Getting Started

Photograph by trunge (link)      So you've got, or are thinking about getting, a Squier guitar. Maybe you've played guitar for ages, or maybe you're just getting started. Either way, you have an interest in modding your guitar, and you've come here to figure it all out. Why Do Squier's Have the Reputation That They Do?      Squier guitars are decent guitars. They may not have the best electronics, but their bodies are solid, good wood, and they're generally finished pretty nicely. Mostly they get their bad rap due to their quality control. It's not hard to Google "squier horror stories" and come up with a boatload...

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Creating A Custom Guitar Body : Sunburst Designs

     The Sunburst design is a traditional guitar finish that has been used for years and years. If you're picking up your own guitar body that is unfinished, this is a finish you can apply with minimal effort. It just takes a bit of time and patience! Materials Nitrocellulose Lacquer - Limited colors can be found in a home improvement store. You'll need a base color, as well as a darker color for your outer layer, and clear coat. Masking Tape An Unfinished Guitar Body Time - Lacquer can take a good while to dry, so you'll need quite a bit of time. Process Prepare your work surface. You're going to be using aerosol lacquers,...

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Squier Guitar Mods : Modding Guitar Bodies

For the casual guitar hobbyist or player, replacing and re-wiring the electronics into  guitar bodies is complete overkill, and requires some knowledge of electronics and soldering. Generally, it's much easier to just simply buy  pre-wired guitar bodies, and to install that. Guitar bodies are in no way cheap either. In fact, it wouldn't be strange for them to be more expensive than your original Squier. Unless you've bought an expensive guitar with nice electronics, moving to a more expensive body might be pointless. Squiers and other budget guitars are known for having good quality wood, but cheap electronics. Buying a new body along...

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Picking Up Your Pickups For Your Squier Guitar

  Author : Gabriel Rose     After modding your guitar neck, the next thing you can upgrade that will affect tone the most are your pickups. There are hundreds of different pickups you can buy,  and they each have their slight differences. There are a couple of main types of pickups that exist though. Before I get into the specifics of how the different styles of pickup sound, I want to go over how pickups actually work.  Magnets : How Do They Work?     I don't need a scientist to explain it to me. But really, it's quite simple. A guitar pickup is a series of magnets surrounded by extremely fine copper...

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Squier Affinity Strat With GFS Pickups

Here's a guy playing his modified Squier Affinity Strat with GFS pickups. As you can see, great clean sound with great tone. To see more, check out OneLoveJK's YouTube channel. ...

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Choosing the Wood For Your Squier Frankenstrat

     Let's face it, alot of Squier stratocasters and telecasters can sound pretty great out of the box, but eventually you either want to upgrade to a more expensive Fender, or other guitar. But what if you just can't bear to part with the Squier you learned to play on? There is an answer, and it's called modding. It's usually a simple job to buy higher end parts and put them on your old guitar. I'm going to go through the different parts that you can replace, and review the most expensive hardware you can buy. I've split this up into four parts, and will post the next sections up as I finish them. Getting Wood : Choosing Your...

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