Squier Classic Vibe '50s Stratocaster - White Blonde Reviews

Needs a little setup out of the box but once it is dialed in , in stock form, it stands up against the MIA fenders. The all Maple neck is a dream, I for one will always be seeking out solid maple necks from now on. The pups in the 50s CV are really good too. My vintage 2 has been in the case since I got this squire.
I bought the demo bstock because my intentions were to mod it into a Mary Kaye , upgraded pups and electronics, but I can't put it down long enough to take it apart.

I bought mine back in November of 2023 . I had just returned to playing after a year hiatus due to medical reasons. Seeing that these are all mass produced, There is no way IMO, that you'll get one that is perfect. When mine came in, I had to do a full setup on it in order for it to be comfortable for me to play. I have 52 years playing experience and once these are setup properly, I feel this guitar can hang with Fencer's MIM product. The finish on it is astonishing, and the stock , vintage, style tuners, keep it in tune. And seeing that the body is pine and not alder, I can get some serious sustain with it . And yes, for a Strat, it is a bit heavy, but IMO, it's all good. I plan on keeping this one for a long, time.

I got mine back in November and when it came in, it was in need of a setup, which I was able to do. I have been playing Strats since around 1999 and this one , once it's setup properly, can hang with the big boys. The stock vintage style tuners keep it in tune and since the body is Pine, it can be a bit heavy but IMO, that's what adds to the great tone and sustain I get from it. I'm playing it though a Fender Mustang LT 25 which I recently bought and the combination sounds great. This will probably be the last guitar I'll ever need and it's a keeper.

Super nice Squier Stratocaster. Shipped superfast, packed well, always great service. I highly recommend Sweetwater.

Guitar shipped on time and perfect .The setup was very good and just needed a slight tune.Justin Sunday was very good as usual.Very nice guitar.Kirk Langston,In Texas.

This has gotta be one of the best revivals Fender has ever had the new 7lbs 4oz white blonde Stratocaster I just got plays and sounds like a real 50's era Strat but at a fraction of the cost... a true homerun for fender and all of us

I purchased the Squier 50's Classic Vibe in blonde looking for a good base model to mod. What a pleasant surprise, it's great right out of the box! It has good weight, the frets are in good shape, pickups are typical Fender, and tuners are decent. Sweetwater must have set this guitar up because the intonation and action was perfect. By far the best guitar for this price point! Bravo Squier, and Sweetwater!

Like the title says, this pickguard must go away. The color is bad enough, but single ply too? It really washes the guitar out visually. Not enough contrast to compliment the beautiful finish color. So, ASAP, I will be swapping the knobs/pickup covers/switch tip, to aged cream color. The guard, why tortoise of course. BROWN tortoise, none of that ugly red/yellow stuff. But anyway... As you can see that is literally the only thing I have to complain about on the guitar. Fretwork is good, vintage maple finish is AMAZING. Fretwork is fine, no picket fence feeling, and no tall/low fret height. The pickups and electronics are VERY nice!! Of course the pickups were too hot out of the box, a "50's" should have had lower output IMHO. I dropped them until the covers are about 1/16" above the pickguard, and it's perfect now. Thick warm big strings, and sweet chimey bell tones on the little ones. Body finish is awesome!! Very slick and glossy. with just enough grain showing through to keep it interesting. There's a slight pink cast, but that's fine with me. A tortoise guard will bring it out, and provide the needed contrast to give some class. Bottom line line you could do a LOT worse buying a Stratocaster, and I literally have to look at the headstock to remind myself it's not a Player series MIM. Yes, they're that good. Indonesian Squiers always have been.

You'll have to set this up to your liking between neck adjustments to action to tremolo bridge flutter, but once you do, this beauty can sing with the grace of any Fender Strat from any lineage of strat lines. At this price, its a heck of a bargain and one of the best Strats you can buy. Excellent tones, excellent playability, ultra comfortable neck and a darn fine looker too ;)

im in love with this guitar even tho its not a human being it has been the thing that has made me forget about all my problems and just play peacefully. Its tone and everything is extraordinary i would recommend 100%

I extremely impressed by this guitar. It came practically set up from the factory. I only had to intimate 2 strings and the action was playable. The frets are polished and well rounded on the sides, which no sharp edges.
This guitars color is amazing. I was really hoping it would be more "pinkish" (for a lack of a better word) and it definitely is. The fretboard has a heavy polish as well. I'd buy a squier again

My 20th (yes, 20th) guitar. I own all sorts of pro level fenders (just bought a mod shop tele that I love), yet I keep coming back to this guitar--it just feels right and I feel connected to it.

If I examine any single part of the instrument, I say meh, but when I look at the whole thing it just feels and sounds great.

Could I upgrade the tuners? Sure but part of the appeal is the 50's vibe. Same with any other part on it-- DON'T UPGRADE anything--get into the vibe!

When I am doing serious practicing I don't use this instrument--but when I have had a few beers and a poke or two, this instrument joins me and compliments my ride!

Going to get a second one!

Let me start with saying I am a VERY NEW newbie. I have been around music and guitar players for most of my life. I also research and am a techie. That being said, I got this as a good starter guitar for my wife and I. She picked up the acoustic relatively quick so I bought her a Taylor GS Mini after 2 weeks. She loves the Tele sound of the Professional 2 but did not want to spend that type of money until she can start playing songs. The neck on this thing is very thin, but as many said, useable. The guitar is nicer looking in person and Sweetwater polished it up nicely. Came well packaged. I loved that I could pick the exact one out of 4 of these babies. The Sweetwater team is amazing. My salesman was already off shift so Taylor helped me answer all my questions before I pulled the trigger. There are lots of good guitars for 2020 and lots of options. Sweetwater makes it easy to want to buy from them. They packed and got the relatively cheap 2 day shipping and got it out the door EXTREMELY fast so I got the guitar less than 48 hours later so that we can play that weekend. NICE JOB

I just received my Squier CV Strat in White Blonde and want to share my thoughts. First of all, and again, Sweetwater had this guitar in my hands within three business from the order date and packed like it was a national treasure. It is hanging in my studio and going to acclimate for a day or two before any serious setup, but all seems as it should be on my initial run through. Therefore, My comments are going to be based more on first impression and visual inspection. I bought this as a demo and was informed it had minor scratches and blemishes. Well, I really cannot find any significant marks on it. Maybe with a 500 watt light and a 20x magnifying glass, but wow, just beautiful condition. This is my first CV Squier, I have had several Affinitys including a recently purchased butterscotch tele ( my review is in here on that one as well ) I modded that tele with a CV vintage tint neck and vintage tuners. I was so impressed by it, I decided on the CV Strat on that neck alone. But wait the best is yet to come. You cannot believe the difference in the White Blonde finish in person vs the photos on line. It looks like a cross between travertine marble and an abalone shell. It has subtle porcelain tones with warm and cool streaks running through it. I am also a professional painter, particularly portraits, and it reminds me of a lot those hues and values, maybe not everyone's taste, but wonderfully Unique.

My first ever Stratocaster, I put a different color pickguard on is all , it plays great , pickups sound amazing clean , neck is wonderful , tuners top notch . No complaints from Me up in Butte MT. Packed very well .

I'm a hobby player with GAS and this maybe guitar nineteen or twenty in seven years. I've owned Epiphone Les Paul series. Squire Tele's and Strats. An American Standard at one time and and all I can say is this is the best guitar hands down of all the lot I have been privileged to own. Out of the box it was a beautiful work of art perfectly tuned and intonated. The finish is hard to explain because you can actually see the wood grain through it. It's not that heavily finished. The neck is beautiful. I'm a fan of unfinished but I'm not complaining at all. Pots are clean and smooth. You can hear tone in the adjustment. After some cautious environmental exposures to temp flux since I live a state that can and does have four seasons in one day. It remains in tune! Key feature right there! One of the points that interested me was the idea that for this release of a fifties Strat was the back to pine body. I love it, some will hate it but there will always be snobs and haters. Mine came in at a nice seven pounds on the button. Fret work is some of the best I've seen on Squires to date. All I can say is if your a fan of Squires and Strats, get one of these as soon as you can. You won't be disappointed.

Awesome thanks to Dave Snow and Sweet Water I ordered and received while in virus shutdown. Highly recommend Sweetwater.

Its hard for me to put into words but I'll try. It's a beautiful really beautiful guitar (white blonde). First time I opened the box it felt like an old friend and played like I'd been playing it for years, bonding thing? Strange because I've never owned a stratocaster or single coil pickups. The reason I decided to purchase this guitar is I wanted something different and want to learn new styles of music. I was surprised new style of guitar but feels and plays like an old friend. It was the features to price that got me. Bone nut, 50`s classic vintage hardware, Alnico pickups, 5-way switch, Pine body and neck is smooth as butter, no fret problems (sprout, high/low) beautiful. Why Sweetwater, payment plan and 55 point inspection, the guitar I received was nicely setup. So if you're wanting to change musical styles or want a different style of guitar (like me) then this maybe the prefect choice was for me.

Even more beautiful in person. The white blonde and maple neck are gorgeous. Plays and sounds great too! The value is really good for this price. I had one small issue with the string tree on the headstock. Too much pressure holding down the high E and B strings which made them not react well to the tuning keys. Easy fix though I ordered a modern Fender string tree (photo), and it tunes really well now. It only affected 2 strings and was an easy install. The whammy bar pulls the strings way out of tune, but that is true to the time period and I don't use it much anyway. May address that with a modification down the road because this one is worth it.

Bone nut, Walnut truss rod plug, Vintage string retainer, added tone control on the bridge pickup, upgraded oak grigsby switch, Alpha pots, nickel plated hardware, stunningly perfect fret work. Not a thing i'd change on it other than a set of vintage style gotoh locking tuners simply for the faster string changes. I end up playing this more than my USA strat.

great guitar for a blueish sound . not a fan on the glossy neck.

This guitar is stunning! I know it's not described as pink but in certain lighting it just is. I love that I was able to choose the exact model I wanted because the wood grain on each so widely varies.

The guitar came pretty well set up but I did have to raise the B and E strings slightly due to fret buzz. I decided a few weeks later to throw some 10's on it but the nut slots were too narrow so they had to be filed a bit. Then, my amp jack became totally loose which I've heard is common among these guitars. No problem.

Overall, for the money, a great guitar. It's beautiful and it sounds just as beautiful as it looks. It needed some tweaking but nothing major. And at this price point, I'm ok with that. Definitely don't hesitate to get one. Totally worth it!

Thank you again, Drew, of Sweetwater!

This guitar is very well-built I love the choice of five sounds, the neck is supreme, tuners are great, I got the white blonde one and put an orange psychedelic pick guard on mine ,still getting used to the volume knob being so close but I love this guitar well worth the money

I am a complete newb but a complete techie. This guitar looks awesome. The pine wood pokes out of the stain and shows off it's pink hues. Almost like a raw chicken leg color. It is very nice. Pictures don't do it justice. I love that the body is the same size as the American and Mexican guitars. I wish that the neck was also. To me that is the ONLY real down side for this budget friendly guitar. Squire knocked the rest out of the park. Plays well with the Fender Mustang GTX100. The guitar sounds great but is harder to play with the low E being so much lower than the rest of the strings. I was strumming and missing the low E every time and had to look at it to figure out. The setup would have been PERFECT had the rest of the strings been setup like the high E. The low E is the only string that is kind of close. The rest are WAY too high. I don't know how this passed the 55 point inspection. My sales rep was amazing as expected by the Sweetwater reputation I read and heard before buying my first guitar. Experience of choosing from all the pictures and customer service brought me back to order my wife's first electric guitar from Sweetwater and it is an event nicer guitar. It just came in today but can't unbox till tomorrow for best care of the instrument.

I have been playing, fixing, and building guitars for close to 15 years. I'm not a gear snob - I don't care about brand names or fancy accoutrements - but I am definitely picky when it comes to certain things like resonance, fretwork, playability etc. Since I know the ins and outs of guitar construction, I have relatively high standards, but those expectations are not necessarily reflected by a guitar's price tag. There have been plenty of "high-end" guitars that I've found incredibly disappointing or borderline insulting - from quality control issues to just feeling and sounding lifeless. Furthermore, the prospect of gutting electronics, fixing frets etc doesn't scare me off a guitar that I feel has potential, especially if the price is right. I bought this guitar to be a mod project, which is still going to happen, but I'm honestly blown away with the overall quality, playability, and tonality straight of the box.

I almost feel bad not keeping it stock and I cannot believe that you can buy a guitar of this caliber for so little bones.

Pros:
- Incredibly light, playable, and resonant
- Attention to detail on the neck is extremely impressive. Frets are perfect and the nut is relatively superb.
- Very comfortable to play and the finish is beautiful
- Sounds and plays like a guitar priced way above this.
- Very impressed and will definitely be buying more in the future, if need be, to keep stock or for modding. Amazing quality and the price is nuts.

Cons:
- Really no major cons, especially considering the price...here are some minor things:
- One screw on the back trem cover is completely misaligned with the other side (I take it off anyway but figured I'd mention)
- Because it's a transparent finish and these are budget-level guitars, some grain patterns may be really ugly. Mine is quite moderate.
- Pickguard isn't completely finished in some spots. It isn't rough to the touch, but it looks like it was routed and then not smoothed down fully in spots. No biggie to me.

Finish: very, very nice. The pine body I received has a modest grain poking through the transparent blonde finish. Very nice color overall, more opaque than say a Mary Kaye strat, but I actually prefer this finish. In direct light, you can see the grain and it's more transparent but more dimly lit settings, it looks like an aged, white strat.

Neck: This might be the most impressive part. The frets are perfect...and I mean perfect. I really do not understand how a budget-level, import guitar got the frets so right. Absolutely no buzzing at all nor any sharp ends. The nut is also very well done - again I'm floored. The finish on the neck is glossy, but it honestly feels a bit more like a satin finish - no stickiness. The neck has a really comfortable shape and is substantial enough for chords while still allowing for quick lead work. I'm a big fan. The tuners actually hold tune very well, too.

Electronics: These pickups are also surprisingly good. I'm not a big fan of strat pickups, so I will be changing these, but they honestly hold their own. They don't sound wimpy/tinny/thin like most cheap pickups. Classic strat sound, surprisingly warm and organic. These are a great value.
I haven't looked under the hood, I'll be gutting the electronics, but I imagine pretty typical pots etc. No scratchiness or anything bad.

Playability/Tonality: very resonant and light, yet also feels sturdy and well-built. Sounds great clean, classic strat, but also handles OD well. Low-end got pretty muddy with my rat pedal but that's to be expected from a strat with "cheap" pickups.

Overall, this new Squier CV has really surprised me and I cannot believe how much guitar you get for the price. Honestly, even if I kept this completely stock, it would still be a great guitar. However, with a few relatively inexpensive mods, you can have yourself a guitar that looks, feels, and sounds easily like many of its U.S. made brethren. This is the gold standard of "budget" guitars. A+, Squire knocked this one out of the park.

Well built guitar with decent pickups. I did have to file some of the fret sprout the guitar came with but other than that the guitar came set up well and ready to play. For the price you can't go wrong. Special thanks to my sales rep Tiberius. This is a great strat at a fraction of the cost. No mods necessary unless that's your thing.

Despite some drawbacks I love this guitar. We all know going in that it is a Squier so it may need some love and care out of the box. I bought this to slowly hot rod over time. The beauty of the strat style guitar is that basically everything can be fixed or replaced. If you are a student buying this and have no plans to hot rod please understand there is ONE must and ONE optional change you have to make with these guitars. The first is a must and that is the nut. You don't have to replace it but these things bind like crazy so some work will be required. I would suggest using the string gauges it came with until you get a new nut or a tech to widen the slots. The second would be the tuners. After replacing those two things you will have a great guitar on your hands. Of course you can go crazy with upgrades like I plan on doing.

ISSUES: I watched a video saying Sweetwaters 55 insection involves making sure the action is decent. This thing was set up SUPER high. I have never seen strings set that high from the factory. Easy fix for me but for a student this could be discouraging. There is a paint defect at the neck joint. Very common for these cheaper strats. The one thing that bummed me was when I took the back cover off and saw one of the screws for the back plate had chipped the paint. It is hidden but still kinda bummed. All in all these little things don't effect play and most of us older players know this is a risk you take with guitars.

All in all this guitar is great.

The guitar I chose was stunning and looked, felt, and played wonderful. The white blonde finish has a great not-pink-but-not-white tone in person and I think this really just looks like an elegant, high-end guitar. The only issue it had, which I discovered while changing strings and setting up the trem to float, was a few of the saddle screws were stripped out. Ridiculous and yet wonderful as it seems, Sweetwater offered to swap out the guitar or use a new guitar to swap out the parts I needed to make it right, since Squier spec saddle screws aren't sold individually as consumable parts.

This is where I had an interesting experience; I figured I'd take the new guitar fully as a swap, but I hated it. It didn't feel the same, the tuner knobs were different and sharper, something about the neck didn't feel right, and the pickups sounded quite a bit muddier - maybe something off in the pots? Either way I was more than happy to swap out just the saddle screws I needed and send the new guitar back.

Point of my story: if you get a good one, it's a gem and a wonderful guitar. Just make sure you get a good one and check everything you might eventually adjust up front so you're not disappointed later.

Great guitar, beautiful finish on the maple neck and the natural grain of the wood on the body peeks through the finish for an beautiful soft-cream color. Neck is smooth and incredibly playable, frets are nice and fast. For the price, you cannot beat this for an entry-level strat or as an addition to your collection. The only negatives I can think of is tremolo arm will knock you out of tune very slightly but that's to be expected with the era this guitar is replicating. I suggest checking your intonation and keeping that in check, as with any guitar, but otherwise a fantastic guitar and fantastic customer service as always from Sweetwater

I bought this guitar because I'm truly enamored with the sound of vintage style pickups. Also, the styling was, to me, just fantastic and a real throwback to 50s design.

I own two other Fenders, including a Player Telecaster and an American Professional II Stratocaster. Needless to say, I'm not disappointed in any of them. Really including this one in that mix. It's a really decent guitar offered at a great price.

However, I do have two reasonably big caveats. For one, the tuners. I know that I can only expect so much. But these tuners, while their style and ease of use is just awesome, they seem to be a bit eccentric in the tuning department. Specifically, the ones for my A and B strings. it seems like the adjustment required for proper tuning from them takes a lot more turning than the others. While not jerky or erratic, they don't seem to be making contact with the gear that turns the machine heads very well. They tune, but it just takes a lot more time to calibrate the proper tuning. By the way, the nut is in fine shape with no issues in the pilot grooves.

Second, the bridge is a bit of a mess. While trying to adjust the intonation on the low E and G strings in particular, it looks like the saddles are pulled back as far as I can get them. It took the better part of half an hour to adjust the intonation. That coupled with the less-than-stellar tuning machines made it especially difficult to make all the proper adjustments. Needless to say, faultless intonation at this stage is almost impossible.

I've resolved to change the tuners out for a proper set of Fender branded tuners and to replace the bridge and tremolo block with the Fender American version. It's going to be roughly about $150 of new hardware. However, I believe this guitar is worthy of such an expense. The neck, body, pickups and electronics are very well done. I have no complaints at all about those.

I highly recommend this guitar if you like vintage sounding tones and if you're willing to put in the time, money and work into replacing the tuners and the bridge assembly. I'm sure it will be a relatively simple operation.

I was super excited to start playing this guitar since the neck feels fantastic and the weight is just about perfect. But it seems that the one I was sent isn't quite up to par. Since it left the box, the intonation was weird on a few strings, with weird bell-like resonance on the higher frets and the two middle strings. I sent it back to get looked at by the guitar workshop, and they 'fixed it' and sent it back. It still had intonation issues.
After paying to get it looked at by a local luthier, it's better but still has issues. It looks like the neck may just be warped, and since getting two repairs took so long I was told I was outside the 90 day window for possible returns. So it's been mostly sitting around not getting used while my budget Yamaha from pre-2010 is still a strong workhorse.

It's very disappointing that something like this got past the comprehensive check each guitar is supposed to have before getting shipped out. If I look down the length of the neck there is a slight but visible twist to it. I'm out a decent amount of cash for the independent service and am still no closer to having a fully playable guitar.