SQUIER Electric Guitars (Buying Guide): Stratocaster, Telecaster, Mustang. Classic Vibe, Sonic or Affinity?
The Squier electric guitar brand is one of the most popular and recognized manufacturers. They offer very low-cost instruments for beginners and excellent guitars at a moderate price for amateurs and novice professionals. Who hasn’t owned a Squier at some point in their life?
This brand was founded in 1983 as a subsidiary of Fender, in order to compete against other brands that produced their products in Asian countries.
The only way Fender could compete against these brands was to manufacture its products in those same Asian countries, which have devalued currencies and consequently much cheaper labor.
However, the Squier electric guitar brand has a decisive advantage over its competitors: it can use Fender’s original designs without incurring any type of copyrights.
The brand boasts the original aesthetics of Fender models, which we all carry intuitively, engraved in our minds.
Squier Electric Guitars Series
The three current basic ranges of Squier guitars would be:
- Sonic
- Affinity
- Classic Vibe
The Sonic series replaces the older Bullet range, and includes more affordable models designed for beginners. The Affinity range is an improved version of the Sonic, and the most notable and well-known is the Classic Vibe.
Squier Electric Guitars Telecaster
I’ll show each model in question, in its different series. We’ll start with the Telecaster model in the Sonic series for around $230.
The Telecaster Affinity model is very similar, but with some electronic improvements and the strings pass through the body of the guitar, for about $70 more.
The Sonic series features a bridge designed so the guitar strings are inserted through the back of the bridge (top right image). This feature reduces costs, but can affect the resonance of a Telecaster compared to models with a bridge designed so the strings are inserted through the back of the guitar.
This last method is the traditional and most optimized, and if we need to change the bridge, it would be easier to find a replacement, and we also have several options.
We also have the Affinity Telecaster Deluxe with a pair of humbucker pickups, for approximately $300.
As for tonewoods and electromagnetic pickups, all the models shown so far feature poplar for the body, maple for the neck, and ceramic-magnet pickups.
In the Classic Vibe range, we have the 1950s-style Telecaster model with a pine body. Pine is very 1950s, as Fender made its first Telecaster models with this type of wood.
Squier Electric Guitar Custom and Thinline
However, we also have the ’60s-style model (’60s Custom) with a Nyatoh wood body, a wood with musical qualities similar to mahogany. This guitar also features a double binding that contours the body, giving it a touch of distinction, very much in the style of 1960s Telecaster models.
In the Classic Vibe series, we find other Telecaster models, such as the Classic Vibe ’60s Thinline. Very similar in features to the Classic Vibe ’60 Custom Telecaster, but with a semi-hollow body.
And the Classic Vibe ’70s Telecaster Thinline with a maple body, fitted with Fender Wide Range-style dual-coil pickups.
If you prefer this same type of pickup, but in a solid-body Telecaster model, you can opt for the Classic Vibe ’70s Deluxe with a poplar body.
And the Classic Vibe ’70s Custom with a mixed pickup configuration. All models in the Classic Vibe series feature electromagnetic pickups with alnico magnets and are priced around $450.
Squier Stratocaster
In the Sonic series, we have models.with a fixed and floating bridge, and in SSS and HSS pickup configurations, for a modest $230. For that price, you can’t ask for more.
In the Affinity range, we have three models. The SSS configuration, HSS and HH with two humbuckers for around $300. All three models are equipped with ceramic-magnet pickups.
The Classic Vibe Stratocaster models are similar to those of the Telecaster models. We have the ’50s Classic Vibe with pine body. The ’60s with Nyatoh body.
And the ’70s with maple body. The ’70 model also has the HSS configuration with poplar body.
And like the Telecasters, all Classic Vibe Stratocasters feature pickups with alnico magnets, and their prices are around $450.
SQUIER Electric Guitars: Mustang and Jazzmaster
Returning to the Sonic series, we have a Mustang-style model with two humbucker pickups, priced at around $230.
The Affinity series extends to other types of guitars, such as the Jazzmaster model for around $350. And the Starcaster-style semi-hollow model with a laminated maple body for about 400 dollars.
The Classic Vibe range is the series with the most models, including the Jazzmaster (Classic Vibe ’60s Jazzmaster) with poplar body, the Jaguar (Classic Vibe ’70s Jaguar), and the Mustang (Classic Vibe ’60s Mustang). All three models cost under $450.
In addition, the Classic Vibe Bass VI, which usually costs slightly over $500, is one of the most interesting Classic Vibe models. This guitar is a 30-inch scale baritone with three alnico pickups.
A very interesting model for both guitarists and bassists. Bassists can experiment with a guitar-like bass, and guitarists with a bass-like guitar.
In the Classic Vibe series, we also have the Starcaster with Wide Range dual-coil pickups. Another quite interesting model, since this semi-hollow guitar costs around $450.
SQUIER Electric Guitars: Contemporary Series
Squier also offers other series such as the Contemporary range in a modernist style, although some models have been discontinued.
Among the models we can still find is the Squier Contemporary Stratocaster Special with a fixed and floating bridge, roasted maple neck, and 5-way pickup selector for a wider variety of sounds, for about $400.
In this series, we have the Squier Contemporary Stratocaster HH FR with a Floyd Rose-style bridge for around $400. It also has a 5-way pickup selector switch for different dual-coil and coil-split configurations.
And at a very similar price, we have the Squier Contemporary Telecaster RH with a humbucker pickup in the neck position and a Hot Rails-style pickup in the bridge position, and with roasted maple neck.
Paranormal
All Contemporary Series passive pickups feature alnico magnets, as do Paranormal Series models such as the Squier Cyclone with a short 24.75″ scale and a versatile SSS pickup configuration.
The Paranormal Super-Sonic model features an inverted headstock, a reversed Jaguar-style body shape, and a fairly short scale length of only 24 inches.
In this series we also have the Squier Paranormal Strat-O-Sonic with a Stratocaster appearance, but with a Gibson Les Paul Special style character, featuring two P90 pickups and a Gibson-style stop bar bridge.
The Squier Paranormal Custom Nashville Stratocaster also has a Strat-style appearance, but features a Telecaster-style pickup configuration, plus an additional Strat-style pickup in the middle position. Both models feature alnico magnet pickups for around $470.
