• Great starter equipment

  
  As reviewed by Richard Cressler on 1/1/2013

  I bought this combo for my daughter. She's young yet at 9, yet has hands large enough that I didn't want a mini, or 2/3 size guitar. I also didn't want to spend a lot until I knew if she was going to really want to learn, or of it was more of a toy. The real selling point for me on this was twofold. First, the price. guitar, practice amp, accessories all in one package. The second was the G-DEC jr amp. The backing tracks on the amp itself and the versitility to put the backing tracks in different keys, the settings (Everything from Metal to Hot Rod and clear tone) was very appealing. When the pack arrived, everything was undamaged and I was also surprised at the shipping speed. Everything was there and in good condition. When my son (20 and plays a mexican strat) took a look at it and commented that he wished he had one like this one when he was learning. He played a few licks and LOVED the neck radius and said it almost played itself. I'd heard good and bad about the Squire line from Fender, but this one is definitely on the top end of the value line guitars! The amp was everything I'd hoped. Different backing tracks for multiple genre's, full range of key selections for each backing track, and the tone set up was even more than I expected. It's not a stadium filler by any standards, but for a learner using a practice amp, or even someone that has some extra time and no accompanying music to play along with, this thing is definitely the way to go! I'm very pleased overall, and if there was any issues I would suggest change on, it would be these, and at a guitar of this quality at this price, I can't see Fender changing anything. First, the strings are a little heavy action for my taste, but I like light actions strings and my son said he didn't mind them at all. A string change is no big deal and any replacements can be used. I'm kind of anxious to throw a set of DR blues light action string on there for her. Second was the tremolo bridge. It's tight, It's quirky, and it leads to the third and final thing that is actually what kept me from a five star rating. When it's used, I thought at first it didn't return to center. That may be some of it, but not all. Third was the tuning keys. They needed a bit of a tightening, and it doesn't stay in tune as long as I'd like. Upgraded tuners might be the thing to make this a "Perfect Buy" I'm not sure if they could be swapped out later, or if it's just inherent with the Squires. My sons Mex. Strat, and my American Standard have much different ratios to the gears in the tuners(This might be illusory) and that might be the difference. Just a week after receiving this, my daughter is playing some blues rhythms along with the backing tracks and her big brother and surprising me how she's been progressing. I don't think the interest would be there with a lesser product. If we could rate half stars, I'd give it a 4.5.

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