1995 Fender Squier Series (Mexico-made) Stratocaster Electric Guitar (Modded)

Yech, this poor old Strat was really grungy when it came in. It's one of these slightly-mysterious "Squier Series" Strats from the mid-'90s. When new they were basically a standard Fender Mexican-made Strat but with Asian-import, Squier-level pickups, wiring, and hardware. They fit at a price point between a Squier and a Fender. There are rumors on the net about the necks and bodies being US-made and shipped down to Mexico for assembly, but I think we can just call those rumors and leave them at that.

The fact is, though, that the neck is above-average quality and the body is nice and solid wood as well. The neck has a heftier, vintage C-shape to it with 1 5/8" nut width and it's stable and has a fair amount of flame in it as well.

It came in with a terrible setup, a lot of grunge, cheesy saddles and tuners, and swapped-out pickups, harness, and pickguard. The fortunate bit here is that the pickguard is "Genuine Fender" tortoise, the pickups are Fender '56 Strat repros, and the harness was all done with good-quality pots, switch, caps, and jack.

After a deep clean, I tightened-up the hardware and sprayed-out the pots, replaced the saddles with vintage-style "stamped steel" ones, replaced the horrid original tuners (Ping-style) with Gotoh aged Kluson-style units, and gave it the usual going-over. The result is a guitar that sounds really traditional and rings-out with a '50s, Buddy Holly-esque tone. I love it.

Repairs included: a fret level/dress, cleaning, new tuners and saddles, replacement whammy grip, minor adjustments to the newer wiring harness, and a fresh setup and strings.

Setup notes: it plays fast and spot-on with 1/16" overall action at the 12th fret, a straight neck, working truss rod, and 46w-10 gauges.

Scale length: 25 1/2"

Nut width: 1 5/8"

String spacing at nut: 1 3/8"

String spacing at bridge: 2 1/16"

Body length: 18 3/8"

Lower bout width: 12 1/2"

Side depth at endpin: 1 3/4"

Body wood: solid mysterywood

Fretboard: rosewood

Bridge: thin-block import w/newer stamped Fender saddles

Neck feel: slim-medium C/D shape, 7 1/4" board radius

Neck wood: maple, flamed

Weight: 8 lb 0 oz

Condition notes: it's worn around the edges and has a lot of scratches and finish chipping on the back and lower-bout back edge. The front is not too bad but does show minor wear throughout and on the pickguard, too. The backplate is missing and the springs have been upped to 5 rather than 3 which gives a stiffer feel to the bar. The tuners, saddles, pickups, pickguard, and wiring harness are all replacements. Some of the pickguard screws are replacements, too.