The Squier Classic Vibe electric guitar is an awesome budget strat with 70s vibes.
If you’re a clueless beginner just starting out on electric guitars, getting a Squier as your first strat is a time-honored tradition. It’s got excellent playability and the fact that buying it doesn’t break your bank is the perfect excuse to get one!
In this Squier Classic vibe review, we’re going to take a look at the features of Squier Classic Vibe to see if it’s a good beginner’s guitar and if you could gig with it. Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
Overview Of Squier Classic Vibe
Fender Squier Classic Vibe
What We Like
- Great value
- Classic strat
- Excellent playability
- Slim C-shape neck
- Bone nut
Our Verdict
The Squier Classic Vibe doesn’t cost much, but it’s got some cool features that make it absolutely worth the price. There are decent-sounding single-coil pickups, a whammy bar, slim profile, stylish looks as well as a bone nut at a good price!
This electric guitar is a great instrument with killer looks and excellent playability and if you’re looking for a cheap guitar that doesn’t sound crap, this one’s great!
Squier – The Brand
Most guitarists know Squier guitars to be cheap Fender copies. While most Fenders are shipped out of their US factories, Squiers sources their parts from Asia which helps bring the costs down. You may think that Squiers are just cheap inferior copies, and in the 90s, you would be right.
But these days, Squier guitars have come a long way, and being acquired by Fender has helped them make a name for themselves. Some Squiers do cost more than Fender models, and since every guitar is inspected at the factory and has to pass through quality control, Squiers also have great quality.
The Classic Vibe series has some wonderful reviews as well and starting out with a budget Squier guitar, you are making a great choice.
The Squier Classic Vibe is a good guitar, and like its name, it’s got the classic look and feel going on for it.
Aesthetics
The Classic Vibe Stratocaster by Squier looks pretty cool. It looks pretty similar to a Strat and is lightweight adding to the functionality and playability aspect. The finish gives off a classic vibe.
There is a gloss polyurethane finish on the body which looks classy as well.
It may come as a surprise to you that this one has even got bone nut! Budget guitars usually go for cheaper substitutes like synthetic bone or urea or even plastic. Not having that on this Squier Classic Vibe Series electric guitar helps with the intonation and sustain.
The Squier Classic Vibe Stratocaster guitar is Indonesian-made but there are no rough edges like you’d expect to find on cheap mass-produced Asian instruments.
Tuning
The tuners on this are vintage tuners, meaning that they are standard diecast tuning machines. These are not the best ones you can find but absolutely do the job of keeping the strings well in tune.
Swapping these out for something like Hipshot Locking Tuners seems like overkill but if you’re up for it and don’t mind the hassle while down-tuning, by all means, go for it!
As you’d expect to find on Squiers, the frets are leveled and set up well enough for beginners and intermediate players but if you’re thinking of doing lead work on this as a pro, a proper luthier setup may be in order.
There is a tremolo bridge on this which also helps with the intonation. The Squier Classic Vibe Series is big on tuning stability, and hence, you won’t find any problems with this electric guitar.
Neck
The Squier Classic Vibe Stratocaster electric guitar has a bolt-on maple neck. It’s typical to see bolt-on necks on budget guitars as having a glued neck would bump up prices.
Some players find maple neck to have a brightly crisp sound and think that having Laurelwood frets damps the brightness a little. Personally, I don’t find the neck wood to have much significance, especially on electric guitars.
There are 21 frets made out of Indian Laurelwood which is well-set and easy to fret. The tinted maple neck adds to the vintage feel.
If there’s one thing I don’t like about the neck, it’s the gloss finish. If you’re going to be playing your guitar for extended periods, you’ll find that the gloss finish tends to stick more to your wrist than a satin finish would.
The neck has a slim C shaped neck profile which makes playing barres easier. The 9.5” fingerboard radius is slightly flat which offers a balanced fretting feel.
There are just 21 frets which are a bit smaller than medium jumbo frets. If you’ve got smaller fingers, you’ll find the frets delightful.
The frets have Pearloid dot inlays which are there to guide the player. It seems that they did a great job finishing the neck and paid attention to tiny details.
Body
The Squier Classic Vibe has a Alder body which is a cheaper alternative to Mahogany. It helps keep the guitar lightweight.
The Alder body resembles that of a classic Strat. The gloss polyurethane finish ages nicely and you’ll find that it doesn’t get scratched that easily.
There’s also a cool pick guard to prevent you from scratching the Alder body finish. It also doubles as a nice complement to the design of the strat style electric guitar.
The strings are held in place by a 6-saddle tremolo bridge with a string-through arrangement that keeps the strings secured in place. It also has a whammy bar which you’ll love if you’re into rock and metal styles of music.
The vintage style tremolo system makes it a fantastic guitar.
The strings on this are .009 gauge strings which are fairly light ones. The string thickness is up to my preference, so I would keep them on but if you want to swap them out with your favorite set of strings, you can do so easily.
If you want to change them or need extra strings for later, I would recommend the Ernie Ball slinky set as they have a fuller sound and are quite durable.
Pickups and Controls
Unlike an acoustic guitar that gets its unamplified pure sound thanks to the resonant body, an electric guitar picks up the string vibrations via pick ups, and the signal is passed on to an amp that ‘amplifies’ the signals so they’re audible.
There are three single-coil Fender Alnico V pick ups on the Squier Classic Vibe electric guitar. These are pretty standard on Strats and sound classic.
If you’d like to install new pickups on this guitar, you can go for Seymour Duncan pickups which are a good quality piece of hardware for you to upgrade to.
You can use the 5-way selector switch to access the tones of the pickups. You can choose between either the neck pickup, or neck and mid, or mid only, or mid and bridge, or the bridge only configuration.
A 5-way switch like the one here is also typical of most Strat-style electric guitars, so no surprises there.
The body has three standard knob- one for master volume and two for the tones. The Alnico pickups and vintage style electronics are a nod to the classic vibe series and the build quality is also superb.
Despite it being an inexpensive Strat, the controls do not feel cheap and operate smoothly.
How It Sounds
The quality of the build materials and electronics matters a great deal when it’s down to the guitar that players will absolutely love. The Squier Classic Vibe stratocaster offers a great value on both its looks as well as the sound it projects.
The Squier Classic Vibe electric guitar sounds like a classic strat- with nice crisp tones out of the single-coil Alnico V pickups.
It can sound a bit thin which you can adjust by tweaking the EQ on the output. Intermediate players in particular will love that this guitar has a shielding paint that reduces feedback noises.
The vintage style tuners also help ensure that it doesn’t sound out of tune too often.
You can use the classic sound of the single-coil pick ups for playing old-school rock and blues. This budget guitar doesn’t work well with high gain, so you are better off choosing some other model for that.
It also lends well to use in most genres like pop, the country as well as bluegrass, and you’ll have fun jamming with your friends. It sounds amazing if you stick with it, really!
Who it’s For
The Squier Classic Vibe Stratocaster is good for both beginners and intermediate players alike. I wouldn’t use it on lead gigs simply because the higher frets need setting up.
Many guitarists start out on cheap and crappy guitars, and having a similar story myself, I can relate to the experiences. A good budget guitar can make lots of difference when it comes to how you sound and how fast you progress.
Despite being an inexpensive guitar, the Classic Vibe Stratocaster has a unique sound and excellent quality hardware. Every single guitar in the Classic Vibe Series offers excellent value for what you are paying.
For rhythm work, this guitar works just fine. It’s good for practicing as well as performing on small venues and the passive pickups do sound nice for the price.
Score
Bottom Line
The Squier Classic Vibe electric guitar is a great guitar for somebody who is new to electric guitars and wants an affordable instrument to learn the subtleties of the electric guitar.
It’s inexpensive, is a full-scale instrument with decent hardware, and has convenient frets, so it’s a good choice for anybody. The premium features also make it a great strat to consider as your first guitar.
It also has a bone nut which I consider a feature reserved for premium guitars. For the low price, it’s an excellent guitar with solid value.
FAQ
Is it good for metal?
The Squier Classic Vibe is a budget guitar good for general purpose use by beginners and intermediate level players. While it sounds great for most styles, it cannot handle high gain styles that well.
Can I upgrade the tuners on this?
The Squier Classic Vibe has decent set of tuning heads which help it stay in tune. But you certainly can upgrade the stock tuners to inexpensive locking tuners if you like.
I was just telling my friend about that.