Squier 60th Classic Vibe Stratocaster - Thoughts?

Warrior

Warrior

Power User
I 've seen a few video's pop up recently with this guitar and I'm quite impressed with the tone. The reviews have been very positive. Especially for an inexpensive guitar.

Anyone here have any experience with one?

I've been wanting a strat for years and I've been considering an EJ model or perhaps a Suhr Classic. But for $300-400..... hmm. I know it sounds good. If it plays well and is stable. Well then.

No need commenting on the looks, so much. The gold hardware wouldn't be my first choice.

I've heard the 60th anniversary is the same as the 50's CV model but with different pickups.


 
I don't even know about the Plek. Most CV's I've picked up have fine fretwork. The pickups I would agree would benefit from replacement.

One thing about the CV's is the polyester finish makes them feel a bit on the plastic side. That's one thing to be aware of if you buy one. If that's a big issue, then a used MiM Standard might be more to your liking.

One thing about buying cheaper instruments and upgrading is that you can wind up spending more on upgrades that you would have had you just bought the more expensive item to begin with. I have a great "Bencaster" that began life as a Mexican Strat. Great instrument, but I shudder to think what I could've bought with what I put into it.
 
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Interesting this PLEK service, I see it exists in Thomann's catalogue and surely will go for it for an axe I'll have to refret shortly now. As for the Squier guitar, I own a squier surf strat with lipstick PU and after trying two replacement SC sets (Klein and Van Zandt) finally put in the original lipsticks from Seymour that sounded better on this axe.
Here a test I put on soundcloud in december, sorry for the lousy playing...
https://soundcloud.com/laukelux/test-squier-surf-strat
It's a bit brittle here but that's more an EQ issue than the guitar itself. Since the recording also I changed the steel tremolo block for a brass one that cooled down slightly the overpresent highs. These instruments need a bit of setup but the woodwork is extremely fine for a guitar of this price.
Watch out if you plau with 011 strings, the string end of high e string remained blocked in the tremolo block twice, changing the block solved the issue but I admit it was quite embarrassing
Also I had to put some threadlocker on the PU screws but this should not be a problem with the SC version.
Absolutely worth the try these guitars
They're quite playable right out of the box.
 
Every Classic Vibe I've played has been dangerously close to the US models in feel/playability. Hardware not as good, obviously, but a very solid base to start from.
 
I've read where the trem is just for show on these and should be replaced with something that won't knock the guitar out of tune when you try to use the bar.

The big draw of the CV series is that the guitars are made with good wood and craftsmanship far outstripping a guitar of that price range.

The plus side to buying a little project guitar like this is that with a few simple upgrades you'll have something that'll smoke an American Standard for probably less money.
 
The bridge will stay "reasonably" in tune as long as you won't make any dive bombs, but you need to check and align screw tension on the six screws as good as possible. The problem with upgrade projects is that often one finishes paying more than buying a brand model right away. For example, changing the bridge, tuners, hardware and the PU on a CV squier will make it a thousand dollar project fast enough; at that price you'd have got yourself a good second hand US Strat.

So the mission is to put yourself some limits and seeing it just as a "fun guitar" you like to play around with without having to worry what's happening with it during the pause. Otherwise, better go to a craftsman directly and have yourself make a good guitar right away.
 
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