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Once a Squier, always a Squier?

When is a Squier no longer a Squier?

  • Any change from stock

    Votes: 5 3.3%

  • After changing 1 component

    Votes: 1 0.7%

  • After changing 2-3 components

    Votes: 4 2.6%

  • After changing 4-5 components

    Votes: 3 2.0%

  • After changing >5 components

    Votes: 3 2.0%

  • The brand will haunt you until your dying day

    Votes: 86 56.2%

  • Squier Carrots

    Votes: 51 33.3%
  • Total voters
    153
#121
Gravedigger Dav said:
I would say as long as the original body and neck are there, it is still a Squier. Anything else is just a mod.
Click to expand...

I agree. Everything else is just an accessory really and everything else is often outsourced to third parties anyway. Of course the entire Squier brand is essentially outsourced to third parties so maybe that means there is no such thing as a Squier? Just kidding, I own and love a Squier VI, I have nothing against the brand at all. But I think that up until you start swapping out the body or neck your Squier is still a Squier.
 
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#124
Ok, so if I took my Squier VM P and slowly over a period of years, replaced the pickups with '62 Originals.
Replaced the wiring with cloth insulated wire, used CTS pots and an orange cap.
Replaced the neck with a licensed neck from Allparts.
Picked up tuners and bridge off of a Duff McKagan signature P.
Replaced the body with a licensed replacement from WD.
And picked up a tort scratch plate from TB classifieds.

Would the end result not be a fender licensed P-bass?
 
#125
BahamasSteve said:
Ok, so if I took my Squier VM P and slowly over a period of years, replaced the pickups with '62 Originals.
Replaced the wiring with cloth insulated wire, used CTS pots and an orange cap.
Replaced the neck with a licensed neck from Allparts.
Picked up tuners and bridge off of a Duff McKagan signature P.
Replaced the body with a licensed replacement from WD.
And picked up a tort scratch plate from TB classifieds.

Would the end result not be a fender licensed P-bass?
Click to expand...
Squires are licensed by Fender.
But, at the end, you no longer have the serial numbers for the original, so I would say it is no longer a Squier. Better, but not by definition a Squier.
 
#126
BahamasSteve said:
Ok, so if I took my Squier VM P and slowly over a period of years, replaced the pickups with '62 Originals.
Replaced the wiring with cloth insulated wire, used CTS pots and an orange cap.
Replaced the neck with a licensed neck from Allparts.
Picked up tuners and bridge off of a Duff McKagan signature P.
Replaced the body with a licensed replacement from WD.
And picked up a tort scratch plate from TB classifieds.

Would the end result not be a fender licensed P-bass?
Click to expand...

Fender licensed parts P-bass would be more accurate. It certainly wouldn't be a Squier "anything" because there wouldn't be any Squier parts left.
 
#137
Jamvan said:
This really isn't necessarily about Squier basses but any brand bass in general and I fully concede this is likely a @Cole Louis Allar question (no offense intended as you are becoming a thread legend). But personally, I have several Squier Jazz basses where I've replaced essentially every component on them (I love the smell of solder in the morning...) and I'm curious at what point in the modding/upgrading process does it stop being whatever brand it was and become a FrankenBass or no name bass? If I replace OEM pickups with aftermarkets, is it still considered the branded bass that was purchased? Is it after replacing pickups and a bridge? Pickups, bridge, pots, neck, etc? Not life or death stuff but just curious.
Click to expand...

No one will ever agree on when a Squier isn't a Squier anymore.

Some will say it's when you swap the neck and some other parts. Some will say it's always a Squier because it's just easier to categorize it that way, though they will acknowledge that you improved it, which is perfectly rational in my opinion. Other people will have ridiculous, almost delusional levels of brand loyalty (AKA fanboy-ism) and will refuse to even consider that a heavily modded Squier is a different bass than what it used to be.

Personally I think that the "A Squier is always a Squier" argument is similar to the "It's not a REAL Fender unless..." argument. For the latter argument, I mean people that say things like "Well it's not a REAL Fender because you put a different Fender neck on it", etc. Both arguments are just focusing on the wrong thing, which are superficial attributes that in the grand scheme of things are pretty pointless. They ignore the fact that basses are the sum of their parts and not just a logo on a headstock.

Brand recognition is just a heuristic, it's not really the most rational way of looking at bass quality in every circumstance. It's useful when you have to make a quick or informationally-lacking decision but not useful when you have time to shop around, read reviews, and/or even have time and money to improve your instrument.
 

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