Almost every story is about personal growth of some kind. This is more like, be proud of who you are and what you got because some middle aged hipster wishes they were you.
@@JeffLikes2Learn No, it's not original from me. I picked it up somewhere along the way a long time ago but I don't know who said it. I'm 68 and I know it was a long time ago.
A friend of mine who's been a working pro for decades once told me, "The best guitar in the world is the one you can't wait to pick up and play. No brand name or aftermarket upgrades can beat that."
As the creator explained, he had to basically rebuild the squire to make it reasonable. The reality is you need to learn how to play, so just keep practicing and then treat yourself with a decent guitar. Best thing ever.
@@gameon2928 The only real problem is getting started. If your new guitar is a used one, and it's a Classical Acoustic that someone stuck Steel Strings on? Or if it's any guitar that has the frets coming out just bad enough, so you need to raise the string height ridiculously high, making it harder to play? Then you got problems.
@@101Volts yeah exactly the modification will be needed, not everyone has that skill. One factor that isn’t considered is the labour and time will cost you to have it rectified.
I have my original 2005 Mexi strat. I've rewired the entire pickguard with all new electronics and components, changed the trem system out for a system I like more, refinished the body and neck, and leveled the frets, dressed the fret ends and rolled the fretboard edges. Plays like a whole different guitar.
I'm regretting it already :)... sold my washburn stratocaster like several years ago, and now I regret it. I returned to music again, and I'd like to have my old guitar back, maybe mod it. Don't know, do what I know now with it.
After playing acoustic guitar since '89, even professionally for over a decade, I had wanted an electric but I'm too cheap to get myself one. But back during quarantine, my teenager totally surprised me for my birthday by presenting me with a classic butterscotch Tele Squier with maple neck and black pickguard (and a cosmetic ding in the finish that I actually love because it's one of a kind). He had gone to the music store by himself and bought it to surprise me. And boy, did he! I cried. I'm getting teary just typing this. Even sweeter, it's the exact guitar I had been planning to buy for his birthday. I've learned a ton by working on it to improve the playability, lower the action, smooth the fret ends, dialing in the intonation, etc. And had a blast performing with it. Is it a "real" Fender? Doesn't matter. My BOY gave it to me. I will never sell it!
If you are used to acoustic guitar, put some thick strings on your electric. Like 0.11 for e. You can get great sounds out of it, with the right technique. The electric pickup takes that up just as good as an acoustic guitar.
@@frederickmueller7916 The strings it came with were probably 8's or 9's, and were so flimsy and delicate after playing acoustic mediums pretty hard for so many years. That has been a huge adjustment, to ease up on my strum pressure. I put 10's on it and adjusted the set-up. But for an even warmer tone, I've already bought some 11 flat-wound chromes to put on soon. May have to widen a few nut slots a little.
@@custerranch Nice, thats the way to go imo. I play electric guitar, but jazz. People don't realize that the different sounds you can create only with strings is just as rich as with acoustic guitars. You just never notice it if you play those thin strings and high overdrive xD
@@omnis1182 Believe it or not, I'm his mother! My husband isn't musical at all, so guitar has been something cool that our son and I can have in common.
I’m kind of shocked. I never even knew gear snobby existed. Before the internet nobody I knew talked bad about cheap gear. People judged players by their skills. Gear was never a big focus during pre internet days
not gonna lie the painters taped version kind of had big indie DIY aesthetics that really made it its own thing. I like whenever I see an owned object with these defects/adjustment imperfections as,it gives it character and a story.I love it when an object is miss painted,or fixed as they always come with the best stories as only people who love it would bother trying to save/modify it. Edit: thanks to everyone in the comments for the reply especially the ones telling their on stories of misadventures with their own stuff,this is what I am talking about repaired/altered stuff always have interesting stories,having a working object come out of the box fully formed is cool,but my heart urns for the stories of a broken cup from your childhood repaired with melted gold etc.reminds me of the time I tried to repaint my art portfolio case in yellow,but did not know how to properly layer the coat and it came of looking ugly,still my main case for holding my art/project stuff,looks ugly af,but alteast I know it wont get stolen.
sadly the person who bought it will probably restore it to its original state, considering what they go for now. If I bought an instrument like that, I'd probably leave it that way
@@wilddogwatching6457 you’re probably right about the buyer changing the tape finish, but might not be doing it for resale purposes; I would definitely remove the tape, get a couple rattle cans of auto paint from the local NAPA and make that thing my own. I almost bought a Squier Bullet after watching a particular video, it just looked like a fun guitar. Search for “Fender Bullet is stupid fun”, it’s an awesome couple of minutes.
This. When I was a very punky teenager, I owned an Ibanez bass that my friend had traded me for a N64, and it was my primary bass through like 3 bands and eventually the studio instrument I used on my solo acoustic recordings. The first thing I did when I got it was badly spray paint the whole thing alarm orange because a black Ibanez was "too metal" for the kind of music I was into. That thing got hucked across the stage, smashed through a practice amp, banged around in the back of a shitty Chevy van - at one point the top strap lock was ripped clean off, taking a chunk of wood with it. By the time I got married and wound up having to sell it to make rent, the thing had roughly as many battle scars as I did. It was a hunk of crap, but I loved it, and in my memory at least it sounded pretty good.
Play a Great Squier Than reach for an American The fact that my CV Squiers are even close is great But any of my American strats does that job on em son
It's nothing but struggle to not afford a Pro or CS or AO or AVRI II or AVRI or Pro II or Standard Because of the comparatively terrible output These ease of use missing, the hilarious shortcuts
My first guitar I got when I was 12 was a white 80's Vista electric. It has a small body, one pickup, cheap construction, etc. I had a Gorilla amp. My dad showed me how to play a few notes, but he didn't know how to tune it. A family friend tuned it for me, and showed me a few chords. My dad said that this guitar was "just a starter guitar, Eddie Van Halen (my idol) probably wouldn't play it, but if you practice, I'll get you a better one some day." So I started guitar lessons a few weeks later, joined a band with my friends. I was in one of my first lessons, when I asked my teacher about what my dad said. "Is my guitar good? Could Eddie Van Halen play this guitar?" My teacher said "It's a guitar, as long as it stays in tune, sounds good, and it's easy to play, they are all the same. Eddie could easily play it, better than both of us." Then he took it from me, cranked his amp, and just shred the shit out of it. I sat there with my jaw dropped, goosebumps all over my body. Sometimes when I think about buying a new guitar, or needing a new piece of gear, I think back to my first guitar teacher. As long as it play well, sounds good, and stays in tune, it's a good guitar.
Fantastic story! I had a similar situation with a keyboard (Yamaha P-35). I am an intermediate keys player, mostly chords in worship music. I was convinced that a better keyboard would take my playing to the next level. Then one time, a very good Nigerian gospel keys player made a guest appearance. He had that P-35 making sounds I had never heard before! I couldn’t hear any of the limitations of short samples, or lack of sympathetic resonance I normally heard with my playing. That was my in-person moment of realizing the instrument is only a tiny fraction of the resulting sound. The player is everything.
I love this story, because parts of it are very like my own search for "the guitar I wanted" but didn't know much about. The instrument I found and with some help modified a bit, had a different name on the headstock than what I started out looking for. And that doesn't matter a damn. The help I got, from a retired "old pro," took a good starting point, and dialed it in to fit my needs (at the time, and later). It was quite an education. The maker's name is not well-known to a huge number of people. That doesn't make it a poor instrument. Like you, I finished up with a quality guitar that played (and plays) well, was properly set up, stayed in tune, and sounded good . When I as a beginner played it, I mean. When my "mentor" put it through its paces, the sound was "jaw-dropping" indeed. It was one of those moments in life of "great good fortune" that happen if we're very lucky. I play that guitar almost every day, and it's even better now that I've a bit more "chops". It's a good guitar.
My story is a little different. My first guitar in the 90s was a Karina from the 80s. Looked like a Strat/Burns crossover. Two pickups that were both on all the time. It weighed a ton and the action was far too high. I had an amp made in England called a Badger. 6 watt transistor. One volume, one tone. Sounded awful. I wanted a better amp. Something that had gain and reverb. But my guitar teacher said if I was spending money, buy a different guitar. So I found a Yamaha RGX 121FP. I traded my guitar for it. Guy in the store said “you could drive a bus under the action” of mine but took it anyway. My teacher loaned me a distortion pedal to get me past the crappy amp. It was a great guitar. It improved my playing no end and I played it regularly until a few years back when I wore the frets so much it needs a fret job. So it is possible to have a guitar too crappy but with some good advice and a small amount of money, you can rectify it pretty easily.
"As long as it play well, sounds good, and stays in tune, it's a good guitar." Words to live by. Eddie's first Frankenstrats were parts guitars. Good parts but parts guitars nonetheless. I have a couple of nice guitars, Gibsons and ESPs but the one that sounds the best and plays the best - a used silver series Squire strat that I picked up in 1991. Acoustically it's loud and sounds full. Plugged in it has much more tone and character that my Gibson V. Sustains for days. Sadly the way I scalloped the fingerboard means that a refret is borderline impossible so sometime in the not too distant future the guitar will be left hanging on the wall.
I'm going to be honest, I love the look of the punk guitar and it looks awesome. I know that this will be buried in the comments, but if I were to see it listed anywhere, I'll attempt to buy it and send it back to you
Some of the most iconic pieces of guitar music were originally recorded on guitars and gear that would be in the league of "budget" guitars and gear today. Especially Kurt Cobain's original gear. Technology closed the gap years ago...Major retailers would rather most people not know that.
Part of the reason Kurt played the guitars he did to start off was because no one else wanted them and they were cheap. Did that teach people to appreciate what they have? No, they just wanted to "sound like Kurt Cobain". Jesu Christ, people.
@@Billiamwoods LOL Truth. I bought my '76 Stang in 1992 for $100 to be like Kurt. But I fell in love with it cuz it's so fun to play and just feels right for me.
I am a proud Squier Player. I am not afraid to modify the whole instrument as they don't cost that much to begin with, then you have the guitar exactly how you want it.
I just got a ~$200 Jackson PS-1 from the mid 90s and a ~$2500 Fender Custom Shop Retro Tele set up with the same strings. Luthier and I both agree the Jackson is the superior instrument in all the ways that matters.
I had a poster of Kurt on my wall as a small child. With the black strat, I took lessons because of him. I wanted to be a grimey rock star... I looked up to drug addicts and became one, but I'm on the other side and my life is absolutely amazing and music has lifted me back up after all these years... always there.
"All the people in your work life, somehow they just got no clue" - that's a great chorus you wrote. You should make that into a full song if you haven't already.
This vid randomly came up in my feed and I decided to click on it. I was bizarrely hooked throughout the entire vid. The way it was shot, the pace, your voiceover, everything was perfect. This may be one of the best YT vids I’ve ever seen. I’m shocked by how much I loved this vid. I have a feeling I’m going to come back to this for years to come. I’m thoroughly impressed. 👍
Absolutely loved this video. There’s such a sentimental aspect to gear. My first guitar was this crappy, small Taylor acoustic that was sold a couple years back. It may not have sounded great, but it had a really distinct sound to it and I still have some regrets about its selling. Instruments have such history, it’s why I refuse to sell or throw out any of my old gear, even if I don’t touch it. Thanks for this video, love the sound of this new guitar!
I was always sad selling my guitars and wish I hadnt. They were fine guitars. Mainly sad due to emotional value. - my prs se tremonti platinum: my first prs and my first electric guitar bought with my own moneu. Used in in one of my bands. - my prs se 25th custom24: the guitar that reignited my love/passion for guitars (after selling all my guitars/gears). Started a new band, bought new gears etc. - my ibanez talman acoustic: my first acoustic in high school and used it thoroughly throughout my many band lives. - ibanez adj91 semi hollow: my first semi hollow and such a unique body. But never played it. So had to go.
My wake-up moment out of snobbery was after watching an interview with Josh Homme (I think it was GuitarMoves). He comes across as pretty apathetic towards gear -- progressing his art, and helping him create weird and unique sounds is more important than brand or quality. It made me realize that I should not care either, and if a certain piece of gear helps me create my sound, then it is a great piece of gear.
@@laksitowp Long story short, he doesn't always use a Peavy Decade. He has a cheap-ish tone, but he does not get that tone cheaply lol. His Equipboard page seems pretty exhaustive, and a lot of his stuff is not listed on Reverb.
@@supermario2100 I guess as you become more and more skilled, you'd notice more subtle differences in your sound. And better gears give you better creative control of that.
When I was in college, I didn't join a single band because I was too insecure for not having the right gear. I only have a cheap strat and 1 distortion pedal. Little that I know, some local musicians in my town played gigs without even owning an instrument. Most of them just borrow instruments from other musicians who are also playing in the same show. And right now, most of them are far better than me and can play along with other musicians well. Leason learned, never ever let you gear be the reason to not play a show or not play with others. Playing a show is far better than playing a scale up and down in your room over and over. Time will come you will own the gears that you wanted when you were younger. Go play what you have, and you will be 1000x better than those who only played their instrument in their room.
I'm a total synth nerd, but I really enjoyed watching this vid! I think most people can relate and know that feeling when you are young and starting out, no money and big (costly) dreams. But most of us don't end up as professional musicians and it stays a passionate hobby. But it's not a bad thing, cos music is one of the nicest escapisms there is.
If there were awards given for RUclips videos this would be a top contender. By all means finish that song, it is great. Your skill as a film maker are top notch. This is story telling at its finest.
I left my first guitar (an Odessa- a 1970s Japanese Les Paul copy) in a basement of an apartment I lived in as a teen. A few years back, I heard the building was being razed so I went back and (luckily) got it. It played as badly as I remembered. I thought about upgrading it, but there is something so comforting about playing it like I did as a teen, warts and all - it’s almost like going back in a time machine.
My first electric guitar was an Epipohone Les Paul std custom, or something like that. It has a cool gold sparkle binding, but it's still an Epiphone. Initially I was disgruntled by it, I wanted a Gibson after all. I installed a new nut that I fit myself, rewired the tone and volume knobs to a 50s wiring style (amazing mod, recommended!), did a proper setup for the action and everything else, buffed the frets and installed a new switch because those just tend to die for no reason. Still, I wanted a Gibson. However, after trying many other guitars, even much more expensive ones I found that this guitar just played the best. A friend of mine, absolutely talented musician that has made some music for games and movies and plays in a band came over once and tried my Epiphone. He said it's by far the most comfortable guitar he's played on so far and was really impressed. It just goes to show that we're easily tricked into wanting something that we perceive as being "better" without knowing why.
20 Years with the same guitar, pretty much the same time with the same motorcycle, and about 10 years with the same dslr. I dont feel the need to upgrade or change. They are living beings, friends of times exclusive and irreplacable. Sometime ago i was walking with my little son and found a trashed guitar broken into two at the neck joint. This vid reminds me of how me and my son resurrected that guitar, used sandpaper, rubbed it along the grain to take the old paint, repainted it blue and firey flames coming from the soundhole. installed nylon strings instead of steel for my little one's delicate fingers. Lesson - never lose your old musical equipment. you lose a bit of yourself along.
Im actually bout to upgrade to an electric and for the last 6 months I have been obsessing over what pickups I want what brands I want.. My teacher instructed me to buy a guitar with both a single coil and humbucker and since I don't want a high range guitar, Im only left with a bullet strat. I actually like Ibanez guitars(Ive tried a few) but he said not to buy Ibanez since my class bandmate already has one. So I felt really upset about getting the guitar I want. And just then this video landed up in my feed. I loved it!! It made me realise what matters more than the technical parts is the fact whether you give the playing and the guitar a 100%. It also made me realise that this is not the last guitar I will buy. I will have many more opportunities in future. So next time, I walk into a store Im going to proudly ask for a black bullet strat. THANKS A LOT,Man!! Your video really helped
Really happy to run into this channel. You're not only in the thick of making music-related content but you seem authentic about your creations. A lot of music channels at this point are so focused on their content production that their music career and aspirations almost seem obviously fake so there is something to make a video about. But you are legitimately into what you made. That goes really far. Great video, subbed!
I too started with a Squier Bullet that I tried to refinished, failed, left in pieces in a gig bag for 20 years, and then finally took the time to refinish it properly last year. The stories behind these things are pretty awesome. There’s a lot to love in this video.
I had a similar experience when I started playing. I came from jazz, mostly playing saxophone and other woodwinds. I decided to get into bass, as it was the only jazz instrument I didn't know how to play and my mom had found a "shitty" bass at the thrift store. She bought a lot of instruments there, to this day she has about 50 instruments at her place. For her it was more about the joy of playing music than the actual quality, something for the kids to try out to see if they want to do more with it. I got the thing, and while I appreciated it it looked scuffed. It had random stickers all over it, some lyrics from psychosocial on the back, some transformers stickers, and the remnants of a super model sticker that the thrift store employee or my mom had tried to scrape off. And worst of all? I thought it was a Squier knock off. I thought it was supposed to be Squire, like the actual word. Anyways, when I first got it I wasn't too jazzed. Flash forward a few months, I decide to actually give it a shot. I had a rough breakup, my grandpa died, and I just needed something to do that wasn't league of legends or smoking weed. I looked up how to properly remove the stickers without ruining the finish, I replaced the strings (looking back they prolly hadn't been replaced in 3 or more years), I treated the fretboard, I put on new tuners, I put on a new pickguard (the old one wasn't set properly after a repair so it was warped). Turns out, it was a really solid bass. Once I got it to a playable state, it sounded amazing. It sounded better than all the fancy ones at the Guitar Center. Then I noticed something weird. It sounded better than the Fender P basses. At the time I figured I was just biased because of all the blood sweat and tears I put into it. I even took it to some gigs, and got really really into bass. I even ended up selling my Saxophone, my pride and joy, to get a nice amp and some recording gear. Flash forward 5 years. I moved across the country and was going to school, didn't have all my tools with me, and one of the soldering connections goes out. I take it to the jazz professor, as we're pretty cool and he's a godlike luthier. He never actually saw my bass up close and personal as I wasn't a music major, I just showed up to jam sessions and whatnot. He flipped out. Apparently, this shitty abused bass my mom got me was an honest to god MIJ P-bass. It's not the fanciest MIJ, but between the sheer quality and the personal connection I have to it I don't think I'd trade it for anything. I will gig on this thing until one of us literally crumbles to dust. And even past how fun it is to play, I genuinely think it changed my life for the better.
I love this story ❤️ I stopped being a gear snob my self after I finished building my all Chinese import partscaster only to realize it sounded 80 times better than my custom shop strat 😂😂 we live in a funny musical world
A lot of it is smoke and mirrors, marketing mojo, from the people who sell guitars, if I play a guitar and its worth 4k I'll buy it, but, if I find another that plays as well for a couple of hundred then I'll sell the expensive one, something less to worry about getting nicked, broken etc.
I won't make a whole article about it, but it's the same thing for hifi gear, and the audiophile world. Some people pay few k $ for rca cables and speakers cables, as an electronic technician with 40 years of experience, it's something that can't understand. It's highly suggestive.
I loved this whole thing. I was met with so many of the same situations, I went the “other way” though. It wasn’t the right way. If I could do it again, I’m still not sure what I would have done. Things turned out fine. No matter what hobby I’ve been into, I always lusted after the gear that I thought was the best. Endless hours of research to justify and form the decision. The worst part about this way is I formed a big part of my identity in the gear I had. This played out in guitars, bikes, cars, and furniture. Fast forward 25 years. I’m happy with my life. The stuff I have now would have made my teenage self pass out with envy. Now I don’t identify with the stuff as much. Instead I identify with the knowledge I gained striving for all those years. Those years are important.
You are awesome, dude .The upgrades made a definite difference as the original pickups gave a distortion that sounded like loose wires losing conductivity. The whole project from a listeners point of hearing was worth the four hours of labor. Thanks for this video, and I truly appreciate your efforts. Rock on.
This gave me flashbacks to my own extremely similar project. My first guitar was a squire that I got about 20 years ago. It was tucked away for at least 10 years and the electronics were starting to hum. Rather than sell it, I took it apart and did the copper foil and put in new pickups. Not only did I learn all about how guitars worked but I brought my inaugural guitar back to life with a vengeance. Thanks for this video!
I love my first white samick guitar that I bought for $100 twenty years ago. I'm proud it is not one of the mainstream brands you see everywhere. After I learnt how to set it up properly, it plays so comfortably.
That name takes me back. When I was 9, my father and I split the difference on a Samick/Greg Bennett D1. That was the first guitar I put my own money towards. I still own it to this day two decades later, and it held up great.
I went through the same thing in my 20’s. I asked a guy at a guitar store once which guitar he thought was the best one and he told me- the one you’ll play every day.
I picked up guitar and ukulele while living with my grandma. I learned on a pretty low quality ukulele, which I left at her house, and my mom's old guitar. When I went there again, I found that uke under the couch, broken. A friend of hers had been over. That friend brought her 8 year old daughter. The 8 year old had found my cheap, beat-up, worn out, no-name uke and had broken it. Then, probably afraid she'd get in trouble for breaking something at someone else's house, she'd hidden it. It really beat me up. Even though I hadn't actually played that thing in so long, the fact that it was broken really upset me. I took it home. I never fixed it because it was really bad anyways, but I could never throw it out. This video has inspired me. It's a cheap little thing, but I'm gonna fix it up. And when it's all better I'll strum the worst sounding D chord I've played in years.
Your videos are always such a treat. I love your narration and story telling abilities, you add such a wonderful humanity to the shared exploration of gear and unique tones.
Very cool video man! This definitely resonated with me being 40. Nirvana was a huge reason I picked up the guitar as well. I also used to be a bit of a gear snob but now I proudly own a Squier too.
Fender's definitely stepped up their game with Squier lately, that's for sure. I have a Tele Paranormal Series Cabronita Thin-line, semi-hollow body. In that same blue. I have a buddy with way more expensive guitars that always constantly wants to pick up mine instead, it does a little bit of everything and even sounds great not plugged into anything!
I just picked up my starcaster strat clone from when I was a kid after only making computer music for years and it’s been so refreshing. This hit a really inspiring spot, thank you
I used to have a Squier bullet mustang. I painted the competition stripes onto it and swapped the humbuckers for some cheap P-90s. It was a great guitar before and after the mod. I eventually sold it, but it impressed the guitar center tech so much, he ended up buying it! I now have a Squier contemporary strat and I’m hoping to put some player pickups in it eventually…
Loved the story, and the way you've scripted and shared it, it's touching. Helpful for many kids out there and also for adults like me, starting to play after many years of procrastination or failure fear. Liked and subscribed. Thanks a million
I've always been a fan of the Squier/Epiphone type of guitar; they're getting closer and closer to the premier brand every year, and they're fun for people who enjoy repair work.
Going through this exact scenario right now. Recently pulled out my squier standard strat after like 10 years of neglect and I've been giving it some new life with some upgrades. I've completely fallen in love with it again! Shoutout to my mom for not letting me sell it lol
I have two Squiers in my rack, a Standard Strat and a short scale Jaguar Bass. They both sound great. My favorite Squier story though is Chuck Prophet's. Green on Red bought him a Squier Tel when he joined them in the late 80s. That same guitar is still his main stage and recording guitar. I am sure that things have been replaced in over 35 years of touring but he can still make her sing. Someone actually stole that guitar a few years back when he was on tour and fans helped him to get it back.
This video is absolutely giving long form podcast vibes and I’m here for it 🔥🤘🏻 Quite a few valuable lessons to be internalized here. Thanks for telling this story.
I’ve had my fair share of Squiers and they’re always solid guitars that are fun to mod. I recently picked up some Reverend guitars and am blown away by the quality vs the price (especially used, they’re an absolute steal used) but I will always have my Squier Classic Vibe Esquire in “vintage white” (it’s more like a deep custard/tv yellow) where I swapped in a black pickguard and a DiMarzio Chopper T in the bridge wired up for series/split/parallel. I’ve literally played it back to back with my friends American Fender Tele (it’s the thin line signature model they made for that guy from Spoon) and I can’t tell the difference in quality. Mine feels and plays every bit as good as his does. Mine was just less than half the price.
I was thinking about selling my first guitar, a beat up Squire Bullet Strat I picked up from a pawn shop. But after seeing this video, I've decided to keep the old bullet and mod it into a new life. I've been wanting to learn how to build and modify guitars anyway, so the bullet is a perfect project for me to learn on. Thanks for keeping me from making a mistake I might've regretted years down the road.
After watching this video so much constantly i finally found out to play the rhythm riff you were playing i was playing random stuff then outa no where i hear myself playing it and i got so happy because I've been tryna figure out how to im so happy thank you for not only the very cool riff but the amazing video
Once again an incredible video. your videos have inspired me to try and take up music production again. youve helped me thing about music in a way that i never have before and i really appreciate it.
I have the Squire bass version of this and I love it. The neck is sooo good. But one thing i noticed, when i went to insulate the pick up and control cavity on my bass, I found it was already done with shielding paint from the factory. Cudos to Squire, come a long way since the 90s
2 years ago i bought my first guitar, a squier 60's classic vibe. And i could not have made a better choice, this guitar SLAPS. me and my dad compared it to his 1963 stratocaster and of course, that guitar sounds better, BUT not as much of a difference as you might expect. The squier kicks soooo much higher than it's price it's insane. I love this guitar and i will never ever get rid of it
I literally scroll through all RUclips I need to get the only showing very boring stuff so where you are a video is best documentary which i needed and enjoyed 10000%
I really like the messages behind this video like personal growth, ignornace when we are young and fearfulness of what others think. Nice video man its awesome
Love the song you wrote sir. The fuzz tone is magnificent and your vocals/lyrics sound awesome. I bought an unplayably bad Squier Bullet Strat in about 1990 and it was SO bad that I basically avoided playing electric guitar. The internet wasn't a "thing" back then, and I had no guitar-playing buddies to help me out and was too broke to go to a guitar store and have it fixed up, and couldn't afford anything better. Or I told myself I couldn't have. My big flaw back then (and still is) that I cheap out on things. Just $100 more spent on an electric guitar, maybe without a Fender logo anywhere on it, no matter how small, and I could have acquired a playable enjoyable electric guitar. Too soon we get old, too late we get wise.
Actually all that guitar probably needed was a setup which is still often under $100 even in 2023, back in the 1990's you would have been talking around $50. Unless a Squire is truly broken (quite unusual but I guess you could have a major issue like a bad truss rod or a fall that really messed up the neck pocket or something) but short of that just a proper setup should make most Squiers into a pretty decent playable guitar.
I love this snippet of your guitar journey. I got 50s vibe squier telecaster that totally changed my playing and honestly made me almost sell my Gretsch, Ibanez electric and acoustic because it was just so dang good. I didnt tho and ended up getting a 60s classic vibe as well. Squier really is something these days!
There's something special to a guitar that has been through so much with you man... My father got his guitar stolen. It was a beautiful white, filled with some stickers, my father had done some similar things to the ones you did, customizing it, and sounded amazing! So I can kinda feel you when you let go yours. Hope the new owner gives it good use! It was a beautiful video, I liked your production and effort. You have really good storytelling! Subscribed :D
My first electric was a Squier affinity strat my folks got me for Christmas in 1999. I too attempted to make it look "cooler" by covering the Squier logo on the headstock and butchering the body's finish. Regretted it to this day. Fast forward to 2023, I have the cash and planned to buy my first Fender, the player series Tele. At a guitar shop I spotted a Squier 50s Vibe Tele for half the price and fell in love with it. I will DEFINITELY take care of this one! Awesome video, and awesome Squier! 👌
Honestly I was this exact same way about my gear I saved for ages to buy a Gibson instead of an Epiphone many years ago because I didn't want to be lesser for playing a more budget conscious instrument. Over the years I realised I still loved my original Yamaha Pacifica, and when I was choosing to pick that up over the Les Paul some days I figured I could swallow my pride and just buy Squier for the Jaguar I wanted. Don't regret it, Jag plays gorgeous. And it says Squier on the headstock :D
Great video! I think a lot of us can relate. I defretted and repainted my first bass, a squier p-bass, and it also ended up with a horrible, sticky finish; not only on the body but on the fretboard! Also, your guitar jam was great and made me really want to listen to some Built to Spill
I rarely bother to give a 👍 to a video, but this one deserves it. I'm also a huge Nirvana fan and bought a used and slightly neglected Squire Jazzmaster a few years ago because it was the closest I could get to having a Jaguar at the time. My intention was to mod the hell out of it and make it my own. This has inspired me to get that going. Nicely done, man.
Such a cool story and a great video! Your videos are always very well done but I really like the story behind your first guitar followed by remaking it with another. It's really nice how you talk about owning it, making it yours, and wishing you hadn't sold it. My Dad has a Fender Squire as well (upgraded) and has played with it for 30+ years and everyone says it sounds great. Like you, he covers up the "squire" but with his clip-on tuner. Still, he's played countless gigs with it and it's never once occurred to me (nor anyone else, I bet) that it's "fake" in any way. Great video!
You've really gotta broaden your horizons if you think this "90s alt rock by numbers" is experimental. It's incredibly derivative. That's not to say it's bad, but claiming this is experimental or innovative is a serious reach.
This is a beautiful video. It really shows how much love you can have for an instrument, even if it is uncomfortable, or ugly, or doesn't sound really well. This video is not about gear as much as it is about personal growth. Lovely! Signed: a proud Squier 51 owner
Why did RUclips not recommend this to me before? This really reminds me of when I finally picked up some guitars of my own. First there was a really cheap bass guitar with a poorly made fretboard. The frets were jutting out just enough to slice my fingers while playing. I had to file them all down, and then added some new pickups, as well as that copper tape. Next was a Squier Affinity Strat that I actually really enjoy playing. It's just the perfect size for me to play comfortably. Ironically, I picked up the RAT pedal because I heard it was a good distortion for 303 style bass synths, and then later found out that it was often used by Nirvana! Sometimes the right gear is just the right gear. Thanks for sharing this!
I've learned the same lesson when I sold my first electric guitar - a Cort, because it didn't have a cool name on a headstock. Still miss that guitar, it was amazing. But it did teach me a lesson, so now my main is a Harley Benton, which plays and sounds great.
Amazing video! I lovend the story behind the guitare and i can’t stop listening to the little part of the song at the end! I would love to hear the full version!
I could totally be wrong, but maybe when they were making this video, they couldn't find a pickguard that fit those specs, so you end up with one single coil pickup and one humbucker. So basically you can't do Kurt's guitar in any truly accurate way. If you want to go that route, there's a good number of guitars that are based of Kurt's career. Including some really interesting Squire ones! I'd say that's what happened though, unless they just wanted it more custom!
i had a neurodivergent moment at 5:58, "why u no strip the neck finish before hand oiling?" it would totally feel nicer if you did, knock the original (poly) finish back, expose the semi unsealed grain, at very least, and then applying in layers. knocking back with some wire wool or low grit etc as you go. No offense, I just feel this step is a missed opportunity for loveliness. That is all... :) There's sound lutherie reasoning in it too, just not always that obvious...
The Squier Bullet Mustangs are amazingly playable guitars, personally I think the stock pickups sound great. I had planned to change mine but decided to keep them . I did swap out the crappy pot metal saddles for some Fender bent steel, fitted a couple of roller string trees and rolled the fret board edges, it’s my got to guitar for home recording as it’s so dinky and neat. FYI the cavities on Squier guitars which are painted black are already shielded, the Matt black paint is a shielding paint, I guess yours is double shielded now lol 😊
The nostalgia induced from this video is overwhelming. From the shameful headstock mods to the rediscovery of cheap instruments, this video has been very, very relatable
I was, like you, ashamed about having Squier on the headstock of my first guitar - an SE Strat, which I now know to be one of the holy grails for modding because it was one of the cheapest strats with a full size body and a great neck. I tried very hard to sell it but no one would buy it at all. I gave up and just decided to use it as a modding testbed. I tried to sand the figurative mile-thick black paint off and gave up after a day of solid hand sanding. I painted over the remnants using some throwaway cans of car paint ("Rover Kingfisher Blue") and then never lacquered it so chunks of the finish come off every few years. I put some N3 Noiseless pickups in from the American Deluxe, as well as the most complex possible wiring i could get my head around (S1, super switch, 10 different sounds). I re-fretted the neck myself and then attempted to dress and crown it. That whole journey started 14 years ago in the local music shop and continues to this day! It followed me to Japan, and had played in quite a few gigs and sessions. It's had a few new bits of hardware and also been properly set up a few times, so plays amazingly and sits proudly amongst my collection against much more expensive instruments. Also, i just ordered a Squier Jaguar to add to my collection. Name on headstock what?
wow! new subscriber, just discovered channel and am binging the rest of the videos! love the shots, the colours, the sound, the story telling, the mood, all of it.
Cool guitar! My first guitar was a Gibson Sonex . I don't even know what the current equivalent would be, since it was apparently made out of cannabis resin and plywood, but it did have the all-important Gibson name on it! I don't miss it at all.
I appreciate this video SO much. I had a very parallel experience. Trusting the advice of others cost me a lot of money as a young musician, and for little sonic benefit. The guitar and wine industry have much in common in this regard. Aside from some very obvious technical things such as electronics and build quality, the rest is about playability. I have an owned and played a number of contemporary and vintage guitars but the guitar I play 99.9% of the time is a Korean made Epiphone Sheraton II that I bought for $800 CAD almost 20 years ago. Aside from upgrading the bridge pickup to a Classic 57, and shielding the cavity and pick guard with the same copper tape, I’ve done nothing else. It is my favourite guitar I’ve ever played. Periodically, people still wonder why I haven’t “upgraded” to a proper Es 335. Same reason almost never play my mid ‘70s Les Paul Deluxe… this guitar feels, plays, and sounds exactly how I want it to. I’m done with the arms race of diminishing returns. Also, this piece you composed for this video is amazing. Great feel and perfect tones. Well done! Glad the algorithm brought me here.
Great video! What got to me to being a gear snob was a music genre. Before hand the people that were close to me and online people were telling me that expensive means better. I was chasing a thing that a 17 year old couldn’t make happen. Being dissatisfied with my playing and music. Then I found a music genre that I fell in love with that takes high production and expensive gear, and almost literally throws it out the window. That genre is black metal. Music with no rules and something that forces the listener on the song versus the production was eye opening to me. And from there I fell in love with the garage and early demo sounds from all kinds of music. It was that time I realized I had everything I need to make great music. Production can be good but it’s not everything. And as hard of a pill it is for guitarists to swallow, is that the audience and listener really doesn’t care about how cheap or expensive your rig is.
I love videos such as these... They're very well-made and basically tell a story about every kid/teenager/young adult who couldn't afford a Fender so they bought Squiers instead and got ridiculed by other kids and etc... I guess I was a different kind of kid because I really didn't give a damn what the other kids thought of me or the fact I was playing Squiers... Long story short I started playing in the early 80's when Fender Japan began building guitars... And of course all the other guitar and bass-playing kids in my school made fun of me because I was playing ( shock horror ) Japanese Fenders which were of course not REAL Fenders but cheap copies 😄😄😄 but I really couldn't care less... Things got even more interesting when Fenders made in Japan became "Squiers" but I still didn't care... Fast forward I decided to become a professional luthier and I went to a reputable luthiery school many years ago and I opened my own workshop in Miami... As of this morning I have gathered an ever-expanding collection of 175 guitars and although I am the proud owner of vintage gems such as a 1957 Fender Stratocaster or a 1968 Gibson Les Paul custom among others I just LOVE my Squiers ( and my Chinese-made Epiphones, etc...) and these affordable guitars are about 70% of my entire collection... My customers also made fun of me when I bought my Hello Kitty strat ( in pink of course ) when they came out in 2007 and laughed even more when I added the smaller model 😄😄😄 I still don't care...And I regularly play my Squiers in local clubs and I'm very happy... Funny thing is, nowadays Early Japanese Fenders, Japanese Squiers and 70's/early 80's Ibanez and the like are collector's items and all the kids who made fun of me because I used to buy and play them wish they had bought them back in the day... I hope I haven't bothered anyone with my long comment but this video reminded me of my personal experience as a kid and aspiring guitar hero... Nowadays I still have customers who come into my shop with Squiers and ask me to remove the Squier logos and put Fender decals on their headstocks instead, which I never do because it's just plain stupid and not really legal...Even worse : they'll even ask me to remove the "made in Mexico" logos off their Mexican Fenders because the audience ( who really doesn't give a damn at the end of the day ) might think they're not real musicians because they can't afford a genuine American Fender... And they're adults...That is so sad... Anyway...Thanks for this excellent video and have a nice day 🙂🙂🙂
I love Mexican and Japanese Fenders they feel like they're of just as great quality as the American made ones, a Fender is a Fender at the end of the day imo
@@femboiuwu Don't be jealous 🙂 It took me 40 years to build my collection...And a lot of work... Granted, as soon as I opened my guitar repair business things got easier but it still took a lot of time and effort...
Awesome story, thanks for sharing. I still have my first guitar, although I rarely get it hooked up to my rig, I have it by the foot of my bed now and even after 20 years will noodle around on it at times. It was a used Yamaha Pacifica HSS Strat knockoff I begged my parents for. Eventually, I saved up for a Seymour Duncan Invader and had it installed in the bridge. Some time after that, my parents bought me a brand new MIM Fender Telecaster. It’s probably 20 years old now, and still all stock except the pick guard, which I swapped out the white one it comes with (body painted black) for a tortoiseshell one. I still love using it for my single-coil tones, and get asked what kind of Tele it is by other musicians, who seem taken aback when I tell them it’s just an old stock MIM Tele lol. My other “go-to” guitar most of the time is a Kurt Cobain Signature Jaguar. I picked up one of the “road worn” ones that I think someone at Guitar Center assumed was used and mispriced, because I think they were going for like $1100 at the time, and I paid $700 for it - complete with hard case and all the extras inside still shrink wrapped… Normally I avoid signature series guitars, but I realized it’d likely cost me much more time and money to buy a Jaguar and make similar mods - because I think most of them are an improvement on the original Jag design - and I’ve also always been lifelong Nirvana fan, so I picked it up. It’s surprisingly versatile, between the DiMarzio Super Distortion in the bridge and a DiMarzio 36th Anniversary PAF in the neck - can get surprisingly Gibson-like tones from it. But those are the ones I seem to always come back to.
I've never heard of your channel before, but I've been thinking about trying to pick up learning the guitar again. I'm surrounded by options costing $2000, $3000, or more. But as Dankpods says, "You don't need to spend a lot of money." You can get something you like the look of, add just a little extra (in your case, your preferred pickups and the copper tape), and make something that looks and sounds great.
This video is ostensibly about guitar gear, but it is actually about personal growth. Nothing is ever enough until you are.
Well said, brother.
Almost every story is about personal growth of some kind. This is more like, be proud of who you are and what you got because some middle aged hipster wishes they were you.
"Nothing is ever enough until you are." - This awesome statement is going in my quote collection. Is it originally from you or someone else? Thanks!
@@JeffLikes2Learn No, it's not original from me. I picked it up somewhere along the way a long time ago but I don't know who said it. I'm 68 and I know it was a long time ago.
Love Yourz - J. Cole
A friend of mine who's been a working pro for decades once told me, "The best guitar in the world is the one you can't wait to pick up and play. No brand name or aftermarket upgrades can beat that."
That's beautiful!
Im 35 been playing since about 6, only just been able to get a real Fender, let me tell you there is a difference.
As the creator explained, he had to basically rebuild the squire to make it reasonable. The reality is you need to learn how to play, so just keep practicing and then treat yourself with a decent guitar. Best thing ever.
@@gameon2928 The only real problem is getting started. If your new guitar is a used one, and it's a Classical Acoustic that someone stuck Steel Strings on? Or if it's any guitar that has the frets coming out just bad enough, so you need to raise the string height ridiculously high, making it harder to play? Then you got problems.
@@101Volts yeah exactly the modification will be needed, not everyone has that skill. One factor that isn’t considered is the labour and time will cost you to have it rectified.
What i learned from videos like this is to NEVER sell your first starting instrument, you will almost always end up regretting it.
I have my original 2005 Mexi strat. I've rewired the entire pickguard with all new electronics and components, changed the trem system out for a system I like more, refinished the body and neck, and leveled the frets, dressed the fret ends and rolled the fretboard edges. Plays like a whole different guitar.
I'm regretting it already :)... sold my washburn stratocaster like several years ago, and now I regret it. I returned to music again, and I'd like to have my old guitar back, maybe mod it. Don't know, do what I know now with it.
I regret selling mine
I smashed my first guitar lol, I don’t regret it.
I had to sell mine
After playing acoustic guitar since '89, even professionally for over a decade, I had wanted an electric but I'm too cheap to get myself one. But back during quarantine, my teenager totally surprised me for my birthday by presenting me with a classic butterscotch Tele Squier with maple neck and black pickguard (and a cosmetic ding in the finish that I actually love because it's one of a kind). He had gone to the music store by himself and bought it to surprise me. And boy, did he! I cried. I'm getting teary just typing this. Even sweeter, it's the exact guitar I had been planning to buy for his birthday. I've learned a ton by working on it to improve the playability, lower the action, smooth the fret ends, dialing in the intonation, etc. And had a blast performing with it. Is it a "real" Fender? Doesn't matter. My BOY gave it to me. I will never sell it!
If you are used to acoustic guitar, put some thick strings on your electric. Like 0.11 for e. You can get great sounds out of it, with the right technique. The electric pickup takes that up just as good as an acoustic guitar.
@@frederickmueller7916
The strings it came with were probably 8's or 9's, and were so flimsy and delicate after playing acoustic mediums pretty hard for so many years. That has been a huge adjustment, to ease up on my strum pressure. I put 10's on it and adjusted the set-up. But for an even warmer tone, I've already bought some 11 flat-wound chromes to put on soon. May have to widen a few nut slots a little.
@@custerranch Nice, thats the way to go imo. I play electric guitar, but jazz. People don't realize that the different sounds you can create only with strings is just as rich as with acoustic guitars.
You just never notice it if you play those thin strings and high overdrive xD
You sound like an awesome father
@@omnis1182
Believe it or not, I'm his mother! My husband isn't musical at all, so guitar has been something cool that our son and I can have in common.
How I learned to stop being a gear snob: being poor.
@@Molotov_Milkshake also me
@@Molotov_Milkshake the end
@@elos1977 poverty is true wisdom.
Yep, can confirm.
I’m kind of shocked. I never even knew gear snobby existed. Before the internet nobody I knew talked bad about cheap gear. People judged players by their skills. Gear was never a big focus during pre internet days
not gonna lie the painters taped version kind of had big indie DIY aesthetics that really made it its own thing. I like whenever I see an owned object with these defects/adjustment imperfections as,it gives it character and a story.I love it when an object is miss painted,or fixed as they always come with the best stories as only people who love it would bother trying to save/modify it.
Edit:
thanks to everyone in the comments for the reply especially the ones telling their on stories of misadventures with their own stuff,this is what I am talking about repaired/altered stuff always have interesting stories,having a working object come out of the box fully formed is cool,but my heart urns for the stories of a broken cup from your childhood repaired with melted gold etc.reminds me of the time I tried to repaint my art portfolio case in yellow,but did not know how to properly layer the coat and it came of looking ugly,still my main case for holding my art/project stuff,looks ugly af,but alteast I know it wont get stolen.
sadly the person who bought it will probably restore it to its original state, considering what they go for now. If I bought an instrument like that, I'd probably leave it that way
Totally agree it was an awesome video, pure LOVE...
@@wilddogwatching6457 you’re probably right about the buyer changing the tape finish, but might not be doing it for resale purposes; I would definitely remove the tape, get a couple rattle cans of auto paint from the local NAPA and make that thing my own.
I almost bought a Squier Bullet after watching a particular video, it just looked like a fun guitar. Search for “Fender Bullet is stupid fun”, it’s an awesome couple of minutes.
totally agree man! imperfect guitars are definitely right up my alley
This. When I was a very punky teenager, I owned an Ibanez bass that my friend had traded me for a N64, and it was my primary bass through like 3 bands and eventually the studio instrument I used on my solo acoustic recordings. The first thing I did when I got it was badly spray paint the whole thing alarm orange because a black Ibanez was "too metal" for the kind of music I was into. That thing got hucked across the stage, smashed through a practice amp, banged around in the back of a shitty Chevy van - at one point the top strap lock was ripped clean off, taking a chunk of wood with it. By the time I got married and wound up having to sell it to make rent, the thing had roughly as many battle scars as I did. It was a hunk of crap, but I loved it, and in my memory at least it sounded pretty good.
It's incredible how every video he does is incredibly well built together and with extremely high quality
That is why I subscribed
I agere, i like to watch his stuff while eating. Chill factor 10!
If you play with a band you need an American Professional
Because NOISE
Play a Great Squier
Than reach for an American
The fact that my CV Squiers are even close is great
But any of my American strats does that job on em son
It's nothing but struggle to not afford a Pro or CS or AO or AVRI II or AVRI or Pro II or Standard
Because of the comparatively terrible output
These ease of use missing, the hilarious shortcuts
My first guitar I got when I was 12 was a white 80's Vista electric. It has a small body, one pickup, cheap construction, etc. I had a Gorilla amp. My dad showed me how to play a few notes, but he didn't know how to tune it. A family friend tuned it for me, and showed me a few chords. My dad said that this guitar was "just a starter guitar, Eddie Van Halen (my idol) probably wouldn't play it, but if you practice, I'll get you a better one some day." So I started guitar lessons a few weeks later, joined a band with my friends. I was in one of my first lessons, when I asked my teacher about what my dad said. "Is my guitar good? Could Eddie Van Halen play this guitar?" My teacher said "It's a guitar, as long as it stays in tune, sounds good, and it's easy to play, they are all the same. Eddie could easily play it, better than both of us." Then he took it from me, cranked his amp, and just shred the shit out of it. I sat there with my jaw dropped, goosebumps all over my body.
Sometimes when I think about buying a new guitar, or needing a new piece of gear, I think back to my first guitar teacher. As long as it play well, sounds good, and stays in tune, it's a good guitar.
Fantastic story!
I had a similar situation with a keyboard (Yamaha P-35). I am an intermediate keys player, mostly chords in worship music. I was convinced that a better keyboard would take my playing to the next level.
Then one time, a very good Nigerian gospel keys player made a guest appearance.
He had that P-35 making sounds I had never heard before!
I couldn’t hear any of the limitations of short samples, or lack of sympathetic resonance I normally heard with my playing.
That was my in-person moment of realizing the instrument is only a tiny fraction of the resulting sound.
The player is everything.
I love this story, because parts of it are very like my own search for "the guitar I wanted" but didn't know much about. The instrument I found and with some help modified a bit, had a different name on the headstock than what I started out looking for. And that doesn't matter a damn. The help I got, from a retired "old pro," took a good starting point, and dialed it in to fit my needs (at the time, and later). It was quite an education. The maker's name is not well-known to a huge number of people. That doesn't make it a poor instrument. Like you, I finished up with a quality guitar that played (and plays) well, was properly set up, stayed in tune, and sounded good . When I as a beginner played it, I mean. When my "mentor" put it through its paces, the sound was "jaw-dropping" indeed. It was one of those moments in life of "great good fortune" that happen if we're very lucky. I play that guitar almost every day, and it's even better now that I've a bit more "chops". It's a good guitar.
My story is a little different. My first guitar in the 90s was a Karina from the 80s. Looked like a Strat/Burns crossover. Two pickups that were both on all the time. It weighed a ton and the action was far too high. I had an amp made in England called a Badger. 6 watt transistor. One volume, one tone. Sounded awful.
I wanted a better amp. Something that had gain and reverb. But my guitar teacher said if I was spending money, buy a different guitar. So I found a Yamaha RGX 121FP. I traded my guitar for it. Guy in the store said “you could drive a bus under the action” of mine but took it anyway. My teacher loaned me a distortion pedal to get me past the crappy amp. It was a great guitar. It improved my playing no end and I played it regularly until a few years back when I wore the frets so much it needs a fret job.
So it is possible to have a guitar too crappy but with some good advice and a small amount of money, you can rectify it pretty easily.
Jesus Christ loves you
"As long as it play well, sounds good, and stays in tune, it's a good guitar."
Words to live by. Eddie's first Frankenstrats were parts guitars. Good parts but parts guitars nonetheless.
I have a couple of nice guitars, Gibsons and ESPs but the one that sounds the best and plays the best - a used silver series Squire strat that I picked up in 1991. Acoustically it's loud and sounds full. Plugged in it has much more tone and character that my Gibson V. Sustains for days. Sadly the way I scalloped the fingerboard means that a refret is borderline impossible so sometime in the not too distant future the guitar will be left hanging on the wall.
I'm going to be honest, I love the look of the punk guitar and it looks awesome. I know that this will be buried in the comments, but if I were to see it listed anywhere, I'll attempt to buy it and send it back to you
I liked the sound of his new guitar before he did anything with it. 😂
whoever bought it 100% bought it to rebuild it, not to play it or re-sell it
Thats cool as shit dude!! I would to! Beat me to it!! LOL
7 months later you are the 4th comment
@@BL00DYN3K0M1MIseven months later, you are the fourth reply ti this comment!
Some of the most iconic pieces of guitar music were originally recorded on guitars and gear that would be in the league of "budget" guitars and gear today. Especially Kurt Cobain's original gear. Technology closed the gap years ago...Major retailers would rather most people not know that.
Part of the reason Kurt played the guitars he did to start off was because no one else wanted them and they were cheap. Did that teach people to appreciate what they have? No, they just wanted to "sound like Kurt Cobain". Jesu Christ, people.
Honestly. Ive been looking to get a new guitar but all of the proper Fender guitars in my price range felt cheaper and worse quality than my Squier
@@revan7383 I bought a used Squier Jagmaster at the start of the year and it quickly became my favourite to play.
@@Billiamwoods LOL Truth. I bought my '76 Stang in 1992 for $100 to be like Kurt. But I fell in love with it cuz it's so fun to play and just feels right for me.
I am a proud Squier Player. I am not afraid to modify the whole instrument as they don't cost that much to begin with, then you have the guitar exactly how you want it.
So then you're not really a proud squire player if you change everything on it lol
Yeah, plus Squier of 2023 isn't at all the same company as they were in the late 90s. Definitely a good brand now
I have a1983 squier made in Japan it's my favorite
My #1 is a Made in Japan SQ Squier Strat.
I just got a ~$200 Jackson PS-1 from the mid 90s and a ~$2500 Fender Custom Shop Retro Tele set up with the same strings.
Luthier and I both agree the Jackson is the superior instrument in all the ways that matters.
I had a poster of Kurt on my wall as a small child. With the black strat, I took lessons because of him. I wanted to be a grimey rock star... I looked up to drug addicts and became one, but I'm on the other side and my life is absolutely amazing and music has lifted me back up after all these years... always there.
"All the people in your work life, somehow they just got no clue" - that's a great chorus you wrote. You should make that into a full song if you haven't already.
@@kiregenofficial"All the people in your dream life have learned to sing the same strange tune."
Honestly that old squier looked badass!!, The fact it had tape all over it and just a single Duncan made it look so punk!!
This vid randomly came up in my feed and I decided to click on it. I was bizarrely hooked throughout the entire vid. The way it was shot, the pace, your voiceover, everything was perfect. This may be one of the best YT vids I’ve ever seen. I’m shocked by how much I loved this vid. I have a feeling I’m going to come back to this for years to come. I’m thoroughly impressed. 👍
Absolutely loved this video. There’s such a sentimental aspect to gear. My first guitar was this crappy, small Taylor acoustic that was sold a couple years back. It may not have sounded great, but it had a really distinct sound to it and I still have some regrets about its selling. Instruments have such history, it’s why I refuse to sell or throw out any of my old gear, even if I don’t touch it. Thanks for this video, love the sound of this new guitar!
I was always sad selling my guitars and wish I hadnt. They were fine guitars. Mainly sad due to emotional value.
- my prs se tremonti platinum: my first prs and my first electric guitar bought with my own moneu. Used in in one of my bands.
- my prs se 25th custom24: the guitar that reignited my love/passion for guitars (after selling all my guitars/gears). Started a new band, bought new gears etc.
- my ibanez talman acoustic: my first acoustic in high school and used it thoroughly throughout my many band lives.
- ibanez adj91 semi hollow: my first semi hollow and such a unique body. But never played it. So had to go.
My wake-up moment out of snobbery was after watching an interview with Josh Homme (I think it was GuitarMoves). He comes across as pretty apathetic towards gear -- progressing his art, and helping him create weird and unique sounds is more important than brand or quality. It made me realize that I should not care either, and if a certain piece of gear helps me create my sound, then it is a great piece of gear.
And how about the secret to the sound of many of his riffs is like a '85 Peavey Decade 10 or 15 watt combo amp.
Just don't look too closely at the guitars he plays, or some of the pedals he uses lol
@@supermario2100 I'm curious. Why?
@@laksitowp Long story short, he doesn't always use a Peavy Decade. He has a cheap-ish tone, but he does not get that tone cheaply lol. His Equipboard page seems pretty exhaustive, and a lot of his stuff is not listed on Reverb.
@@supermario2100 I guess as you become more and more skilled, you'd notice more subtle differences in your sound. And better gears give you better creative control of that.
When I was in college, I didn't join a single band because I was too insecure for not having the right gear. I only have a cheap strat and 1 distortion pedal. Little that I know, some local musicians in my town played gigs without even owning an instrument. Most of them just borrow instruments from other musicians who are also playing in the same show. And right now, most of them are far better than me and can play along with other musicians well. Leason learned, never ever let you gear be the reason to not play a show or not play with others. Playing a show is far better than playing a scale up and down in your room over and over. Time will come you will own the gears that you wanted when you were younger. Go play what you have, and you will be 1000x better than those who only played their instrument in their room.
couple of thousand dollars aint that much considering the cost of living these days
David, your videos are a breath of fresh air in todays ‘stay indoors’ climate. Thank you for sharing your kindness and love. Keep discovering!
I'm a total synth nerd, but I really enjoyed watching this vid! I think most people can relate and know that feeling when you are young and starting out, no money and big (costly) dreams. But most of us don't end up as professional musicians and it stays a passionate hobby. But it's not a bad thing, cos music is one of the nicest escapisms there is.
If there were awards given for RUclips videos this would be a top contender. By all means finish that song, it is great. Your skill as a film maker are top notch. This is story telling at its finest.
Indeed. I just stumbled across this and it is one of the very best among thousands of YT videoed I have seen. Subscribed. And finish the song!
I left my first guitar (an Odessa- a 1970s Japanese Les Paul copy) in a basement of an apartment I lived in as a teen. A few years back, I heard the building was being razed so I went back and (luckily) got it. It played as badly as I remembered. I thought about upgrading it, but there is something so comforting about playing it like I did as a teen, warts and all - it’s almost like going back in a time machine.
My first electric guitar was an Epipohone Les Paul std custom, or something like that. It has a cool gold sparkle binding, but it's still an Epiphone. Initially I was disgruntled by it, I wanted a Gibson after all. I installed a new nut that I fit myself, rewired the tone and volume knobs to a 50s wiring style (amazing mod, recommended!), did a proper setup for the action and everything else, buffed the frets and installed a new switch because those just tend to die for no reason. Still, I wanted a Gibson. However, after trying many other guitars, even much more expensive ones I found that this guitar just played the best. A friend of mine, absolutely talented musician that has made some music for games and movies and plays in a band came over once and tried my Epiphone. He said it's by far the most comfortable guitar he's played on so far and was really impressed. It just goes to show that we're easily tricked into wanting something that we perceive as being "better" without knowing why.
@@Drinkyoghurt - Same. I love Epiphone Special. Dirt cheap, but looks, feels and sounds great. 🤘
20 Years with the same guitar, pretty much the same time with the same motorcycle, and about 10 years with the same dslr. I dont feel the need to upgrade or change. They are living beings, friends of times exclusive and irreplacable. Sometime ago i was walking with my little son and found a trashed guitar broken into two at the neck joint. This vid reminds me of how me and my son resurrected that guitar, used sandpaper, rubbed it along the grain to take the old paint, repainted it blue and firey flames coming from the soundhole. installed nylon strings instead of steel for my little one's delicate fingers. Lesson - never lose your old musical equipment. you lose a bit of yourself along.
Im actually bout to upgrade to an electric and for the last 6 months I have been obsessing over what pickups I want what brands I want.. My teacher instructed me to buy a guitar with both a single coil and humbucker and since I don't want a high range guitar, Im only left with a bullet strat. I actually like Ibanez guitars(Ive tried a few) but he said not to buy Ibanez since my class bandmate already has one. So I felt really upset about getting the guitar I want. And just then this video landed up in my feed. I loved it!! It made me realise what matters more than the technical parts is the fact whether you give the playing and the guitar a 100%. It also made me realise that this is not the last guitar I will buy. I will have many more opportunities in future. So next time, I walk into a store Im going to proudly ask for a black bullet strat. THANKS A LOT,Man!! Your video really helped
Really happy to run into this channel.
You're not only in the thick of making music-related content but you seem authentic about your creations.
A lot of music channels at this point are so focused on their content production that their music career and aspirations almost seem obviously fake so there is something to make a video about. But you are legitimately into what you made. That goes really far. Great video, subbed!
I too started with a Squier Bullet that I tried to refinished, failed, left in pieces in a gig bag for 20 years, and then finally took the time to refinish it properly last year. The stories behind these things are pretty awesome. There’s a lot to love in this video.
I had a similar experience when I started playing. I came from jazz, mostly playing saxophone and other woodwinds. I decided to get into bass, as it was the only jazz instrument I didn't know how to play and my mom had found a "shitty" bass at the thrift store. She bought a lot of instruments there, to this day she has about 50 instruments at her place. For her it was more about the joy of playing music than the actual quality, something for the kids to try out to see if they want to do more with it. I got the thing, and while I appreciated it it looked scuffed. It had random stickers all over it, some lyrics from psychosocial on the back, some transformers stickers, and the remnants of a super model sticker that the thrift store employee or my mom had tried to scrape off. And worst of all? I thought it was a Squier knock off. I thought it was supposed to be Squire, like the actual word. Anyways, when I first got it I wasn't too jazzed.
Flash forward a few months, I decide to actually give it a shot. I had a rough breakup, my grandpa died, and I just needed something to do that wasn't league of legends or smoking weed. I looked up how to properly remove the stickers without ruining the finish, I replaced the strings (looking back they prolly hadn't been replaced in 3 or more years), I treated the fretboard, I put on new tuners, I put on a new pickguard (the old one wasn't set properly after a repair so it was warped). Turns out, it was a really solid bass. Once I got it to a playable state, it sounded amazing. It sounded better than all the fancy ones at the Guitar Center. Then I noticed something weird. It sounded better than the Fender P basses. At the time I figured I was just biased because of all the blood sweat and tears I put into it. I even took it to some gigs, and got really really into bass. I even ended up selling my Saxophone, my pride and joy, to get a nice amp and some recording gear.
Flash forward 5 years. I moved across the country and was going to school, didn't have all my tools with me, and one of the soldering connections goes out. I take it to the jazz professor, as we're pretty cool and he's a godlike luthier. He never actually saw my bass up close and personal as I wasn't a music major, I just showed up to jam sessions and whatnot. He flipped out. Apparently, this shitty abused bass my mom got me was an honest to god MIJ P-bass. It's not the fanciest MIJ, but between the sheer quality and the personal connection I have to it I don't think I'd trade it for anything. I will gig on this thing until one of us literally crumbles to dust. And even past how fun it is to play, I genuinely think it changed my life for the better.
OH my god, best adventure and discovery ever
awesome story, thanks so much for posting it
this story is as cool as the video
Love This👍
MIJ are cool. Didn't it say Fender anywhere on it?.. headstock, neck plate, tuners?
I love this story ❤️ I stopped being a gear snob my self after I finished building my all Chinese import partscaster only to realize it sounded 80 times better than my custom shop strat 😂😂 we live in a funny musical world
A lot of it is smoke and mirrors, marketing mojo, from the people who sell guitars, if I play a guitar and its worth 4k I'll buy it, but, if I find another that plays as well for a couple of hundred then I'll sell the expensive one, something less to worry about getting nicked, broken etc.
Sometimes a lot of the price is in the wood and the build construction, and those things don't really affect the sound, especially the wood
I won't make a whole article about it, but it's the same thing for hifi gear, and the audiophile world. Some people pay few k $ for rca cables and speakers cables, as an electronic technician with 40 years of experience, it's something that can't understand. It's highly suggestive.
David, you're my favourite creator here on youtube.
Thank you for all the work and creativity you put into it all.
I loved this whole thing. I was met with so many of the same situations, I went the “other way” though. It wasn’t the right way. If I could do it again, I’m still not sure what I would have done. Things turned out fine.
No matter what hobby I’ve been into, I always lusted after the gear that I thought was the best. Endless hours of research to justify and form the decision. The worst part about this way is I formed a big part of my identity in the gear I had. This played out in guitars, bikes, cars, and furniture.
Fast forward 25 years. I’m happy with my life. The stuff I have now would have made my teenage self pass out with envy. Now I don’t identify with the stuff as much. Instead I identify with the knowledge I gained striving for all those years.
Those years are important.
The transitions in the backstory are incredible. This is one of your best and now I want to buy and upgrade a Squier.
Gear snobbery is a privilege I'd sooner not have. I love making "crappy" things work/sound good.
You are awesome, dude .The upgrades made a definite difference as the original pickups gave a distortion that sounded like loose wires losing conductivity. The whole project from a listeners point of hearing was worth the four hours of labor. Thanks for this video, and I truly appreciate your efforts. Rock on.
This gave me flashbacks to my own extremely similar project. My first guitar was a squire that I got about 20 years ago. It was tucked away for at least 10 years and the electronics were starting to hum. Rather than sell it, I took it apart and did the copper foil and put in new pickups. Not only did I learn all about how guitars worked but I brought my inaugural guitar back to life with a vengeance. Thanks for this video!
I love my first white samick guitar that I bought for $100 twenty years ago. I'm proud it is not one of the mainstream brands you see everywhere. After I learnt how to set it up properly, it plays so comfortably.
That name takes me back. When I was 9, my father and I split the difference on a Samick/Greg Bennett D1. That was the first guitar I put my own money towards. I still own it to this day two decades later, and it held up great.
I went through the same thing in my 20’s. I asked a guy at a guitar store once which guitar he thought was the best one and he told me- the one you’ll play every day.
This may be 10 best RUclips video ever made. What a tale and journey. Thanks for sharing, David.
I picked up guitar and ukulele while living with my grandma. I learned on a pretty low quality ukulele, which I left at her house, and my mom's old guitar. When I went there again, I found that uke under the couch, broken. A friend of hers had been over. That friend brought her 8 year old daughter. The 8 year old had found my cheap, beat-up, worn out, no-name uke and had broken it. Then, probably afraid she'd get in trouble for breaking something at someone else's house, she'd hidden it.
It really beat me up. Even though I hadn't actually played that thing in so long, the fact that it was broken really upset me. I took it home. I never fixed it because it was really bad anyways, but I could never throw it out. This video has inspired me. It's a cheap little thing, but I'm gonna fix it up. And when it's all better I'll strum the worst sounding D chord I've played in years.
Instruments are family, aren't they? Take care of the uke. Make it sing!
Hey, great work. And also, thanks for the video credit.
Your videos are always such a treat. I love your narration and story telling abilities, you add such a wonderful humanity to the shared exploration of gear and unique tones.
Very cool video man! This definitely resonated with me being 40. Nirvana was a huge reason I picked up the guitar as well. I also used to be a bit of a gear snob but now I proudly own a Squier too.
Fender's definitely stepped up their game with Squier lately, that's for sure. I have a Tele Paranormal Series Cabronita Thin-line, semi-hollow body. In that same blue. I have a buddy with way more expensive guitars that always constantly wants to pick up mine instead, it does a little bit of everything and even sounds great not plugged into anything!
I just picked up my starcaster strat clone from when I was a kid after only making computer music for years and it’s been so refreshing. This hit a really inspiring spot, thank you
Not only is the story great, but the background music too. So simple, yet such a 90's vibe still.
I used to have a Squier bullet mustang. I painted the competition stripes onto it and swapped the humbuckers for some cheap P-90s. It was a great guitar before and after the mod. I eventually sold it, but it impressed the guitar center tech so much, he ended up buying it! I now have a Squier contemporary strat and I’m hoping to put some player pickups in it eventually…
I have a ‘73 Mustang and a Music Man amp like the one you used in this video that I’ve played for 30 years. The Squire doesn’t sound too bad!
Oh, the Music Man is so great. What a discovery it was for me to find it!
My first time seeing this channel. This is a really good composition, a great story, and a great mod job ...
This is probably one of my favorite youtube channels. Relaxing, informative, and in this videos case, introspective.
Many thanks!
I'm not sure exactly what I learned from this, but I do know it was a lot and it was valuable. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite channels.
I love the JB. Fits amazingly well in a heavy mix. It’s like it’s “premixed” to fit in a band.
Loved the story, and the way you've scripted and shared it, it's touching. Helpful for many kids out there and also for adults like me, starting to play after many years of procrastination or failure fear. Liked and subscribed. Thanks a million
I've always been a fan of the Squier/Epiphone type of guitar; they're getting closer and closer to the premier brand every year, and they're fun for people who enjoy repair work.
Going through this exact scenario right now. Recently pulled out my squier standard strat after like 10 years of neglect and I've been giving it some new life with some upgrades. I've completely fallen in love with it again! Shoutout to my mom for not letting me sell it lol
I watched this and ended up buying one. Wow. What a guitar. Proper setup, and it plays amazing. Loving it to pieces.
I have two Squiers in my rack, a Standard Strat and a short scale Jaguar Bass. They both sound great. My favorite Squier story though is Chuck Prophet's. Green on Red bought him a Squier Tel when he joined them in the late 80s. That same guitar is still his main stage and recording guitar. I am sure that things have been replaced in over 35 years of touring but he can still make her sing. Someone actually stole that guitar a few years back when he was on tour and fans helped him to get it back.
This video is absolutely giving long form podcast vibes and I’m here for it 🔥🤘🏻 Quite a few valuable lessons to be internalized here. Thanks for telling this story.
I’ve had my fair share of Squiers and they’re always solid guitars that are fun to mod. I recently picked up some Reverend guitars and am blown away by the quality vs the price (especially used, they’re an absolute steal used) but I will always have my Squier Classic Vibe Esquire in “vintage white” (it’s more like a deep custard/tv yellow) where I swapped in a black pickguard and a DiMarzio Chopper T in the bridge wired up for series/split/parallel. I’ve literally played it back to back with my friends American Fender Tele (it’s the thin line signature model they made for that guy from Spoon) and I can’t tell the difference in quality. Mine feels and plays every bit as good as his does. Mine was just less than half the price.
I was thinking about selling my first guitar, a beat up Squire Bullet Strat I picked up from a pawn shop. But after seeing this video, I've decided to keep the old bullet and mod it into a new life. I've been wanting to learn how to build and modify guitars anyway, so the bullet is a perfect project for me to learn on. Thanks for keeping me from making a mistake I might've regretted years down the road.
After watching this video so much constantly i finally found out to play the rhythm riff you were playing i was playing random stuff then outa no where i hear myself playing it and i got so happy because I've been tryna figure out how to im so happy thank you for not only the very cool riff but the amazing video
Once again an incredible video. your videos have inspired me to try and take up music production again. youve helped me thing about music in a way that i never have before and i really appreciate it.
I have the Squire bass version of this and I love it. The neck is sooo good. But one thing i noticed, when i went to insulate the pick up and control cavity on my bass, I found it was already done with shielding paint from the factory. Cudos to Squire, come a long way since the 90s
2 years ago i bought my first guitar, a squier 60's classic vibe. And i could not have made a better choice, this guitar SLAPS. me and my dad compared it to his 1963 stratocaster and of course, that guitar sounds better, BUT not as much of a difference as you might expect. The squier kicks soooo much higher than it's price it's insane. I love this guitar and i will never ever get rid of it
I literally scroll through all RUclips I need to get the only showing very boring stuff so where you are a video is best documentary which i needed and enjoyed 10000%
I really like the messages behind this video like personal growth, ignornace when we are young and fearfulness of what others think. Nice video man its awesome
Love the song you wrote sir. The fuzz tone is magnificent and your vocals/lyrics sound awesome. I bought an unplayably bad Squier Bullet Strat in about 1990 and it was SO bad that I basically avoided playing electric guitar. The internet wasn't a "thing" back then, and I had no guitar-playing buddies to help me out and was too broke to go to a guitar store and have it fixed up, and couldn't afford anything better. Or I told myself I couldn't have. My big flaw back then (and still is) that I cheap out on things. Just $100 more spent on an electric guitar, maybe without a Fender logo anywhere on it, no matter how small, and I could have acquired a playable enjoyable electric guitar. Too soon we get old, too late we get wise.
Actually all that guitar probably needed was a setup which is still often under $100 even in 2023, back in the 1990's you would have been talking around $50. Unless a Squire is truly broken (quite unusual but I guess you could have a major issue like a bad truss rod or a fall that really messed up the neck pocket or something) but short of that just a proper setup should make most Squiers into a pretty decent playable guitar.
I love this snippet of your guitar journey. I got 50s vibe squier telecaster that totally changed my playing and honestly made me almost sell my Gretsch, Ibanez electric and acoustic because it was just so dang good. I didnt tho and ended up getting a 60s classic vibe as well. Squier really is something these days!
Same here,got a 50s classic vibe Tele and i love it. Most i spent on a guitar was 500 dollars/euros, no point spending more.
There's something special to a guitar that has been through so much with you man...
My father got his guitar stolen.
It was a beautiful white, filled with some stickers, my father had done some similar things to the ones you did, customizing it, and sounded amazing!
So I can kinda feel you when you let go yours.
Hope the new owner gives it good use!
It was a beautiful video, I liked your production and effort. You have really good storytelling!
Subscribed :D
My first electric was a Squier affinity strat my folks got me for Christmas in 1999. I too attempted to make it look "cooler" by covering the Squier logo on the headstock and butchering the body's finish. Regretted it to this day. Fast forward to 2023, I have the cash and planned to buy my first Fender, the player series Tele. At a guitar shop I spotted a Squier 50s Vibe Tele for half the price and fell in love with it. I will DEFINITELY take care of this one! Awesome video, and awesome Squier! 👌
thats amazing! did you make any mods to the Classic vibe?
This is one of my favourite videos on RUclips I reckon!
Honestly I was this exact same way about my gear I saved for ages to buy a Gibson instead of an Epiphone many years ago because I didn't want to be lesser for playing a more budget conscious instrument. Over the years I realised I still loved my original Yamaha Pacifica, and when I was choosing to pick that up over the Les Paul some days I figured I could swallow my pride and just buy Squier for the Jaguar I wanted. Don't regret it, Jag plays gorgeous. And it says Squier on the headstock :D
Been binging your videos today!!! 🔥🔥🔥
Great video! I think a lot of us can relate. I defretted and repainted my first bass, a squier p-bass, and it also ended up with a horrible, sticky finish; not only on the body but on the fretboard! Also, your guitar jam was great and made me really want to listen to some Built to Spill
Came for the mustang, stayed for your playing. You have good taste all around.
I rarely bother to give a 👍 to a video, but this one deserves it. I'm also a huge Nirvana fan and bought a used and slightly neglected Squire Jazzmaster a few years ago because it was the closest I could get to having a Jaguar at the time. My intention was to mod the hell out of it and make it my own. This has inspired me to get that going. Nicely done, man.
Such a cool story and a great video! Your videos are always very well done but I really like the story behind your first guitar followed by remaking it with another. It's really nice how you talk about owning it, making it yours, and wishing you hadn't sold it. My Dad has a Fender Squire as well (upgraded) and has played with it for 30+ years and everyone says it sounds great. Like you, he covers up the "squire" but with his clip-on tuner. Still, he's played countless gigs with it and it's never once occurred to me (nor anyone else, I bet) that it's "fake" in any way. Great video!
My first real guitar was a Squier Bullet (black) from '83. I wish I still had it. It's amazing how many good, cheap guitars are around today.
Dave Hilowitz is such a visionary with his unique stylings and audio experimentation.. He could in fact, make mayonnaise an instrument.
You've really gotta broaden your horizons if you think this "90s alt rock by numbers" is experimental. It's incredibly derivative. That's not to say it's bad, but claiming this is experimental or innovative is a serious reach.
@@oddthemute6172 I meant overall. But I absolutely agree.
This is a beautiful video. It really shows how much love you can have for an instrument, even if it is uncomfortable, or ugly, or doesn't sound really well. This video is not about gear as much as it is about personal growth. Lovely!
Signed: a proud Squier 51 owner
Why did RUclips not recommend this to me before? This really reminds me of when I finally picked up some guitars of my own. First there was a really cheap bass guitar with a poorly made fretboard. The frets were jutting out just enough to slice my fingers while playing. I had to file them all down, and then added some new pickups, as well as that copper tape. Next was a Squier Affinity Strat that I actually really enjoy playing. It's just the perfect size for me to play comfortably. Ironically, I picked up the RAT pedal because I heard it was a good distortion for 303 style bass synths, and then later found out that it was often used by Nirvana! Sometimes the right gear is just the right gear. Thanks for sharing this!
I've learned the same lesson when I sold my first electric guitar - a Cort, because it didn't have a cool name on a headstock. Still miss that guitar, it was amazing. But it did teach me a lesson, so now my main is a Harley Benton, which plays and sounds great.
The guitar I bought after I owned a Fender is a Cort, coz it's great. =)
@@Great-Documentaries if it works it works
Amazing video! I lovend the story behind the guitare and i can’t stop listening to the little part of the song at the end! I would love to hear the full version!
I thought you were gonna model it after Kurt's, but the end product is awesome as well!
I could totally be wrong, but maybe when they were making this video, they couldn't find a pickguard that fit those specs, so you end up with one single coil pickup and one humbucker. So basically you can't do Kurt's guitar in any truly accurate way. If you want to go that route, there's a good number of guitars that are based of Kurt's career. Including some really interesting Squire ones! I'd say that's what happened though, unless they just wanted it more custom!
When the album that song is on drops, I wish to be notified. It's a BANGER.
it is absolutely worth finishing this song! fallen in love by the little section you've shown here already
i had a neurodivergent moment at 5:58, "why u no strip the neck finish before hand oiling?" it would totally feel nicer if you did, knock the original (poly) finish back, expose the semi unsealed grain, at very least, and then applying in layers. knocking back with some wire wool or low grit etc as you go. No offense, I just feel this step is a missed opportunity for loveliness. That is all... :) There's sound lutherie reasoning in it too, just not always that obvious...
The song at the end sounds great, I would love to see a full version.
Absolutely!!
The Squier Bullet Mustangs are amazingly playable guitars, personally I think the stock pickups sound great. I had planned to change mine but decided to keep them . I did swap out the crappy pot metal saddles for some Fender bent steel, fitted a couple of roller string trees and rolled the fret board edges, it’s my got to guitar for home recording as it’s so dinky and neat.
FYI the cavities on Squier guitars which are painted black are already shielded, the Matt black paint is a shielding paint, I guess yours is double shielded now lol 😊
The nostalgia induced from this video is overwhelming. From the shameful headstock mods to the rediscovery of cheap instruments, this video has been very, very relatable
I was, like you, ashamed about having Squier on the headstock of my first guitar - an SE Strat, which I now know to be one of the holy grails for modding because it was one of the cheapest strats with a full size body and a great neck. I tried very hard to sell it but no one would buy it at all.
I gave up and just decided to use it as a modding testbed. I tried to sand the figurative mile-thick black paint off and gave up after a day of solid hand sanding. I painted over the remnants using some throwaway cans of car paint ("Rover Kingfisher Blue") and then never lacquered it so chunks of the finish come off every few years. I put some N3 Noiseless pickups in from the American Deluxe, as well as the most complex possible wiring i could get my head around (S1, super switch, 10 different sounds). I re-fretted the neck myself and then attempted to dress and crown it.
That whole journey started 14 years ago in the local music shop and continues to this day! It followed me to Japan, and had played in quite a few gigs and sessions. It's had a few new bits of hardware and also been properly set up a few times, so plays amazingly and sits proudly amongst my collection against much more expensive instruments.
Also, i just ordered a Squier Jaguar to add to my collection. Name on headstock what?
wow! new subscriber, just discovered channel and am binging the rest of the videos! love the shots, the colours, the sound, the story telling, the mood, all of it.
His channel is fantastic! And each vid is literally an adventure given the production quality ✌😉👍
Squier and Fender have been putting out a lot of cool stuff lately. I got a Seafoam Jaguar. I had a Squire Bass VI for a bit.
I want to the Bass VI so bad. It would be awesome for some downtuned sludge metal.
@@RichardDeBerryOfficial The Squier Bass VI is great, but it has some shielding issues. Apart from that, mine sounds amazing.
Cool guitar! My first guitar was a Gibson Sonex . I don't even know what the current equivalent would be, since it was apparently made out of cannabis resin and plywood, but it did have the all-important Gibson name on it! I don't miss it at all.
I appreciate this video SO much. I had a very parallel experience. Trusting the advice of others cost me a lot of money as a young musician, and for little sonic benefit. The guitar and wine industry have much in common in this regard. Aside from some very obvious technical things such as electronics and build quality, the rest is about playability.
I have an owned and played a number of contemporary and vintage guitars but the guitar I play 99.9% of the time is a Korean made Epiphone Sheraton II that I bought for $800 CAD almost 20 years ago. Aside from upgrading the bridge pickup to a Classic 57, and shielding the cavity and pick guard with the same copper tape, I’ve done nothing else. It is my favourite guitar I’ve ever played.
Periodically, people still wonder why I haven’t “upgraded” to a proper Es 335. Same reason almost never play my mid ‘70s Les Paul Deluxe… this guitar feels, plays, and sounds exactly how I want it to. I’m done with the arms race of diminishing returns.
Also, this piece you composed for this video is amazing. Great feel and perfect tones. Well done!
Glad the algorithm brought me here.
Great video! What got to me to being a gear snob was a music genre. Before hand the people that were close to me and online people were telling me that expensive means better. I was chasing a thing that a 17 year old couldn’t make happen. Being dissatisfied with my playing and music. Then I found a music genre that I fell in love with that takes high production and expensive gear, and almost literally throws it out the window. That genre is black metal. Music with no rules and something that forces the listener on the song versus the production was eye opening to me. And from there I fell in love with the garage and early demo sounds from all kinds of music. It was that time I realized I had everything I need to make great music. Production can be good but it’s not everything. And as hard of a pill it is for guitarists to swallow, is that the audience and listener really doesn’t care about how cheap or expensive your rig is.
I almost cried watching this video, I think all of us guitar players have that same kind of history pattern
Kirk Hammett was the reason I ever started playing, hearing his solos for the first time were magical
I love videos such as these... They're very well-made and basically tell a story about every kid/teenager/young adult who couldn't afford a Fender so they bought Squiers instead and got ridiculed by other kids and etc...
I guess I was a different kind of kid because I really didn't give a damn what the other kids thought of me or the fact I was playing Squiers...
Long story short I started playing in the early 80's when Fender Japan began building guitars...
And of course all the other guitar and bass-playing kids in my school made fun of me because I was playing ( shock horror ) Japanese Fenders which were of course not REAL Fenders but cheap copies 😄😄😄 but I really couldn't care less...
Things got even more interesting when Fenders made in Japan became "Squiers" but I still didn't care...
Fast forward I decided to become a professional luthier and I went to a reputable luthiery school many years ago and I opened my own workshop in Miami...
As of this morning I have gathered an ever-expanding collection of 175 guitars and although I am the proud owner of vintage gems such as a 1957 Fender Stratocaster or a 1968 Gibson Les Paul custom among others I just LOVE my Squiers ( and my Chinese-made Epiphones, etc...)
and these affordable guitars are about 70% of my entire collection...
My customers also made fun of me when I bought my Hello Kitty strat ( in pink of course ) when they came out in 2007 and laughed even more when I added the smaller model 😄😄😄
I still don't care...And I regularly play my Squiers in local clubs and I'm very happy...
Funny thing is, nowadays Early Japanese Fenders, Japanese Squiers and 70's/early 80's Ibanez and the like are collector's items and all the kids who made fun of me because I used to buy and play them wish they had bought them back in the day...
I hope I haven't bothered anyone with my long comment but this video reminded me of my personal experience as a kid and aspiring guitar hero...
Nowadays I still have customers who come into my shop with Squiers and ask me to remove the Squier logos and put Fender decals on their headstocks instead, which I never do because it's just plain stupid and not really legal...Even worse : they'll even ask me to remove the "made in Mexico" logos off their Mexican Fenders because the audience ( who really doesn't give a damn at the end of the day ) might think they're not real musicians because they can't afford a genuine American Fender...
And they're adults...That is so sad...
Anyway...Thanks for this excellent video and have a nice day 🙂🙂🙂
I love Mexican and Japanese Fenders they feel like they're of just as great quality as the American made ones, a Fender is a Fender at the end of the day imo
Awesome! I'm jealous!
@@femboiuwu Don't be jealous 🙂 It took me 40 years to build my collection...And a lot of work...
Granted, as soon as I opened my guitar repair business things got easier but it still took a lot of time and effort...
Awesome story, thanks for sharing. I still have my first guitar, although I rarely get it hooked up to my rig, I have it by the foot of my bed now and even after 20 years will noodle around on it at times. It was a used Yamaha Pacifica HSS Strat knockoff I begged my parents for. Eventually, I saved up for a Seymour Duncan Invader and had it installed in the bridge.
Some time after that, my parents bought me a brand new MIM Fender Telecaster. It’s probably 20 years old now, and still all stock except the pick guard, which I swapped out the white one it comes with (body painted black) for a tortoiseshell one. I still love using it for my single-coil tones, and get asked what kind of Tele it is by other musicians, who seem taken aback when I tell them it’s just an old stock MIM Tele lol.
My other “go-to” guitar most of the time is a Kurt Cobain Signature Jaguar. I picked up one of the “road worn” ones that I think someone at Guitar Center assumed was used and mispriced, because I think they were going for like $1100 at the time, and I paid $700 for it - complete with hard case and all the extras inside still shrink wrapped…
Normally I avoid signature series guitars, but I realized it’d likely cost me much more time and money to buy a Jaguar and make similar mods - because I think most of them are an improvement on the original Jag design - and I’ve also always been lifelong Nirvana fan, so I picked it up.
It’s surprisingly versatile, between the DiMarzio Super Distortion in the bridge and a DiMarzio 36th Anniversary PAF in the neck - can get surprisingly Gibson-like tones from it.
But those are the ones I seem to always come back to.
@@sordidsentinel I totally understand you 🙂...We all have guitars like these 🙂
I've never heard of your channel before, but I've been thinking about trying to pick up learning the guitar again. I'm surrounded by options costing $2000, $3000, or more. But as Dankpods says, "You don't need to spend a lot of money." You can get something you like the look of, add just a little extra (in your case, your preferred pickups and the copper tape), and make something that looks and sounds great.
This is a wonderful story, a joy to watch!
I love these -- I see a lot of bands in Japan using these and I love the ones with the racing stripe.