Squire Sonic Stratocaster Electric Guitar, Black, Maple Fingerboard, White Pickguard

I bought this as an inexpensive platform to test different mods, setups and wiring experiments. I play lighter gauge strings than those on the guitar when it arrived. A string swap, truss rod and action adjustments, and intonation setup were stable and easy to do. The tuners initially were loose on the neck, but have not moved since being tightened. I re-decked the tremolo and guitar remains in tune during and between sessions. The neck and body appear and play as perfectly aligned. The frets were level but a couple were slightly rough at the bottom edge of the neck though they do not interfere with how I play- low action and no fret buzz. The pickups were better than I expected and it is easy to replicate classic Strat tones though a small tube amp. The thinner body is lighter than a standard strat and seems very lively with some sympathetic ringing from unplucked strings. This was in addition to some tremolo spring ring (which I damped with plastic tubing). If you do not expect the finish and feel of a $1000+ guitar, you will be more than satisfied. This is a real musical instrument, not a toy. Out of the box it is a better guitar than I learned to play on. An outstanding value for the price.

First off, this is a first day (unboxing) review, secondly this review is based on that fact that this is a $200 guitar, so expectations are with that in mind.. My 5 stars is for an overall great beginner guitar for an incredible price that showed up with only a couple of issues.. It came well packaged and despite UPS shipping from Chicago to Texas, it seems to in great shape, no issues with packaging etc You get the guitar (obviously), the Tremelo bar, an extra floating bridge spring, the two allen wrenches needed (for Truss rod adjustment and string saddle adjustment) and a generic Fender instruction/warranty sheet (that actually has some set up info on it).. No other accessories (cable, picks etc) are included. Condition of my guitar was pretty much perfect, in that there are no dents, scratches chips etc.. The finish on the body is wonderful,, Printing on the headstock is clean, and the metal (other than the strings is all clean and smooth. Knobs are all on straight, tuners are all lined up even etc.. One issue I had is the protective plastic on the pick guard was a pain to remove, as it was installed before the knobs and pickups were installed.. trying to remove it carefully resulted in stuck bits of plastic all around the edges of the pickups and knobs. The plastic stuck under the knobs was enough that it actually made the knobs not turn smoothly. I ended up popping the knobs off the shafts, and was able to remove the remaining plastic, allowing the knobs to turn smoothly. The pickups looked terrible with bits of plastic sticking out all around, but not far enough to get a hold of it, so I ended up adjusting the pickups all the way up (about 7 turns of each screw) and was able to get more plastic out from around the edges.. I then screwed them back down the same number of turns to get them set back to factory heights.. The only other thing I noticed is a slightly rough area on the neck (behind the 1st and 2nd frets), that I will take some super fine steel wool to, in order to get it as smooth as the rest of the neck, which is very smooth and has a matt finish. The strings are a bit tarnished, which is not unexpected for a guitar that has been shipped from Malaysia to the U.S.. You could take a rag with a little metal polish on it to clean them up, but I will probably just swap them out soon for a pair of Ernie Ball Super Slinky Strings.. Set up all seems pretty good, and was easy play with no issues. Neck relief is about spot on, but I will give it a week or two to acclimate to the weather here before doing any final checks and adjustments. String height is just a bit high but not bad, and there is no fret buzz with the current set up. Frets ends are all surprisingly smooth and really don't need any work. The Fret board is smooth, but looks fairly dry.. when I change strings I will polish the tops of the frets and give the wood a good coating of lemon oil. The "Floating Bridge" came Decked (meaning the bridge is sitting flat on the body of the guitar, and will only bend one way when using the Tremelo), but this is probably best for new players, as it helps to keep it in tune easier. The strings were out of tune, as to be expected, but tuned up just fine and seems to be holding tune fairly well (new strings will stretch for a while, so expect to tune it up quiet a bit when its new ). Overall impression (for a $200 guitar) is very good, If you want to know more about how this guitar sounds and compares to others, there are already many Youtube Reviews from music shops that got them early, so I will let you check them out to see what you think of the sound etc... I added a few photos showing the internals on this, in case someone was wondering what the electronics and body cavities cutouts look like..

Sound is good, it’s lightweight, and quality control seems okay, just had to tune it and it was good to go, however it feels somewhat cheaper/ more fragile than the counterfeits out there.

What a great starter guitar! Looks great and sounds pretty good. I did move to Ernie Ball strings immediately, so I didn’t really hear the stock strings. It works as it should, and has a nice feel.

I was going to be away from home for a while and needed an inexpensive, full-sized guitar for practice. I picked up the Squier Sonic Strat as I have several of its Fender big brothers at home. I was honestly pleasantly surprised by the quality of the instrument for the price. First, the frets and fret ends were very nice - period. Especially for a $200 guitar. The Trem is the vintage six-screw style and was decked out of the box - which again is good for a beginner. I didn't need to practice with the trem for what I was working on, and the set-up was reasonable out of the box with the trem decked, so I left it. The pickups are actually fairly nice as well. They're not noiseless by any stretch of the imagination, but they have good tone for this price range. Overall I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality and usability of the instrument. It's a perfect first guitar, and a very solid back-up guitar.

This guitar being this good, for this price, is insane! I have a 2012 fender American deluxe strat, that I originally paid $1850 for, brand new. Now a days, that same guitar is going for over $2500. Wanted this one, just to mess around with, & not be so nervous of banging it up. I had purchased it, thinking I was going to upgrade the pickups, the tuner heads, & a few other things, but it really doesn't need any of it. The setup, from the factory, is damn near perfect. I did lower the pickups a little bit, just because I don't like a very hot pickup. It sounds ALMOST as good as my fender. Missing a little bit of the overall brightness, but you truly can't complain for sub $200. I got the 2 tone sunburst, & while it's not the 3 tone sunburst of my original fender, it's still a beauty! I might go through, & darken up the fretboard, to give it more of that vintage vibe, but truly zero complaints. Stays in tune, plays great, neck feels great. No fret buzz, no sharp frets, everything is just spot on. If you're thinking of buying one, I'll tell you right now. Stop thinking, just buy it. You won't be disappointed one bit. Keep rockin 🤘🏻

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Absolutely Amazing! I couldn’t be happier with this product! From the moment I opened the package, I could tell it was high quality. It works exactly as described—actually, even better! Super easy to use, reliable, and well worth the price. Shipping was fast and the item arrived in perfect condition. I’ve already recommended it to friends and will definitely be buying again. Highly impressed!

I don't really know how to tell a good guitar from a bad guitar, but my son sounds SICK when he's playing this and he loves it!!