Lesson learned is, inspect the neck. Look at the wood grain. Are the lines nice and even? Do any of them bend up or down anywhere on the neck or are not really even in width? If the wood grain lines are nice and even all throughout the neck chances are your neck is fine. If they are all over the place near the nut, as is the case with my squier mustang, than chances are it will warp.
My neck warped really bad. To the point that i have had to put this course on hold. It is not fun playing a bad guitar. On a snark tuner the best i can get with an in tune G string is an A note with 10 green lines. IT just sounds bad. I am constantly having to mess with tuning. The guitar wont stay in tune either. It is a short scale due to my pinky which is broken.
I did not disappear. I did not stop. I am still here lurking in the background. But for lessons i have had to scale back. I just struggle on learning songs instead no matter how many cats are howling out of my fingers. I learned fingerpicking Landslide. That was fun.
So i will need to buy a new guitar as that one i have is not doing it. Besides that, the action is way too high for my liking and i got it as low as i can. One positive i can take with me from this is i have learned a heck of a lot about setting up your guitar. I found high frets and low frets. Not gonna sand them down. But the fret rocker is rocking. I used the trussrod to get some relief going. I used the bridge screws to lower action. I learned how to set the proper intonation by using the screws.
At least i can take something positive with me from this bad purchase. I was also not expecting a whole heck of a lot of a 150 pound guitar. Some people get good squiers. I picked a bad one.
Sorry to hear about your bad experience. You are right that learning how to adjust your neck and other guitar set-up skills are a valuable takeaway.
One suggestion for your next guitar: Buy from a dealer like Sweetwater that inspects and checks the set-up on every guitar they sell. It may cost a bit more than buying from Amazon or the like, but I think it’s worth it.
If you bought it new reasonably recently, go get it replaced at the shop. Squiers are not bad guitars, they’re made by fender. Sure they’re made in China and the pickups are cheaper but they should stay in tune and not be warped.
wood is a natural product… can’t really predict if or how it will warp… that’s why they usually age the wood used to make guitars. If you bought it new check if Fender will do something about it or maybe the place you bought it at. maybe ask a luthier about it too somethings can be fixed.
If you bought it new, it should be covered by a 2-year warranty. Contact the place you bought it, they should be able to help you out with getting a warranty repair / exchange.
If you bought it used, see if you can find a local luthier to replace the neck for you or order a replacement neck from Warmoth or Reverb and swap it yourself. It’ll cost you, but you could end up with an awesome neck and an awesome partscaster.
Here’s the thing. It is a 150 pound Squier mustang. 150 pounds. I cant justify sinking any more money into this thing with the possibility that my next issue could be a bad neck pocket.
Not going to risk it when i could use that money on a new guitar.
I will keep my eye out for a cheaper neck in the long term but even those run into 130 pounds at online retailers such as northwest or warmoth. This is nearly the price of the guitar itself. If i were going to do that i might as well buy another squier and hope i have better luck.
My best bet is to buy a new guitar at a shop again. Andertons does a rudimentary setup. Sweetwater, which is in the US, is not an option with the cost of import duty being the main factor.
I have taken some positives with me from this and learned some cool stuff and its not all bad since all these lessons only cost me 150 pounds. I now know what to look for in a neck at least and i know how to do my own setups. Ive got tools now and dont need to send it off to get it done.
I have the same guitar as you and, out of the box, it was setup pretty well I think. I tweaked the neck relief a smidge and had to intonate one string, but that was all it needed really.
FYI, I ordered mine from GAK for £119 including next day delivery and I think the blue version was a tenner cheaper.
Honestly, I think you just got unlucky. I read a ton of reviews before buying and nearly all were positive.
Sorry to hear you’ve got a bad one @pinkyisbroken. I recently bought a LAG Tramontane acoustic from a local guitar store and they provide a ‘check up’ after 6 weeks. The staff in the shop are all total guitar nerds (that’s all they sell - just guitars). Initially when they first stocked LAG guitars they took one apart to look at the workmanship and promptly sent them all back to the supplier - a few years on things have massively improved with the manufacturing and they rave over them - not the most expensive instrument in the shop but good mid range option. Hope you get sorted.
(that’s all they sell - just guitars). Initially when they first stocked LAG guitars they took one apart to look at the workmanship and promptly sent them all back to the supplier - a few years on things have massively improved with the manufacturing and they rave over them - not the most expensive instrument in the shop but good mid range option. Hope you get sorted.