I've wanted a hardtail offset for
ages, and when Squier brought these out at £115 brand spanking new it was too much to resist.
I've only had a quick play at "sleeping children in the next room" levels but here's my initial thoughts:
Its very, very pretty. The blue is one of those impossible to photograph finishes which is slightly sparkly. I wasn't sure about the blue from the stock photos but I'm very glad I did---it's a great looking thing.
The neck is very comfy. Nice satin finish, no sharp frets, no dents. Really like the neck. Its perfect for me.
The electronics are pretty decent, given the cost. Both pickups are very usable (admittedly only at low volume thus far). No crackles or any excess noise. The only downside is that the taper on the volume and tone is a bit pants (as per every budget guitar ever). It sounds immediately Fendery to my ears, which is exactly what I wanted.
The bridge feels solid (haven't adjusted it yet) and the tuners have a nice smooth, firm, action. Miles better than the rubbish that was on the last cheapo I bought.
Setup out of the box is pretty decent---no fret buzz that I noticed but not too high either. I won't be adjusting the truss rod or saddles unless I have an actual problem somewhere later. The intonation isn't perfect (its pretty bloody close though) but I'm also bearing in mind that my other guitar is longer scale and strung with 11s so an element of the intonation is down to me fretting too hard. I'm going to leave it for a bit before tweaking anything.
The only real downside is a bit of a weird one that I haven't encountered before. The frets are a bit "scratchy" when bending strings---you can feel the string scratching on the fret. Thirty seconds with the sleeve on my jumper suggests they will polish up ok and again I think the problem is made worse by my heavy handedness combined with short scale and light strings.
So my initial impression is that this is
absolutely stonking value for money. Chuffed to bits and that's just out of the box with the stock strings. Whack some aftermarket pickups in here and I reckon you could have a monster on your hands. The next Squier 51 or Joe Trohman?
I know a few people here were tempted by these---definitely check them out, they're certainly not cheap rubbish (as they could have been at that price).
Comments
Would the pickup holes fit with normal covered humbucker sized pickups do you reckon?
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i'm strictly black, reds & white for guitars, but as glitzy 60s blues go it's very pretty.
that super-subtle glitter effect looks the same as my black jagmaster used to have. on the fender spec page for these new cheap jazzmasters the bodyshape is given as 'jagmaster' so maybe they are using the templates & finish types from that range.
how does the neck profile & radius feel. stock squier feel or thinner fatter different?
it certainly is a lot of guitar for the money. if the jm wasn't almost double the price i'd have taken by now. more bill paying & saving to do. but reassuring to know quality is there when i'm ready.
Then a good buff with a lint free cloth. It will make a big difference.
selling a few pedals so if they get shifted i think one of these is heading my way. offset goodness. HNGD
trading feedback thread
The pickup selector may be able to be turned round, if the cavity isn't the minimum possible size. Although working at that angle would be an advantage for me too, since I tend to bash them a lot when they're in that position and that might make it less movable.
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Try before you buy. You might not like it---or maybe I got lucky and the rest are dogs.
Your photos of the blue make it look much more attractive than stock photos, it looks really flat in stock, but it's nice to see it's got some sparkle, especially as the colour choices are so limited.