Absolute beginner's buying experience with the Squier Bullet Mustang HH

Gear & Tools Talk 🎸 Guitars, Instruments & Maintenance
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Hi everyone!

I’m only on week 2 of my guitar journey but I thought I’d post my perspective on buying this guitar. For me, I just wanted something cheap just in case I fell off of playing, but also something good enough to get me through my first year (hopefully) of playing guitar (I’m sure a lot of people have the same thought).

This guitar was on sale ($150 which I think is a good price for it) so I looked at dozens of review which mostly raved at the value. I also watched a couple of videos of what seem to me like really good guitarist playing it. To my untrained ears it sounded amazing! So I purchased it online.

My local guitar center did not have one of these so I had to get it shipped. My understanding is that if you purchase a guitar from a physical Guitar Center store is that they will set it up for you (make sure everything is at factory spec). Since I ordered online I did get this done.

When it came it looked great but the strings, frets and the fret board had some issues. For one, the strings could stay in tune for very long at all and didn’t sound great (again untrained ears, but it just didn’t feel right). Second, the frets had what felt like some gunk on it and weren’t very smooth. Finally, the fret board looked unhealthy? If that makes sense. Almost had an ashy dusty look to it.

Below is a pic that hopefully shows you what I mean:

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So I scoured the internet for some recommendations on what to do and I ended buying some fret polishing cloths, fret board polish, and new strings based on some videos I saw. After some work I think the guitar looked a million times better than before the change.

Here’s the after:

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Still some imperfections but I thought it had a much healthier look to it.

Overall after a couple weeks of playing, I’m really happy with it! I’m not even mad I had to polish the frets and oil the fret board. Honestly, doing that stuff kind of felt like bonding with the guitar so no complaints there. I’m sure I’ll get another one once I know more about what to look for and what I want in a guitar, but I would highly recommend to another beginner like my self.

One last pic:

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2 Likes
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Hi Alexis good to hear you spent some bonding time with your new guitar. It look great.
To keep your guitar clean and healthy just wipe it down with a dry cotton cloth after playing.
An old cotton T’shirt works.
Putting to much oil/polish or anything else on a fret board can attract dirt and cause gunk
to build up on it.

It is very common for a new guitars to need a set up and some love.
Did you order it through GC? Your statement is unclear if you ordered it through CG online
and had a set up or you order it online from someone else and never got a set up done.

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Thanks for the advice! I ordered it from GC online since it wasn’t in stock at my local GC. I did not get it set up since it was delivered straight to me in the box. I just polished the frets, oiled the board, and changed the strings my self. Hope that answered your question.

1 Like
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You sound reasonably handy to do that off the bat, so you may want to look up basic guitar setup (stew Mac has good videos).

On an electric, action, truss rod and intonation aren’t that difficult and aside from nut issues, you ought to be able to set up reasonably or at least check the set up reasonably yourself.