It was 1954 when Buddy Holly got hold of his first sunburst Stratocaster in Michigan, stamping the Stratocaster as the be-all-end-all of guitars.
Since then, countless would-be rock ‘n’ roll legends like Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, and Eric Clapton had the Stratocaster as their go-to guitar.
With the Stratocaster entering the mainstream and many girls and boys aspiring to own one, Fender established their Squier line of affordable Stratocasters.
The perfect starter ‘strat’ for aspiring rock stars.
This article reviews the latest Squier Affinity Series Stratocaster in our choice of Surf Green colorway with Laurel Fingerboard.
- Great starter guitar for students
- Unfinished C-shaped maple neck for hours of comfortable playing
- 91/2 radius fretboard great for bar chords
- Lightweight construction
- Sharp fret sprout
- May need some setup
Contents
Features of the Squier Affinity Stratocaster
Design
The Squier Affinity Stratocaster is a solid-body electric guitar made of alder in that Stratocaster shape many, and even you could copy.
It also comes with the iconic dual-cutaway body, the signature headstock, a little more prominent in the Affinity, and a three-pickup layout.
Its neck is pure unfinished maple with a modern “C” shape characterized by having a thin neck, usually a 9.5″ in radius, for easy and fast playability that gives a solid grasp on the hand.
The Affinity Stratocaster has a fingerboard made of Indian laurel — which is similar to rosewood though not as expensive, with twenty-one medium jumbo frets and period dot inlays that are easy for studying bending and bar chords.
This guitar features a more oversized headstock to support the tuners.
We pick the Affinity in the sleek Surf Green colorway, or as the people at Fender say, its million-dollar color, for it sells like crazy in this particular colorway.
Also Read: 10 best electric guitars review
Playability
The Affinity features the asymmetrical cutaway that most Stratocaster has, helping you reach higher notes easily.
It features a 25.5″ scale length, which affects how the guitar sounds, and in this case, the 25.5″ scale length caters to more contemporary music like metal.
The Indian laurel fretboard feels flawless on the fingertips, making the transition between notes on the fretboard smooth and without difficulty.
Some reported a sharper fret sprout on their Affinity, but that could easily be remedied using a bit of graphite and continuous play.
Pickups and Hardware
This electric guitar delivers that crisp, full-bodied sound and tone the Stratocaster is known for.
The Affinity is equipped with three standard single-coil Stratocaster pickups; one slanted pickup at the bridge, one at the neck, and one with a humbucker pickup at the bridge, giving you a full range of tones.
All three different pickups are giving you different tones and styles in playing the guitar.
The six-screw trim system of the string produces excellent sound.
The Affinity’s HSS pickup setup is controlled by two-tone hardware, one for individual tone control and one for master volume.
The HSS configuration gives it versatility; you can go from slow blues and heavy metal with no problem.
This electric guitar features a five-way pickup selector switch on the body that could quickly shift from one genre to another, making the Stratocaster adaptable to complement every music style.
Performance and Sound
Like all the Stratocasters, the Affinity has an expanded range of tones owing to it having three different pickups and five varied configurations to said pickups.
The Affinity sounds like a Stratocaster, yes, but the quality of tone can be very different.
The Squier, the more reasonable price of the Fender Stratocaster line, is manufactured in Asia to cut costs to create more affordable guitars but still of the highest quality possible.
This guitar is designed to be affordable, so some parts and components had to be changed, resulting in slightly lower sound quality from the original Stratocaster.
As a result, it generates a less smooth sound than the original, more hiss in transition.
For a beginner, it’s barely noticeable.
Averse to the Les Paul, this guitar can produce various great tones, but it shines with blues, country, funk, and softer rock.
For Affinity to be viable for a seasoned player, upgrading and fixing up the guitar to their desired modification could do the trick.
Pro tip: you can later swap pickups to get better sound comparable to the American Standard Fender.
You can put a humbucker in the bridge if you get a pickguard that allows you to do so.
That way, the tonal diversity of the guitar is doubled, and with the right humbucker, you can play hard rock and even metal with this guitar.
We recommend checking our guide on the best strat pickups here.
Construction
The Affinity feels a little lighter than the original Fender Stratocaster.
It might be due to the lighter wood used or the hardware being the lower-priced option to keep the guitar’s price lower.
On the other hand, it makes the guitar perfect for traveling.
Price
If you’re looking for an excellent guitar or bass for you, the Affinity Stratocaster meets all the criteria a beginner or a rockstar wants as a backup instrument.
It has the versatile pickups that can belt out guitar sounds that encompass genre, the thin shape of its neck for fast and comfortable finger transition, and a great value with a significantly lower price all in all.
Conclusion
- Great starter guitar for students
- Unfinished C-shaped maple neck for hours of comfortable playing
- 91/2 radius fretboard great for bar chords
- Lightweight construction
- Sharp fret sprout
- May need some setup
We can’t think of a better recommendation giving function, look, and affordability in one compact Stratocaster.
Impossible to tell without having the exact guitar in hand. Most brand-new guitars benefit from a few basic adjustments out of the box, and some may require some more diligent work to get them playing ideally.
Although to take this guitar to the next level, we suggest changing one thing — the tremolo bridge.
Everyone here would agree that most guitars benefit hugely from a good setup — with budget guitars especially.
With that said, it’s also an excellent edit guitar for aficionados looking for a great guitar to upgrade and modify.
This guitar may have the misconception of being just a beginner guitar for its low-price tag.
Still, Squier did its research, delivering all the best parts of a high-end Stratocaster to its more affordable little brother.
I have the Bullet SSS HT configuration, I give it a 5.0. The Squier tremolo is overrated in my opinion, I have one on an Affinity Strat and while it’s not a bad piece of hardware, it’s definitely no Floyd Rose tremolo for quality.
I have a hardtail strat by squier
All single coil pickups
Once it was setup its a surprisingly great guitar