Squier Sucks and You're Not a Professional
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- Опубликовано: 30 июл 2024
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In this RUclips video, I dive into the ongoing debate surrounding the use of affordable gear in music recording and production. It really frustrates me that there's this idea floating around that you can only be considered professional if you use certain brands of gear, while looking down on those who opt for more affordable options. Frankly, I think that attitude is ridiculous. Sure, I own some high-end gear like the full-size Helix rack, HX Stomp, and multiple Solar guitars, but one of my most cherished and frequently used pieces is my 2010 Squier Jaguar bass. I adore the sounds I get from this bass, and it has been a staple in almost all of my recorded music. So, let's put an end to this nonsensical argument and focus on the music we create, rather than judging each other based on the brand of gear we use.
Now, let's take a closer look at Squire guitars and address some of the criticisms and advantages associated with them. People often criticize Squire guitars for their lower build quality compared to Fender guitars. While that may be true, I believe it's unfair to judge solely based on materials and attention to detail. Sound and tone are another aspect that people bring up, claiming that Squire guitars don't possess the warmth or clarity of more expensive counterparts. However, I've found that with some customization and experimentation, I've achieved great results with my Squire Jaguar bass, which I've aimed to make sound as close as possible to a high-end Dingwall bass. So, it's time to appreciate the affordability, diverse range of models, iconic Fender aesthetic, and the potential for customization that Squire guitars provide. Let's reject the narrow-minded opinions of others and make music with joy, regardless of the price tag on our instruments.
My Recording Gear
Favorite Headphones - Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro - geni.us/oM9RG7m
Closed-back headphones - geni.us/6BIA0E3
Studio Monitors - JBL 308P MkII - geni.us/MuAYjo
DAW - Studio One - geni.us/rxqV8Q
Midi Controller - Komplete Kontrol - geni.us/rxqV8Q
Mic - SM7B - geni.us/rxqV8Q
Audio Interface - Presonus 1824c - geni.us/hiq5Cr
Helix LT - geni.us/CvUufzt
HX Stomp - geni.us/FWqCa
Helix Floor - geni.us/nc5ZJDK
Video and Camera Gear
Great and affordable Cameras
Sony A7C - geni.us/bKudb56
Sony ZV-E10 - geni.us/iA6Y
Sony A6300 - geni.us/tAymQ
Camera monitor - geni.us/BAXe6e
Sony Lenses
35mm - geni.us/2kSR4
16 mm - geni.us/nNssxmt
Audio Recorder - geni.us/6q5u0
Alternate recorder - geni.us/GggV6
00:00 - What are we talking about?
00:44 - One of my most used pieces of gear
01:14 - The Bullshit argument being made
02:10 - Let's talk about Squire and affordable instruments
02:58 - 1st potential negative - Build Quality
03:13 - The 2nd potential negative - Sound and Tone
03:33 - The 3rd potential negative - Electronics and Hardware
03:47 - The 4th potential negative - Playability
04:11 - 5th potential negative - Resale Value
04:32 - Let's think about things DIFFERENTLY
04:45 - 1st Advantage - Affordability
05:01 - 2nd Advantage - A Variety of Models!
05:11 - 3rd Advantge - That familiar FENDER LOOK
05:23 - 4th Advantage - Improvements in Quality
05:31 - 5th (and my biggest) Advantage - Customization and Modification
05:49 - This is how I feel we should be looking at this
06:08 - In conclusion
06:30 - Lots of talking but thank you!
#AffordableGearDebate #MusicGearCommunity #EmbraceYourSound 
Видеоклипы
As my grandfather used to tell me "A poor craftsman blames his tools."
A great musician can make great music with just about any instrument they're competent with, whilst a mediocre musician will always be just that, regardless of the instrument they're using.
Yup look at Brian May 😎🎸
@@phillramirez8323 you mean that in a good way, right? :)
Well there's something to be said about comfort and convenience. But then again a really good guitar setup will fix the crappy setup that the squires come with, and you can swap out the tuners for pretty cheap too.
Great Musicians with Great Instruments is nice too
🔥☝️THIS☝️🔥
🎯
Seems like having a Squier on a bar gig is a way better idea than using a custom shop strat. Sounds good enough for the drunks in the crowd and won't break the bank if you have to replace it because it got stolen.
I agree. I own an American Standard Stratocaster that I took to a bar gig. And even though I had trusted eyes on it when I went to the bathroom during the night, I had dreams of it being stolen for days. I won't do that again. I will take my stock Affinity Strat from now on and sleep better. Also, when my Fender was in the closet needing a setup, I played the Squire throughout. It held up well against more expensive guitars and players during sessions. I wouldn't have know that it sounded cheap to some people unless all of the snobbery.
You make one of the best points that hardly anyone mentions. Years ago my guitar tech said "A room full of drunk people doesn't give a crap what's on the headstock." And he's totally right.
It's the other players that might be in the audience that give you crap, and if I ever got grief about my gear all I'd say was "Well, instead of wasting your money renting that beer, you could give it to me and help me get what you think is better stuff for the next time I play here." That usually kept them quiet...unless they were already wasted LOL
@@rockerbuck967 yep, needing a 3000$ axe to play a 100 dollar gig is like needing a line of artillery to hunt a deer.
You forgot to mention something IMPORTANT! What? How many drunks you can knock out and the guitar still be in 1 piece lol. THEY are indestructible.
You’ll look a lot cooler when someone’s beer splashes your guitar and you just shred into oblivion… verses someone splashes beer on your guitar and you run for a rag and start crying 😂
Without a doubt - I modded an Affinity Strat by Squire - and turned it into a powerhouse of an electric guitar. I even refretted the rosewood fingerboard with steel frets and put in locking tuners with a brass roller bridge AND revamped the electronics and put in humbucking alnico pickups. Squires are a modders dream come true! You can make this a one off - and never have regrets of it losing value. Collectable guitars are for investors - but inhibit actual players. And even without modding - I can tell little difference in tonal quality between them and more expensive models. A lot of the tone comes from the fingers anyway!
Same here. Ihave had some sweet guitars over the years but my main axe at this moment is an affinity tele that i got used for 200bucks canadian. Swapped out the stock pups for a set of 64 pure vintage. Threw a bigsby on there. It sounds better than any of my musician friends' MIM and USA teles. It doesnt play as slick as buddy's custom shop but it sounds just as good.
@@sleazyrider6970 Yup. Customization gives you a best sounding guitar - for the type of music you like to play. I am not dissing collectors - but they are not into making something that becomes your own sound. And few people have the budget to buy top tier Gibson's or Fenders anyway.
@@jeffthompson1869 one of the best feelings ever is when other guitarists on the bill come lookin at my tele trying to guess the year "late 60s? Early 70's??"
-me "nah its a 2015 squier that i modded and relic'd"😎
@@sleazyrider6970 Very cool. I find very cheap guitars that feel good and play well - but are usually missing 1 or 2 things that would make it crush and mod it. The cheapest guitar I found was only $75 - and after playing it - realized that I couldn't make it sound any better! I was stunned at the tone and playability. Those are the gems of my collection. But again - to each their own - some people don't mind paying a fortune for the opportunity to play a piece of history. I am not that wedded to history to pay that kind of money.
It’s fun to mod a guitar yourself and make a one off unique guitar that’s fun to play and sounds perfect!
I like buying a new guitar, but I like a properly modded cheap guitar that’s been played in and fine tuned myself even more!
Squires are underated ,They make fantastic guitars.
*Squier. Not "Squire"
I just bought a Squier Classic Vibe 60s P bass and it has awesome tone. I can't afford a new Fender Precision but I wanted that sound. This Squier gives me that.
As a teen who isn’t employed and had to buy all my gear myself (expect for strings every few months, thanks mom!), I also think the snobbery in the music community sucks. I’m never gonna buy anything from Gibson or like a 60’s Strat, and don’t even get me started on pedals (100 to get one or maybe two effects?). and no matter how “unimportant and stupid” the snobbery is it does get to me sometimes and it sucks. But I think overall your mindset will always be more important than the stuff your using. So I’m just gonna stick to my cheap stuff and make the best music I can with the stuff I have, and try not to forget that ultimately at the end of the day…it’s about having fun and making music.
It’s mostly all postering, grandstanding and honestly, to get views that these opinions get heard and seen. I know that, and if you take that into consideration, you’ll see it’s mainly all bullshit. Keep doing your thing and have a blast. Thanks for the comment!
I often head over to TheGearPage to see nee stuff about modellers. And sometimes I see other stuff as well about guitars. The ppl there must be out of all common sense talking about buying their 6th custom shop Gibson and how a original 60s Strat they own sounds better than the original 70s strat they own. Play more, talk less should be a mantra...
Hey kid, you are my new favorite. Listen im 50 and have 14 guitars and basses after loosing my first collection in a fire many years ago. I also worked at Parker Guitars in the late 90s. My point is, ive played ALOT of guitars, and my two most played guitars at the moment are a Jay Turser tele that cost me 50 bucks and a heavily modified Squire Strat that cost me less than 350 to build. And is so much cooler than any "real" Strat you will ever find. You can tell its a hot rod just by looking at it! Some of my others are Schecter, PRS, Washburn and yes, a "real" Fender Strat. Im not trying to brag, im just giving you an idea of what im reaching PAST almost every night, to grab my "cheapos". I love them SO MUCH and its because i put so much into them myself. My advice to you is learn how to work on your guitars. My challenge to you is find a 50 dollar or less guitar at a yardsale or a flea market this summer. Something thats been neglected but is all there. Then watch guitar set up and repair videos. Tinker with it until it plays great. Then do it again. It'll save you tons of money, its a GREAT hobby and a great way to build a collection. Not to mention, you'll be far more knowledgeable and prepared some day when you are ready to put a grand down for something really choice. Also consider saving up for a Spark 40 amp. If i had one when i was a kid i would be 10 times the player i am now.
It’s was clearly a fun way to keep my stupid face on screen without just doing a freeze frame, but you know that.
Objective fact - Most price points of Squire guitars are typically built from more pieces of lesser choice woods, use lower grade pot metal for hardware, have cheaper ceramic pickups and are built by people hired off the street who are trained at specific assembly line tasks in countries where the cost of living is low ALL to make a Squire instrument inexpensive and more affordable. What people forget is sound is subjective, not objective. Inexpensive instruments can make great sound... so long as you like what’s produced. The Squire may or may not be as easy to play and/or my fall apart if used in a professional application like touring, but sound and feel are 100% subjective. I have a mid 80s MIJ Squire Strat that sounds good and plays like a dream and sits next to my 2017 limited edition Fender Custom Shop Strat. Don’t forget, Jimmy Page used a Danelectro.
If a Squier is good enough for Mike Rutherford, it's good enough for you. And Squier basses kick ass
jeff healey played a squier. RIP brother
I feel like people tend to forget that a lot of the greatest music was founded on cheap and inexpensive gear, hell some great guitar players straight up made their own guitars out of scratch.
Something that needs to be said is: They make fantastic platforms for modifications and certain upgrades that truly transform them into VERY important weapons in one’s arsenal.
The first Squire I sought out was the Mascis Jazzmaster. THAT neck with the jumbo frets is on par with some VERY expensive stuff. It was purchased for less than 300 clams. After realizing I couldn’t stand the bridge I had no regrets in buying Mastery components. Then applying Frailin noiseless pickups. I love handing it to naysayers to play it. The looks on their faces are priceless!
But, the one that’s truly been astonishing is my classic vibe Jag. Purchased for TWO hundred clams. Once setup and neck shim applied I realized I’d be repeating a similar process. It’s become the thing I reach for most often. (Also, I’ve found the strangle switch in certain situations makes for “Instant Rickenbacker”)
Love this vid.
Mascis Jazzmaster is my most-played; only thing I modded was putting in locking tuners; only complaint is that I tend to pop the strings out of the bridge saddle if I get a little too exuberant but it's such a great guitar. I got an Affinity Jazzmaster recently for $179 as a backup from a Proaudiostar sale, recommend that one as well; I don't know how these companies make any money off these things.
Generally the Squier basses are better than the Squier guitars, the exception being the J Mascis Jazzmaster, which is up there with their best.
I'm 48 southpaw. I recently picked up a Squire Affinity Telecaster after taking about a 20 year break from playing. I aboslutely love it, it's gotten me back into practicing, playing and improving and the best thing about it is how by just looking at it on the stand, it ends up in my hands. It was under £200, which after owning it now for 6 months or so still absolutely amazes me..
Thanks for this video, the guitar industry very much feels like the Emperors new clothes, if you know what I mean.
I’m always excited to hear about folks getting back into mainly because I myself took a several year break and the whole time, I was confused as to why I had this gaping hole and a lack of happiness. Turns out, my creative, musical outlet did me more good then I had realized. Cheers!
If you have one, then you would know from the title of this video, your headstock, and your neck plate that it's "Squier," not "Squire."
@@QS-si3cq as you may also know, modern mobile phones have an auto correct feature. Thank you for highlighting what the headstock looks like though and the spelling error. Greatly appreciate the effort 👍
I have a mid-2000's Fender Geddy Lee signature that has been my preferred bass since I bought it in '05. That was up until a few months ago when I picked up a Squire 40th Anniversary Gold Edition P-bass. Now, the Squire is all I play. Squire QC has definitely come a long way over recent years. And for those who say there is no resale value, try to find a Squire Matt Freeman signature P bass on Reverb. What used to retail around $300 is now selling for close to $2000. I'm kicking myself for not buying one at a reasonable price when I had the chance.
I saw an article about Richard Thompson which mentioned a story in which he was playing a show in a guitar shop, and the owner asked him to choose between a Danelectro and a Squier Strat. He chose the Squier. He normally plays Fender Strats (or custom Ferringtons) but he didn't seem to mind that Squier. The higher-end Squiers are made in the same factory in Indonesia as D'Angelicos, PRS, Lakland Skylines and quite a few other consumer brand guitars, some of them as expensive as a lower-end American Fender.
Yeah man - lots of these guitars made over seas are very legit. The PT Cort factory made in partnership with PRS cranks out all the KILLER SE models.
@@NickHillMakesMusico many guitars I use day in and day out are made there, they really make some fantastic stuff :)
I own and have played many Squier Strats that instantly sounded more 'Stratty' than US made models (played some utter dogs too though, to be fair). The only thing required was an upgrade to the pots, and switch to ensure reliability for gigging. Growing up, my favourite local guitar hero in the pub bands here, used a 90's Squier Strat and tore the roof off places every weekend. This taught me very early on that you can work just fine with budget gear, as long as you can play.
I started collecting basses around 6 years ago. I started out by buying the basses I owned as a young player that I really liked. I moved on to basses that I'd always wanted to own, but never did. My collection grew to over 30 basses. I've got a $199 Ibanez Talman bass that I play all the time. The $4,000 Fodera, the Wal, the Alembic, and the higher-end Spectors have all been sold off. If I've learned anything from this experience it is that it does not matter where an instrument was made or how much it costs, as to whether it is a great instrument or not.
I play rhythm and lead guitar but if it wasn’t for a £150 Squier P bass v. Mod which included an amp I would never have played in a band and got to play live. Love my Squier and it will be my only bass for as long as possible - Well said
Mad respect to you sir for sticking up for common sense and common folks...if a guitar connects with you it doesn't matter... nothing else matters..I could go on for days with this discussion and I have...thank you my friend..and yes your bass tone is AMAZING..SUBBED immediately after watching this.. fantastic job🤘😁🎸❤️
I appreciate the sarcasm always. We certainly aren’t saving any lives here…. Or are we? Thanks for being here!
Thats why people are o.k. with buying clothes from wallmart, lol... If it does the job, who cares? Lol, go for it
As long as it is well intonated it is a pass for me because I've had some instruments that are impossible to tune and intonate and I will never give myself that stress again
Another great reason to consider Squier is the instruments they make that you wish Fender would make but they won't. The paranormal series and contemporary series are two great examples. I love my contemporary Tele so much in its stock form that I had to buy a 2nd one to mod. Seymour Duncan P-rail in the neck with the triple shot mount, single coil sized Seymour Duncan pearly gates humbucker in the bridge, CTS pots, Switchcraft switch and output jack and a tiny killswitch button between the volume and tone knobs. Love that guitar.
The Squire contemporary tele is an excellent instrument. It must have sold pretty well, because there’s also now a HH tele in the Fender player series that’s nearly identical (in a wider range of colours).
I wonder if this is why they stepped up their quality game. They found an outlet for doing cool/strange stuff, but wanted to make sure it was still high quality. The paranormal series has so many cool and whacky designs!
Nice man thinking of add some hot p rail to my Jazzmaster love the sound keep rocking man 😎🎸👍
@@phillramirez8323 The linked car manufacturers do it - eg. Hyundai often tries out new stuff in Kia models first. That could have caught on at Fender? Not a bad strategy at all as you can do new things but not risk your core brand.
My 5 string active Contemporary by Squier is my absolute favorite bass, it's tonal range is insane and I couldn't be happier with it's feel. I'll be picking up a Paranormal rascal here in a bit so i think it's worth mentioning that the 2 series are genuinely awesome and make for beautiful intsruments.
People looking down their noses at people playing affordable instruments has been going on since forever. When I was first starting on bass in the mid 70's budge/affordable guitars/basses were cheap crap. We would have been thrilled to have the quality we have now.
I bought a Squier Affinity Strat a while ago as a project. Upgraded pickups, pots and switch, locking tuners and new bridge. Total cost including the guitar was a lot less than even a Player series. Some minor setup and this thing plays and sounds great. Definitely a keeper.
Thank you for pointing out the mod potential there! I wish more people thought of it that way and realized that for less than a fender, you could buy a Squire and mod it. With a little elbow grease and some cash, I’d much rather have something I’ve made to cater to my style and preferences
Amen brother. Preach. Sounds killer to me. Keep up the good work. One of my 3 guitars (the one I learned on in the early 80s) is a cheap no name brand Sentinel Gibson SG copy (dark red body black pick guard like Angus of ACDC). What ever gets you making music is the important thing.
i think the most important part of choosing an instrument is the feel, if you don’t like the sound just change the parts. every guitar can be a great guitar given the work.
Changing the pickups does very little in affecting the tonal shifts a huge amount, investing in a proper speaker cab is where the money should go
The only Squiers that are less capable instruments are the entry level ones, let's say, the "Bullet" line. From the "Affinity" line onwards, they all have their value. The "Classic Vibe" and "Vintage Modified" lines are superb instruments with an awesome attention to detail in the QC stage. I have Squier instruments and I totally love them!
I have a 150 dollar Bullet Mustang that I bought as a beater guitar to mod and I actually really like it. It's definitely a lower end guitar, but it's pretty playable and has great sounding stock pickups for the money. I didn't even have to do much to it to make it playable.
My 2009 CV jazz bass still serves me to this day and I've sold off custom shop fenders since because they didn't feel or sound as good.
Thank you Mr. Hill for your thoughtful, and spot-on piece. These are words that not only should be said, but also need to be heard. Unfortunately, there are too many persons out there that constantly in need to justify their need for and/or ownership of high-end high-dollar musical gear (or photography equipment, or astronomy gear, or cars, clothing, jewelry, personal care products or anything else you can think of ). You're not serious if you use the budget option, and you're definitely not a professional if you go budget. Some of us do get sucked into this mentality once in awhile, I did so with photography equipment. Took me a few years to allow myself to understand a simple wisdom; it's not the camera, it's me. It's not the lens, it's me. Yeah, I still need a camera and lens, but I don't need a $15K rig (body and lens) to get a photograph. Furthermore, I've realized the absolute best camera I could have at any given moment, is whatever photographic device I have in my possession when I need to take that photograph. It is so liberating, not having the need to have high-end top-dollar gear in my kit, and I still take the same level of photographs today with mainly consumer grade equipment. Liberating. Squier guitars, yes, I own 4; 2 are modded and 2 are still stock. I play them all of the time, I simply love my Squier Strats. They motivate me, inspire me and dig what they can do for me. I own one Fender MIM Strat, lovely instrument but it ain't no Squier...
Oh yes the cork sniffers are great aren't they? Affordable gear is great, what matters is how you play more than what is on the head stock. I have nothing but affordable guitars and I have been playing for 43 years now and have played live with many affordable guitars. Could care less what people think when I walk on the stage about the name on my head stock. I do my talking with my playing.
The fun thing is that only the 2 guitar nerds in the audience will notice, the brand of your bass is even less important than the guitar solo moment when you go to the bar to get a beer.
I've played my '94 MIJ Jaguar for YEARS, it's been my main guitar. Recently I grabbed a Squier paranormal telemaster, and that thing holds it own - everytime I play it I never feel like I'm missing anything, it plays and sounds great, holds tune great too with upgraded tuners.
I'm a Squier convert 4 life. Even Epiphone is putting out stuff that punches well above its weight
Great video! Totally agree! I’d love to know how did you get that bass tone!
Stumbled upon your vid whilst looking for a squire demo! Excellent video, sir! And on the Squire on stage argument, I saw Mastodon a few years ago and sure as shit Troy Sanders was using his signature SQUIRE on stage. Been wanting one for ages and decided that was a sign. Took to reverb and grabbed his Sig Jag on the cheap! It’s a powerhouse for only a few hundred bucks.
The sound comes from the fingers😉
I love and play Squier Basses everywhere ❤
If it works it works, what counts is your talent.
You cannot underestimate playability. I have played Fenders that were brutal and I have played Squires that played like butter. Sure, the Fender could maybe have been fine-tuned to match what I like but first impressions are important. I have a late '70's era CBS Strat that everyone tells me is the worst era for strats, but it is my favourite guitar to play because it just fits me so well. And other strats I have played have come close, but not surpassed it FOR ME in playability. I can do more with that guitar just because it is so comfortable to me.
I KNOW I'm not a professional. But I also know what works for me. Gear snobs just want the prestige of owning the name.
Definitely. I think Troy Van Leeuwen either used to or still uses a squire telecaster. Dude is the textbook definition of a pro so there’s clearly nothing wrong with them!
Something people tend to forget is that Hendrix used a CBS Strat with the big headstock for the better part of his career. Yngwie (say what you like about him) has made an entire career around those instruments!
One of the best Strats I've ever played in my life is an all original 79' Strat, that thing fits my hands better than many modern Fenders I've tried.
If it was good enough for Blackmore it's good enough for me :)
@@STORMBREAKER_250don't forget Blackmore, who only played CBS era Strats
Still wish I still had My 1980s Squier Strat made in Japan to this day. I have had Suhr’s, Fender Custom Shops, built my own Warmoth guitars, etc and I still enjoy buying lower priced guitars. Sometimes I do electronic upgrades later but a proper setup (fret work / saddles / nut / etc) typically makes all the difference on the lower units.
I have done years of gigging with guitars well below the $1000 threshold.
Great video. "Just make music and be happy " 100%
Right on man!
I play my Squier Telecaster Classic Vibe (2018) every day. I love it! It is pretty heavy, but I sit and play at home most of the time so. Totally guilty of the want and ”need” of a ”real” Fender Telecaster at some point. I am happy that my Squier is giving me enough playability so I come back to it. You learn to play around flaws over time too.
I've worked on a lot of squiers. They often have frets that need to be tapped in or levelled to be made to play well. I don't think I would wish that on a new player unless they also purchase a full and proper setup as described above. My favorite is when they ship with whammy bars that don't fit them or striped truss rod adjustment or when the switch won't even go into one of the positions. I especially love it when a guitar cannot be intonated because there's no adjustment left. How about a guitar that sounds like a citar out of the box because of the nut have some issues? I mean, the work is good!
But hey - if you've got a "golden sample" that's perfect or you've paid someone to make it that way, rock on! It's the end result that matters. I just don't think people should be expecting a great instrument out of the box.
Great sence and thanks for awakening folks who think you have to have to spend a fortune on gear to play music ❤
I love my Squire strat. I bought it used for $99, and I recently added new Fender pickups for another $99. So, for around $200, I have a great guitar that I can play and not worry about every little nick and scratch, like I do with my more expensive guitars.
I have multiple squires that I have modified. The classic vibe series is great. Upgrading the wiring can go a long way (but may not be necessary) and putting quality strings on them and boom you are recording great tones.
My squier classic vibe 60s jag (with very light setup/changes to things like bridge height, strings, action/intonation) is the nicest guitar i’ve ever played and my favorite guitar ever. Better than any american Fender, 40th anniversary jazzmaster, or gibson SG that my friends own that i’ve played.
@@em0cor31 yes I love my CV jag, I put flatwounds on it and it sound amazing. I had it set up and that’s it.
one of my favorite guitars i own is my all original $200 sss hardtail bullet. it has awesome tone
So so true. My PRS DGT SE arrived the same week as a Squier Classic Vibe 70’s Telecaster Deluxe that was on such great sale I couldn’t resist. Guess which one I just can’t put down?
Spot on.
Most of the musicians I know with very expensive, high-end, famous brand gear are NOT professions (as in they don't earn their money from music). they have good jobs, disposable income, and enjoy spending it on fancy gear. That's absolutely fine.
The actual pros I know (again, 'pro' in the sense of how they ear their money) often use mid-range or cheaper gear because they have to think 'how many gigs would I have to do to pay for this?' If they do have a fancy expensive instrument, they probably have just one, and have played it for their entire career. I can think of very few working musicians who could afford the many thousands of pounds for a top-end Gibson guitar and if they could, would they really want to drag it around clubs gigging it?
I too have a Squier bass (25 year old Precision) that has appeared on all of my recordings over that time. Sounds great, plays great, records well.
The uncomfortable truth is that you can make music with just about anything, and buying expensive gear is sometimes an easy substitute for putting the work in, or an excuse for not being as good as we could be. If only I had that guitar, I could play like that guy...
I have a 2019 Ibanez SRSC806 for $1100 back then. Changed out the pups for some Nordstrand Zen Blades 6 and a Trickfish flexcore preamp. I use it for everything and now that I run it through a full Helix floor I can get that "metal sound" all day.
My classic vibe is my favorite guitar in my collection.
I agree on all points. While I don’t judge others on their choice of gear, I’m definitely guilty of wanting to chase the higher end of the market. I have a nice collection of ‘brand’ guitars, however, ironically the one guitar that has appreciated the most is a 2012 Squier Mikey Way Mustang bass in silver sparkle. It’s extremely rare and listing for 4x what I paid for it. Go figure.
Squier often kicks Fender’s ass with QC.
I agree. My Squier Jazzmaster I got for $250 stays in tune better, has a nicer neck and is more consistent than my $1200 Telecaster deluxe.
i play a squire affinity jazz bass (and i have been since i started playing bass) and i love playing it. i also love that i won't feel regret whenever i eventually decide to mod it to have some better hardware. personally i haven't been targeted by ppl for using a budget friendly instrument but i grimace at the thought of other musicians having to deal with this for using these instruments. i think it's unnecessary because to me an instrument is an instrument. great video!!!
There's a lot of travel scenarios where I wouldn't wanna bring along an expensive guitar, so my Squier Mustang will find its uses throughout my life, that's not just about playing at home or the stage, so buying one as a beginner is money very well spent.
I wouldn't feel comfortable jumping around like a goofball with a guitar that cost 1000 euro, so that would in a way impact my playing negatively in a different sense
Squier’s have come a long way. I used to come across years ago some that were unplayable out of the box. Needing major fixes to get them right. Nowadays, I feel like they have done a way better job and have flipped the narrative. I agree with you 100% on going on stage. Doesn’t matter what you play. It sounds great it sounds great. They are a great platform for customization. Some folks also don’t want to sink more money into them and just want something ready to go out of the box. Either way it’s all personal preference. I have Music Mans and Sterling guitars. The music man was perfect out of the box. The sterling required a setup and boom it feels great as well.
absolutely, like 6 years ago I compared the Avril Tele and Hello Kitty strat up against the regular strat and tele, and the latter 2 were unplayable, like the worst package no name Strats.
I brought an Esquire custom FSR last year and this guitar is awesome! I had a Fender Strat and the Esquire can quite compete. I play guitar for more than 30 years, not a pro but the Squire is quite good for me!
If it intonates, stays in tune, and doesn't make you bleed it's a winner
Great video man. Good points. Very well said all around. I used to be kind of a gear snob but my Squier classic vibe strat has made it on plenty of my recordings and I occasionally play live with a Harley Benton Tele. You’re right no one really cares. And if anything, they are blown away by how good you can sound with budget friendly gear.
I fully agree mr Nick. I've got some high end guitars , PRS custom Jackson and so on i play. But then bought a fender boxer telecaster with dual humbuckers with split coil pickups with a 80's style set up and it's relatively inexpensive and is my go to ax , absolutely love it and I'm a high gain player , I like metal , so it ain't about how much you spend , you don't have to break the bank to find so good equipment
I’ve learned in my 50+ years of life that many of those ppl that criticize your gear are often not musicians, but gear collectors. Their opinions don’t mean shit.
last year I bought the Squier contemporary Jag in gold, I customized it immediately, one pickup a 90s SD Invader, one knob and a custom tortoise pickguard. Added locking tuners, the neck is roasted from the factory and has a black headstock. It's fuckin amazing! The funniest is that I do enjoy it as much or even more, as I used to enjoy my vintage '79 Gibson LP Custom (silverburst) which is a 5000USD guitar.
I got two Squiers!
Jim Root Telecaster & 70s Jazz Bass, Love them both!
Both are heaaavvvvily used on everything i do and they sound great!
I've had expensive guitars and cheap guitars, but the cheap ones have always been my favorites. Because when you buy an expensive guitar, you're there, you're all set. You don't have to work much for anything. You experiment less, because it's comfortable. It's all "good quality," so you work less; you expect it to sound good off the bat; or you can't really let loose because you're too worried about scratching the damned expensive guitar.
But with a cheap guitar, you can just be yourself. You can throw it to the moon, if you want to-or you can let it take you there. And because it's cheap and not "premium," you have to work for it, build it up, modify it, you experiment; you invest in more hardware, effects, amps, whatever-you get a bunch of other cheap stuff and you put them all together; you get out of your comfort zone; you learn new tricks, new ways of doing things; you learn to be better at mixing and production, you learn uncommon techniques, and then you start delving in deeper into the obscure and the esoteric-all so you could get to "the sound" you're looking for. You become more creative.
And little do you realize that, you not only got the sound you were trying so hard to get at, you've come up with your own sounds, discovered new sounds that you didn't know you wanted to hear, and wouldn't have otherwise found, had you gone for the expensive, signature guitar. And now, you truly are your own musician.
Getting cheap stuff liberates you.
How else do you think all those greats got their signature guitars?
For in the end, that's what music-that's what all art-is about, the struggle to get there. If there's no struggle, there can be no music. Real music. If there are no obstacles to overcome, there's no stimulation, no creativity. Without blood, sweat, and tears, there can be no art. No, art is not like that. It is not about easy, pretty, expensive things. Fame and fortune, they're just fruits of the labor. But you don't do it for that, you do it for the doing. You do it because your bones cannot stand not to; you do it because there's a fire in your soul that must get out.
But if your answer to that is to just work hard in your job to earn the money for one expensive piece of equipment, then sure. Go play an everyman's version of Stairway to Heaven on a ten thousand dollar guitar. Because you have to get there somehow, right?
I have some very expensive and "high end" pieces of kit that I've accrued the past few years, but I can't say that has really inspired me. That doesn't mean they're bad, but they're just tools and sometimes when we lack inspiration we can fall into the thinking that we can just improve our tools and solve our woes. But the truth is when I don't think about gear, I'm inspired to write and play and I was always more than happy to play on my Epiphone and whatever cheap amp was available to me. The more I got invested into gear, the less I thought about music and the more I critiqued nuances that took something away from the core of that passion.
That's not me saying expensive gear is bad. It's a problem with my own psychology. But the point is more or less to say if someone is focusing on gear, chances are they are justifying things to themselves in place of shit that actually matters. Instead of just appreciating the art, they need to justify their spending gobs of money on gear by looking down on other people's lost potential, when in fact it's their own.
I definitely miss those days when I just didn't give a fuck, when I had less than no interest in talking about gear and brands and shit. I just wanted a guitar to write on a something to plug into when the time came. I used an Epiphone and a POD 2.0 kidney bean for the longest time and nobody every moaned about my sound, least of all me. As I've grown uninspired with music, and my job has more or less dictated that I keep up with the gear industry, I've been trying to buy myself out of the void. Or at least I was. I have a lot of gear not being touched these days. Someone actually creating with a Squier and a Line 6 Spider draws more of my envy these days.
My Affinity Telecaster is one of my favorite guitars. I play it just about every day. I did have to pick through a few models at my store to find the one that felt best to me and had the fewest issues but it's stellar, especially since I wasn't the biggest Tele fan (but I am now). I learned to do modifications and replaced the pickups and electronics, mostly just for fun. I'm a huge Squier fan.
Dude! This is a perfect example! Thanks for engaging and being here.
I own one of these basses and it has become my go to 4 string, the preamp and pickups are amazing for live and recording
My first instrument was that same Squier Jag. I got it from Phil McKnight 12 years ago, and it's still the best playing, best sounding instrument I own. It can easily go toe to toe with any instrument 10X the price I got it for. The only things I've changed were higher value pots and redoing the wiring, and installing a hipshot bridge and d-tuner. The hardware changes are nice but I'd be totally happy to play it stock.
I have a 1988 Squier Strat. I have done 2 mods to it, replaced the 5 way switch and put a 1990 DiMarzio PAF in the neck position. It plays like a dream and I would easily compare it with a Fender Strat of similar vintage. Guitar, hard case and Pevey 10 watt amp came to just over $100CAN back then. The amp is gone but the Strat seems to be getting better.
I vote for "Just make music and be happy"
My main guitar is an Ibanez AZ Premium, but my secondary weapon that I use just as much is a Bacchus BST2, which is around the same price after shipping and taxes as a Squier Classic Vibe if not less. It literally outplayed a Mexican Fender I had for years that I sold not that much long before I bought this.
I replaced the bridge pickup with a Suhr humbucker, the bridge with a Wilkinson and the tuners with Planetwave locking, play and sounds like a dream. It also has the bonus factor of being an obscure brand so there can't be any judgement :)
Another one is my Ibanez AS93 Expressionist, costs 699$ brand new and it's literal perfection, only changed the tuners to Gotoh locking purely because I wanted and not because I even needed. Tried out higher end Gibsons, D'Angelicos and even a friend of mine's 3K$ Ibanez Scofield, not that much better.
Truth is: All you'll ever need is an amp modeler, an effects pedal, and any guitar/bass with out jagged frets or fretbuzz. You can get that all for under $1000 and you'll be set for life. The gear snobs come from the 1990s and 2000s when brands started releasing different quality lines for their instruments. In the 80s, you had limited options, so there werent really gear snobs. Now, in the 2010s and later, you have endless options packed in to amp modelers and low tier instruments have much higher quality control. The only reason why you should ever spend more than $500 for a piece of gear is for a certain paint job, a specific feature (like multiscale or certain bridge types), or if you really just want it.
That style of Squire Bass has been in more uninvited parties than the others.
It's a great for the occasional bass playing guitT player because of the scale length. If I played bass all the time Id go with the p-jazz bass. Great neck on those too. More like a Jazz bass neck.
No one in the crowd will give 2 shits if your bass is Squier or Fender as long as it sounds good, the only criticism will come from fellow musicians trying to put you down. Every gig i played for 3 years was with my Affinity J Bass, and always sounded great, stayed in tune, was comfortable as hell and looked great on stage. Now, a Talman 100 from Ibanez got me into playing bass again at a really good price and its one of the best basses I've ever played and cant wait to jump on stage again with it.
On basses, I originally wanted a Dingwall because I thought you needed it for that sound but then I saw some metal cover with a sterling stingray and realized I could do the same with a $400 bass instead. I now have a sterling stingray5 and can get almost any sound I want out of it. I also mainly use Archetype Parallax.
I've played guitars worth tens of thousands of dollars, and still nothing feels as good to me as my 70 dollar Silvertone Strat Copy, one of this shitty cheap ones you'd see in the mid 2000s or 2010s in a sears catalog for "beginner's" worth absolutely nothing conventionally but overtime to me became absolutely priceless. it just is so fun and perfect in my hands, I put a lipstick pickup in the bridge and it's I just can't see myself without it. I feel like it almost plays me
I agree with this video and all the comments. We really are in the golden age of Guitar, so many great inexpensive guitars are totally playable at live gigs, stock. I attended a blues concert and thought I saw a Rickenbacker bass. When the player picked it up and turned it around, and I looked at it more closely. I saw it was not a Ric, but had a similar shape. He sounded great so I asked him during a break when he was playing and he said it was a Harley Benton. I asked him if it was modded at all and he said it was totally stock. He just put on his favorite kind of strings. He said he has better Basses at home for practice, but he doesn’t want to take them on the road and risk having them stolen or broken. I loved the look of the Harley Benton so much I bought one and it was playable out of the box but it does need a better set up (I wanna teach myself some skills so I can work on the frets a bit consider myself) but it’s a lot of fun to play, sounds fine, and it looks so great. As for myself, I’m just an amateur and I like to collect inexpensive or “less expensive” guitars (G&L, Squier, Epiphone, Ibanez, Harley Benton and Xaviere) … when I play out with my Band, my Stock Squier precision bass is a lot of fun to play. My best bass is a Fender MIM Jazz bass, I have an old MIJ Fender Strat, a MIM Fender Tele, and a 1980 Gibson V2 that was bought new for my 20th birthday. The “better” guitars are beautiful and play nice, but I love my Squiers: Bass VI, Jag, Cyclone, Tele, and DuoSonic, my Epiphone SG, Les Paul, Casino Coupe and ES 339, and a few other guitars. It’s cool to have variety of guitars with different tones at my finger tips: one axe always in open G, one in Eb, one in Nashville tuning, etc. I know some of the best guitarists only have a few guitars. My hobby is affordable and keeps me out of trouble… cheaper than owning a boat!
I have used Squier standard strats as road dogs for 20+ years. The 2 point trem is good quality and works well. Toss in your choice of p-ups and some locking tuners maybe a better nut and yer good to go. They can vary in fret level/dress but I have a few that required no attention there. I always buy them when they turn up on the used market. Sometimes you find a real keeper.
I listened to this video just thru earbuds, but after you liked my comment about my CV Sq. Strat, I went back and WATCHED this video. Dude!😆 the glitchy/stutter during the chugging and baseline cracked me TF up. 😂🤘
I Can’t believe I haven’t found you on here before now. U win my Sub for all THATs worth. Thanks man
Thanks for being here! Happy to have you and thanks for the kind words
I have a prs s2 custom 24, a squier contemporary w floyd an sd pickups. And a jazzmaster 40th anniversary. They are all different, but i often go for my squier contemporary because it's just great, especially with the pickup change
I have two late 80s Korean made Squier II Strats and they are my absolute babies and they've made me a good amount of money too lol.
My main gigging guitar was a stock Firefly 338 spalted. Hardly use my fender Strats. Sold my ES-335. Only now dropping my Gibson Les Paul in the rotation a little bit.
Mike Rutherford of Genesis famously grabbed a cheap grey Squier Bullet Strat from the nearest music storee as Lockdown enforced a prolonged hotel confinement.
It quickly became a firm favourite that he uses for live performances. I saw a youtube vid of Another artist whose name I forget who records parts for film scores using a Squier thanks to the special tonal quality of its cheap pickups.
I love this video. I love it because it's exactly how I feel about Squier. I've had and still have lots of "high end" Fender instruments in my 36 years of playing, but right now I own several Squier basses and guitars and I love them. And the one I mostly use for my live gigs and recording is a 2018 Squier Jazz Bass Vintage Modified 70s one, bought used for 300 euros! It's a killer! I love it, much more than Fender Japan made from early 90s. I love Squier brand, they experiment much more than Fender on new models with classic or vintage look.
I don't own any Squier guitars, but the Squier J Mascis signature jazzmaster absolutely blew me away when I played it in a guitar store for what it's worth. I absolutely loved the way it sounded and if I wasn't limited on space I'd probably have bought it then and there.
It's a great bass. But then I modded it with some noiseless humbucking pups and a freeway 6-way switch. Now it's a friggin' monster.
Guitarists should be grateful - it's one of the only instruments where you can get a professional quality instrument for less than $500
Respect! I agree 100%... I used to have an Ibanez K7 and for no reason ai bought a cheap 7string Schecter that ended to be played more,years have passed and I became poorer😅 so the guitar that makes me Happy now is a baritone Squier classic vibe tele within some little upgrades.
Two of my favourite guitars are Squiers: a very heavily modded standard Strat, with still an original pickup cause it sounds like itself costs more than the guitar, and an affinity Tele, of which I have only ever changed the strings - as needed. Played them both so much the necks are near gloss finish
J Mascis plays his Squier signature Jazzmaster both on stage and has even used it for recording in the studio and it's a $400 guitar. don't ever feel ashamed to play a guitar you like to play or that feels good in your hands, no matter how cheap it is.
I have a 2011 VM Squier Jaguar PJ. I love it. All I ever had to do to it was file the fret ends a bit. It plays great and looks great. It’s black with a matching black headstock, rosewood fretboard with block inlays. It has Seymour Duncan designed pick ups that sound great. It’s my go to when I want a precision bass sound but I like it better because it has the slim jazz style neck. I bought it new in 2011 on sale at Guitar Center for $229. They are actually a bit sought after now and I’ve seen them go for $400 now online
Making art ends up so weighed down in bullshit. We forget that ultimately we just do this to have fun. It doesn't matter if you impress people with your gear, if you're a quote-unquote "professional" (whatever that is), how many likes and views and shares you get, how fast you can shred - *none of it* matters. The only thing that matters is that you have fun making music. We do this because it makes us happy. Everything else is bullshit.
It’s true!
Amen! Ever heard what Jack Pearson does with a squire strat?
The only reason I can think of to tell someone not to buy Squires would be if they have money for something really good, but would rather buy multiple cheap guitars.
Anyone with any sense knows that good sound is 95% the player and 5% the equipment.
I play a Squier CV Jaguar bass and like it a LOT. And honestly, I don’t encounter this sort of criticism when around working musicians nor when playing live. My band mates have never once made a comment about me playing a Squier, even though they have Fender (and other name brand) guitars. Audiences simply say, “you sound great,” and even the bass players who come up and talk never mention the brand of instrument I’m playing.
My high school students talk shit about Squier (and Epiphone), but they’re mostly spoiled kids who know very little about their own instruments. They seriously don’t even know how to change their strings 🤦🏻♂️ so their opinions don’t hold much weight.
One final observation: Every time I try a Fender MIM bass, I am disappointed in the lackluster build and super quiet sound. It’s like the pickups have -10dB output or something. No thanks.
I really feel you, I know it’s not a squier, but I have a cheap Epiphone SG special ve, cheapest one you can get, and we’ll it’s not stock (it has an emg 81 in the bridge and straplocks) and I like it more than my friends ibanez’s, and even tho I have more expensive gear on the way, I will always love this guitar
The biggest thing I’ve been arguing for years on some of these budget line instruments is as a modification base. Squire and Epiphone are solidly made instruments at their core, there just isn’t usually as much put into setting them up or with peripheral hardware. The bodies, necks, frets, stuff that is foundational is great. I primarily use Epiphones to play and record now after years of being a Gibson player. Why would I switch from Gibson to Epiphone? Because my main pair of guitars are two SGs, one Traditional Pro and one Classic with P90s, that with upgrades to all of the hardware, wiring, and custom pickups are combined barely over half the price of an SG Standard stock off the wall. I intend to get a new bass in the next couple weeks to expand my bass arsenal and my top pick is a Squire 70s vibe Jazz bass. There’s a big difference in not skimping on features where they matter and over paying for a name brand instrument because it’s got more “professionalism” somewhere hidden in that extra grand you spent on it.
You can either spend your time practicing and performing with whatever gear available at the moment, or spend your time arguing about guitar brands online. Group A seems to generally have the most fun in life though.
I had one of those Jaguar basses but I felt like the P pickup was kind of weak. But the thing is that everyone is going to vibe with basses differently. Play what fits you best. Love my Sterling Stingray. The budget Stingray. I get comments on my tone all the time. EQ, EQ, EQ.
Great video, thanks!
I recently bought a Squier Jaguar Bass. Yes, I modded it a bit with new tuners because of head dive with the original, Fender vintage P pickup, new Electronics (the original pots really sucked, I think they were simply broken), Hipshot bridge with 17mm string spacing. It was perfectly playable out of the box (well, the head dive was not so funny) but now after my mods it is simply the best bass I can imagine. It fits my needs perfectly. Medium scale, well balanced, great P bass tone with a grain of bridge pickup tuned in and I can play it all day long. There is no Fender or another brands instrument that can give me what this bass gives me, at least I did not find anything.
Buy what you need, regardless of the brand. There is no "best", there is only "best for me".
Did you see the release of the Squier Rascal bass? Cool, isn't it? Fender does things with Squier they do not dare to do with the Fender brand. Good for us customers!
I have at least 5 Squier basses, some modded, some untouched, and I'm happy with them. I bought my candy red Jazz used with hard Fender case for $180 shipped. It was probably my biggest score.
But, I had a problem with my short-scale Jaguar bass. When I took the neck off, the screw holes in the heel were maybe 1/4" deep and screws were way too short for comfort. I could see the bottom of the screw holes!
Have you ever looked in a screw hole and seen the bottom? I didn't think so.
It was an easy fix but seriously, would you feel comfortable playing a bass where the neck could snap off if dropped?
Good video dude!
About 25 years ago I played a fund-raiser for the MDA using a Squier Affinity Stratocaster and a Peavey Classic 30 for some blues numbers. Afterwards, guys from the other bands were asking about my setup and complimenting me on my great tone. I have acquired more expensive gear since then but I still use an Epiphone SG at church. Although for outdoor venues for large groups with other musicians, my Gibson guitars seem to cut through better. Play what you can reasonably afford. Practice will improve your sound for a lot less money that gear will.
I am also in the customize it camp. If the wood is good, you can have a 5000 dollar build for well below 1000 bucks. Even so, you will pay mostly for the part's brand logo's then too.
I love tweaking my gear. Not everyone can solder or owns fret files however. Gear snobs generally can barely adjust a truss rod if at all. I have a Squire Precision and it's rather lovely, and I also have another bass with Fishman pickups that are worth more than the bass itself and it's a dream on many levels. When I see someone with a nice build, I love it!
Jimmy Page’s fave guitar is his Dano DC59. Damn thing is practically made of cardboard. George Harrison famously loved his Squier strat. Kurt Cobain played a Fernandez strat copy. Jack White’s fave Airline model is made of plastic. Jon Spencer’s Zim-Gar guitar was $50.
Agreed, I've used a Vintage Modified Jazz Bass for 14 years on over 100 recordings and approximately 100 gigs. I have no plans to stop now
The late great Jeff Healy went by what he heard when he smoked everybody's backside with his Squier Strat.