Cheap Squier Stratocasters are better when modified

** COMPETITION IS OVER - NO ONE GUESSED IT **

Congrats to Joao Saldanha (Jqo jsi) from Brazil who won this at random.

The colour was Manilla Green btw.

Some simple Squier mods to make it better than a standard Mexican Fender - there's no magic recipe but a good setup and some hardware improvements will go a very long way.

Also, don't mess up putting the tuners on if they're staggered, like I did! I was convinced they weren't a staggered set and didn't notice lol 😆

(He's very good, go check him out)

Shop around for the parts but while writing this I just found Gotoh locking tuners at an unbelievable price over at StewMac (I'll be ordering a set!):

The Dimarzio is a DP159 (standard spacing) I found this in a second hand music store in Vienna for 45 Euros (£38 / $48ish).

Fender bridge is a standard old MIM bridge - shop around on ebay you'll find these same ones or maybe even some with a bigger (better) block. I said £15 to £20 in the video but looking now and they seem a bit more expensive, I'd have sold that one for £15-20 though so SHOP AROUND!

Cheers everyone, good luck in the comp and watch out for scammers in the comments please!

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FULL TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR THE COMPETITION ON OUR WEBSITE, YOUTUBE HAS NO AFFILIATION WITH THIS COMPETITION, IT IS RUN SOLELY BY GIANT GUITARS.

[Giant_Guitars]

Loving all the guesses, keep them coming! Don't forget to watch out for scams in the comments, please don't fall for any 🙏

[SquirrelDarling]

I took my first, which is a Squire Affinity Strat and added a loaded Fender pick guard with noiseless pups and S-1 switching. Added a bone nut and Classic Vibe tuners. Plays and sounds really nice. Didn’t cost much because I had a lot of parts from other guitars.

[Giant_Guitars]

** COMPETITION IS OVER - NO ONE GUESSED IT **
Live stream to pick a random winner will be on 6th August 2023 - timings to be announced later..

[Giant_Guitars]

Update as per 30th July - no one has guessed correctly yet, the competition continues for now but please take a look at the community section and take a vote on how you'd like the competition to proceed. Don't worry though, someone will win no matter what! Thank you all for taking part so far, you're all great!

[davidstout]

Love what you did with this Squier! I like the simplicity of single pickup guitars.

My guess is Electric Orange!!

‘Tis a Ford colour which was on the cap that Tom had on in “The Pursuit of Tone”, is a fairly rare colour for guitars, is also a colour that Tom likes a lot, and I think it would look awesome on a guitar!!

[djprofessx]

My guess is Fiesta Red. It’s a beautiful finish that Ford used to frequent. Even if it’s not, I’m sure you picked out a very nice and flashy finish for the next project. Can’t wait to see it!

[Tondor]

Really nice video. My first guitar was a Mexican Squire, back when Fender still owed the line. The major difference between it and it's more expensive U.S. cousins were the single ply pick guard, the tuners and the pick-ups. Easy and cheap up-grades, so I basically had an entry level American Strat for about half the price. But no up-grade ever adds value, and selling and trading is a thing.

[geekinthegarden]

You can also route around in your shed/garage for old rusty screws and nails (the rust shows that they don’t have a galvanised coating) and use these instead of buying new steel wool. Some brands of steel wool have a coating on them to stop it rusting quickly, this inhibits the reaction with the vinegar and the production of Iron Acetate (the stuff that we want) so zapping it quickly with a blow torch will burn off that coating.
The Iron Acetate reacts with the tannins in the wood – so testing it on a different piece of wood won’t necessarily give an indication of how it will work on the fretboard, just if it will work in general. If left long enough for all the vinegar (I normally let it stand for a week or two) to be used up in the reaction then the solution shouldn’t be acidic, but it can be pretty strong (making pine look like rich mahogany) so it may be better watering it down and using multiple applications. The colour can take a while to develop so it’s a good idea to wait for a while between applying extra layers.
Because the harder part of the grain has more tannin than the softer part of the grain, this reacts more and darkens more – which is more natural and the opposite of what you usually get with stains as they soak more into the porous softer areas. If you have some wood with grain or flames it can make them stand out.

p.s. potassium permanganate (aka condys crystals) is another thing which will age and darken wood but quicker as it oxidises it directly rather than needing an in between chemical reaction.

[dinnervan-g]

So the way the ebonizing solution works is the iron acetate interacts with the tannins in the wood to turn black. Not all woods have a lot of tannins, so for a stronger black you can treat the wood with a strong tea first, and THEN the ebonizing mixture. And I'd say you're right to worry about the acids eating away the frets, if you do this again you can take the solution and gently mix baking soda/sodium bicarb into it until it stops fizzing. This neutralizes the acid. The acid is only needed to strip the iron from the steel wool, the solution you apply would ideally be PH neutral.

[not_willdowns]

Crazy how well preserved the body of this guitar was. I’m a huge fan of the EVH 10s strings. My guess is shell pink

[MatiasPerezHdz]

I'm going with British Racing Green, and Rosso Corsa (classic ferrari red) maybe too much of a classic color for that type of guitar, but lets go! Happy to watch your vids all the way from Mexico!

[TheSidelife]

Lovely work on the Squier, as always: the fretboard turned out to be really lovely.
I'll take a guess at the mistery colour too: Ocean Turquoise! Kind of a wild one, but simply amazing, in my opinion.
Keep going with this great videos!

[andrewmize]

I'll be frank, here--I'm not generally a person who loves Fender-style guitars. That being said, I own a Vintage Modified Telecaster II from Squier. The previous owner dropped a set of Lollar P-90's in there, popped in some locking tuners, and did a great job sanding and refinishing the neck. It might have been made in Indonesia, but with the upgrades I can honestly say it's one of the best sounding guitars I own.

[patriciolegett]

When you use iron acetate to darken your fretboard it's best to soak some strong tea into it beforehand. This increases the tannins in the wood, which in turn reacts better with the acetate.Using his method I've been able to turn a wishy-washy indian laurel fretboard into a more than passable imitation of good quality brazilian rosewood. I then applied one or two passes with high quality furniture wax; works a treat.

[baileyadmire]

Love the look of the squier! For the guitar, I would have to guess Sherwood Green. Love the look of that color on a guitar!

[AndiDautiTwo]

Being an automotive color I’d like to guess Miami blue. A color seen on Porsches and it’s very bright similar to graffiti yellow. But I’m also leaning toward a plum crazy purple which is another amazing color.

[Tehstroyer]

I want it to be Burgundy Mist Metallic, but something like Inca Silver would be more probable..

Also, cool mod. Although the off-white colors like parchment or mint were never my first choice for pickguards, but that's just a minor taste difference.

[savedaz]

My guess is Traffic Yellow thanks for the video

[dalj]

Moonstone Grey. If I win... I would like to give the guitar to a local busker that plays the guitar near you.

[yogisinsta]

That strat looks amazing! I think it would be funny if you took out the humbucker from the Tom Delong and turn it into a single coil 😆 anyways my guess for the guitar color is Alpine White 😊