Squier Classic Vibe '50s Stratocaster - Fiesta Red Reviews

Was expecting an upgrade from a Sonic..Got something more in line with a much more expensive American made Strat..Spent the first hour just staring at it... Absolutely beautiful...I'm 71 and been playing since the 6os... owned many strats.jags..mustangs. Etc...This 50s Vintage vibe holds it's own with all of them....Fit and Finish was impeccable..Set up was on point .Frets are fast and polished..no sharp ends...Electronics sound fantastic...retro but with a touch of modern attitude..Same color as my 56 DeSoto...Thanks to Ryan Mckowen once again for taken care of this old picker

I was absolutely blown away at just how good this guitar is for the money. You won't be disappointed

I currently have a 50s cv tele and wanted a strat so I got this on. It feels nice a light. The only thing is I didn't realize how orange it looks I still love it. I recommend this guitar and appreciate the care that Sweetwater took in inspecting and delivery of my guitar. It was on back order but was worth the the wait

I bought one of these back in 2022... Fiesta Red a la Hank Marvin. I am very pleased with everything about it with one exception: the volume and tone pots. Everything else on my guitar, at least, was incredible, and furthermore mine weighed only 6 lbs 10 oz, so it's easy on the shoulder. The pots in my instrument as it came stock were just awful, and they were the small cheepo pots that many budget Asian guitars come with. They were scratchy and cut out periodically. I replaced them with full size CTS pots and the troubles are over.

If you decide to upgrade to CTS pots in one of these, note that the pickguard will need to have its pot holes enlarged slightly to accommodate the US-sized CTS pots, and the knobs will need to be replaced as the old knobs are sized for Asian pots. Also, these guitars are built using lead-free solder, so the old solder joints ought to be desoldered and reflowed for best results.

A great guitar that feels good in the hand, light on the shoulder and has great sound after the pots are fixed up. Wonderful gigging instrument!

My first purchase from Sweetwater, was difficult decision only because of not being able to physically handle the guitar before pulling the trigger but I can say that the Sweetwater team did an excellent job with photos providing an accurate representation of the guitar helping me make my decision to purchase, the guitar plays and sounds feels fantastic, and kudos to TODD HOLLIDAY in communicating with me every step of the process.
Thank you to the Sweetwater Team creating a great experience.

I love everything about this guitar! It looks awesome -- totally nailed the iconic 50's strat vibe. The neck looks and feels awesome, as does the Fiesta Red paint job and white pickguard. Everything pops! The pick-ups sound great too! I couldn't be happier with my purchase of this guitar. It's literally everything I wanted in a strat at less than half the cost for the word "Fender" on the headstock. My first strat was a Squier (1985) and it remains one of my most prized possessions. Now I have two Squier Strats and love 'em both! You can not go wrong with this guitar -- Total keeper!

I've had this guitar a couple weeks now and love it. People mention that the the pickups are bright and hot like maybe it's a draw back but not from my perspective. I get great blues tone out of the neck pickup by rolling back the tone to 5. I did a setup to get the trim to function the way I like it and it stays in tune well with the stock nines that came on it. I haven't even needed to lubricant the nut. I replaced the stock trim springs with Raw Vintage Springs. I prefer the response of these springs and use all 5. For me the tuners are fine. This guitar is perfect for just about any type of music but really shines for surf tones. If you are considering one of these Classic Vibe 50's Strats I encourage you to go for it.

Nice lightweight guitar, beautifully finished. Always been a Hank Marvin fan, and this is a very nice reproduction of the red Strat Hank is known for playing. I will be blocking the tremolo probably, but I can verify that once it is set up correctly, it works just fine. I recommend these new Squier Strats without qualification.

First and foremost, a big thank you to Rob Amaral and all the Sweetwater employees I've spoken with through all my order history. I'm happy and impressed that in this day and age, customer service is still a priority and has not been forgotten.

I love the way the Squier Stratocaster came, right outta the box. It looked, felt, and played amazing. I would like to add that I also payed for a Plek Pro Fret job. Some people may consider that unnecessary on a Squier, but I am happy I purchased it. There's always a chance of receiving a budget friendly guitar with sharp frets; I did not wanna leave that up to chance. Sweetwater did an awesome job with the Plek Pro and setup.

I purchased this guitar to be able to take to a friend's or family member's house and not really worry about it getting damaged. I also own a PRS Custom 24 and American Ultra Luxe Stratocaster; those two I absolutely leave and play at home! Lol.

I've owned the budget bullet strats, and I've also owned multiple Fenders. Blindfolded, you couldn't tell the difference between a Squier Classic Vibe and a Fender Player series. The classic strat with crystalline tones, this is it!

I'm very impressed with this Squier. The finishes on both the neck and body are beautiful. The frets are polished smooth, and there are no sharp edges either. Close to perfect setup out of the box. The sound is fantastic, great single coils.

There's a lot of aspects of the guitar I find nicer than my older MIM strat. I haven't played the newer player series though.

The one drawback is the tremolo is quite stiff. I need to use a lot of force just to move it a little. This can be adjusted though, or replaced.

This is my second guitar and it is is awesome. It is very comfortable to play standing and sitting and has a great sound. It is also priced low for such an amazing guitar.

This is my 2nd 50's Classic Vibe. I love the maple neck. It's so smooth I might as well be playing on ice. It came with a little bit of fret buzz so I adjusted the string height and now it's PERFECT.

Sweetwater has the best customer service. I appreciate the fact that I deal with the same rep every time I order. I appreciate also the effort made ensuring that the product arrives safely...double boxed with signature required. These guys obliterate their competition and that's why I only deal with them at this point. Sure, the other guys sell the same products as Sweetwater but that's the only thing they have in common.

Thanks to Drew Foster for all your patience and for always getting my things to me so quickly.

Ordered this guitar on a Tuesday and it was delivered just 2 days later. Right out of the box the guitar was set up perfectly. I previously owned a Fender Strat and was a little hesitant about getting the Squire model but after one night playing the guitar I was very pleasantly surprised. The Squire looks, feels, sounds and more importantly plays every bit as good as my Strat that I paid 3 times as much for. Very happy with this purchase and with the excellent customer service from Mr. Adam Hunter.

Out of the box,had some tweaking. Worth the price out of the box! Needed studio specs,so
.. We added CTS pots,cloth wiring with Fender 65/72 USA pups(or 65's),USA Fender tuners. Cap upgrades.It blows all Mexican imports away for much less overall cost,was fun to upgrade,and rivals my USA in studio/road use. Get w a Sweetwater tech,be specific.

This was a birthday present for our son. He can't put it down.

I had previously owned a CV Thinline Tele which I didn't like. I still wanted a reasonably priced Tele, and heard great things about the 50's CV. A few weeks ago I found one at a local store, brought it home, and was very pleased. It needed a bit of a setup, but the tone and playability were amazing! I started looking for a CV 50's Strat, but found nothing local and decided to give Sweetwater a look. I've been to the store (an amazing experience well worth the time, by the way), but never ordered a guitar from them before. They had 3 CV 50's Strats in Fiesta Red and showed each by serial number and weight. I chose one and it arrived 2 days later double packed. It's hard to describe how well this turned out. The 55 point inspection is not a setup, but the guitar was perfect. I plugged it into my mid 90's Pro Junior and was blown away. I will stack this up against my sons Mexican Strat any day of the week. If you're on the fence, don't hesitate. Buy it! And based on my experience, buy it from Sweetwater. My experience was great!

THIS GUITAR PLAYS AND SOUNDS GREAT I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN WHEN I WAS PLAYING IT IT HAS THE BEST NECK I'VE EVER FELT AND THE PICK UPS SOUND FANTASTIC IT PLAYS AND SOUNDS BETTER THAN My MEXICAN STRAT DID SO I'M KEEPING THIS ONE. THE CLASSIC VIBE 50'S ARE A GOOD DEAL FOR THOSE ON A BUDGET SO GET THIS GUITAR BEFORE THEY ARE GONE.

Full disclosure - I bought this Classic Vibe 50's fiesta red strat as a used "mint condition" purchase. Indeed, it was mint. Here are my observations: The guitar is very well built, superb neck fit into body pocket, mirror-polished frets, no over-laquer on frets (as I had on my MIA Eric Johnson), lightweight and very classic strat glassy spank and quack tone. The guitar description says the body is either pine or nato. I pulled the pickguard and saw a patch of unpainted body and it sure looked like mahogany to me, so I'd say this one is nato. Nice and neat wiring job, but wire is a very low temp tolerant PVC insulation and pots are the undersized type. Hey, what do you expect at this price point? I was surprised the tremolo came with only two springs (don't know if this was "as shipped"), so I had to add one more spring and adjust the claw screws to make the bridge plate contact the body. I don't like floating trems. There was plenty of extra lead length, so it's rather to convenient to work on the pickguard without disconnection (which I did to upgrade the pots). One tone knob controls the neck PU and the other controls both the middle and bridge PUs. The paint job was flawless, as was the neck glossy vintage finish. This guitar is in the sub-7 lb category (don't have an accurate scale), but well balanced. Bottom line, this is an awesome guitar value. You do not have to sacrifice much of the upscale Fender appointments. Even the headstock decals are really cool. Good job Fender/Squier and kudos the the Indonesia factory.

Originally ordered the 60s model,but I wanted a maple neck instead. And there she was, fiesta red with a vintage looking maple neck and fingerboard?
Sweetwater didn't even charge me for shipping the 60s model back! Their reputation precedes them and you get candy with your order! I can't put this strat down! I've had it for a month and have went through 2 sets of strings already. I like it better than my mim deluxe strat. I am already thinking about buying another one in a different color,they are just great guitars for the money,and certainly live up to their name! Sweetwater is a world class company, and I will be dealing with them more into the future

Very impressed with my fiesta red classic vibe 50s strat. Sweetwater allowed me to pick one that weighed 6lb. 6oz. on their calibrated (I hope) scale. The upside of the nato body is the light weight. No downside, tone or structural, that I can see. Precision construction. Strings align perfectly on the neck, over the pickups, and on the bridge saddles. This can't be said for all MIM Fenders. Neck pocket is as tight as any bolt neck guitar that I have seen. Fit and finish are perfect. I hope the Indonesian workers are making decent wages, because they're doing an excellent job. The neck is a real stand out feature for me. I often say I can play on any kind of neck, but some feel awkward at first. This one fits like a glove, Just the neck is a big inducement to buy another of these new classic vibes. Setup was a breeze, and the action is impeccable. The new Fender designed pickups are very bright, but with the tone controls you can dial in your choice of bottom end, and dial out any screechy highs you don't like. I personally think the pickups are another big plus. It's essential to set the pickup height for the best sound. Fender spec height was not the best on mine. Of course you could use this guitar for a mod platform. But after my week of playing it, I say "Why bother?".

This is by far the best guitar you can buy for under $... I got mine as a demo model so more savings! Thanks Nate Kauffman! (Give that man a raise!)

About the guitar:
I was initially not impressed by the sound. It was way thinner than I expected (Almost returned it). I thought about replacing the pickups but I'm not quite sure about dropping another $100-200 on it. So as I usually do, I changed the strings to 10s and adjusted the pickups. Wow, and it came to life. It has that classic Strat sound. Pickups are kinda hot but not ice-picky. I love how the neck feels, probably will sand a little bit of the clear finish (personal preference). I had a 2012 MIM Strat and this is just as good if not better than that. I love the vintage look and sound. I thought they had it perfect with the first generation Classic Vibes but they made it a lot better.

Get one. You won't regret it!

This guitar is a steal. Sounds fantastic, plays fantastic.
If by chance you get one that needs anything or falls short in any way, Sweetwater will take care of you.

I have some really nice guitars but I've always liked the fiesta red/vintage amber neck look so I had to have this. It's beautiful, the fit and finish is excellent, the neck is nicely tinted with vintage amber lacquer just like the real thing. Frets are level, polished and no sprouts. So you've got a good base to work from. I just had to lower the action on the saddles, file the nut slots a bit and replace the trem springs with some that aren't as stiff. Adjusted the trem screws too. Then I adjusted the claw to get the trem to "float" properly and stay in tune with tasteful use of the tremolo. (I wasn't looking for EVH divebombs. Just tremolo.) And you can do it with the stock bridge, it just takes some patience. Stock *everything* is fine with adjustments. Yes, you could put some Texas Specials on it but but it looks, plays, and sounds great as-is. I picked it up and played Eric Clapton's theme licks from the Lethal Weapon movie. Then Free Ride by Edgar Winter (Rick Derringer). It was dead on. That's the sound I was looking for. So if you get the itch for a classic looking strat in your lineup but not so much to spend a lot of money, here ya go. I'd suggest getting Sweetwater's setup if you don't have strat tinkering skills though. As usual it arrived well packed, not a scratch, in perfect condition.

Sharp, unfinished fret ends on the one I received. Sloppy tuners. Pickups and electronics are very lacking. I have noticed some Classic Vibe guitars punch above their price point, often being nicer than a Player series, while others feel like a $ instrument. I bought with the intention of upgrading the pickups and electronics, but the rest of the guitar didn't feel good enough to justify it. I decided to return.
At this price point, my Epiphone Les Paul Special feels better in every way and you can approximate the Strat neck and middle pickup tone by dialing back the volume.