Guitar of the week #100 - Squier Bullet Strat

This is the guitar that got me back into guitars; it made sense to feature this one as the #100 guitar of the week.

There was a span of a few years when I wasn't playing guitar all that much because life happens. But then in very late 2010 or very early 2011 (can't remember exactly) I finally made the decision to buy a new guitar. I knew I wanted something cheap and that it had to be a Strat. When I saw the Squier Bullet Strat in that banana-colored Arctic White, that was the one. I bought it and played the hell out of that thing.

I don't have this guitar anymore because like with my first red Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster, I simply wore the guitar out and traded it. But the Bullet Strat is the guitar that got me back into guitars.

The specs of the Bullet have not changed. It still has a slim profile basswood body, polyurethane finish, 25.5" scale length, 21 medium jumbo frets, 1.65" nut width, 9.5" fingerboard radius and traditional 3 Strat single-coil pickups with no tone control wired to the bridge (and yes, that's normal).

The Bullet is still the cheapest Strat Squier makes. The Affinity Strat does cost more because it has an alder body and significantly better tuners and is technically the better guitar, but I still like the Bullet.

Is a Bullet still a good beginner guitar now compared to when I bought one 7 years ago? Yes, I think so...

...but there are other guitar choices now that put up a good argument against the Bullet, such as the Epiphone SG Special, Dean Vendetta XM, Jackson JS22, Schecter C-1 SGR, Oscar Schmidt OE20G, Ibanez GRX20 and so on.

However, none of the other similarly priced choices above are "true" Strats. When you want something that looks and feels like a Strat, you go Squier. I'm glad the Bullet Strat is still around.

Do I regret trading out my Bullet? No, because it was seriously worn out. If there was any one regret I have about parting ways with the guitar, it's that I didn't mod it. I should have.

If I ever have another go with a Bullet Strat (which I might), I would modify it. Different pickups, tuners, electronics, etc. One of the nice things about cheap electrics is modding them because you don't give a crap about resale value.

Maybe there will be another Bullet Strat in my future. Who knows.

Published 2017 Mar 15