Squier Sonic Strat LRL California BL

I visited local guitar shop, trying out guitars around 1.000 Euro. I tried this cheap Squier for beginners just for fun (just to see how bad it is compared to more expensive guitars). To my surprise, it played quite well! Long story short - I stuck with the guitar, because it resonated really well and it had long sustain. After leaving the shop (without buying it) the guitar stuck in my head. I ordered that model from Thomann - hoping it will be as good as the one I tried in person.

It arrived and my wishes were heard :-) Guitar is very lively and I think it is because of thinner body (compared to american Fender Strat). Somebody did setup the guitar for sure. Octaves were fine, action was higher then I prefer, but this is quite personal (and easy to fix). Frets are fine and I have zero issues here. Colour of the body is really nice and is applied perfectly. I changed factory strings to set that I prefer (10 - 52 Elixirs) and re-do the setup. What surprised me the most is that the vibrato is in fact functional and stays is tune and is really smooth. I have owned (years ago) at least two or three mexican Fender Strats and their vibrato units weren't as smooth. I was not expecting this at all! Vibrato block itself is that thinner/cheaper one, yet the sustain is great.

Another surprise were the pickups - I have spare AlNiCo set, that I've planned to replace those stock pickups. But those (ceramic) pickups aren't bad at all. Especially for clean tones. All those Strat flavours are there. The pickups itself were set too close to the strings so I decreased them a bit - it helped! Overdriven tones aren's so Stratty (see YouTube videos to know what I mean). I guess if you upgrade them to AlNiCo's it will help. Another surprise were tuning machines - usually those cheap models have "jumpy" tuners. Those tuners definitely aren't jumpy. They are smooth. They don't hold tuning that good as some high-end ones, but they work fine. For the money the whole guitar is FINE instrument! Fun to play.

If I have to find flaws: neck profile wasn't absolutely perfect. It would need some sand paper work to make it 100% smooth. I would consider changing pickups for those who are lusting for vintage Strat sounds and also changing tuners to stable ones.

Overall rating: great guitar for those who are beginning, for those who want to try Strat (just to try if you like it or not) or those who are on tight-budget. The guitar is fine as is, it has quite good setup from factory and is good mod-platform for those who want upgrades. Highly recommended! Also this model is made in Indonesia, not China (wow!).

EDIT: I have changed pickups to AlNiCo 5, it sounds great now! I also changed tuners to locking Klusons, the guitar stays in tune even using the vibrato unit. Another pleasant surprise when I removed pickguard - it comes with ALPHA pots made in Korea - soldering itself is absolutely clean! The body is routed for H-H-H configuration in case somebody wonders.

Been playing this guitar approx. a month now. The finish is great out of the box: I love the body color, frets are real nice and the neck is smooth and plays very well, as you'd expect from a Squier.

There are few negative sides however as you'd expect with this price: I had to change the strings shortly from the box due nickel sensitivity. While at it, I attempted to switch the pickup covers to "aged white", quickly noticing that fender stratocaster standard pickup covers do not fit it. Unfortunate. Also the top cover was screwed in quite tight from the factory. Seems that the poplar body couldn't take it and 3 screws didn't tighten back anymore afterwards. It's easy to fix but quite unhappy to do it for factory new guitar. The worst thing with the functionality so far are the tuning machines- they are absolute trash. A lot of empty play when switching directions, movement is not very accurate so you end up going back and forth, and if you touch the tremolo, guitar is immediately slightly out of tune. Also regarding the saddle and tremolo, it seems to be doing it's job but using tremolo with factory 3 springs my handle started very quickly to have extra play in it. It feels it's from the handle or saddle threads. I removed 1 spring and it feels so much better to use now. Electonics seem mediocre, pot feel is not the best but they work. Seems as if it's planned that user would semi quickly drop in 150€ more to upgrade with the Fender mic & cover set. Just something to keep in mind though upgrading is fun. Still playing with the pickup height to experience the sounds of ceramic single coils. Unfamiliar with them from before.

Special mention to the cable jack, I love the feel of it. The plug snaps in easily and firmly.

One more thing for consideration whether one likes fiddling: In my opinion the guitar needs full adjusting from the box. It seems someone tried, but the strings in mine at least were unneccesarily high. Then you end up checking truss rod adjustment / adjusting. Then you end up resetting mic height and intonation. Now it's a blues machine.

I recommend getting it due to 9,5" neck radius if you're into training or playing chords. For me at least it's much easier with this than the HB models, which with I end up getting unintended harmonic more often.

Es dauerte eine Stunde, bis mir klar wurde, dass ich Geld aus dem Fenster geworfen hatte. Ich kam am selben Tag zurück. Die Gitarre wurde angeschlagen oder ins Holz genagelt, diese halten die Stimmung nicht. Ein Seil war fehl am Platz und gedehnt. Der Sattelsteg ist nicht stabil und verzerrt die Resonanz der Saiten. Es ist nicht richtig intoniert. Schiefes Griffbrett voller Äste. Alles ist billig und von schlechter Qualität. Es ist zu erkennen, dass die deutsche Seite nichts mit der Qualität der von ihr verkauften Produkte zu tun hat. Wenn ich alles, was mir übrig bleibt, durch einen ST-Körper ersetze, blau zum Fender-Preis. Ist das ein Instrument? Verschwenden Sie auch als Einsteiger kein Geld für dieses Modell. Bulett war sogar noch günstiger und von viel besserer Qualität. Enttäuscht.