Squire Vibe-50's & 60's Strat

[peterbower]

I recently saw the Squire Vibe-50 and 60 Strats in a local music shop. I had to have a close look and a play. They really are well put together and both the maple and rose wood necks feel pretty good as well. Yes, there are areas i would modify and improve, but for £275, you can't go wrong. They both have a really good vintage twang and i believe there is some Youtube on these being demo'd.
If you don't mind the made in China label [What isn't these days] I can recommend them as a starter or project guitar.

Cheers
Peter

[foxy]

Hi Peter,
I have just bought one, Red with rose wood neck plays really well and they do have a good sound. What areas would you recommend for improvement, there is no tone control on the bridge pick up so I suppose that would be the first job from what I have read on other threads, think there are some pics on how to do this. Any advice from yourself or anyone else with a Squire would be a great help.
Thanks.
Paul

[George Lewis]

Hi Peter and Paul (where is Mary ;D ),

I also bought a white 50's with all maple neck. In pieces at the moment, but just fitted a Calaham steel bridge with "nowobble" trem arm mod and waiting on a push pull pot to do the bridge switch-in mod, before fitting a tortoise shell pickguard. Will definitely do the bridge tone mod, then will be doing some testing with John Collins (JCAudio) and his handmade vintage pups.
The Classic vibe is exceptional value and great sound straight out the box, but who can resist doing a few mods. ;D ;D

regards
George

[peterbower]

Hi Foxy
George has mentioned some of the mods i would do, especially the steel trem block and a wobble free arm.
I'm not to worried about a tone control on the bridge pup but it is quite a useful mod for those seeking even more tone variations.

My only criticism is the lack of colour choice.
The one that impressed me was the 50's in a 2 tone sunburst.
They do really sound great out of the box and i doubt you will get much of an improvement by changing the pickups. If it sounds great them save your money. I really recommend you listen to it being demo'd on You tube. Use google.

Peter

[peterbower]

Hi Foxy, George and all
I just checked Fender's spec on the Squire Classic Vibe 50's & 60's.
It has a modern 9 1/2" radius neck but with 21 medium jumbo frets. This is the same as the modern US standard Strat with the exception of the 22 frets.
I find this quite interesting because my California 'Limited edition' US Strat has a modern neck profile but with only 21 frets.
I guess they wanted it slightly easier to play.

String spacing at the bridge is slightly narrower than the modern Strat, so be careful when replacing the bridge plate and block that what you get matches up with the holes in the body.

Regards
Peter

[George Lewis]

Hi Peter and All,
The string and hole spacing are the modern narrow 2 1/16". Exactly the same as the MIM Strat .. at least the pre 2009 ones. The pot metal bridge on the Squire was identical to my 2002 MIM, and must surely have come from the same factory. All holes lined up perfectly.
Regards
George

[peterbower]

Thanks George, useful to know.
I forgot to say that the Fender spec quotes an Alder body.
My goodness, i can remember some of the early Squires having plywood bodies or some other very cheep wood.
It really does defy the price.

Cheers
Peter

[martyn]

Jul 14, 2009 1:30:16 GMT George Lewis said:

Hi Peter and Paul (where is Mary ;D ),

. . . and waiting on a push pull pot to do the bridge switch-in mod, before fitting a tortoise shell pickguard.

I've been looking at a Deluxe Player's wiring diagram with its separate button to switch in all three or bridge/neck options. Presume this is what you're doing with the push-pull pot?
I cannot work out why Fender didn't use the same pot idea rather than a separate button as it seems a much tidier and simpler idea to me.

[George Lewis]

Hi Martyn,
Yes the mod uses the push pull switch so when in the up position the bridge is parallel switched into whatever combination the 5 way switch is set to. Gives two additional combos of bridge+neck and all three together.
If this is what the extra switch does with the deluxe player it is difficult to see why Fender didn't use the push pull to retain the std appearance.
Regards
George

[martyn]

My feelings entirely, George. I was discussing this with my local techie as he's going to upgrade mine to do much the same although he's still undecided which method will be best, both visually and soundwise. There's also the in-phase/parallel options utilised on the Superstrat with S1 switching and that confuses things a tad more.
The Deluxe Player was brought out by Fender to supercede this guitar and utilises noiseless pickups, which is either simply a marketing exercise or - and this is where I got lost in his technical explanations - they need to be for some reason.
The wiring diagram I referred to (on the Fender site) is quite complex, whereas another diagram he had (I think a Seymour Duncan one) showed a much simpler system that merely involved minor rerouting of wiring and the push/pull pot. I did wonder if there's any significance in the middle pickup being reverse wound so that when combined with the other two in whatever order, there's no conflict of any sort. That will still be fine when all three are working together, but with just bridge and neck together, there's no middle reverse wound pickup involved and I wonder if that should be of concern. Maybe that's why Fender's own wiring arrangement is so much more complex?
Just stumbling around in the dark as my electrical knowledge is plainly negligible, to say the least.

[George Lewis]

Hi Martyn,
Yes I use the Seymour Duncan one as it is very simple, except the push pull pot is also wired as T2 for the bridge. I have already done this mod on a "partscaster" with reverse wound middle and it works well. The neck-bridge has a nice quackey sound on the bass strings and something between neck and middle sound for the treble. Quite useful for for country or Gretsch/Gibson type sounds and with treble cut, tunes such as Old Romantics.
Some of the more complex mods just make my head spin. ;D ;D
Regards
George

[martyn]

Hi George,
Mine's a mex. partscaster and whilst pleased with it, I heard a couple of youtube examples demonstrating the Del.Player and decided I'd like that sound too but without having to buy another guitar - hence the mod.
I'll pass on your info to my techie.
Regards,
Martyn