Any opinions about Squier Classic Vibe 50/60's strat or modified surf strat ?

lauke-lux

lauke-lux

Fractal Fanatic
Having an attack of GAS recently and am looking for a cheap correct sounding strat sound with a good twang, slightly aggressive. After a lot of searches I came down to the Squiers in the title of my post. I'm opting for the 50 CV strat or a modified surf strat.
Anybody here had those instruments and could file me some user experience with these ?
 
Classic Vibes are supposed to be great guitars. Great workmanship and wood. For the Strat, I personally am not a fan of the pickups. I'm also not a fan of the thick poly finish that makes it feel more like a guitar hero controller. But for the money, you really can't lose.
 
I have a 60's CV. Pretty, but parts are not great. But the most important thing, playability is good. Not el cheapo like previous cheap Squiers. Good for modifications or ugly relicing.
 
I have a 60's CV Strat.

It's excellent for the money you pay. Hell, it's excellent in general.

I wanted a Strat (since I'm primarily a LP kind of guy), and this fit the bill perfectly. It's even given me the urge to buy another more high end Strat (Nash babyay!)

No, the parts are not fantastic, but it still plays great.
 
mr_fender said:
The upper end Squiers and Mexico Fenders are great bang for the buck instruments. Hardware and pickup quality is the biggest difference. In a blind playing and listening test, you might be surprised.

Stratocaster Shootout - Squier vs Fender vs Custom Shop - YouTube
Click to expand...
What makes me hesitate in this video is the lack of "stay in tune" of the Squier tremolo; any way to compensate for that except changing the piece for a 2-screw tremolo system ?
Thanks for all the tips (all 4 of you). Guess the 50's model has that bit more bite and still can put on it the Klein PU I got laying around in a drawer at home.
Regrettable they don't have such a comparison for the Squier Surf strat, howbeit tremolo is the same as far as I can see.
Cheers
 
Its a great player and with a few upgrades...

lauke-lux said:
What makes me hesitate in this video is the lack of "stay in tune" of the Squier tremolo; any way to compensate for that except changing the piece for a 2-screw tremolo system ?
Thanks for all the tips (all 4 of you). Guess the 50's model has that bit more bite and still can put on it the Klein PU I got laying around in a drawer at home.
Regrettable they don't have such a comparison for the Squier Surf strat, howbeit tremolo is the same as far as I can see.
Cheers
Click to expand...

Its as good if not better than my stock American Standards. This is a CV 50's 60th anniversary. Custom fat 50's PUps and electronics..
Tried to attach a photo but no luck :(
 
It will stay in tune if you setup it properly, eg. good nut and graphite in there. In my limited experience, the 2 post tremolo does not help at all, the deciding factor is always the nut. Here's a test with my CV right after getting it home straight out of the shop, except for adding graphite lube to the nut, listen the end of the clip:

https://soundcloud.com/aziz2/squier-classic-vibe
 
Ive got the CV tele. Love it. Put some nordstrand pickups and new compensated bridge saddles and its a killer guitar.
 
A properly cut nut will solve the majority of tuning issues with any tremolo system. If you hear any kind of ticking or pinging noises when you are tuning up, the string is binding in the slot and you need to have it recut. The slot should be about the same size or ever so slightly larger than the string and angled back so that the leading edge toward the fingerboard gives a clean take off point for the string at the edge of the nut. It should not be parallel to the strings at the neck, but more closely match the angle of the string back toward the tuning post. Locking tuners help a lot too by eliminating the extra string winds on the tuner posts. If your guitar has string trees, don't forget to lube those too. Poor man's way is to rub a pencil lead in the string grooves. Big Ben's Nut Sauce is pretty good too, but don't use too much as it will deaden the string if there's a big glob of grease on the string. Just the slightest film residue is all it takes to make it slick.
 
4c361faf7e19e3bb5377b4c0be497cf6.jpg


dropped the newfishman fluence pups in a current Classic Vibe and im happy as a clam....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
bradlake said:
dropped the newfishman fluence pups in a current Classic Vibe and im happy as a clam....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

As you opened up the axe for that, is there any PU hole screening work to do or is it provided from factory ?
 
mr_fender said:
... Poor man's way is to rub a pencil lead in the string grooves. Big Ben's Nut Sauce is pretty good too, but don't use too much as it will deaden the string if there's a big glob of grease on the string. Just the slightest film residue is all it takes to make it slick.
Click to expand...

OK, so graphite powder limits the risk of string muting but is a bit "shitty" to apply, the vaporizer will be hell, and probably grahite grease when applied with strong moderation should be OK. Thanks for the hint, will get me a tube of graphite "sauce" somewhere in Europe. Not to be used in pasta or as tooth cleaner...
Often I experience difficulties with 3rd G-strings due to the fact that I string with .011 while all axes are standard at .010. I do rework always a bit the nut but the G-string often is a pain in the a.. oh sorry..the neck.
Cheers
 
Thanks for all that, will give it a go for the Surf Strat at my return in Europe in 10 days from now, I got some Klein PU in a drawer so can always change so SC PU instead of the Lipsticks but the Surf Strat does sound killer.
From the Youtube hearings I'd say my personnal taste : nr 1 Surf Strat, nr 2 50's CV Strat (but very very close to nr 1), nr 3 60's CV Strat (a bit too dark for my personnal taste, too allround). Tremolo pb to be solved by a good check on the guitar + graphite. Might leave this axe in .010, as I have the impression that .011 strings make Strats loose a bit of their quack sound character, but it does make steadier lowstring sounds; maybe get some adapted XL set with thicker low strings.
Thanks again to all of you for responding. Has been very useful to me. Will post a sound recording until end December.
 
I got a used Squire CV 50's veeery cheap...
I was very surprised how good it played. Changed pickups to a P. Gilbert set, new pots including a blender and now it rocks! Haven't had any tuning issues but I've got the trem blocked anyway so... I would like to swap tuners though. Not that they don't work as they should, I just hate these split shaft tuners, having all sorts of trouble getting the 009 to stay in place when restringing. Locking tuners are my cup of tea.

Anyway, these are awesome guitars for the money. I'm no standardstrat guy, more of a superstrat fanatic, but got this one just for fun and I actually find myself playing it a lot. Definitely a good buy!
 
lauke-lux said:
As you opened up the axe for that, is there any PU hole screening work to do or is it provided from factory ?
Click to expand...

The pickup and control cavities are painted with conductive paint. To me, it is a surprise at this price point.
 
Received a sonic blue Surf Strat yesterday and had a great time on the Axe with it. Had to pump up a bit the input gain and input impedance settings as my patches are all set for a Fame Forum IV (kind of high end Polish PRS copy) with Schaller Golden 50's PU. Will post a recording during X-mas leaf. Bought the surf strat with a digitech RP255 in order to bring it with me during some long stay professional travels early 2015 and not eager to bring in my expensive gear there. The RP255 is a toy, but manage to get some decent sounds out of it for rehearsing alone or maybe even jump in to a session if I find anything over there.
Get quite good strat sounds from the lipstick PU. The bridge/whammy of the squier stays amazing well in tune tuned, took out one spring to make it a bit easer to bend and guess I got a bit of luck as well. Had to tighten the thruss rod a bid to have a correct action, but still almost no string buzz even when pushing the strings a bit. Middle PU screw was loose at delivery so had to open up the beast, carbon paint inside there also. So far a very good buy for 300+ Euros, am totally satisfied with it.
 
As promised...recording of the surf strat. It was a bit cold up there in the attic @5°C, but anyway, here it is. FW 17.03, Double Verb amp, Clip goes from Neck down to Bridge PU and then some fiddling around with Leslie, Fet Boost and Recto amp.

https://soundcloud.com/laukelux/test-squier-surf-strat

Also, in case you have 30 seconds left, find some of my band's recordings (not done with the surf strat but in 2013 with my main guitar, a Fame Forum IV with Schaller golden 50's PU) :

https://soundcloud.com/laukelux/tracks

Cheers and happy New Year
 
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