Fender Strats have been so iconic and popular that they have sneakily found their way into the hands of most of our Guitar Heroes. Fender has an excellent production of amazing guitars.
Since Strats tend to be a bit on the expensive side, Fender got hold of Squier to produce cheaper guitars accessible to beginners.
Straight out of Asia, the budget Squier series was introduced in 1982 and has received massive popularity since. Squiers make amazing entry level instruments made out of beautiful though cheap materials, well set up, and overall great value for the price.
Fender Squier Bullet Strat also has a cool style factor and decent playability. It’s hard to find serious contenders to Fender Squiers for folks just starting out on the guitar journey.
I also started out on a cheap Squier, so I am very confident about its playability and decent tone. To aid your buying decision, we take a look at the new budget series- Fender Squier Bullet Strat. Let’s see how this fares as a beginner guitar.
Table of Contents
Overview of Fender Squier Bullet Stratocaster Electric Guitar
Squier by Fender Bullet Stratocaster Beginner Hard Tail Electric Guitar – HSS – Black
Specification
- Maple Neck
- Beautiful Rosewood Frets
- Single Coil Pickups
Our Verdict
A Squier is good for you if you are a beginner who wants to learn guitar or just want a cheap guitar to see how you like it. It is a decent investment that you’ll happily learn from, and it’s really hard to put a price on learning or happiness!
The Fender Bullet Strat is a great choice for a cheap guitar without compromising playability.
Looks
The Bullet Strat has looks identical to that of the iconic classic Strat. Fender kept the designs true to the classic Strat but made compromises on the build materials and finishes.
The plastic nut makes the guitar look cheap- but that’s to be expected here. You can replace the stock one with a bone nut at your local Guitar Center.
The hardware used has a shiny chrome finish and the headstock flaunts the classic Fender logo on it.
Tuning
Unlike the tuners on a cheap starter guitar that never seem to stay in tune, Bullet Squier has quality tuners surprising for the price. These have a Fender Strat ‘inspired’ die-cast tuning heads. Not exactly the original but they do their job- so no complaints here.
If you decide to upgrade the tuners, you can always do so by yourself. Once you’re past learning a few songs to add to your repertoire, I certainly recommend doing that.
Neck
The maple neck has a satin finish for smooth playability. If you like playing fast and shifting fast, you may be aware that some guitar necks get sticky and it’s hard to play fast without feeling like the neck is slowing you down.
The Bullet Strat doesn’t have that problem. It also has a wonderful rosewood fretboard. It has 21 frets and a slightly curved neck profile (9.5” radius) that are very easy to play with. It makes playing barres particularly easier.
The neck is quite elegant-looking and not as fancy as those on some Strats out there but it looks great with the overall feel of the guitar. It is comfortable for the fingers, has no sharp unrefined edges, is set up well and that’s more than adequate for a beginner guitar to be playable.
Body
The basswood body is very light and easy to carry. It feels very comfortable wearing a strap.
Since the sound on an electric guitar is produced not by the resonance of the hollow chamber, but by amplification of the string vibrations picked up by the pickups – I like to think that tonewoods have no effect on the tone quality. It makes sense that if you swap the stock strings with something nice, you will notice improvements in tone.
The pickups are also cheap, and you could swap them out for something expensive but the folks trying to rock out on the guitar won’t need to. It’s decent enough for a beginner and makes playing in the early stages a fun and rewarding experience.
The Squier Bullet features a gorgeous tremolo bridge for holding down the strings. It is incredibly easy to restring and holds them in tune well. But if you play with the tremolo often, you will realize that the guitar doesn’t stay in tune that well.
Beginners probably won’t be using much of that- so they’re good to go. These bridges last for a long time.
The chrome finish on the bridge as well as tuners is beautiful too. Fender certainly did a fantastic job here!
But, the downside is- the bridge is a cheap look-alike, and not as good as the ones on more expensive Strats, like, say the Squier Affinity Strat.
The strings on this guitar are Nickel-plated steel strings, which aren’t really great but do the job. These are light on the fingers, last long, and have a nice tone.
Pickups
There are three beautiful ceramic pickups on Squier Bullet. These are two single coils (for neck and mid), which just means that these have a single coil wrapped around powerful magnets and a humbucker for the bridge. Single coil pickups sound classy and somewhat like a vintage rock. A humbucker pickup sounds better and fuller (is also more expensive) but that’s probably a personal taste.
These are meant to produce the classic Strat sound and honestly- it sounds okay. It doesn’t sound thin or muddy but doesn’t sound luscious either.
These do pick up unwanted noises and interference signals. The hum on single coils is very annoying. Most suppliers also sell sss (all single coil pickups for neck, mid, and bridge) models and hss (a humbucker and two single coils) are less common.
The pickups are middle, neck, and bridge and a 5-way switch allows you to switch between positions or even have two of them selected at once. This is quite common on electric guitars and is typical of most Strats Fender makes.
As for the sound of these pickups on the budget Bullet Strat, it’s overall nice.
Sound
The neck pickup sounds clean and frankly quite nice when playing chords. It is certainly great for playing blues or old-school rock.
Played clean, it sounds beautiful. There is a lot more sound-wise you can do with the right pedals- add ambience, make the tone fatter- many many things.
It doesn’t lend well to jazzy voicings, but most folks won’t buy a Bullet Strat for that. Paired with a decent overdrive pedal, it can also be used for metal genres.
You can get nice tones if you plug the Bullet Strat into a simple pedal board and an expensive amp but those are definitely not cheap. This guitar has two tone knobs for the mid and neck-pickups and also a volume knob that controls the overall dynamics from the guitar.
For somebody just starting out, the stage-ready tone is not going to be an issue. For them, a looper pedal is a certainly better investment than some very expensive muscle amp.
Is Squier an authentic Fender?
There is some debate on whether Squier really is a Fender. Since these are two companies with distinct histories, the products they make are definitely bound to differ. Squiers are made in Asia and Fenders in the US or Mexico. Though Squier is technically owned by Fender, folks who worship the Fender name see Squiers as cheap inferior copies.
There isn’t much to back that up. Squiers made today play just as well as Fenders, and some Squiers are even more expensive than Fenders of similar makes. Picking a brand name over another really makes no sense here since both names are dedicated to producing guitars of quality materials and superb playability. If you like one over the other, definitely go for it!
Is the Squier Bullet worth the price?
It certainly is. You can use this as your primary guitar for learning techniques- chords, scales, arpeggios, sweeps, harmonics, taps as well as solos from your favorite artists.
The ease of playability of Squier Bullet lends itself well to use as a reliable practice guitar. It has reliable hardware and electronics, so you won’t have to worry about replacing them any time soon. However, if you find the buzz from single coils off-putting, you can swap them out for a pair of good Humbuckers.
You should also change the strings and invest in better ones after you become somewhat experienced. There are loads you can do with the Squier Bullet- learn on it, play at a small gig (while starting out, you certainly can ask to play at local bars), or learn how circuit wiring works on an electric guitar.
You can also do questionable upgrades to your inexpensive Squier Bullet. Installing better noiseless pickups is a good idea.
Since it’s not that expensive, you can also use it as a prop to smash at shows. I wouldn’t recommend doing that but you are free to. You can still salvage the electronics and hardware from bits and pieces and use them in some projects.
Who it’s for
It also makes a great guitar to gift your children or friends. It’s pretty inexpensive so it won’t cost you a fortune. And it resembles the iconic Strat that is loved by every guitar player- so anybody would be happy to have one.
Score
Bottom Line
For what it’s worth, the Fender Squier Bullet Stratocaster is definitely a great choice. The playability on this guitar is nice. The rosewood frets feel nice and it’s easy to glide along the maple neck. The single-coil pickups are decent and fun. It makes for a great starting kit and a nice gift for your friends or family.
The tuning stability is a serious issue and the noise from the pickups is off-putting. if you are very serious about your commitment to learning guitar, it makes sense to pay a couple more bucks and get a better one- like a Fender Squier Affinity Strat that doesn’t have tuning issues.
FAQ
Can I play this on Gigs?
You can try to, but the tone and overall performance of a more costly guitar are better. You can use it sparingly in rock gigs or as a prop.
Can I put any pickups on this?
Not really. You can swap out the stock ones on this with pretty much any single coil ones from the Fender lines. Squiers and Fenders use similar pickups (sizewise) on most. These noiseless pickups will also fit right in, but most humbuckers won’t fit in unless they are specifically made for the Squier Bullet. You can definitely route out custom pickup cavities and wire up the electronics (you can find the schematics online) if you feel like it.