Excellent guitar! It's my first Stratocaster and I'm very pleased. Great sound and excellent build quality.
Sales engineer Daniel Sierra has always assisted me with my purchases, providing excellent service thanks to his expertise.
I feel confident making purchases with the Sweet Water family and Daniel Sierra. I'm 100% satisfied with my guitar.

Three Out Of Five

2.5/5……….

This has become my favorite guitar and at this price it's the best bang for the buck Stratocaster on the market.

Sweetwaters shipping was timely and efficient as usual, and the guitar was perfect right out of the box. My sales engineer Alex Campos was on top of the entire transaction, including with his followup. Overall a great buying experience.

I ordered this guitar as a comparison point for other guitars that I modify over time. I bought it because the reviews all rated this well and ithe quality challenges guitars at much higher price points. There are many things I like about it. The pickups sounds really good. It has all the alnico tones you'd expect in a Strat. The 3 color burst was done really well. The neck feels really nice even with having a high gloss coating. This is my first guitar with vintage tuning machines and I'm surprised at how much I like them. The electronics are good and the 5-way switch used appears to be good quality. There is only one issue that I have with it. I think the nut needs to either be adjusted or replaced. There is a slight rattle in the guitar that I can't get rid of. I went over the guitar and tightened everything around the bridge and trem system. I adjusted the saddle height. The action is still reasonably low and nice to play. However, when I play it, there is a slight audible rattle that can be heard through the amp. When I hear the rattle, I found that if I place my finger over the nut, it goes away. As such, I'll take it to a local luthier to have that checked or changed. Otherwise, I'm looking forward to playing this a lot.

What a great sounding guitar! I have a Fender player strat that does not come close to this guitar.The tone of the 60's vibe Squire is much richer and warm. Over all the guitar is great! Sweetwater did a wonderful job of setting up this guitar. Probably the best money I have ever spent!

Had this come in a few weeks ago after ordering it back in February, and it was worth the wait, not only is a good looking guitar, but it also plays very nice, and just know that it being between the two speakers is only because I had to empty the room screw the subfloor down due to the squeaking getting bad, the stereo is now back in place...

I bought this on sale at about 25% off and at that price, it's okay. It's got the classic Strat look and feel, a nice neck and the 5-way switch gives you 5 different Strat tones. The tone controls allow even more variations. Mine is somewhat difficult to tune and doesn't stay in tune well. I'm not sure if it's the nut slots or the tuners, which make fine adjustments difficult. The neck relief and action are both a tad high and the intonation is off on a couple strings. The cost of a professional setup will eat up much of the savings from buying on sale. I wanted a cheap Strat and that's what I got. It's good enough for what I need but I'm a little disappointed overall, especially considering all the rave reviews about this model.

This axe is amazing. Perfectly setup, plays fast, action is amazing and the sound is on point.

If you want the most amazing customer experience as for Aric. He is masterful. He listen and worked with this old timer every step of the way. He even helped me with selecting my preference of the weight of the guitar. He is the best, don't look any further, Aric is our man for superior customer service, PERIOD!!!


If you want to learn about mics and receive the ultimate in customer service just ask for Aric Ficek

Sweetwater Sound

Sales Engineer

He is the only person we use, he is the best, PIRIOD!!!

Prompt shipping and an excellent guitar.

I can believe you can get a guitar of this quality for such a good deal. The look and sound of the guitar was perfect right off the box. Anyone looking for affordable options this is it. Just change strings from 9's to 10's and she is all ready to go. Buy it and don't sell it this is a keeper.

Love this guitar when I first got it, love it more now after some upgrades. I never leave my guitars alone, always got to mess with them. First I switched the tuners to Fender locking tuners, then changed the bridge to a Gotoh bridge, next were the pickups dropping in Fender Yosemite, and last but not least swapped out the electronics for a prewired Obsidian harness with a blender pot. Real happy with the 60's look and sound of this guitar.

This is my second CV Strat - My first was purchased in 2016 and they have changed a bit.
The Good:
First - the tuning keys are better and more "tunable" on the 2021 CV. They hold tune through heavy bending. I don't use the bar much so I cannot say that it will hold tune in a massive dive bomb..
Second - Same dime-sized pots in both but the new 2021 CV has a 'real' 5-way switch. Looks like the same that is used in the Player series.
Third - Fretboard - Better in the 2021 than the 2016. Edges are not as sharp as the earlier CV but still not a 'rolled' fretboard. On-par with the Player (if not more comfortable).
Fourth - Frets - No sharp edges, no raised frets, everything level. Best frets played on a guitar at this price point.
Fifth - nearly ready to play out of the box.
The Bad:
Trem block still cheap, tiny crud. I had to get a skinny wire to push the strings out as the ball ends of the strings were stuck in the holes of the block - they were the same size... Very bad. I had a GFS steel block on hand - replaced it - love it. Noticeable improvement on sustain.
The control cavity was not shielded at all (the 2016 I have was). The guitar was a buzz-box when I first plugged it in. I shielded the cavity and pickup routes - whisper silent after that (even before the pickup swap).
The nut was a little tight on the strings. I have a set of nut files (Music Nomad) and was able to fix that quickly. Keeping the nut as it is now perfect.
Frets in dire need of polishing. Easy and worth the hour to do that.
Neck almost perfect, minor adjustment and all was great.
The Ugly: FedEx shipping - took over two weeks to get this delivered and they lost it once...recurring issue with this shipper.
Mods done - Replaced the original pickups with Fender 57/62 set - Best move I could have made. Also upgraded electronics to full-sized pots, new Fender pickup selector, cloth wiring, Switchcraft jack.
Replaced original trem block with GFS steel block.
Full fret polish.
Full setup/intonation/neck adjustment
Bottom Line - probably the best bang for the buck guitar on the market. With a good setup, fret polish, great to play. Add the new pickups and this is easily on-par with my other two Fender branded strats. I would not hesitate to say - this is a GREAT strat for anyone - first guitar, amateur, semi-pro...

Fit and finish -flawless. Guitar looks great. I bought the lightest I could find; under 7lbs. It is so nice not to carry a log around. I had a Les Paul. Ugh!
I was having some episodic fret buzzing issues coming from the low e string, changed to a set of 10's. Gone.
I changed out the original white Pickguard to black. Looks better to my eye. Interesting ,the supposedly original Fender guard I replaced it with doesn't have a drilled hole in one of the screw positions. So, ...couple of things could be happening here. But not a playable issue.
The width at the nut is narrower than other guitars I own but its only made me more conscious of finger position and I personally like that. I really bought this as a practice guitar. The neck is glossed and very thin but super comfortable just the same. There is so much talk out there about fat/chunky/slim/tapered etc...this would be a great guitar for a young person with growing hands but any normal size adult hands could play this no problem. Oh, glossy necks (this guitar) vs. satin. Sure, they both work.
Tone: I play 95% of the time unplugged. But, I'm not in a band and just play for myself, learning and practicing. Tone I think is very good. Not as robust as my Les Paul but it has a lovely sound especially with the 10's. I doesn't give the blues when I'm playing the blues.
My only criticism would be the tuners and its not harsh. I work a little harder to dial in the tuning. Unlike some of my higher end guitars.
Personally, I think this guitar is worth every penny for what you get for the asking price.

I can't believe how good this guitar is for the price, after I set it up it played amazing! I had an extra EMG DG-20 set that I put in it, with a mint green pickguard and it sounds killer. I also own a 2001 Malmsteen strat and an Eric Johnson "Virginia" strat, both of which are amazing in their own right, but this little classic vibe actually holds it's own. I really enjoy playing it! As you can see in the picture, without touching the guitar, its hard to tell the difference between the poly and nitro finish, I thought it would be obvious cause there's a huge difference visually between Epiphone and Gibson finishes, but it practically looks the same (feels different though), the poly neck is actually easier to play as the nitro necks can be sticky. If you're looking for a cheap strat, this guitar can't be beat.

I recently purchased the left handed version of this guitar. After playing right handed for a number of years I decided to switch to my natural hand (at age 43). I'm technically a lefty beginner, but have played other higher priced guitars right handed and this one doesn't disappoint... and it looks great!