The Chinese made Squier was garbage. The neck pocket was too large. The finish was poor. The neck had a hump in the fretboard. It had no sustain. Kind of banjo like. Weak as heck pickups. It had no character. I tried to salvage it with Bill Lawrence pickups. It was still lame. Sold it to someone who didn’t care and loved making noise with it. He loved it no matter how much I apologized for it’s lack of character. He would allow his little girl to walk on it. He felt that it added to it’s vibe.

The stunner was the MIJ Squier bullet. It came with this funky push button pickup selector. Odd yet interesting humbucking pickups and a really sweet neck with maple fretboard.I played it for 2 years before I modified it and installed EMG pickups. Then the thing would sustain like nobody’s business. After the EMGs it had a meaty tone and was a versatile and wicked fusion axe. I later sold it because I decided to to give up playing for a while. (That was a bone headed idea too)

I like cheap axes because I don’t feel guilty when I tinker with them. I’ve had some pleasant surprises and only a few total clunkers that defied any attempt at improvement.

When you bottom feed you have to expect less than stellar quality. I’ve been happily surprised by Squiers at the music stores in recent years.

I usually recommended Yamaha & Ibanez low end solid bodies because they at least had decent intonation and were tunable.

It’s a sin when an entry level guitar isn’t playable, and the beginner thinks it’s him.

I hope Fender is improving the basic playability of the Squier line.

*runs and hides*
(^_^)

Not to mention the reaming I got when I said that “I don’t like the feel of the old Ernie Ball Axis neck”.