Fender 371005532 Electric Guitar: Full Review

The Squier Stratocaster is one of Fender's most popular electric guitar models for beginner and intermediate players. Part of the Affinity Series, this Stratocaster combines classic Fender styling and tone with modern playability at an affordable price point.

This Strat features an iconic double cutaway body shape made from basswood with a smooth gloss polyurethane finish. The "C"-shaped maple neck has a rosewood fretboard with medium jumbo frets, providing comfort and easy playability. A vintage-style synchronized tremolo bridge allows guitarists to add vibrato effects.

Overall, the Squier Stratocaster is designed to deliver familiar Strat tone and feel without breaking the bank. Its quality components and construction make this a great choice for new players looking for their first real guitar, or for more advanced musicians who want a solid backup option. This Strat provides versatile sound across many genres, following in the footsteps of its famous Fender predecessors.

Body & Neck

The Squier Fender Stratocaster electric guitar features a body made of basswood topped with a beautiful gloss polyurethane finish. Basswood is a soft wood that helps the guitar resonate, producing a well-balanced tone across the tonal spectrum.

The neck is made of maple, which gives it a smooth feel and adds brightness to the tone. It has a modern C shape that is comfortable to grip and easy to play fast lead lines on. The neck is topped by a rosewood fingerboard featuring 21 medium jumbo frets. Overall the basswood body and maple neck make for a guitar that is tonally balanced while still retaining some sparkle and clarity.

The body and neck construction of an electric guitar plays a big role in its sound and playability. The type of wood used affects the resonance and sustain. Maple is a common choice for necks thanks to its bright, crisp tone. Rosewood is popular for fingerboards because of its smooth feel. The shape of the neck also impacts how comfortable the guitar feels in your hands during long playing sessions. Thinner necks allow for faster lead playing while thicker necks offer more bulk to grip.

There are many high quality electric guitar options on the market from brands like Fender, Gibson, PRS, and others. One excellent choice in the budget price range is the Ortega Guitars R121L. This electric guitar features a basswood body with a gloss finish, maple neck, rosewood fretboard, two single coil pickups, and a tremolo bridge. It delivers versatile humbucker tones in a comfortable, easy-to-play package.

The Ortega R121L neck has a thin U profile that allows fast, smooth riffing and soloing. It also has a 24.72" scale length, 1.65" nut width, and 22 frets for great playability. The two single coil pickups provide a range of tones from crisp and articulate to thick and warm. Players who want an affordable guitar for rock, blues, country, pop, and more will appreciate the quality of the Ortega R121L.

When shopping for an electric guitar, it's smart to try out different body shapes, neck profiles, and hardware configurations. This helps you find the right feel and sound for your personal playing style and musical needs. While high-end guitars offer premium components and craftsmanship, there are quality options at lower price points as well. Brands like Ortega prove you don't need to spend a fortune to get excellent tone and playability.

Hardware

The Squier by Fender Affinity Stratocaster features quality hardware that enables smooth, reliable performance. It has chrome tuning machines, also referred to as tuners or machine heads, with vintage-style buttons on the headstock. This contributes to the visual appeal, looking sharp and classic. The tuners allow for accurate and stable tuning, important for playing in key and intonation.

The bridge is a vintage-style tremolo, adding distinctive Fender character to the tone and allowing guitarists to use techniques like vibrato, warble, and dive bombs. It has six solid steel saddles for precise intonation adjustment. The tremolo arm is included, and can be screwed in or unscrewed quickly for effects or dive bombs. Overall, the hardware enables great tunability, resonance, and classic Fender tones.

High quality hardware components like these are essential for electric guitars to perform well. From keeping the strings in tune, to providing stability and resonance, the bridge, tuners, and other hardware directly impact playability. While the Squier Affinity Stratocaster features budget-friendly hardware, it is reliable and enables good playability for the price. The chrome parts also give it an attractive look.

Other brands like Ovation CS24P-NBM may use higher-end hardware for even greater stability and finer tuning capabilities. The bridge and nut on premium guitars are often graphite or other exotic materials. The tuners may be sealed or have higher gear ratios for ultra-precise tuning. These small improvements add up, but also increase the cost. The Squier hits a nice balance between quality and affordability with its hardware components.

New guitarists are sometimes tempted to immediately upgrade hardware on budget guitars. However, experts often advise playing the stock guitar for a while first. Hardware swaps can be complicated, and affect setup. Only after becoming more experienced is it easier to determine if new parts are really needed, versus proper setup and adjustments. The Affinity Strat's hardware, while basic, allows for great playability for the price.

In summary, the Squier Affinity Stratocaster features quality hardware like vintage-style tuners and a tremolo bridge. These components allow for good tuning stability, resonance, and access to classic Fender techniques like vibrato. While premium hardware can incrementally improve performance, the Affinity's parts are reliable and allow new players to get started on a Stratocaster without breaking the bank. With its hardware and other appointment, it hits the sweet spot of quality and affordability.

Pickups

The Squier Bullet Strat features 3 single coil Strat pickups that provide the classic bright and snappy Strat tone. The bridge pickup has more treble and bite for solos and cutting through a mix, while the neck pickup has a smoother, rounder tone for jazzier rhythms. The middle pickup balances the highs and lows nicely.

Single coils tend to be a bit noisier than humbuckers, but the classic Strat quack and chime is worth it for many players. They may not have the highest output, but the tone is versatile enough to handle anything from country twang to bluesy leads.

The pickups seem decent for a beginner guitar in this price range. Of course they don't rival USA Fenders, but they deliver a respectable approximation of the Strat sound. Upgrading the pickups could bring the guitar to the next level later on. But overall they perform well for basic practice and playing.

Controls

The Fender Squier Stratocaster features a simple but versatile control layout that allows shaping the guitar's tone and volume. It has one master volume control and individual tone controls for each pickup.

The master volume knob controls the overall output level of the guitar. Turn it up higher for more volume or roll it back to clean up and reduce the output. This allows going from sparkling clean tones to crunchy overdrive just by adjusting your playing dynamics and the guitar's volume knob.

There are separate tone knobs for the bridge pickup, middle pickup, and neck pickup. These allow you to shape the tonal quality of each individual pickup. For example, you can roll back the tone on the neck pickup to soften and warm up the tone for jazzier neck position playing. Or you can brighten up the bridge pickup by keeping its tone knob turned up. Having individual tone controls provides tonal versatility.

The simple control layout of the Squier Stratocaster keeps things straightforward while providing the core functionality for sculpting tones. The master volume and individual tone controls offer a useful tonal palette without getting overly complex.

Sound

The main appeal of the Squier Bullet Strat with Tremolo is its classic Stratocaster tone that is both expressive and versatile. The iconic Strat sound is ideal for blues, rock, country, funk and pop. This guitar captures that timeless tone well despite its budget price point.

The triple single-coil pickups provide the quintessential bell-like Strat quack and chime. There's a good balance across the pickup selections - the neck pickup has a smooth, warm jazz tone, the middle pickup is balanced and articulate, and the bridge pickup has that sparkly funk and classic rock crunch. The 5-way pickup selector switch allows accessing a wide array of tones from glassy cleans to biting overdrive.

While the pickups don't have the richness and harmonic complexity of higher-end Fender Strats, they perform admirably for an affordable guitar. The sound is recognizably "Strat", with decent sustain and responsiveness. The pickups and electronics handle both clean tones and moderate overdrive well. Overall, this guitar nails the iconic Strat sound surprisingly well considering its low price.

Playability

The Squier Stratocaster features a thin and fast maple neck that allows for easy and smooth playing along the fretboard. The neck has a modern "C" profile that contours nicely in the hand. The fretwork from Squier is also quite good, with medium jumbo frets that provide a very playable feel.

The thinner neck and jumbo frets combine to make lead guitar work a breeze. Fast riffs and solos are achievable thanks to the fast feel of the maple neck. Bending notes and chording also feels natural. Overall, the playability of the Squier Stratocaster makes it a great choice for beginners and intermediate players looking for an easy to play electric guitar.

Pros

The Squier Fender Stratocaster Beginner Electric Guitar is a great choice for someone looking for a high-quality affordable Strat and has many positives:

• Classic looks - This guitar has the iconic double cutaway Strat body shape with sleek contours. The headstock shape is also the classic Fender shape. Available in several classic Strat finishes like Black, Arctic White, and Brown Sunburst. The classic Strat style is hard to beat.

• Strat tone - The Alnico single coil pickups provide that sweet, bell-like Stratocaster tone. From sparkly cleans to growling overdrive, this guitar covers the legendary Fender Strat tone territory well. The 5-way pickup selector provides a good variety of Strat tones.

• Playable neck - The maple neck has a modern "C"-shaped profile that is comfortable to play. The 25.5" scale length and narrow-tall frets make it easy to play chords and solos up and down the neck. The smooth satin finish on the back of the neck allows for fast playing.

Cons

The Squier Affinity Stratocaster is an entry-level model aimed at beginners, so it does make some compromises to hit a lower price point. This is particularly noticeable with some of the hardware and electronics.

The tuners, bridge, and other hardware pieces are lower quality than what you would find on Fender's more expensive Stratocaster models. The tuners can be a bit stiff and unreliable at holding tune. The bridge also rattles more than ideal.

The pickups and electronics lack some of the warmth and responsiveness you get from premium Strat pickups. While the sound is decent for a beginner, an experienced player will notice the difference. The tone controls also don't allow as wide a range of adjustment as higher-end Fenders.

Overall, the hardware and electronics are certainly passable for a new player, but leave room for upgrading down the road. This helps keep costs down while still providing a playable instrument. Just don't expect pro-level components at this budget-friendly price point.

Conclusion

The Squier by Fender Affinity Stratocaster Beginner Electric Guitar packs a lot of value for the price. It's an excellent choice for those looking to buy their first Stratocaster-style guitar.

The classic Strat body shape and contour, combined with three single coil pickups, allow beginners to get started on an authentic Fender tone. While it may lack some of the bells and whistles of Fender's more expensive models, it provides a solid platform for new players to develop their skills.

The Affinity Stratocaster features quality hardware and electronics, including a tremolo bridge for subtle effects. The build quality and playability make this a very usable guitar right out of the box. Considering the budget-friendly price point, this Squier model punches well above its weight.

Overall, the Squier Affinity Stratocaster Beginner pack represents a great value Strat-style guitar for those starting their electric guitar journey. The familiar design, comfortable neck, and versatile pickups give beginners the tools they need to grow as players. For those looking to learn on an authentic Fender-style guitar, without breaking the bank, the Squier Affinity Stratocaster Beginner is an excellent choice.