After many years away from the world’s most iconic electric guitar brand, my son was gifted a 20th Anniversary Squier Affinity Stratocaster. It would be rude not to at least set it up for him wouldn’t it?
I’ve covered the topic of the Fender Stratocaster quite often on these pages, and in fact, had it lose out in a comparison with the Gibson Les Paul. All it took was a battered, almost 20-year-old budget level Squier to change my mind again.
It arrived in a bit of state, obviously seen a bit of action, with various chips and scratches on the bodywork and plastics, but crucially, hardly any fret-wear. Toolbox in hand, I got to work. Here are the steps I took to get it back in the game again.
Strip down and clean up
First off was to remove the strings and go at it with a cloth and some all-purpose cleaner. After 20 years of gunk had gone, a rather lovely midnight blue/rosewood necked beauty was revealed, with gleaming, almost new frets. Great start, but problems were afoot.
Nut
The first issue I noticed was the nut was sliding about in its groove. A couple of dabs of superglue sorted it. Next.
Machine heads
One was broken (the 1-pin variety), which I replaced like-for-like off eBay for less than £5. Long story short I ended up purchasing a full set of the more common 2-pin type for just under £15 from Amazon.
Installation was easy, I, first of all, marked the pins with a black marker pen, then pushed the new tuner through the hole, pressing the marked pins against the wood, providing me with the new pin locations.
When all the pin locations were marked (two for each machine head), I got the hand drill out and a 3mm wood drill bit to create the new pinholes. The new tuners dropped and screwed in perfectly.
Bridge
Not the highest quality bridge in the world, so to minimise tuning issues, I decked it by tightening the two tremolo claw screws until the tension of the strings could no longer lift it from the body. Other benefits of doing this are open and fretted strings remain in-tune when simultaneously bending another, and bends don’t need that little bit of extra force behind them. Two common perceived flaws in the Fender Stratocaster’s design.
Electrics
Almost there, but my heart sank when I noticed the two tone controls had no effect at all. An electrical cleaner is the best solution for this, but I got away with some WD-40, left overnight. The next day I opened up the guitar a jiggled a few wires just to be sure. Perfectly working electrics!
Action
Now it was time to get into the details of the action. First off was a tightening of the truss rod to reduce the relief a little (more on that here) and from there, basically getting each individual string as low as possible without buzz or choking on the bends.
And the results?
This is the whole point of the article and my lightbulb moment. Once I got the guitar fully working and set up, I was reminded that the Stratocaster is my favourite guitar, and always will be. Why?
I can play better and faster on Stratocasters.
Yup, even this lowly Squier, with, it has to be said, a higher action than my other Squier, the Telecaster Custom II, somehow has a more playable fretboard. There’s definitely more space at the nut and it all seems so familiar and comfortable.
I think a lot has to do with the fact that my first guitar was a Hondo Strat, and this and my next guitar, a Japanese Fender model, laid the foundations for my future playing. A vivid memory I have of the second guitar, in particular, was its ability to get me into that zone of the guitar playing itself, which I’ve been searching for ever since.
Stratocasters are more comfortable than anything else.
The belly and forearm contours, the convenient positioning of the controls, the jack socket on the front of the body (meaning your lead isn’t getting in the way while sitting). All this and many other aspects make the Stratocaster the most comfortable guitar to play. I forgot.
Stratocasters possess the cleanest, purest, brightest tones.
After being away in Gibson-land for a good chunk of my playing life, and after that, Tele-land. I’d forgot just how clean, pristine, pure and downright musically beautiful a Stratocaster can sound. Yes, even the Squiers. I’d got caught up with output, warmth, sustain, but, in reality, the Stratocaster is the ultimate clean platform for your playing in the same way as the classic Fender amps are the ultimate clean platform for your pedals.
With Strats, you start off with that naked beauty and add in whichever ingredients you wish to spice it up. With other guitars, let’s say it’s much harder(or even impossible) to clean up the spice if you don’t want it.
Let me give you another quote:
It’s easy to make a Stratocaster sound like a Les Paul, but impossible to make a Les Paul sound like a Strat.
The Strat is a very thin, delicate, ‘pretty’ sounding guitar when clean. Sometimes you don’t want to shout all the time (like on a Les Paul), and the Strat gives you the option of going from a whisper all the way to face-melting grunt and glorious feedback, with the best of it being it’s all from one guitar, all so dynamic, and all so controllable and forgiving.
In fact, I’ve just run through Tunnel of Love by Dire Straits again…. Only a Strat will ever work for that solo!
A familiar, classic tone pallet.
But the thing I missed most about the Strat is their range. their potential. There is so much you can cover in positions 1 to 5 and they can be and have all been used for lead or rhythm, clean or dirty on countless recordings throughout history. The Stratocaster is the most versatile guitar ever made with the most recognisable and loved tones from the most iconic guitar heroes.
And yes, single coils do react fabulously to gain, with better dynamics, clarity and note-separation even with all hell breaking loose. Just listen to Hendrix.
The Strat’s volume and tone controls should not be overlooked and provide another layer of versatility for your exploration. Positions 2 and 4 with the tone rolled down is the route to those thicker, Les Paul tones, and the volume control famously tapers just as predictably and usefully as you’d hoped, preserving a surprising amount of high-end when rolling back. You’ll hear buzz words like ‘blower switch’ relating to disengaging the tone circuit on other designs (I’ve done this to my old Les Paul with satisfying results), but this is nothing new or clever. The Strat’s bridge pickup wiring was designed that way from the off, providing the purest tone possible.
Why did I move away from Stratocasters?
Mainly because most of them I’ve encountered have been absolute dogs. The Hondo was probably decent but I didn’t know any better at the time. The 90’s Japanese Fender had a terrible Fender-branded Floyd-Rose knock-off bridge that would never stay in tune and snapped strings just by breathing on it. Next up was a USA Standard from around 2000 with chronic fret-wear, which got traded up for a Gordon Smith Graduate 60 (A Les Paul copy), then I was into Gibsons and never looked back, bar a couple of impulse buys that also turned out to be bad examples of what a Strat should be.
I think the point I’m trying to make is if I’d owned a 100% functioning, new(ish), decent spec Stratocaster from the off, I would have never strayed. But I hit issues and frustrations. I guess I’ve known, deep down, all along that the Stratocaster plays the best and sounds the best (for me), but sometimes you need to explore, right? Sometimes you need to take a break from bad experiences and try something new.
I’ve often gone to great lengths putting forward a case against the Stratocaster. But I’ve learned that all of those famous minus points can be either easily remedied, or argued against. Take the bright bridge pickup as an example, I’ve often found myself in situations where that pickup, on only that pickup, will cut through. Also the tuning issues, I would argue that, with its straight string pull, inspired nut design, and an all-in-one bridge (or lack of separate tail-piece), a correctly setup Strat should always be more stable than a Gibson.
The Fender Stratocaster is, and always will be, as Eric Clapton himself said. Perfect. It affords the player the priceless luxury of limitless, cross-genre, expression, all at your fingertips. Maybe at the time, I required less from an instrument, found it a little daunting, or was just plain lazy!
I’ve learned from experience that Strats are definitely worth the effort. And the more you put in, the more it gives you.
What will be my next Stratocaster purchase?
In case you missed it. This isn’t my guitar, it’s my sons. But even so, I’ve found myself falling in love with the Stratocaster all over again.
Full review coming soon!
I’ll be honest, in a head to head, it’s not as good as my current Squier Telecaster Custom II, nor should it hope to be, it’s a lot less expensive than the Tele, which itself punches way above its paltry asking price. But the point is, I’d wager I’d much prefer a comparably (or higher) priced Strat over the Tele any day, for all the reasons I’ve mentioned above. Maybe a 60’s Classic Vibe? A Player Series? Who knows, but it feels great to be coming home again.
And the future? I’ve been watching some Yngwie Malmsteen vids of late, and I don’t fancy learning any of his stuff on a Les Paul or a Tele!
