When I started playing 5 years ago I bought myself a squier Strat starter pack. It was the HSS model with a humbucker. I have since upgraded my amp and bought a few pedals, but I am still using the strat and I havenât bought or even played any other electric guitar. Soon after buying the strat starter pack I did buy a Fender CC60S acoustic just to mess around with and to play songs more suited to acoustic guitar but I play the Strat 90% of the time.
So, I have two budget guitars and I have had no desire to buy another guitar⊠(Until recently that is)Iâve got to say that I was a little disappointed with the Fender acoustic when I got it but hey, it was cheap and itâs ok for messing around on.
The squier Strat on the other hand is a nice guitar to play and I do enjoy playing it. If I were still just playing at home for my own enjoyment I wouldnât even be thinking of upgrading but I have been playing in a band for some time now and hearing the other two guitarists playing has made me realise the difference between my guitar and a higher quality guitar.
One of the other guitarists has a USA fender strat, the other uses a guitar that he built himself using good quality parts including fender pickups. Itâs worth pointing out that all three of us are using identical Boss Katana 50 amps, but they can get much better tones than I can get using my Squier, crisper, clearer. Mine sounds âmuddyâ by comparison, so I have come to the conclusion that this is the main difference between a budget guitar and a higher priced one.
So⊠I will be looking to upgrade to something else soon but I wonât be splashing out on a USA fender or a Gibson. I think a Mexican Tele might be a good upgrade for me without breaking the bank so I might go for something like that.
Change the pick-ups. The guitar itâs self has very little to do with tone on electric guitars. Technique then electronics has the biggest influence.
Have the other guitar player see what tone they can get out of yours.
I agree with what @stitch said. I changed the pickups in my affinity tele because the ceramic pickups were muddy. I didnât spend much. I bought Toneriders for about 70$. It made quite a big difference for not a lot of money. So if your Squier has a nice neck and you like the feel of it, thatâs a less expensive way to go.
Many thanks @Prof_Thunder and @stitch . I have considered the option of changing the pick ups on my Strat instead of buying another guitar but again itâs a minefield. A set of replacement pick ups can cost as much as a guitar and I want to be certain that the pick ups that I buy ( if I were to take that option) will impove the tone of my strat. I think a bit of research is in order before I decide.
@laser_171825 You are certainly right that there are so many pickups on the market that itâs difficult to know what to get and the prices range enormously to the point where a set of 3 for a Strat could cost a lot more than your Squier. But there are a few low cost pickup brands that could still possibly improve your tone. Tonerider is one of those brands but there are others that apparently are good but quite cheap. Another is Bootstrap, which some people say are good. However, itâs all very subjective too.
It also depends on what Squier model you have. If itâs a classic vibe then you would probably have to spend quite a bit of money to get better pickups. However, if itâs a Sonic, Bullet or Affinity then the cost of the pickups installed by Squier must be very low judging by the price if those guitars.
It would be worthwhile see what sort of sounds your friends can get from your Strat compared to theirs and the sound you can get from one of their guitars. That might give you an idea whether they just sound better because they can play really well.
Yup. I have a made in USA Fender Strat. My son has a made in Japan Strat. I thought his sounded better than mine when he played it. Then we swapped guitars and mine âmagicallyâ sounded better than his.
@laser_171825 Malcolm, I think your observation has spawned a different topic, focused more on the upgrading of pickups to improve tone vs the acquiring of a new guitar.
Hope you wonât object to my creating a new topic with your original and the related replies
There can be too much capacitance on your pickups from a few things. one could be your cable. I think too much capacitance is not likely the problem.
You can control mud quite a lot by lowering the bass before the amp and then boosting it in the amp or by using some kind of EQ control in the effects loop.
I have a super cheap kit strat. The pickups donât sound muddy unless I set up my chain poorly. When I am playing alone, I understand that I will want more bass than if I were in a band and Iâd need to adjust accordingly.
I suggest looking at your EQ arrangement and seeing if you can do what you want without finding a piece of gear to add or altering your current gear since it may not be the solution.
No problem at all. In fact I was thinking the same and had intended to create a separate thread anyway but I guess youâve now done that for me, thanks
Have you asked any of them to play your guitar? You can hear quite often that tone is in the hands, but only because itâs true to a big extent. As I became better as a player the same presets suddenly started to sound good while before I didnât like them.
Also you probably should ask about their amp settings (EQ, effects etc.), it can make a big difference.
If you want to get a new more expensive guitar, then itâs one thing. If you donât, then Iâm sure there are ways to make yours sound as you want it to sound, especially with a modelling amp.
Thanks everyone for your feedback. A few further observations to answer some of your questions.
My Strat is a Squier Affinity HSS. The whole starter pack complete with a Fender frontman amp and cable cost me just ÂŁ240 5 years ago so yes, the pick ups wonât be good quality in a guitar of that price.
Yes, I have tried playing around with the height of my pick ups but that doesnât seem to make a noticeable ( to me anyway) difference in my tone.
No, I havenât asked the other guitar players in the band to play my guitar( will do so at our next practice session) but I did ask the one with the guitar he made himself to plug into my amp after a practice session, my cable and without changing the settings on my amp from those I was using and still his tone was much better than mine. So that narrows the issue down to either my guitar and/or my playing ability. I will readily concede that he is a much better/ more experienced guitar player than myself but I doubt that is the issue as even by strumming a simple open chord you can tell the difference in our tones.
I normally play with the tone and volume controls on my guitar cranked all the way up ( although I sometimes adjust my guitar volume to suit certain songs) . I mostly use the settings on the amplifier to adjust my sound.
With the boss katana you can download tones from the boss tone exchange which I have done. One of the other guitar players in the band has even shared some of his tones with me but again I canât get those tones to sound anything like he can.
A couple of years back I looked into changing pickups on my Squier. Ultimately decided against it, though.
Electrically it didnât look that complicated, but the unknown of what tone Iâd get at the end of the day vs just testing and playing other guitars was what made me not go the mod route. Plus the name brand pickups cost as much as the Squier.
Have you tried playing somebody elses guitar on your amp?
btw, donât overestimate the effect changing pickups.
I had a MiM strat and changed the pickups to Bare Knuckle Irish Tours.
There was a noticeable improvement in clarity and most of all, a hotter signal (higher output).
The improvement wasnât dramatic though.
Playing on those guys guitars will say a lot though.
If you notice the difference right away, it could be a matter of clarity as well
before changing pickups,
Why not check the option for a âcap modâ?
itâs one of the cheapest and easiest upgrades you can do. It all depends on where and how you place the cap.
some suggestions on mods that are cheaper than high end pickup sets.
Add a small treble bleed circuit (cap or cap+resistor) between the input and output of the volume pot
Install a no-load tone pot
When set to â10,â it completely removes the tone cap and pot from the circuit for full brightness of pickup
swap tone cap->
0.022”F â a bit brighter, more subtle tone roll-off.
0.015”F or even 0.01”F â much brighter, more âhi-fiâ feel, more presence even with tone knob down.
could be pots in general:
cheap pots migth go even lower than the âstandard 250kâ, darkening the tone.
Are you all using the same gauge of strings? Comparing the guitars would be pointless IMO if they are fitted with different gauge strings. Thicker strings = more metal to induce a magnetic field in the pickup coil = more volume, which will create a different âtoneâ.
You shoud experiment and figure out how to adjust volume and tone on the guitar to get different sounds. It might solve some of your problems. Your âsoundâ depends on the controls of the guitar just as much as on your amp settings.
You should be able to get decent/passable tone on the neck pickup of a squire strat. Donât dime the volume or tone, hold back about 3/4 of the way. Add some slapback delay to fatten up the tone a bit. You should be able to dial in something that is fairly buttery for blues and most rock. A cleanish Fender tone setting on the amp should work well. I canât speak to the level of âgrist and growlâ on the bridge pickup, if thatâs what you are after.
Interesting reading, and topic youâve brought up here. Iâve been playing almost 5 years as well, mainly in an amp sim environment, so a bit different to your situation in some ways.
Thereâs alot I havent experienced, but the 2 biggest factors on tone that Iâve found are, one technical, and two, technique.
Speaker Cab IR selection
Pick Depth
1, above is probably not that relevant to you; but 2, perhaps very much so. I know it was a significant turning point for me a couple of years back. When I âshallowed upâ my default picking depth, my articulation, touch, tone, dynamic range etc all improved dramatically in a few months.
There are a ton of small very cool mod kits you can get from different manufacturers, changing your configuration and how the pickups mix you could even add a push pull switch, maybe someone said that already. Plus you will learn a ton doing it. If you look down through this forums there is a bunch of people who have done similar types of things. Including full full loaded pickguard swap outs. I would for sure look at some of these confugurations. They are a lot of fun to do.
Certainly the last few comments are important to consider as well, before dropping cash lots of things can affect tone.
Things like a little slapback and even picking technique.
If you do electronics mods. Make use of that video camera on your phone to make it scientific so you can remember how things sound. I didnât do that the first time I was modding. I learned a lesson to always record my tests after that. My ear never remembers well enough especially if I need to walk away for an afternoon.
