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September 2011
Posts: 260
Location: Spain | Hi All
Sorry for this, yeah I know, everyone hates Fender and Squier and all that..... and I HAVE tried searching, and on the net..
Does anyone have any clues as to where Squier are made? (specifically Telecaster), the prices seem to range from about 1€ to well...expensive... which leads me to believe that obviously the top end ace ones are made in USA, then the rest China or some other such place?
All the info seems to contradict...some from Japan, some USA, some Korea, China.... 
Just browsing for now, but any insight would be appreciated,
Cheers
Craig |
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September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I had a Squier Deluxe Hot Rails Strat that was made in Indonesia.
They were running about $300.
I have had some Nice guitars that were made in Indonesia...
(two Parkers, a Morgan Monroe, and that Squier)
But yeah, they are made all over and the prices vary. As does the quality I imagine.
Edited by Old Man Arthur 2012-05-30 5:39 AM
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Joined:
September 2011
Posts: 260
Location: Spain | Cheers OMA, I'm guessing ...
USA made: Great.
Japan made: Good
The Rest: Garbage.
Bout right? |
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April 2012
Posts: 15
Location: Outside Providence | martinez - 2012-05-30 3:24 AM
Cheers OMA, I'm guessing ...
USA made: Great.
Japan made: Good
The Rest: Garbage.
Bout right?
You might be surprised. Squier has stepped up its game in recent years and made drastic improvements in quality. My Indonesian made Vintage Modified Fretless Jazz Bass easily rivals its Mexican made counterpart in tone, workmanship and materials.
In general, the newer Squire lines get pretty good reviews. They're NOT the same as they were before Fender decided to take the entry level market seriously and provide quality, well made instruments at affordable prices.
Check out a few. I think you'll be surprised. In terms of acoustics though, the Fender and Squier names are, unfortunately, lacking IMO and are never really serious contenders. But, in all fairness, it's not really their strength. |
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Posts: 639
Location: NW of Philadelphia | Now, all are made overseas: China, Indonesia, India, etc. But, if you are looking at Squier Teles... check out the CV50 or CVC. Both are very well made and a great value for the price. |
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Joined:
September 2011
Posts: 260
Location: Spain | Cheers for the advice! |
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Posts: 7222
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | lapetrarca - 2012-05-31 4:11 AM
They're NOT the same as they were before Fender decided to take the entry level market seriously and provide quality, well made instruments at affordable prices.
"quality, well made instruments at affordable prices" Gee I wonder where they got that idea  If Fender is adopting this mantra, that's a good thing I think.
I think Fender is directly responsible (not solely, but directly) for previous generations of opinion that all guitars built outside the USA are crap. It just isn't true and hasn't been for a long time, but Fender early on decided to make "cheap copies" of themselves. Part of the decision I guess was that they would clone themselves before anyone else did, and make them at such poor quality that the only solution was to buy a nice Made in USA one.
Success or fail in the grand scheme.... up for grabs. In my opinion, it forced the competition to make better clones of the USA models at a better price. It also flooded the market with some poorly made guitars.
While Fender was making the least expensive guitars so that no one would clone them, and I'm sure quality was some concern, Ovation was determined to make the BEST guitars they could at each price point.
More recently Fender had been focusing on quality. Frankly with the technology available today, it's just as hard to make crap as it it to make quality no matter the location. PRS, Hamer, MCS, Schecter, Ovation, Fender etc etc etc all have Fantastic import lines. If you want more detail and handwork, then their USA models have that, and for many, that is the only difference.
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Posts: 15
Location: Outside Providence | I've had my VM Fretless Jazz for about 5 or 6 years. I've gigged with it several times with no issues.
As soon as I got it home from the store, I replaced the OEM pots and jack with Switchcraft parts, ditched the roundwounds and got a pro setup with flatwound strings. Plays and sounds so good that I can't justify a full blown Fender Fretless Jazz.
Edited by lapetrarca 2012-05-31 4:36 PM
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Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | According to my sources, try as they might, Fender could not control the overseas copies of their products during the 70's, so they made the corporate decision to merge the copies into their business plan rather than to continue fighting them. It actually was a good thing they did because when CBS sold Fender to a private consortium in 1985, the new owners had no production capability other than overseas. As a result, Fender's 1986 production (and possibly one or two additional years thereafter, depending upon the model line) was entirely from overseas, primarily Japan, but possibly elsewhere as well. I very good friend of mine was in charge of building overseas production plants for Caterpillar. He built a half dozen, including at least one in China something like 25 years ago. According to him, even back then, the specifications for the buildings, production design, tooling, raw materials, inventory management, quality control, organizational structure, etc. was all exactly the same as those built in the USA and other developed countries. It would make a fascinating study as to why the finish quality of the products coming out of those plants had the perceived reputation of being inferior to US made products. According to my friend, the inferiority of Caterpillar's overseas products, if, in fact, there was any back then, was certainly not built into its production. |
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Location: Flahdaw | It's not so much where it's made, it the guts.....the quality of the pups, the pots, the neck, tuners, etc. Squire has tele's from $170 to $400+ based on what is in them. |
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Squier
