Ignorant non-Fender-guy question: If you get a Squier body that is composed of the same woods as a Fender, how much actual material difference is there between the two? Alder Squier VS Alder Fender?
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Once a Squier, always a Squier?
- Thread starter Jamvan
- Start date
The responses you receive will be interesting to say the least.
What I've heard is that it has to do with specific wood choice. Like the nicer wood blanks would go to a Fender and the lower quality ones would go to a Squier. Idk, I could be wrong but if I am then yeah, theres little difference.
I could see that, so far as "nicer wood" would be in regard to grain/matching/other aesthetic concerns. Is there really that much tonal difference between two pieces of alder? Full disclosure: Given that I'm in the camp of "body wood makes very little if any difference in tone", I'd be inclined to say that if a body is 99.9999% the same dimensionally, and is composed of the same wood species, it may "still be a Squier", but what difference is that in reality? If I took a Fender body and put a Squier neck on it, would someone be able to tell me immediately that this was some kind of Folger's-style "we secretly switched his Squier body for a Fender, let's see if he notices" blind test?
Im not a big believer in tone wood either but I think most people would say that it has to do with the density of that particular piece of wood. Maybe the tree was dehydrated or it was from a particularly small tree, something like that.
say you have a roscoe. or mtd, warwick, fender cs, whatever- at what point would you not call those whatever they were before you modified them? same thing.
uh oh... this could be considered Spam!
Yea, or it could be considered downright plucky humor. I imagine the mods as Lou Grant in that episode of Mary Tyler Moore when he tells her (me) "You've got spunk, kid...... I hate spunk."
If I were skilled at Photoshop, I'd replace the name "Spam" on that can with "Sire". That would would be a go-to meme for sure.
If I were skilled at Photoshop, I'd replace the name "Spam" on that can with "Sire". That would would be a go-to meme for sure.
That's interesting and might be true but I very highly doubt it.
What that implies is that all wood blanks are sourced by a single shop, graded for quality, sorted into Fender and Squier piles then shipped to USA, Mexico, China and Indonesia for shaping and finishing. That would be a very labor intensive, timely and costly process. I suspect each shop has specifications approved by the parent company for purchasing wood blanks for their shop. The specifications for Squier might or might not be as rigid as Fender or might even be different than Fender AFAIK but I'd bet there's no truth to the global sorting house process. Then again I could be wrong.
Sire doesn't make P-style basses or short scales. So, no, not until they do. Right now Sire is pretty much a 2-trick pony for basses, Jazz copy or "Marcus Miller".
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My guess is that the Squiers are made from locally sourced woods and are probably different varieties of a species or a completely different species altogether. For example, the "maple" used for the body of this VM Precision is an asian variety that has few characteristics in common with american maple. Still, it's harder than agathis or basswood, and it's a pretty nice bass anyway.
Exactly what I was thinking. You might be able to do this in a boutique operation, where you buy from one supplier, but with Fender and Squier's manufacturing output I doubt they get that detailed in their sorting ops. I'm guessing they go on the supplier's word, which may vary depending on how many they use, and leave it to the law of averages to assume a generally reliable tolerance. Just my guess, based on absolutely nothing other than what seems logical to me, and what I would guess Fender/Squier's operations would allow logistically.
Also a good point. Which sort of makes me wonder how often you can tell where the various "maple"s come from, when they only ever tell you, usually, it's a maple body, and don't usually discern in their specs on where that maple is from, etc.
These mod discussions remind me of this joke from comedian Stephen Wright. He holds up a hatchet and says, "This is the hatchet that young George Washington used to chop down his father's cherry tree. The head has been replaced, and then the handle was replaced. But it's the same hatchet.... intrinsically."
Yeah, but what species of wood is the handle made from, where was it sourced, is it the exact same spec as the original, does it have a Sams Club sticker on it or is it the cheaper Walmart import crap? These things all matter to some people.
- Jul 7, 2010
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- Endorsing Artist for: Duncan Pickups; Line6, Hipshot, GHS Strings, Somnium Guitars
well lets see as some others have said.....If neck and body are same brand then it is that brand...but if neck and body and parts are mixed then it is a mutt or as others may say frankenbass... ( I will say that sometimes those mutts play and sound better then alot of other basses with a brand name)
This is correct for necks at least. One of my bass playing buddies called Fender and asked whether they turn the die settings down when manufacturing a Squier neck versus a Fender neck. He said the guy laughed and said he figured out their tricks! He then went on to say that in all reality, it's primarily the quality of the wood/materials is all they change. The manufacturing process is the same.
I refinished a Fender standard jazz bass. Under the finish was alder. It looked pretty so I left it visible. Then the veneer top started to come up in places. The body was about 13 different pieces glued together with a veneer top and bottom, on a Fender branded instrument. As in, a Fender branded instrument that has body construction similar to SX. I don't think the wood choice is really all that particular or better than what you would get with a squire.
