Cheap guitar report for May 2013
Something I didn't even realize until just recently is after all this time, I own the two most popular guitar shapes in existence, that being the Stratocaster and the Les Paul shapes. That doesn't mean anything, but it feels kinda cool.
So anyway, here's how my 'yellow brigade' guitars have fared out.
Problems, if any
I have owned the Squier Bullet Strat for a total of 849 days (2 years, 3 months, 4 weeks, 1 day), and the Epipihone Les Paul Special I P90 for a total of 166 days (5 months, 2 weeks, 1 day).
The only problem the Squier had was that one of the 12-fret fret markers sunk into the neck in the first month I owned it, replaced under Fender warranty. No problems since.
The Epiphone hasn't had any problems at all.
Setup and re-setup
The Strat's advantage over the Epi Les Paul is that it's a true "set it and forget it" guitar. Once you have the neck adjusted and the saddles set up, the only time you'll have to set up the guitar again is if you change string gauge (such as from 9-gauge to 10) or if the guitar was subjected to some significant climate change, like being stored in a cold basement or something like that. I've only had to make minor saddle adjustments, and only because I switched from D'Addario to Dunlop strings, which have a different string tension that required minor saddle height adjustment.
The most annoying thing about the Les Paul is the wraparound bridge on the specific model I have. The annoyance is that when you take off the bridge when doing a string change, the height adjustment screws are totally exposed and turn way too easily when doing a cleaning.
I'll explain that a little more in detail.
Okay, so you've got your Les Paul with the wraparound bridge, go to do a string change and take off the bridge like you're supposed to. Fine. Then you take a dry cloth and do a body wipe-down just to keep the guitar clean before putting the new strings on, wipe where the screws are and whoops, you just turned one of the adjustment screws two full revolutions. Yeah, it's that easy to turn them, because when the bridge is off, they're loose. Not loose in a bad way, but without the wraparound bridge there for tension, yeah, they can be spun around pretty easily.
The fix for keeping the screws from spinning while cleaning around them is just to put your finger on top of the screw and hold it there while you wipe with a cloth around it with your other hand. Easy enough.
As for why the screws are so loose when the bridge is off, it's mainly because of the wraparound bridge design. Traditional Les Pauls with the bridge + tailpiece have height adjustment screws that have notably more tension to them even when the bridge is off. Or at least they should.
Tuning stability
As for which guitar stretches out strings and tunes up quicker, that would be the Squier Strat, no question. A "decked" bridge combined with a stiff maple neck with 25.5-inch scale makes for quick tuning. The Paul on the other hand is a 24.75-inch scale, and since I'm using 9-gauge on it, that in combination with the mahogany neck means it's one of those "guitar has to sit overnight to get stabilized tension" guitars...
...which brings up a point that I haven't mentioned before. There are some who say that in order for a guitar to have strings stretch out properly, it has to sit overnight, while others say that's not necessary. In my experience, if the guitar is a 25.5-inch scale with a maple neck (i.e. Stratocaster or Telecaster), strings can be stretched out and keep tune proper in just minutes. However, if the guitar is shorter than that, like a Jaguar 24-inch or a Les Paul 24.75 inch, and/or the neck is mahogany and not maple, yeah it needs to sit overnight before strings hold tune properly.
Will this work for you? That I can't say, because it depends on your playing style and what strings you use. I ordinarily use hard picks and play hard, so I bang up strings pretty good.
Breaking-in-period
It took about 6 months for the Strat to break in properly, and for the Paul it took about 4 months before it "felt like mine".
Ordinarily, it takes me a bare minimum 90 days for any guitar to "feel right" for me. As I've said before, I have never picked up a guitar (no matter the price) that felt perfect on the first try. Will that ever happen? Maybe, but I doubt it.
A guitar isn't "mine" until I've really put her through her paces, so to speak. My finger oils have to be worked into the neck, I have to get used to her character and it's absolutely not an overnight thing.
I take a risk every time I buy a guitar, and the risk is that after time, I may hate it and want to get rid of the thing for something else. I've done that several times with other guitars I've owned, but both the Squier and Paul are definitely staying in the stable. Both of them are worn in proper, and both look better than when I originally bought them just because they're now banged up a bit.
On the Squier, yes the color has changed. The Arctic White (which I call banana yellow) body now "looks more like a Fender" because it doesn't have that shiny-new "plasticy" look to it anymore. The pick guard is also slightly darker.
On the Paul, not enough time has passed for its color to change, but I'm certain at one point the body will develop a spot either from my forearm or pinky finger where I anchor when playing certain stuff - and that's fine because it's an "earned" spot.
Conclusion...
Both guitars are great players, broke in properly to the point where I don't feel I'm 'fighting' with either of them, and I'm sure they'll continue to provide a lot of playing goodness for a very long time.
The time we can't go back to (early 1990s metal)
Some stuff concerning music scenes and styles are timeless, while others get dated, stay dated and never return.
One of those "never-return" eras is that oh-so brief period in the very-early 1990s where metal ruled the day. And the best example of this is the video of Nothing Else Matters by Metallica because it basically shows everything that was perceived to be cool back then.
That video is a real time capsule and shows what every rock band back at that time wanted to be. A bunch of guys in a studio with gear everywhere just recording stuff, and then hanging out.
You get to see how music used to be recorded, as in on reel-to-reel tape where the machine is loaded and getting prepped for recording. Nobody records that way anymore because digital is just so much easier.
Because Metallica at the time had a ton of money to blow, you see a whole lot of ritzy, expensive guitars used, and other guitars you ordinarily never see the band play. In the video, a Gretsch White Falcon is seen as well as a butterscotch Fender Telecaster and even a Gibson 12-string double neck. And yeah, you also see your fair share of ESP guitars that the band favored at the time (and still does as far as I know), but a Gibson Flying V sneaks its way in there along with a Jackson Rhoads V.
Guitars are guitars are guitars and yeah we all get that. But as for the style, oh yeah, very dated.
The standard "trying to look like a badass" metalhead look of the early 90s was to wear a black t-shirt, blue or black jeans, black boots or running shoes and the heavy black leather coat with as many shiny bits on it as possible.
And yes, it was the biker's coat that completed the look. But at the same time it's what made metalheads of the early 1990s look so stupid.
Now as far as motorcycle-use purposes are concerned, yes, the biker's heavy leather coat does have legitimate reasons to exist. However, a bunch of kids bought leather biker coats back in the day just because they saw James Hetfield wearing one as seen in the video. But see, here's the thing: James actually rides and that's why he wore them. But kids didn't know that and just bought the coats because they thought they looked cool...
...and buying a leather biker's coat but not owning a motorcycle so you can use the coat for its intended purpose is just dumb.
Nobody wants a repeat of the bullshit that happened in the early 90s with metal
What happened in the early 90s with metal is something that at the time was just plain awful. You had to sound and dress a specific way to be "considered metal". Metalheads of the time were so unbelievably stuck-up that you'd think they were all participating in some warped beauty contest. Many metalheads back then were just as bad as the glam rockers in many respects.
Yes, there there is the threat of a brand new crop of stuck-up metalheads doing the same crap the last generation did where they want to do that warped beauty contest nonsense all over again, but fortunately those morons are called out for what they are.
And as far as the younger metalhead crowd that says you need $4,000 worth of guitar hardware (guitar + amp + effects, etc.) just to get a metal sound, my response to that would be a bird flipped in your face.
I've proven time and time again you don't need expensive guitars nor do you need expensive amps/effects/whatever to get metal tone. I can get metal tone on a bone stock Squier that sells for under $150 new, can do it easily and posted videos to prove it.
Early-90s metal is not a time you want to come back, trust me. "Fitting in to be a misfit" sounds stupid, right? That's because it is. Don't do that. Do your own thing instead. Dress how you want and sound how you want, because that's the only way to fly.
I am a Squier snob
There are times when I butt heads with people online concerning guitar snobbery, mainly because I play Squier guitars and champion the cheap axes over the expensive ones. I have been told both by snotty kids and snobby adults to "play a real guitar" many, many times. Of course, they don't know I own not one but two "real" Fender Strats, one of which is an American model. But that doesn't matter to the snotty kid or the snobby adult, because all they see is Squier. They see that logo on the headstock, instantly make a judgment and that's that.
I'm a Squier snob, which is to say I'm a "reverse guitar snob". Instead of literally buying into all the b.s. about tonewoods, pickups and other fancy crapola that ultimately means nothing, I take an entirely different approach to guitars. Whenever I spot something I want, I say to myself, "I wonder what I can do with that thing?" And if it's something I feel I can get good sounds with, I'll play it, and if it plays nice, I buy it.
I am also anti-complicated with guitars almost to a fault. If the guitar is complicated, I want nothing to do with it. More on that later.
A few universal truths about modern Squier guitars vs. Fender axes
There is basically no such thing as a "cheap" Squier guitar anymore
You really have to look hard these days if you want to find an electric that's junk. And by 'junk', I mean something that just feels totally cheap when you first pick it up, and then falls apart in less than a year. With new Squier axes in particular, it's honestly not easy to find one that fits those characteristics.
Could you find a Squier in the past that did feel cheap and fell apart quick? Sure. But not anymore. Or to be more specific, not since 2006, because if I remember correctly, that was the year Squier stopped using plywood bodies (unlike other companies who still use them even on super-expensive models).
The only thing "cheap" about a Squier is its price, and that's only for baseline models. Guitars like the Classic Vibe Telecaster are for all intents and purposes midrange guitars now. Yes, really.
"Made In USA" is simply not a selling point anymore
I could understand paying a premium for a Japanese guitar. Why? Because it costs money to have the thing shipped all the way over here to America, and Japanese luthiery even on a mass-produced level is known to be some of the best in the world.
What's the difference between a mass-produced Made-in-USA compared to a mass-produced guitar made in an Asian country? Answer: Where it's made, and nothing else.
When I see a "Made In USA" decal on a guitar and the ultra-high price tag that goes along with it, I know I'm not paying for "quality". What you're really paying for is a $500 guitar with $400 tacked on for employee benefits, $50 for shipping and handling and another $100 for middleman (read: guitar store) costs, markup and who knows what else.
The price point Squier guitars sell for is in fact what American mass-produced guitars should be selling for in America. But instead, all of the extra you pay is for basically nothing but red tape. And that's not what American-made guitars are supposed to be about, yet they are.
Said another way: The fact I can buy a China-made Squier Strat guitar with all the international shipping and duty fees added in for 90% less than the American version even WITH taxes included is just plain dumb.
To note: The highest-priced Squier solid-body you can buy right now ($400) is still 55% less in price compared to the lowest-priced American solid-body Fender model ($900).
Do you get better "quality" with the Fender? No. Do you get more for your money? No. Is the 55% higher price tag for the American model worth it? Absolutely not.
Fender's overcomplicated way of making USA guitars ruins the mystique of the instrument
No, I am not saying "they don't build 'em like they used to". Not at all. In fact, USA-made Fender guitars today are built much better compared to years ago. You can be rest assured that with a Fender, you're getting a well-built guitar...
...but the same can be said for Squier.
What used to make a Fender magical was its simplicity. Just a curvy French-inspired design with plain white pick guard and knobs, a few bits of hardware, plain electronics, a few cool color choices and that was it; it didn't need anything else.
The modern mass-produced USA Standard Stratocaster, simply put, isn't magical at all because of all the crap Fender changed and added in. And the bloated price tag doesn't help, either.
Did it need "Custom Shop Fat '50s Single-Coil" pickups? No. The pickups should have been just plain standard issue. Did it need a "No-Load Tone Control?" No. Did the tuning machines need to be "Deluxe Staggered"? No. All of that stuff should have been reserved for the Deluxe models only. The Standard should have been, well, Standard. No special treatment, no special circuits, no special anything.
Simple guitars are the most magical, and the American Standard Strat is anything but simple. The American Strat has a bad case of Added-In Crap Just For The Sake Of Justifying The High Price Tag Syndrome.
There are three things I appreciate on modern Strats. First is the "C" shape neck, second is the medium jumbo fret wire and third is the 9.5-inch flatter radius compared to the old 7.25-inch. Yes, that means I only appreciate the neck improvements and nothing else. No micro-tilt, no 2-point bridge, no special truss rod, no special pickups, etc. Just plain Strat and nothing more. And the only way to get a guitar with just those modern neck improvements and none of the other crap is to purposely buy a Strat not made in the USA. No "Plain Standard" American-made model exists. It should.
Yes, I am saying that simple, plain design is the best kind and is what made a Strat a Strat originally. The modern USA Strat, while built far better compared to how it used to be made, doesn't have the magic that it once did due to its overcomplicated crap.
My Squier snobbery does stem from the strong desire to play simple-build Fender-designed guitars
It is amazing to me that if you want a "plain" Strat made in the USA, you have to contact the Fender Custom Shop to have one custom built. That's so stupid that it almost defies belief, yet that is exactly what you would have to do to get the real-deal simple USA Strat.
This is how my phone call would go with a Fender Custom Shop luthier:
FCS: How would you like your Stratocaster designed?
RM: Standard issue American body with urethane-sealed finish, Standard Stratocaster single-coil pickups, 6-screw vintage-style bridge with high-mass tremolo block, brushed block saddles, 21-fret neck with 9.5-inch radius and medium jumbo fret wire, standard electronics with no special switching or special circuitry, cyclovac nut, standard non-staggered sealed tuners.
FCS: Um.. that's our Mexican Standard.
RM: Right. I want one of those in an American version.
FCS: Okay... if that's what you want..
Sounds dumb to spend $2,000 for that, right? Well, that's what I'd have to do to get a simple, plain American Strat. It's either that or purposely buy vintage. And many players go vintage for that reason...
...or you say to hell with the Fender models and buy Squier instead to get that simple Strat design, manufacturing country of origin be damned. At the end of the day it's all about how much cash you have to pay, right? Right.
Why pay more for simplicity?
Answer: There's no reason to, so I don't.
Clacky vs. non-clacky guitar picks
"Clacky pick" = the now-classic Fender 351 celluloid in heavy thickness ("351" refers to the shape), although it doesn't have to be made by Fender specifically. The picks in the photo by the way are older-style Gibson Standard "USA" picks from the 1990s that a friend sent me, found at a flea market which is why they're all scratched up.
A 351 heavy pick with no texture does literally clack against the strings when you play with one. For years I played nothing but Tortex .88mm picks (which are made of delrin and textured) and still do, but in 2012 and on into 2013 I started trying other picks. This started with Fender heavy celluloids, and then I tried medium Fender celluloids, and then recently the Gibson heavy picks.
Oddly enough, the Gibson Standard picks are the clackiest of the bunch as they are just ever-so slightly thicker than the Fender heavies and have slightly rounder edges. There is no way to tell the difference between a Fender and a Gibson heavy just by looking at them; you have to take each in your hand and bend the pick to feel the difference. And I have no idea if modern Gibson heavies are made the same way they were in the 90s. No clue. I'm assuming the construction is the same.
Are there times when clack is better?
Yes, absolutely.
Basically, you use 351 celluloids whenever more audible pick clack is needed electrically or acoustically.
On the electric side, the clack is good for blues to rockabilly to metal and everything in between.
On the acoustic side, I'm not referring to acoustic guitars but rather the acoustic sound of your electric. For example, when at home or in the studio doing the recording thing, hearing more pick clack is good so you can hear the notes you're picking in two ways instead of just one. Pick clack can be loud enough to be heard outside of headphones or ear buds as long as the headset you're wearing isn't blaring with volume.
With the Gibson Standard picks, I've personally found they work really well for hybrid picking (fingers + pick) because I like having that extra clack in there.
What does an "offset" guitar mean?
A guitar described as being "offset" refers to the guitar body and literally means the upper and lower halves of the body are offset from each other. With the Fender Jaguar and Squier Jaguar for example, you can see that the body "leans forward"; this is altogether different from the Stratocaster or Telecaster.
The easiest way to spot an offset body shape is to look at the bridge in relation to the body. When you look at the Jag, it appears that the bridge is not placed in the vertical center, but in fact it is. The offset body gives the illusion that the bridge isn't centered vertically because the top of the body isn't directly above the bridge but rather "leaned" slightly forward; this is part of the reason the offset shape is so interesting to begin with.
The idea behind the offset body was to make for a more comfortable guitar when played in the seated position, although it can obviously be played in standing position just as easily.
Speaking specifically about Fender/Squier models, yes they do have a distinctly different tone compared to Strats or Teles. There are several types of offsets Fender makes, but I'm going to specifically concentrate on the traditional style Jaguar and Jazzmaster. I'm also going to specifically feature Squier versions since those are the ones most people can afford.
Quick question answered: Is the Mustang an offset? Yes.
Short-scale 24-inch neck, Jaguar pickups (which are different from Strat single-coils), very "involved" electronics for pickup switching. GET THE MANUAL if you buy one of these, because you'll need it to figure out how all the controls work.
Standard-scale 25.5-inch neck, big huge Jazzmaster single-coil pickups, also with very "involved" electronics for pickup switching, but not as complicated as the Jag is. It still has those wonky upper controls near the top horn, but on the bottom is a simple three-way toggle selector instead of the on/off switching the Jag has in the lower area. Like the Jag, GET THE MANUAL for this one as well to figure out how the top controls work.
Which of the two is easier to play?
Jazzmaster. It has the standard scale neck, so the string tension is similar to a Strat or Tele and it has familiar fret spacing, and it has easier controls.
What most people do with the Jag is use a thicker string because the shorter scale makes the strings feel more "floppy". You'll notice this immediately as you'll be able to bend the strings really easily. Almost too easily. If you use .009 to .042 strings on a Jag and want a tension that feels more Strat-like, you switch to .0095 gauge or .010 gauge.
"Is the vibrato system as bad as I've heard?"
Fender calls the vibrato system a "non-locking floating vibrato", which means yes, the system "floats" and it takes a lot of getting used to.
If you don't know what a "floating" system means, here's a primer: On a Strat, if you took off the back plate and then loosened the two big claw screws going into the body, you would see that the bridge would "hover" and not be flush to the body, even with the strings tuned to standard tuning. That hovering is what's known as "floating". On the Strat, you can tighten the claw screws into the body so that the bridge never floats, which is commonly known as "decking a bridge" on a Stratocaster guitar. Jags and Jazzes however are meant to have vibrato systems that always float just because of the nature of how they work.
Typically, most Jag/Jazz players will instantly swap out the bridge for a Mustang bridge just so it stays put, but then encounter the issue of knocking the strings out of their saddle grooves constantly.
This is not to say the bridge/vibrato system is bad, but you'll spend time getting used to it. Floating vibrato systems are annoying to deal with when you want to keep your strings in tune at first - however - once you learn how they work, you'll find the "slow vibrato" is something only the Jag and Jazz can do right. When you want those oh-so perfect single semitone bends, the vibrato on the Jag/Jazz is perfect for that.
The first thing I'd tell anyone who hasn't played a Jag or Jazz before but is intent on getting one is this: DO NOT use a hard pick or you will knock strings out of the saddle grooves constantly. Use a bendable thin pick until you get accustomed to how the guitar plays (you'll knock strings out a whole lot less, if at all), and then switch over to a medium or heavy pick if that's what you prefer.
The second thing I tell newcomers to the Jag and Jazz is to use the vibrato system often, because the guitar "likes it" when you use it. I know that doesn't sound very technical, but you'll understand what I mean once you start playing around with it. On Strats, most players avoid the tremolo system altogether. You don't have to do that on the Jag/Jazz. Grab that long bar and do some bends. Experiment with it. You'll find that the more you use it, the faster your strings will stretch out and stay in tune better. Yes, this is pretty much the exact opposite of how you play a Strat, but it's a fun learning experience and you'll get some cool tones out of it.
"Should I get the Jaguar or the Jazzmaster?"
If you like really bright single-coil sound and a short-scale neck, get the Jaguar.
If you prefer a more Strat-like neck and a more "growly" P90-like sound, get the Jazzmaster.
Most of you out there, said honestly, would probably prefer the Jazz over the Jag. But don't take my word for it. Try both. You may really love that short-scale neck on the Jag and prefer that one instead.