Cheap Squier Stratocasters are better when modified

** COMPETITION IS OVER - NO ONE GUESSED IT **
Congrats to Joao Saldanha (Jqo jsi) from Brazil who won this at random.
The colour was Manilla Green btw.
Some simple Squier mods to make it better than a standard Mexican Fender - there's no magic recipe but a good setup and some hardware improvements will go a very long way.
Also, don't mess up putting the tuners on if they're staggered, like I did! I was convinced they weren't a staggered set and didn't notice lol 😆
That pentatonic lick that I absolutely butchered at the start was from TikToker Andrés Agüero - vm.tiktok.com/ZGJqFBC2w/
(He's very good, go check him out)
Pickguard link (Amazon affiliate) - amzn.to/3O4xMSM
Shop around for the parts but while writing this I just found Gotoh locking tuners at an unbelievable price over at StewMac (I'll be ordering a set!):
www.stewmac.com/parts-and-har...
The Dimarzio is a DP159 (standard spacing) I found this in a second hand music store in Vienna for 45 Euros (£38 / $48ish).
Fender bridge is a standard old MIM bridge - shop around on ebay you'll find these same ones or maybe even some with a bigger (better) block. I said £15 to £20 in the video but looking now and they seem a bit more expensive, I'd have sold that one for £15-20 though so SHOP AROUND!
Cheers everyone, good luck in the comp and watch out for scammers in the comments please!
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FULL TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR THE COMPETITION ON OUR WEBSITE, KZbin HAS NO AFFILIATION WITH THIS COMPETITION, IT IS RUN SOLELY BY GIANT GUITARS.

[@jqojsi3529]

Lime green for sure🫡

[@Giant_Guitars]

Congrats dude you won the random draw! (and your guess of lime green wasn't actually far off haha) reply to this comment and we'll figure out a way to get in touch with you - don't leave any personal details here or give them to any other profile pretending to be me!

[@jqojsi3529]

@@Giant_Guitars Hi!!! Can we do it from Instagram?

[@jqojsi3529]

​@@Giant_Guitarsdamn man i never won anything lmao I'm shaking rn

[@Giant_Guitars]

@@jqojsi3529 yes, message @giantguitars on insta and I'll get you to confirm you're this account 👌

[@Giant_Guitars]

@@jqojsi3529 well you have tonight, congrats

[@Giant_Guitars]

** COMPETITION IS OVER - NO ONE GUESSED IT ** Live stream to pick a random winner will be on 6th August 2023 - timings to be announced later..

[@savedaz]

What was the colour? My guess was Ford Sky Blue

[@cypher6663]

Hot rod red

[@denskosnorebandit]

BUT ITS ROBIN'S EGG

[@puppet_king14]

Lake placid blue

[@Catacule]

My guess would've been firemist green 🍏

[@Giant_Guitars]

Update as per 30th July - no one has guessed correctly yet, the competition continues for now but please take a look at the community section and take a vote on how you'd like the competition to proceed. Don't worry though, someone will win no matter what! Thank you all for taking part so far, you're all great!

[@danparkinsonmusic]

Royal Purple 💜

[@zoosandwapes]

slime green

[@Rushpunk]

SHELL PINK

[@JManners10]

Laguna Seca Blue

[@user-gr5rp7ql4b]

Surf Green or Verdigris Green,vermillion color or Daphne Blue or graffiti black color!!!!!

[@SquirrelDarling1]

I took my first, which is a Squire Affinity Strat and added a loaded Fender pick guard with noiseless pups and S-1 switching. Added a bone nut and Classic Vibe tuners. Plays and sounds really nice. Didn’t cost much because I had a lot of parts from other guitars.

[@GregPentecost]

Did something similar to a ‘93 black Strat I picked up to practice with while traveling. The electronics went out and threw in a new PG with Fender parts (it was easier to diagnose that way 🤣🤣). Absolutely a great platform! Plus, the ‘93 is one of the MIM Squiers with Fender body & Neck from Corona CA 👍🏼

[@vayabroder729]

Affinitys are great to upgrade and inexpensive.

[@davidstout5936]

Love what you did with this Squier! I like the simplicity of single pickup guitars. My guess is Electric Orange!! ‘Tis a Ford colour which was on the cap that Tom had on in “The Pursuit of Tone”, is a fairly rare colour for guitars, is also a colour that Tom likes a lot, and I think it would look awesome on a guitar!!

[@Giant_Guitars]

Loving all the guesses, keep them coming! Don't forget to watch out for scams in the comments, please don't fall for any 🙏

[@thelowlifex9437]

Can we keep guessing or do we just have one chance ? :(

[@Giant_Guitars]

@@thelowlifex9437 just one guess, keeps it fair - I'll allow the odd change of mind but since I'm not telling anyone yet you'll be gambling as your first guess might be right 😅🤷

[@Giant_Guitars]

And obviously changing your guess voids your first one

[@WTF-WithTheFlow]

@@Giant_Guitars that would have been nice to know! Lol. Oh well… doesn’t look like I got it anyways 😆 But in case my original Daphne Blue was right, and you didn’t clarify in the video the rule of one guess, I’m sticking to that.

[@tristan_840]

​@@Giant_GuitarsCan you also show us the whole repainting process in detail? I wanna learn how to repaint properly so I could use the process to apply in my own if I ever repaint or someone here repaints their guitar, huge thanks!

[@djprofessx]

My guess is Fiesta Red. It’s a beautiful finish that Ford used to frequent. Even if it’s not, I’m sure you picked out a very nice and flashy finish for the next project. Can’t wait to see it!

[@plokikoki3594]

She’s actually incredible! Sweet as build 🙏🏻😊

[@rcjoe406]

Thank god i almost turned it off when i thought you were going with the james brown sparkling pick guard haha turned out real nice brother

[@TheSidelife1430]

Lovely work on the Squier, as always: the fretboard turned out to be really lovely. I'll take a guess at the mistery colour too: Ocean Turquoise! Kind of a wild one, but simply amazing, in my opinion. Keep going with this great videos!

[@Giant_Guitars]

Thank you dude I appreciate it 😁

[@alvinorbs]

Wow! Definitely a very good looking Squire you got there. Keep the videos going. Love the upgrades and tutorials. For the color… I guess, it’s a matte black. Fingers crossed. Hahaha!

[@ganigarana4916]

Gunmetal grey! 🎉 Great video and modification as usual!

[@Crimncoly]

NAVY BLUE NAVY BLUE!! (also sick guitar video dude, keep the work up)

[@baileyadmire6153]

Love the look of the squier! For the guitar, I would have to guess Sherwood Green. Love the look of that color on a guitar!

[@yogisinsta]

That strat looks amazing! I think it would be funny if you took out the humbucker from the Tom Delong and turn it into a single coil 😆 anyways my guess for the guitar color is Alpine White 😊

[@NinoDungeon]

Love that pickguard on the red! My guess is Burgundy Mist!

[@savedaz]

My guess is Traffic Yellow thanks for the video

[@MatiasPerezHdz]

I'm going with British Racing Green, and Rosso Corsa (classic ferrari red) maybe too much of a classic color for that type of guitar, but lets go! Happy to watch your vids all the way from Mexico!

[@Giant_Guitars]

Cheers Matias 😄 last winner was Mexico too!

[@not_willdowns]

Crazy how well preserved the body of this guitar was. I’m a huge fan of the EVH 10s strings. My guess is shell pink

[@Giant_Guitars]

Great strings! Yeah, owned by my family from new probably helped 😁

[@macdad159]

That looks great!

[@jameshumbert5864]

Candy apple red is my guess. I thought of it impulsively. Then I went back and forth with myself. But, I went with the first thought. Probably because I think it makes a great guitar color. Thanks for the opportunity. This is a really interesting video.

[@Tondor50]

Really nice video. My first guitar was a Mexican Squire, back when Fender still owed the line. The major difference between it and it's more expensive U.S. cousins were the single ply pick guard, the tuners and the pick-ups. Easy and cheap up-grades, so I basically had an entry level American Strat for about half the price. But no up-grade ever adds value, and selling and trading is a thing.

[@aarondavis4341]

Fender still owns squier

[@SoniKast]

I think OP means the Fender Squier Series, which is different from the actual Squier guitar, and are the predecessors to the Player series (I think? iirc, they were MIM)

[@ant2011]

The fretboard looks so good now, I cant even believe it!

[@yoshikigrg8]

Keep on rocking brother 😎

[@Giant_Guitars]

Thanks dude

[@Tehstroyer]

I want it to be Burgundy Mist Metallic, but something like Inca Silver would be more probable.. Also, cool mod. Although the off-white colors like parchment or mint were never my first choice for pickguards, but that's just a minor taste difference.

[@bretspangler8717]

My color guess is Porsche Racing Yellow. The strat turned out rather nice, I like the pickguard color, a nice vintage vibe. I love working on my guitars, I only have one Strat and 7 Epiphones, the Squire was really cheap, I put new tuners on as you did, the top is nice it just needs the wiring fixed, and the tremolo has a ground hum. Squier Affinity Stratocaster FMT HSS Guitar Maple Neck Black Burst.

[@Giant_Guitars]

Sounds like an awesome collection anyway bud!!

[@Mclaren3890]

Metallic purple, great video mate

[@monosound81]

Great clip!

[@johnflopingtonthe3Rd]

Gotta go with a matte purple colour, with black hardware. that would look absolutely beautiful in my opinion. Good luck everyone else 👍🏻🫡

[@AndiDautiTwo]

Being an automotive color I’d like to guess Miami blue. A color seen on Porsches and it’s very bright similar to graffiti yellow. But I’m also leaning toward a plum crazy purple which is another amazing color.

[@shiftystylin]

I'm building a tele deluxe in Porsche Miami Blue - such a cool colour!

[@AndiDautiTwo]

@@shiftystylin sounds sweet!

[@gabor222]

I bought a Squier Contemporary a couple of years ago, it had 12 inch radius which was not an option on most of the Fenders. It needed some fixes (deburr the bridge plate to prevent snapping the strings, replace the nut and string trees to improve tuning stability), but it became a very comfortable instrument.

[@Dledesma493]

That guitar turned out amazing! I will always love the way strats look with a single pickup. My guess is it will be Verde Ithaca/Scandal/Mantis or however Lamborghini calls their bright green.

[@quru1]

My guess is TV Yellow!

[@WTF-WithTheFlow]

Graffiti Yellow 😂 I’d laugh my ass off if that’s what it was.

[@Giant_Guitars]

That would be hilarious

[@WTF-WithTheFlow]

@@Giant_Guitars You clearly said not Graffiti Yellow in the video, so this isn’t an official guess, ha ha. Just making a funny 😋

[@Giant_Guitars]

@@WTF-WithTheFlow 😅😅 it did give me a laugh in fairness

[@scottcrowell6015]

Grabber Blue is my guess! Great video.

[@jakubnajwer8758]

My guess is Light Turquoise, great video btw love the guitars

[@gusnikolopoulos8896]

Turned out Sweet Bro. Rawk On!

[@Giant_Guitars]

Cheers dude

[@BudgetPedalChap]

I'm going to throw my hat in the ring here with Capri orange. That Squier looked fab tbf 👍

[@EmoDogg]

hmm my guess is metallic silver colour great work on the guitar, love to watch your content ❤

[@H_mzaS]

Great video! I just purchased a Squier Affinity Candy Apple Red Strat for $100. I'm gonna do some mods to it. You've given me some ideas about what to do with my guitar!

[@Giant_Guitars]

Love to hear it mate thank you 😁 I just bought another black one for £75 haha

[@kawaiisprites]

I absolutely love these DeLonge style mods! The guitar looks fantastic! As for the color, my guess would be Shell Pink!

[@andrewbalcony3262]

That was a nice watch, definitely glad I stumbled upon your channel. I'd love to see the guitar in a dark lambo finish, I believe they call it Verde Ermes

[@L00kin4ward]

Magma Red. Nice work on the Squire.

[@AaronKerschner-fu5fn]

Fullerton Red The guitar is looking siiiiick!

[@anthonyhanson2849]

I'm going to guess British racing green and ivory. Great videos. I've only just recently come across your channel. Thanks for the content.

[@alextomkinson5180]

My guess is Valencia Orange, just because I'd love to see a TD Strat in that colour! 😍 Really enjoyed the vid, your squier sounds top now! 👍

[@hxlsee6752]

green pearl- keep up the good work man

[@tylercoop369]

Hell yeah good job brother. I love the looks of the guitars. Would really like to play one and see if they do plays as well as a Mexican strat? Can’t wait to see your Tom build.

[@Trenujzglowapl]

My choose is traffic blue. Keep going!

[@brunvanderhorst]

Ah so nice to stumble on this video. About to do pretty much the same for my red Squier Affinity Strat (except I want humbucker bridge + single coil neck). As for my guess, I'm going with a fav of mine. It has some form of automotive in the name. Taxi Cab Yellow!

[@headsockgoatlock4]

Sea Foam Green is my guess, anyways i subscribed . Cool overhaul on the red guitar. Looks way better after you upgraded it.

[@Giant_Guitars]

Thank you bud 🙏🙏

[@sunnys5150]

I always enjoy watching ur vids man. Very relaxing and u do cool stuff bro. Keep it up 🙂 BTW jus some info about Strat type body thickness. Warmoth bodies are also not as thick as Fender bodies jus in case anyone is wondering. They're slightly thinner

[@Giant_Guitars]

Thank you mate I appreciate that and cheers for the info too!

[@davidesturaro2100]

Loved how the guitar turned out and the passion you put into your work! Thanks a lot for the giveaway, for which my guess is a vibrant lime green

[@blindfury285]

He was talking about graffiti yellow. That just sounds awesome but I’m feeling green on that guitar.!! Keep doing what you’re doing my man !!

[@Giant_Guitars]

Yeah I had wanted to do graffiti yellow but an old photo changed my mind haha

[@michaszeliga5910]

Great video! My guess is Blaze Gold

[@agork]

good job with the mod

[@ronkerlin]

Love the upgrade! Makes me inspired to do the same! I think your guitar would look good in a "Penny" color!

[@linkintominecraft1]

Great video! I’m thinking about getting a Squier and modding it up as well. As for my guess on the color I’m gonna have to say gun metal gray.

[@kevingrabowski]

i love watching these type of videos, my guess is Vintage White

[@Jack-lm8ds]

Really enjoyed the video. Gonna go with Dakota Red :)

[@LeVc267]

My guess for the guitar color is zenith blue, the iconic color from Gulf livery race cars (adding details in tangerine orange) keep playing! You do a great job!

[@josepabloarce4425]

That's a great job! I did something similar with an Epiphone Special II really cheap, basic, and low-end guitar. I got it in 2010 and since then I have been doing mods for it. Wilkinson's Pickups and Guitar Bridge, the circuit was remade with fender pots and components, Grover head tuners, an internal copper Faraday shield, real bone nut, and custom body paint... I simply love that guitar.

[@Giant_Guitars]

Sounds like an amazing Epiphone dude, love it hear it!!

[@rafaelconstanzovicens9094]

I did the same with my Epiphone Special II Goth Edition! I also installed a B5 Bigsby vibrato, it plays and sound very nice and it stands everytime I show to little jams with my friends.

[@danblackhill]

hey, thanks for the diy guitar setup video, it's really helpful. as for the color of the new guitar, my guess is Heather Violet :-) anyways, good luck going through all these comments :-)

[@Giant_Guitars]

You're very welcome, thank you for being here and good luck in the comp

[@sibieudepierre-olivier7873]

Congratulations on the work and thank you for these inspiring videos For the mystery color I vote for copper metalic... These guitars remember me the load sound of Bob Mould's band Sugar and the album Copper blue, even if he plays a classic blue stratocaster

[@johnw8916]

Is it Manilla Green. 😂 Great video enjoyed watching and its given me some ideas.

[@franklin010]

Amazing hands as always

[@sergioquijano7744]

sparkling yellow!!! that would be crazy enough

[@tomasgardenal5142]

my guess is candy apple. great video! greetings from argentina!

[@devdigest]

Capri Orange would be my guess love the dog btw

[@jguitar23]

Gotta guess Burgundy Mist..great job on the red one!

[@sj8248]

Squier looks great! My guess would be Sunburnt Orange for the mystery colour.

[@gsbguitarsgsb679]

I’m too late for the give away guitar. I just wanted to say I have modified a few of my guitars almost exactly like you have yours. The only difference is I used a telecaster body made by Shecter with a Floyd Rose route a bridge mounted trembucker from Duncan, a pawnshop Aria pro neck. Also a Douglas telecaster I modded that is a hard tail like a LP, humbucker in the bridge position as well. A Harmony strat that I put a Squire neck on it and another strat body a friend gave me with an after market neck and bridge position humbucker, strat trem non locking single volume only. And recently I just finished a modified telecaster body guitar with the typical tele appointments. I appreciate what you do as I do the same type of things. It’s fun to modify guitars to what you like and it doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks about what you enjoy doing. Take care, happy holidays…

[@poj2121]

Beautiful squier dude! Great job on the set up. Im gonna guess sherwood green on the mystery paint.

[@Giant_Guitars]

Thanks bud 🙏 ☺️

[@AzzaReformed]

I’m going to take a wild guess but is it British racing green? Love your videos man inspires me to tinker with my guitars a lot more to how I like them love the videos man!!!

[@Vyt3175]

Amazing video! My guess for the color would have to be Safety Orange!

[@bumbum9675]

My guess is a metallic lime green or a sonic blue on that strat. love the videos man i havent watch many but their good.

[@kaitlyn.182]

Amazing work with the Squier! I think something like Radiant Silver would suit the DeLonge strat!

[@Shaun.Stephens]

Thanks for the video. I thought the high string tuners were a bit short when you put them on but figured maybe they were supposed to be. I just put a staggered set off a Fender Professional Strat that I got second-hand on my Asian T-style. ;) (Oh, that's not clear - the tuners were second hand, replaced with locking tuners - I didn't get the whole Strat.)

[@Giant_Guitars]

Yeah I messed up in the video lol, didn't notice they were staggered until later and they were all mixed up haha woops

[@R3M11XxNATIONS]

sweet build! I'm gunna have to bust out my old squier and try out these mods. color im gunna have to go with ford's sonic blue pearl

[@kateflanders]

I reckon you’ll be painting it race green - can’t wait to see what colour it turns out as, such an awesome guitar :)

[@dragan4658]

Awesome job and you made a good guitar as good if not better than the much more expensive fender!

[@Giant_Guitars]

Thank you bud 🙏

[@Flo-xz3pb]

Ultraviolet purple would be my guess, like the one on the Porsches 😊

[@yorismatori26]

i think olympic white look beautiful on that guitar, i can't wait for the final color.

[@mrkiks32]

Timberline green. I love how a 67’ ford mustang looks like in that color.

[@jazzdrumguy5044]

I have a butterscotch tele, black pickguard, and has USA pickups, CTS pots, Switchcraft plug, bone nut, cloth wiring and vintage tuners on an aged neck. It has a 4 way switch, too - 3 Tele sounds + both pickups out of phase, so it does twang, Strat, jazz and can get blistering distortion if you want.....just incredible, especially considering it cost me $320!!! It's my "Keef" guitar and so much more.....

[@huntermabry9813]

I've debated pulling the trigger on doing a mod project like this... this video may have convinced me! also my guess is pelham blue (which i guess in fender terms is closer to placid blue)

[@danielmcmillanii1441]

those paint cans are gonna be a deep evergreen

[@MercurialToys]

This turned out great! Makes me eant ti play it.

[@atleastididntcheatinminecr5679]

i just love single pickup guitars so much🔥🔥🔥

[@Menestro]

seafoam green. I love that guitar!

[@ylpmis_band]

Nice work, I always wanted to modify my squier guitars.. On the color i guess it's gold dragon 😊

[@Ackdaddy100]

Not long joined the channel and I`m loving it great work! Is it canary Yellow?

[@shouldireviewguitars7908]

This is actually a super good idea. I've tinkered around with the idea of modding a cheapo strat to make it something great. Kind of did with a yamaha, years and years ago haha

[@Giant_Guitars]

Thanks bud, definitely mod something of your own!!

[@colinshaw3290]

Lake Placid Blue! Will look real nice.

[@leeg7648]

My guess would be signal orange, older Ford colour, always loved it

[@manonbassguitar]

It’s already great because it’s the Indonesian Cort factory 2005, when they were babying out the 1st gen Squier ‘51’s. Good stuff.

[@Giant_Guitars]

Awesome, I didn't realise that!

[@mbk9764]

Great video man! I’m gonna guess Cosmic Carbon

[@HaniMebar]

Great work again, glad you went with the 'aged' pick guard. Graffiti Yellow is also a popular automobile colour ;) but since you insisted that won't be the colour and you've already done a shade of green, I'm going to guess Dakota Red. Keep the vids coming! If you ever get a DiMarzio DP102 x2n, do show us how you wire it. Mine doesn't sound right and I can't tell if I need different pots or if I wired it wrong lol!

[@Giant_Guitars]

Send me some photos on Instagram of your writing if you want and I'll take a look! Might be able to help you with it.

[@adityalakhwani3335]

i think metalic black is great color. Great work on the guitar.

[@sleakteru]

Beautiful