The 5 different series of Squier electric guitars

Is a CV worth getting?

Again this is the top tier Squier electric guitar for most people, so this is what they'll be going for.

Is it worth it?

Yes. Or to be more specific, it is now.

With the last generation, there were three things working against it. Weight, color choices and logo design.

The first generation CV Strats and Teles were total boat anchors. Very well built alder and pine bodies depending on model, but very heavy. The 2nd gen has lightened up quite a bit. There are already some listings of '50s model CV Strats weighing in at under 7 pounds. Very nice. The new '50s models have pine for the body wood, '60s are nato and '70s are poplar.

Color choices for the first generation were good but not great. On the Strat in particular, the design had an off white pick guard a.k.a. "parchment" and pickup covers that were basically very light brown. This was Squier's attempt at vintage-style color and it didn't quite work. And where the body colors were concerned, the Butterscotch Blonde on the Tele was a total winner but there were no standout winners for the Strat. This has since been rectified with the second generation. Both the plastics and body finishes for all the CV guitars now look proper.

Squier has bounced around back and forth with their logo treatment over the years. What Squier did with the first gen CVs was "fat gold". The logo was thickened up slightly, made gold and had a black outline. It worked but didn't totally work. The 2019 logo refresh is without question the best design Squier has ever had. It's sized proper for each '50s, '60's and '70s model. And FINALLY, after all these years, the stylized Fender logo has been removed from the front of the headstock and replaced with simple and small "BY FENDER" understated text. The stylized Fender logo is now on the BACK of the headstock where it belongs. Squier finally has its branding put 100% (okay, 98%) front-and-center. Yes, this matters.

Strictly speaking of the Stratocaster model, these new CVs may be the greatest Strats Squier has had since the JV series from the 1980s. Yeah, I know that's some big talk being the Squier JVs are the most collectible Squiers that exist (they routinely command over $1,000 on eBay). But it really looks like we may have finally made something that lives up to that JV standard.

No, the new ones are not made in Japan, but with the exception the dark fretboard models are indian laurel instead of rosewood and the fretboard radius is 9.5" instead of 7.25", new CVs are basically everything the old JVs were - and are in fact better styled than the JVs.

Seems to me the smart money is to put $350 on a new CV instead of $1,000+ on an old JV. You get everything you wanted with the new guitar that you'd buy the old one for in the first place.

Published 2019 Dec 10