Squier by Fender® USB Stratocaster Guitar

Reviews for Squier by Fender® USB Stratocaster Guitar

Customer Reviews and Ratings

4.0 out of 5 stars

Based on 23 reviews

Write a Review
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    A lot of fun

    • Written by from Markham

    As a frustrated guy who has been "learning to play the guitar" for the last 20 years, this is the most fun I have ever had playing! Plug it in your Mac, fire up Garage Band's artist lessons, learn the song then rock out. It's that easy. Before you know it, you're playing power chords with Sting on Message in a Bottle (and sounding good doing it).

    The guitar itself is well crafted, sounds good and stays in tune. It's literally plug and play with the Mac (make sure you turn monitoring ON, though).

    The wealth of amplifiers/pedals in Garage Band also makes it a lot of fun. The possibilities are endless.

    I strongly recommend this guitar to anyone who has an interest in learning to play. The quality/price ratio makes this a no-brainer.

    1 of 1 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate

  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    USB Mini-B – 30-pin iOS cable not available on the market?

    • Written by from Zurich

    Product is great... but there is an issue with replacement for USB Mini-B – 30-pin iOS cable... due to bad position of connector it's easy to damage the cable and so far I as not able to find this kind of cable on the market... any workaround combination didn't work

    6 of 6 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Unbelievably fun and well-made!

    • Written by from San Francisco

    Okay, I have owned the Squier USB Strat for 5 hours, so I can't testify to long-term quality, but. . .

    . . .this thing is the most fun I have had on a guitar in years! First, I connected it to MacBook Pro, running GuitarRig Pro in Ableton Live and went nuts, using all of the amp- and pedal-modeling in GRP. That was fun, but have been there with my regular guitars.

    Next, I connected the Squier USB to my iPad. Worked flawlessly.

    Finally, I connected to my iPhone and, for some reason, just couldn't stop playing and recording in GarageBand on the iPhone. It is compulsively fun and easy, to set up catchy drum tracks, then record and overdub yourself on guitar, on other tracks. When I next looked up, it was 3 hours later, and I was smiling from ear to ear.

    To the details. . .

    1. The DAC sounds phenomenal, which shocked me. Even playing GarageBand, on an iPhone, more than powered my headphones, and I never noticed a single artefact or tone out of place.

    2. The guitar itself is extraordinarily nice, for a $199 guitar. The body is a bit light, but the wood grain looks great, with no knots, the fingerboard feels fine, and the frets don't need any dressing at all. After reading other comments about sharp frets and buzzing, I was overjoyed to find that my guitar's frets are more than fine, and intonation was acceptable. I will do a setup when I get bored, but otherwise, this guitar is more than ready-to-play, by anything other than professional standards.

    3. The humbucker is by far the nicest of the pickups and served me well. The single-coils are anemic, but don't have bad tone, and you can cover most of their deficiencies with careful knob-twiddling on the amps/pedals.

    I honestly can't believe that this guitar is not the most popular low-end guitar being sold right now. The value and fun-level are off the charts. If I were a parent, I wouldn't think twice about buying this for my kid. I only wish that I were 11 years old and getting one of these for a birthday!

    9 of 10 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Things I've done and figured out about this guitar ...

    • Written by from Manchester

    First, I really love this guitar but there are several things I did and had to figure out before it made me this happy ...

    All new guitars come from the factory playable but not yet adjusted to make them play or sound their best. This process is called the setup and you will want to do this or have it done to every new guitar.

    There are many videos on YouTube showing how to properly setup guitars but the most practical ones I found were by Frudua TV. These showed me how to make the fine tuning adjustments (and why!) myself with a minimum of tools and fuss and also a minimum of time.

    Not only did this show me how to adjust the truss rod, set the string action and intonation and to properly adjust the pickups but also how to setup the bridge as a truly floating bridge which still keeps the guitar in tune.

    Because I had literally no prior experience setting up guitars, it took me a full day to watch all of the videos, take notes and get it right but the results are much better than I'd hoped for. You could take this to a local music store and pay them $60 for a similar setup but why not do it yourself? The process is very straight forward. Check out the free YouTube videos and see for yourself.

    The guitar now plays like a dream and sounds amazing! It's a great electric guitar to learn on. It is also a lot of fun for more experienced players to jam with. And is one of the best ways that I've ever seen for recording your musical ideas (on your iPhone!) anywhere you go!

    Beyond setting up the guitar to make it play and sound great, you should know that the bottom knob on the front of the guitar which is marked, "Volume", controls the volume of the headphone jack and has no effect on the pickups, at all! Only the top know controls the volume from ALL of the pickups as is the tone controlled for all of them with a single tone control knob. The 5-way selector switch lets you select the combination of pickups you wish to use.

    Using the guitar with a Mac, iPhone or iPad is as easy as connecting the included cable (and possibly an Apple 30-pin to 5-pin adapter if you have one of the new Lightning connectors on your iOS device) AND connecting a set of headphones to the guitar.

    The other step is in GarageBand where you must change the default setting and turn ON monitoring!

    And don't forget to regulate the headphone volume with the bottom volume know on the front of the guitar!

    When used like this, you can select any of the GarageBand amp simulations and you will hear (and record), with no detectable lag or delay. It's perfect! No other method that I've used to record live guitar over simulated amps has worked this well!

    Laying down multiple guitar track along with various loops, couldn't be easier! What you hear over the headphones and what you play on the guitar blend together, perfectly.

    Finally, the guitar is really pretty, too. The paint finish looks great and the sound of the guitar, even without any amp is crisp and clean ... which is still critical to the sound that will be amplified.

    For $200, this was an amazing deal!

    I can't get over how far this technology has come! I started playing guitar back in the sixties. Back then, to do what I can now do with this guitar and my iPhone, would have required a multi-track recording studio costing more than the average home! What a bargain this is!

    And as Steve used to say, there is one more thing! I liked this Fender so much that when I went to buy an Amp, I first researched the Fender amps. What I found was the $99 Fender Mustang I which also uses USB to connect to my Mac! Check it out on the Fender website for more details. I only wish the AppleStore sold it, too!

    29 of 30 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Duh!

    • Written by from Harrisburg

    Love the USB Squier! Tips:

    1. You can't charge the iPad and play your USB Squier at the same time because the Squier and charger use the iPad dock.

    2. Remove the plastic from the pickups. You might want to leave the plastic covering on the pick guard. Just clean the guard when necessary.

    3. Plug in your Squier into your iPad first. Then start Grageband.

    4. If you get no sound in your headphones, 1) unplug the headphones from the iPad, 2) plug them back in, and, most importantly, 3) tap the chord input icon in Garageband to turn on the Monitor.

    I am not ashamed of my Squier. I have upcoming gigs where I'm using my iPad with Garageband with 113 original songs, USB Squier, Passport, and mic. Don't be scared to write your own material. Practice and more practice with your setup. Garageband and USB Squer allow you to be yourself and I don't need a stinkin band. I keep all the money, and sound better, and don't argue with anyone. I stàrted doing covers. No more. I hope I don't get signed. This is way too much fun.:)

    Good luck, all!

    14 of 17 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate

  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    NOT designed by Jony Ive!

    • Written by from Phoenix

    Nothing wrong with this guitar but the USB jack placement.

    I figured the other comments were just over stating the problem, I mean how big of a problem could it be? Well, it's a very big deal. I had to modify the brand new guitar by screwing a couple of screws around the USB jack just so it would not smash the end of the USB cable into the body of the guitar.

    The USB port is placed right on the round of the body meaning anytime you set it down or actually USE the guitar it will smash the jack into the port. The only way this could have been designed is if the engineers NEVER actually used the product ... not even once! Astoundingly poorly engineered!

    9 of 10 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate

  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Waste of money

    • Written by from kent

    Ordered and paid for shipping as it is never in stock at my local apple stores. I wanted decent guitar but bought this one based on good reviews and the fact that it was "all in one" and I planned on using it with Garage Band. This was not my first guitar so I know how to handle them. I gingerly took it out of the box, unwrapped it and plugged it in. For the first five minutes, I loved it. Then it started cutting out every ten strums or so and then every five and then it stopped working. I got about 10 minutes of careful, seated use out of it and now have to go through the hassle of refund or replacement for a product I have no faith in. Buy a real guitar and don't waste your time or money on this one. Shame on Apple, it's like they have stopped all QC. While I know they didn't make the product, they are the sole distributors and therefore should be responsible for inflicting this garbage on people.

    13 of 33 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate

  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Design Flaw - Do not buy

    • Written by from Moorestown

    I bought this guitar for my 13 year-old daughter. She broke both cords the first day. At first, I thought this was her fault but then I got a replacement cord and I broke it too. The mini USB is not sturdy enough to handle normal and careful use. I had just rested the bottom of the guitar against my hip and it bent. Bad bad design.

    12 of 25 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Kudos to Fender/Apple

    • Written by from Saskatoon

    My background...played since the late 70s. Currently own 6 guitars including my 25th Anniversary Strat that I acquired new in 79. The Squire Guitar is fantastic value for money. The frets are a bit (physically) sharp but really not bad (and just as good as my 79 when it was new). The pickups are decent. The setup is pretty good. The fit and finish is not bad at all. Plus the sound is good. For $200 you can't do any better, IMO.

    17 of 19 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate

  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Great guitar for the Price...

    • Written by from Brandon

    ...Been playing with this guitar for almost 2 months now and I am very pleased with it. No issues connecting with Garage Band in our Macbook Pro and iPhone 4 (sometimes running the Amplitube app with no problem). I also use this playing Rocksmith on PS3 without any hassle.

    It may not be the best guitar out there, but the fact that it simplifies everything is the reason I decided to have one!

    9 of 9 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    In Reply to Loren S

    • Written by from La Verne

    In reference to the comment regarding the use Urethane vs Lacquer, that's not actually true. Majority of products coming out of both the Corona and Mexico factory's whether Fender or Squier are A Nitro Lacquer finish, More so than Urethane finish.

    Just thought I would interject.

    5 of 6 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate

  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Cords junky...may have blown up my MacBook Pro

    • Written by from Matthews

    I received the Fender for Christmas and was very excited. I plugged it into my Macbook and was having a good time messing around with all of the different amp effects. I went away for the holiday and when I returned plugged the guitar back into my computer and started playing. Within 30 minutes, I found the connection cord going into the guitar looked loose and when I reached down to investigate there was a lot of feedback and my Macbook shut completely down. I am guessing the faulty cord caused a power surge through my computer which I will soon learn the fate of after I take it to the Apple store after Christmas.

    Either way, the quality of the cord is so low that I would not suggest buying this item with any hopes of plugging it into your Mac. It will probably be cheaper for me to guy buy a decent fender with an amp than it will be to replace what I fear to be a fried laptop. The Macbook was sooooo dependable and worry free that I cannot caution you enough before plugging these low grade cheaply manufactured cords into one.

    8 of 16 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate

  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Very good for a $200 Squier

    • Written by from Katy

    Plays well considering it is a Squier and not a high end Strat. The sunburst finish is beautiful, in my opinion. I am going to take it to a pro guitar tech and see if we can make some adjustments to the action, maybe upgrade the electronics and morph this into something just a little better. Worth $200? You bet it is.

    8 of 9 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Rock on!

    • Written by from Draper

    Fit and finish are good to excellent. The guitar is boxed very well and mine arrived in perfect condition. The neck on my Strat had a slight bow in it but one turn of the neck truss rod bolt later the neck was straight and true. By the way the Allen key to adjust the neck truss rod is included.

    Action is very good, plays like a more expensive Stratocaster.. The intonation on my Strat was right on. The whammie bar however is very basic and quite stiff.

    FYI, there is no manual included in the box for this guitar - only a very basic set up sheet. Also be warned that the white pick guard and the pickups have protective plastic covering them that will need to be removed.

    Pretty impressed with this guitar. For the price I was expecting much less. Now all I need is an old Fender tube amp!

    10 of 11 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Connectivity Help

    • Written by from Moncure

    To those having connectivity issues, there is a troubleshooting guide on Fender's website. Search for support/articles/troubleshooting-squier-strat-guitar-with-usb-and-ios-connectivity.

    And there's a slightly more detailed version of the graphic that comes in the box. Search for manuals/instruments/Squier_USBGuitar_WebManual_1.pdf.

    This is my first guitar, so I'm no expert, but I'm very pleased so far. The guitar looks good, stays in tune, works well with Garage Band.

    9 of 10 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    One Happy Customer

    • Written by from Scarborough

    The guitar arrived last week in perfect condition. The sound quality is great and I love the way it plays. I have an iRig that I have been using previously, but this is a nice improvement. Fender has done a quality job putting together the Squier at a price that's hard to beat. The connections make it easy to use with an iPad, iPhone or laptop. I love the variety of amps in GarageBand. Apple and Fender have really put together a winning product that will provide any guitar player, beginner or expert, hours of enjoyment.

    16 of 16 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Fender finishes

    • Written by from Austin

    To William, to clarify, I think you have the finishes confused.
    Nitrocellulose Lacquer is the high end finish...it's also not as strong. That's why it yellows and cracks. Most custom Fender consumers pay extra for the Nitro.
    Nitro was the standard in the 50's and 60's.

    Modern Fenders, especially Squires, are all Polyurethane, or bare.

    10 of 11 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate

  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Connectivity Issues

    • Written by from Port Moody

    Nice simple sounding concept and cool when it works but.......Sporadic connectivity w/iPad 2 and no joy as yet connecting with included cable to 27" iMac?.

    32 of 49 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate

  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    problem with headphone

    • Written by from PRATO

    The guitar is really beautiful. I cannot hear anything from the plug on the rear. Can I use one ipad/iphone/pc windows to amplify the sound without buying a program (or with one free)?

    18 of 36 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate

  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    bad placement of outputs

    • Written by from Englewood

    just got it and, so far plays good, looks good. my concern is with the placement of the headphone and USB output. it's only a matter of time before the strap wraps around the cord or, more likely, it gets put down on the end or bumped and the small plugs and/or inputs are damaged. it might be possible to baby the guitar in you own studio, but on a gig, and/or with others around, stuff happens.
    since this is what makes this model special, I'm surprised the designers allowed this set-up. the 2 outputs should probably be next to the analog output.
    to those at apple... since I'm apparently the first to point out this obvious flaw, when you get around to fixing this, I'd appreciate a free upgrade.

    85 of 122 people found this useful

    Was this useful?

    Flag as inappropriate