Reviews for Squier by Fender® USB Stratocaster Guitar

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

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!

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!

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.

...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!

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.

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!

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.

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?.