Squier Classic Vibe '60s Stratocaster - Lake Placid Blue Reviews

Hands down worth every penny! it came set up nicely no cons all i did was set the action and pickup's where i like them.

I'm a beginner guitarist and this is the first and only electric guitar I have really played. I started learning on an acoustic and wouldn't end up playing that very often. I decided to get this Squier CV and I absolutely love it. The more I pick this up the more I want to play. The lake placid blue is a gorgeous color and it looks much better in person. The mahogany-ish finish of the neck also makes it look fantastic. I love everything about this guitar!

Great guitar that I've always found very comfortable and fun to play. Expecting to hold onto my 60's CV for life, I just love this guitar. It really has some great in-between positions especially on this one's model. I've also never had any issues with the tuners and my strat has stayed in tune for a long time. My one complaint might be the trem arm but with the amount of great stuff that comes with the CV for the price, I can't even really complain.

Killer guitar!

I'm a Les Paul guy but when i realized I need something that i can used versatility wise, this guitar didn't let me down. It's the very first strat that i fell in loved with! It came really nice with major setup. Sweetwater did it really great with the setup. Sweetwater did really great setting it up and the package was very secured! I decided to make this as my main guitar when i play in the church. So far I've only used it once but the sound is very good that i can't even put it down. So kudos to squier and Sweetwater for making another costumer very happy! I would recommend this guitar and sweetwater to everyone who's looking for a mid range or even higher caliber guitar!

I had this on my wish list for X-Mas as I have never owned a Strat and thought this would give me a good feel for one without going "all-in" for something I may not like. Wow is all I can say. All the hype about the classic vibe line is the real deal. Great tone, action, playability etc. I wish we had these options for guitars when I was a teenager.... You wont be disappointed

I've been a Les Paul guy for about 8 years now. However, I have played some strats and enjoyed them and finally decided to commit to one. I must say that this guitar surpassed my expectations. This baby is a true strat regardless of the name on the headstock. It has all of the versatility and sounds amazing in all five pickup configurations. On top of the great sound and feel, the placid blue color is absolutely beautiful in person. The product pictures don't do it justice (which says a lot since they are still great).

Was hesitant buying this gear, to solve that, I research about squire(the company itself). Who are they and how they came to be this brand. Long story short, this company is making good products and if your looking for your first strat this will not disappoint at all, buy this coz the classic vibe series are awesome, and they are made in Indonesia). Love the PU, the finish and the color, wow! Do not look at the headstock coz it does not matter (it is you who makes the guitar sound awesome, and the effects you use, NOT THE HEADSTOCK), feel the guitar at your local store and you will be surprise how well this is built (honestly, you will not need a MiM or American made coz this is enough). Kudos to David Winkert for always answering my queries, appreciate your patience man!

I love my new guitar. It came in tune and ready to be played. It was perfect for me a beginner who doesn't know what to expect from an electric guitar. I have been practicing pretty much every day.
And the color Lake placid blue is a lot more stunning in person.

Last week i got my new Classic vibe 60's Strat in lake placid blue.. All i can say is AWESOME ;).
Was amazed at the quality for the money and it sounds and played great. The only issue i had was
a defective tremelo arm, i contacted Sweetwater my rep Noah helped me get things sorted. Have
to mention the wonderful customer service at Sweetwater. They emailed me when the guitar i wanted
was in stock again i was able get to sign up for their credit card ...zero interest for 6 months
and make my purchase in less than 10 minutes?

My guitar arrived with the 55 point checklist marked off (thanks Sweetwater), and it was in perfect condition with little setup needed on my part other than lowering the action on the B and E strings to my playing. The first thing I noticed right out of the box was just how comfortable the neck was compared to my MIM Fender strat. My hand felt right at home as soon as I checked tuning and started to play. The stock pickups are nice with the warm neck pickup and punchy bridge you would come to expect from a Stratocaster. The lake placid blue finish is just what I wanted to go along with another axe in the arsenal. I think this guitar is a steal for the price. As always, Sweetwater service is the icing on the cake putting it over the top!

I have 4 American Standards and the last thing I needed was another Strat. But a lightweight Pelham Blue Strat with a thin neck and tons of sustain was too good to pass up. Other than an action adjustment, the guitar was great out of the box. The fret ends were pretty good and they are vintage sized "tall thin" (actually thin but not tall.) Point is, they are so small, the ends don't need to be perfect.

Guitar sounds very Stratty with lots of cluck/quack. What you buy a Strat for. If you're experienced with Strats, you might find these guitars sound slightly thin, but the sound is more than useable without making any alterations. Even the tuners seem ok, and they're the nice slot-head ones. Even the electronics seem fine. BTW, the weights of these are all over the place--under 7 to over 8--so if you buy from Sweetwater it's almost like having a custom option.

Cons? Like most Squires and even most MIJ Fenders, the nut is slightly narrower than American. Not a dealbreaker for me, and might be a plus for beginners. The back of the neck has a gloss finish which is fine IMO, but now that we've gotten used to satin finsihes, it might take some getting used to. Paint was perfect; nut had traces of glue, but come on, for this price it's just a ridiculously good guitar.

I have to say that in my 20 years of playing guitar, I never dreamed you could get this much guitar for $... I went into a local guitar store to try the new Fender Vintera 60s model and the Squier Classic Vibe 60s Stratocaster matched it as far as what I look for in a guitar. If you like to use the tremolo which I don't the Vintera outshined it (you can always buy a brass trem block to upgrade both guitars). On all other points the Classic Vibe Strat matched or surpassed the more expensive Fender Vintera Stratocaster. The pickups are amazing in this guitar. I have a set of Fender Custom Shop 69 pickups I thought putting in this guitar, but actually prefer the stock Classic Vibe pickups. Overall this guitar is amazing both as a workhorse guitar and cosmetically. I've owned everything from 3K Gibson, Fender, and PRS guitars to the cheapest off brands over the years. This Classic Vibe Stratocaster is one favorite guitars to play in several years.

This thing punches WAY above it's price. I've played most of the models in the previous classic vibe series and they were very good guitars for the money, but this refresh of the series seems to have improved the playability of them substantially. If you are debating between this and the Mexican player series strat, I strongly suggest you go for the Squier. I've done direct A/B's, and the CV neck feels more substantial and refined, and the pickups sound fuller and just more... stratty.. for lack of a better word.

Some highlights:

-Came setup perfectly... .08 relief with a 1/16 string height at the 12th fret.
-The Fretwork is impeccable. Better than some American Fenders I've played, no joke. The narrow tall frets make bending a breeze w/ no sharp fret ends.
-THE NECK. This is the real showstopper. It's profile is somewhere between a modern C and medium C. It's got more shoulder on it than a modern C. I have large hands, and it feels very comfortable with no cramping. So larger handed players fear not!
-The pickups. I'd call them vintage 60's strat voiced and just verrry slightly overwound. Enough to give them a little more fullness in the low end but that's it. No Texas special style harshness in these guys. Also impressively large dynamic range.

Tbh I don't think I've ever played a better strat for under 1000. Believe the hype. If you can live with not having the Fender name on the headstock, you just can't have more fun...

I really love everything about this guitar, except for the tuners. It's not that they won't hold tune, but they are hard to turn and easy to overturn, and you end up chasing the note up and down. Everything else virtually feels and plays like a Fender and you can definitely dial in some vintage tones with the 5 position switch and tone knobs. Squire does a good job of replicating the super slim 60s neck, making this ax very playable for long sessions. Service and delivery were completely top notch. Got a phone call from service department and they set up according to my exact specifications. Placed the order on Wednesday and got a Saturday delivery with a full set-up, FedEx. Thank you, Sweetwater, for always paying attention to detail!

The neck on this axe is perfection. Nice and thick and fits my hand perfectly. I bought a demo and it was basically flawless. I wouldn't have noticed the tiny imperfections without Sweetwater pointing them out. I doubt anyone else will ever notice them either. I will say out of the box it wasn't great. The frets were gritty, the nut needed sanding and the truss rod was off. Luckily I've learned to set-up guitars and after a couple hours work this is the best strat I've owned. Better than my MIM and player plus strats. Also the blue is gorgeous and gets compliments constantly. Lastly customer service was top notch. Highly recommend this axe!

As the title says, for the price I bought it at for $, it is a near perfect guitar with only such minor flaws.

TLDR of this review. 100% recommend this guitar to anyone as it is near perfect with its quality of the neck, frets, tuners and their stability, body, paint and finish, and pickups. Only issues are the nut is a bit sharp on the side of the high E string and the fretboard is dry, which these issues can be solved on your own.

First off, the overall quality of the guitar is amazing. Without any personal setup, just playing right out of the box was ready to play and was smooth. The guitar really didn't need a setup from me as it plays great, but you can definitely lower the action just a slight bit. The guitar held its tune really well, and I didn't have to tune it every single time I picked it up. Although I didn't use the tremolo system as I don't really use them all that much, I can't say for the tuning stability after using the trem. The paint and finish is great and there was no flaws in them.

As for specifics, the neck felt amazing and truly quality. I was hesitant at first due to the gloss neck as they can get sticky, but the neck never felt that way from my playing. It felt smooth and fast. The C shape neck is extremely comfortable and great for chords, rock and metal riffing, as well as lead playing.
The frets on the guitar are well done for this price range. There is little to none fret buzz, and if there is, it is so minor that it won't negatively affect your playing or your sound. I'm sure a setup will alleviate the already little fret issues.
The pickups on this Strat are great representation of that Strat sound. They sound amazing for cleans, overdrive, crunch to some moderate distortion. Pushing the distortion will keep its clarity, but will get muddy sounding, as well as the immense buzzing. If you want that Strat sound for whatever genre, you will get it from this guitar.
The pots and knobs feel solid and feel good. Nothing crazy or nothing terrible, solid feel to them.

Now for the negatives for this guitar, which doesn't give it the full 5 stars, are issues with the nut and the fingerboard. To emphasize, these issues should not deter you from purchasing this guitar, these are small flaws that can be remedied on your own, and they do not take away from the playability of the instrument.
The first issue is that the nut on the side of the high E, sticks out ever so slightly and is a bit sharp. You can definitely feel it on your palms if you play around the first fret. Although not extremely detrimental, it is noticeable nonetheless but can be remedied with some filing.
The next issue is the fretboard. The fretboard is pretty dry and you can definitely feel the dryness which gives it a scratchy feeling under the strings, especially with bending. Like the nut issue, it can be fixed with some fretboard conditioner

Overall, I'd 100% recommend this guitar for anyone who wants a Stratocaster, wants a guitar in $ range, or wants a cool instrument, they should consider and buy this guitar.

Bought this for a mod platform, couldn't of turned out any better, a little F-one on the neck , put a mojotone solderless and fender 50s in it and wow, can't beat it and the lake placid blue is killer

I've had mine for a few months now and i love it. The only cons are the strings it came with were not great. Who cares i changed them out to stringjoy 10s and that alone improved the tone. The fret edges are not good many sharp edges so i have to get them filed down eventually but honestly i dont even notice uless i slide my hads along the neck to feel them. While playing i dont even notice. The guitar looks great has a nice neck stays in tune very well love the vintage tuners. The indian laurel fret board feels great and looks great. Better than pau ferro in my opinion. I just bought the xotic super clean boost pedal. Takes tones on this guitar to the next level i was playing it yesterday and you get gorgeous strat tones for days onnthis guitar from hendrixy rythym tones or that robert cray quack its all there.knobs all feel great.