VM line, but the rebadged VM-->CV models he played were absolutely a cut above the VM's he had played in the past.  He pointed to the newly designed pickups sounding much better, and better appointments to the guitars (the tort pickguard and bridge for example).

Whether that represents the quality we will see in stores is another story!

Grumpyrocker

I must admit I'm very tempted by the Epiphone DC Pro, looks especially nice in green.

dazzajl

darthed1981 said:

.............

Anyone else find themselves more tempted by a farm of mid-range guitars? ............

I know that how much I bond with a guitar tends to have nothing to do with the cost or often even the quality. And I've yet to meet a Squier that I didn't like. Yes some are a little on the plasticy side in feel but that doesn't stop them being fun to play or sounding pretty good at home or live. There are many of these new CV offerings that I'd love to try and if they are just the VM series with a new badge, that'll suit me perfectly, I like them too.

duotone

Quite like to look of this H-S-S Strat, I wonder what the body colour looks like in real life

https://www.andertons.co.uk/squier-stratocaster-guitars/squier-classic-vibe-70s-stratocaster-hss-laurel-fingerboard-walnut

Also this looks good as I’m a sucker for a natural colour body, although I don’t own one...yet.

https://www.andertons.co.uk/squier-stratocaster-guitars/squier-classic-vibe-70s-stratocaster-laurel-fingerboard-natural

bluenile

I really like the look of the tele deluxe in white, especially as there doesn't seem to be a MIM equivalent in the same colour. Here's hoping they aren't too much of a step down from the current CVs

Gerz6558

I've just took delivery of one of these: https://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/electric-guitars/alternative-body-guitars/gretsch-limited-edition-electromatic-pro-jet-fairlane-blue

It's considerably cheaper than most of my other guitars, and already has me contemplating why I spent so much on the others.  Literally nothing needs changing, looks and sounds absolutely brilliant.

If most of us our honest you don't need much beyond the cheaper/mid priced lines these days, night and day compared to those lines 20 years ago.

TheMarlin

Gerz6558 said:

I've just took delivery of one of these: https://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/electric-guitars/alternative-body-guitars/gretsch-limited-edition-electromatic-pro-jet-fairlane-blue

It's considerably cheaper than most of my other guitars, and already has me contemplating why I spent so much on the others.  Literally nothing needs changing, looks and sounds absolutely brilliant.

If most of us our honest you don't need much beyond the cheaper/mid priced lines these days, night and day compared to those lines 20 years ago.

Those Blacktop Filtertrons are epic once dialled in ‘just so’. They’re my favourite Filtertrons for rocky overdriven tones. They do AC/DC better than just about any other Filtertron.  It always bewilders me that people upgrade these to TV Jones. 

TV Jones are really great, but excel more at chimey sparkly clean tones

Gerz6558

TheMarlin said:

Those Blacktop Filtertrons are epic once dialled in ‘just so’. They’re my favourite Filtertrons for rocky overdriven tones. They do AC/DC better than just about any other Filtertron.  It always bewilders me that people upgrade these to TV Jones. 

TV Jones are really great, but excel more at chimey sparkly clean tones

Thanks for the info, and I've got to agree they're really good.  Early days but I don't think I have another guitar which can cover cleans and dirt so well without much tweaking.

I actually lost out on an ebay auction for some filtertrons last night, but by that stage I had no intention of upping my bid because these blacktop filtertrons sounded so good.

Kind of reaffirms the point of this thread that there might be more interesting and satisfying low/mid priced guitars these days.