Stratocaster Shootout: Squire Classic Vibe Stratocaster vs. Tease ST-1 (Part 2) Feel & Playability

In this budget guitar comparison video, we compare the feel & playability of the $429 Squire Classic Vibe Stratocaster & and the $145 Tease ST-1. Is it unfair to compare them? I'll let you decide. Let me know in the comments what you think the differences are and what might matter most to you. Rock on! #Squire #fender #fendersquier #teaseguitars #budgetguitar

Note: I will post under the hood videos of both guitars in the days ahead. Spoiler alert the Tease SPR has a swimming pool route thus the name SPR and the Squire also has a fairly robust route as well for pickup upgrades.

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Playlists and journeys:

Budget Gear

FireFly FFTL Relic Telecaster

Fojill FTL-60 Telecaster

Fojill FTL-20 Telecaster ($89 Amazon Guitar)

DEMUSEA (DTL-30) Telecaster ($79 Amazon Guitar)

Project Work – Demusea (DTL-30)

Fesley (DIY Kit Guitar) Deluxe Edition ($129)

Tease Guitars

Refinishing Project (Fesley DIY Kit Guitar)

Starting Over - Refinishing Project (Fesley DIY Kit)

Completed Projects

Guitar builds, maintenance, and tips

Should you buy a budget guitar? Is it worth it?

Harley Benton Stories

Westcreek Racer Stories

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Wherever you are on your guitar journey, I hope it’s a good ride for you.
Rock on with your bad selves.
I’ll catch you down the road.

[oneanother]

The fender/squire brand has been around for a long time. Even though squire is more considered budget, they retain a lot of resale value for decades. These budget brands do offer a lot of bang for the buck these days in terms of features per price. Squire classic may cost a bit more to manufacture than other budget brands, I'm assuming most are happy with them from all these comments I see. That's why I went with a used classic vibe 60s.

I do like what the tease offers for the price, and having the customer service is reassuring with them. I saw a b-stock model with a Floyd rose on there, looks like a really good deal. And they offer an original Floyd rose for a little extra. Not bad at all, which is why I'm definitely buying it. I haven't seen any other budget strat style guitar with a Floyd rose. Well squire has one, for way more money.

[TonJager]

Well done, sir! It's been decades since I paid more than $200 on a guitar (I bought a Fender Prodigy in '92 for ~$500 - in Lawrence, KS!). I really disliked playing that guitar and didn't play for years because of it. I wish Tease had been around then. Budget guitars have come a long way, but these are setting a new bar. Cheers, brother, thanks for sharing!

[stevenbullock]

Great job on the comparison, Ted. Thank you. Surprised at the weight discrepancy- I don't have a scale, but I would guess my Tease and CV are pretty close in weight. The main reason I bought the CV is I always wanted a white blonde Fender Strat with the gloss neck, and the Squier was the affordable route. The smooth neck and stainless frets on the Tease are nice.

[WickedFesterBand]

My Classic Vibe Telecaster is heavy, but it’s the Black Guard (50’s) so it is made of pine. I turn 64 in a week so I like light more and more. I think most of my Strats range 7 - 8 pounds but they all definitely have different weights. Oh, frets? Fret erasers but 0000 steel wool works great if you protect your pickups. Scratch remover car polish to finish them off. I found I can get them good by hand. The dremel scares me cause you do not want to heat up your frets.

[j-man]

I polish my frets using sanding sponges moving across the fretboard in the direction the string would move when bending. If tooling marks are minimal, I start with 800 grit and work my way up to 2500 grit and then I finish with 0000 steel wool! I do the same with frets that have heavy tooling marks but I start with 500 grit then work my way up to the Steel wool like I described above.
I'm sure the Squire is good, but bottom line if it didn't say fender on the head stock it would not be 439$ 🤔
So my question is by how much does the Fender sticker inflate the price?

[plentyobass]

It seems you have discovered the law of diminishing returns. Here are some quick vids showing how this is relevant to guitars.