Re: Squier necks?

jamrine · Post by **jamrine** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:03 am

Anybody messed around with the $100 Squier made-in-Indonesia-or-wherever guitars? Are the necks on these things junk? I am thinking about picking up a Squier strat from Craigslist locally and keeping the neck and dumping the rest (if I can get it for around $40-50).

Are these necks trash, or are they servicable for messing around building franken-tars? How would the quality compare to Allparts necks, for example?

The reviews on places like Harmony-Central seem to bash the electronics, the tuners, the bodies, but they often mention that the setup, etc. is good, which leads me to believe the necks might not be half bad for projects.

Thoughts?

northern_dirt · Post by **northern_dirt** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:23 am

Wondering the same thing..

berlinbetty · Post by **berlinbetty** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 11:39 am

I have an Indonesian Squier '51 neck on my Squier Affinity Telecaster that is A-Mazing!!! Its one-piece maple, very comfortable and even has a cool grain pattern on the fretboard. The neck that originally came with the Tele, however, is garbage.

GUITARmole wrote: Asking if it will be noticeably brighter than alder is like asking if blondes are better than redheads in bed...it all depends on which blonde or redhead :-\

Some necks are good, some... not so much.

d-rock · Post by **d-rock** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:44 pm

I put an old Squier neck on my Frankenstein JM...

index.php?topic=12185.0

The neck is about 10 years old. In order for me to install vintage style tuners I had to plug and redrill holes. I think it worked out pretty good. My experience with Squier necks is the older, the better. The new ones feel light, have sharp fret ends and kind of feel like toys in my hands.

Here's my completed project...

Superfuzz · Post by **Superfuzz** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 2:46 pm

the neck on my chinese Jagmaster is fantastic, speaking about profile and feelings..it seems solid too, I'm going to trow the body and built a real jazzmaster around it!

dug · Post by **dug** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 3:34 pm

Superfuzz wrote: the neck on my chinese Jagmaster is fantastic, speaking about profile and feelings..it seems solid too, I'm going to trow the body and built a real jazzmaster around it!

My jagmaster neck is pretty nice as well.
I'm leaving the stupid strat bridge on mine for now but I'm experimenting with pickups and wiring.

As far as squire necks go, the older is the better. Especially if you can find some old mij squire stuff.

kalipigeon · Post by **kalipigeon** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 8:55 pm

The necks on the earlier Vintage Modified series guitars are all a very nice satin finish which is very fast to play on and doesn't get sticky when gigging. I haven't played a bad neck yet in that series, the newer VMS necks are more of a gloss poly finish like the MIM deluxe lines. While it has the same quality as the earlier Squier line, they're a bit stickier feeling. The fretwork I've seen on the upper level Squiers is about as good as the typical MIM guitar and even some of the MIAs that I've played here at the local GC. I always go through and polish the frets and knock down any sharp tangs on any new guitar, as do most people as part of their basic setup. If you don't mind doing that, I think you'll find the Squiers quite nice. The standard series is not quite as nice, mostly in the fretwork and finish feel departments....they do seem to play just fine. The affinity series is much more hit-or-miss, they don't seem to hold tune as well and they also seem a bit poorly finished IME. (the butterscotch blonde telecasters in the Affinity series have some standouts though, so keep an eye out there).

I really think these are great for project guitars, I have a '51 which is great and stock except for the pickguard. My Tele Custom (HB model) is my main gigging axe, and I have GFS Vintage splits (also apparently hit-or-miss, but mine sound great) in it to give more of a classic Fender look and sound. The tuners on both are quite usable, and if I ever do replace them I will probably put them on another guitar project of mine. I do play heavy gauge strings though, and this may lend to the perception of stability as I don't do a ton of bending. The light strings that came on the 51 had no trouble staying in tune with extensive play/bending before I replaced them. I also have the Mike Dirnt sig P-bass which plays great and has the same style neck despite its different country of origin (china vs. indonesia). The folks over at the TDPRI forum are raving about the new Duo-Sonic and classic Telecaster as well.

I think they do have pretty craptastic pickups stock (though the 51 surprised me) and the strat tremelos are awful for tuning stabillity. They have good grain matching on the bodies from what I've seen and good neck pocket fits. If you plan to do a project with one, plan to replace pickups, maybe bridge, definitely the pots and maybe the tuners. I love them for the price though, and would rather make a great guitar from one of them than buy one pre made that doesn't have that special touch. Hope that helps some.

berlinbetty · Post by **berlinbetty** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 9:09 pm

kalipigeon wrote: I always go through and polish the frets and knock down any sharp tangs on any new guitar, as do most people as part of their basic setup.

Exactly how do you do that? I must be one of the few people that doesn't do it and I have a Mighty Mite neck that could stand that treatment...

kalipigeon · Post by **kalipigeon** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:30 pm

I use a very very fine sandpaper designed for styrene model kits. I prefer this paper because it's not paper at all, its a plastic sheet with sanding grit on one side that I get from the local hobby shop. I prefer this because it doesn't tend to rip as easily on those sharp frets. I'm not sure of the grit on it, but its not rough, just very traction-y feeling to the touch, and doesn't leave much in the way of residue on maple fretboards (a big plus in my book). To polish a fret edge, I don't sand in the traditional sense. Rather, I place my finger onto the fret with just enough pressure to hold the paper against it and then pull the paper out evenly and slowly. I try to make sure that I only feel fret through the paper in the hopes that I'm only taking fret metal off and not fretboard edge. If it takes a little off though, not a big deal because its such fine grit material - besides Fender MIA guitars charge extra for that rounded fretboard feel anyway, right? It takes quite a few passes per fret but it polishes as it goes; when you're happy with the smoothness it looks nice and shiny as well.

The trick is to use the finest paper/plastic you can and do many passes to get a smooth polished edge and not take a lot of wood off in the process. I can do a full neck in a couple of hours to the point where it never needs a touch up, and usually do this while watching TV since its more of a "by feel" thing once you get a few passes done and your hands get used to doing it. I would recommend doing this in the dry part of the winter since that's typically where your fret ends will stick out the most due to the shrinking of wood in the dry times. That way you're all set for the whole year rather than doing it in summertime and needing a touchup in winter. Your climate may vary, but its pretty humid here in summertime so that works for me.

fenderjeff · Post by **fenderjeff** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 1:44 am

I bought a Squier Affinity neck few weeks ago, and it's a really really beautiful one!
nice satin finish, perfect fretting, beautiful rosewood.... 80€ with the die-cast tuners

I can't wait to play it!!!!!

John Beef · Post by **John Beef** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 8:18 am

I participate on the Squier 51 modders' forum, and LOTS of guys over there have been using their stock Indonesian 51 necks for several years. I haven't heard anything negative about reliability with them. The back profile wasn't to my liking so much (I'm pretty picky) and I sold my 51 neck very soon after purchasing the guitar. However, it wasn't a badly made neck, one piece maple, satin finish, good frets.