Should I buy a Squier Bullet Strat?

I talk about the pros and cons of the Squier Bullet Strat.

[@JohnOhkumaThiel]

All great advice. I play a Bullet Strat, and I think the only parts remaining that it came with when I bought it in a thrift shop are the pick guard and the pick guard screws. But even from the start, all stock instrument, hadn’t even cleaned it yet-it was filthy, the fretboard was dried out, there was corrosion, the strings were years old-it already played and sounded way better than the stratocaster copy I started with. And I had only been playing guitar four months at that point, though I was a formally trained sax play since childhood, Berklee alumni, experienced musician. So the number one thing I would say is, for under $200 new, you couldn’t possibly do better. And like I said, mine is modified, customized in fact, and now it’s an awesome guitar, better than anything I’ve tried for under $1,000. I bought it for $90 and gradually, over time, spent a total of about $300 upgrading it. I totally planned on buying a ‘better’ guitar-specifically a Fender Player-but when I tried it out it was crap by comparison. So I didn’t all at once blow the wad, as a beginner, on a higher end, prosumer or pro level guitar, yet that’s now what I have, with all the features I want but couldn’t get for under $800 new. Basic upgrades I did myself, my Bullet Stratocaster plays great, sounds great, stays in tune for days even though I play it for hours every day … I wouldn’t sell it. I couldn’t possibly get enough for it given its real value or even the investment I put into it. The only thing I would possibly do is find a better guitar than this one was when I bought it, and transfer all the parts I put on the Bullet to that guitar. But more likely I would just swap the necks. Bottom Line: You couldn’t do better for the price, not even close, just on playability-and therefore learnability. Don’t worry that it doesn’t say ‘Fender’ on the headstock, or that it was made in [wherever]. It’s a great guitar for a beginner, and even a pro if you modify it-start with the tuning machines and work your way down. And again, when I got this guitar, I was still learning just how to change my own strings. I was a beginner on this instrument. A year and a half later, I could teach beginner to intermediate guitar.

[@JohnOhkumaThiel]

The reason they only make hard tail Bullet Stratocasters now is-by my experience-unless you upgrade the tuning machines, string trees, nut, and bridge saddles, you can’t touch the tremolo without the guitar being totally out of tune. I put Fender locking tuners, and GraphicTech trees, nut, and saddles on mine, and it stays in tune even using the tremolo and doing bends. The Affinity is thinner-less wood, lower weight and cost to produce-but the Bullet is standard size.

[@pedalheadgeardemos]

My bullet Strat is thinner than a standard Strat. I think they may have changed that now…

[@Wabin22]

Great stuff and advice man, but you're not correct in regards to them only being hard tail now. They are still listing the Squiers on Fenders webpage with tremolo systems. Some of them are hard tails but not all of them. I also don't think the tuners are solely responsible for it not holding tune, I have one with those cheap tuners and it works out fine. If the nut isn't cut properly that could easily fuck it all up no matter how good tuners you have. Cheaper tuners does make it harder to tune properly though. In fact, my Bullet with these tuners have hold tune better than my Fender Player Strat xD

[@pedalheadgeardemos]

didn't know about them not just selling the hard-tail version. I looked everywhere (guitar center online, sweetwater, musiciansfriend, sam ash...) and could only find the HT version. that's great because I don't like just the HT version. And I agree... the tuners, nut, bridge, and trem system are all a major part of why it will stay in tune or go out... in fact, I think I mentioned that. I had to fix the nut and lubricate the saddles to get it to stay in tune for me. Now it only really goes way out of tune when I use the whammy bar... (or if I haven't played it in a while.). that being said... the cheap tuners do make a difference. thanks for the comment.

[@pedalheadgeardemos]

ok... haha.. they are making squiers with trem systems... but not the bullet strats. they are making the affinity series and the classic vibe series with them though.