Squier Bullet Hardtail Stratocaster in Fiesta Red review

Squier Bullet Hardtail Stratocaster in Fiesta Red review

Squier Bullet Hardtail Stratocaster in Fiesta Red

Question: Why have I just bought this guitar? 

The simple answer is I have designed a trem system and need a base to put it into. This looked the part, although it has a 40mm instead of 45mm thick body that shouldn't matter, its the design principle I want to prove.

I've had a lot of Squier guitars over the years and most have been pretty good. So I was interested to see what the bottom of the range Bullet was like. I have a 2007 Pink bullet with trem and that is a nice player too. This guitar was used, from Ebay but essentially like new. I have owned Pre-CBS and Custom Shop guitars so guess what? This guitar holds its own.

Out of the box

The first impressions were that the guitar was on Fender strings, the neck relief was a bit out, the intonation was out on a few strings, string height at first fret was too high and the unplugged sound was fair. It wasn't easily playable. It had that 'music shop setup.' Plugged in it sounded acceptable but I realised it needed some adjustment.

It wouldn't buzz, but it was hard work to play. Not good for a starter guitar.

Finish was faultless and for a guitar of this ticket price, outstanding. The Fiesta Red was more toward a darker than normal 'Fiesta' but good for any budding Hank Marvin or Knopfler.

The neck has a matt, satin finish which almost feels like bare wood. The neck profile is like a Pre-CBS and with a 9.5 radius is easy on the hand. Nice grain on the neck too.

Frets were nicely finished and ends filled to prevent protrusion and the ends were filed off well.

Hardware is budget, but you get what you pay for at this level. Acceptable though.

The body is the 40mm thick type and the contours are well cut, like a pre-CBS I won and also on the Affinity,  especially where the sloped cut for your arm to rest on, here the wood  is about as thin as a pre-CBS where it contours out to the thinnest point. The body is comfortable. It is Basswood and quite resonant.

Plugged in it sounded nice but I could see that it could sound and play better.

Set up: Needed.

I admittedly bought this used, so what this was like new, I don't know. I suspect it was bought on-line and just visually checked and shipped. I don't think the previous owner had played it much, looking at the condition.

Received like this the guitar was playable but hard, and for a beginner or child might be off-putting. On the plus sound, the guitar resonated well unplugged.

First up was a good dose of D'addario  fingerboard oil for the fretboard, which was about as dry as a Spinster's cupboard. This revived it and the grain of the fretboard wood looks nice and now feels much better.

A change of strings from the factory Fender ones ( I find Fender strings higher tension) to a set of D'addario 9-42's improved matters -  I use D'addario strings on all my guitars pretty much. Next a check of the neck and a slight adjustment to flatten the neck relief and all was well there.

I did the intonation and a few of the strings were out but soon adjusted to 'normal.' The string saddles were done and set correctly for height. Next a go at the nut, a Tusq type one is fitted and a bit of work was needed there, I did a setup here and then test played it.

Now it is improved:

Yes, it plays well now, the pickups sound good and for a guitar on this budget level it is nice. Considering the cost factors if I'd had this guitar 40 years ago set up, it would have made playing easier. I'd take it out to play live.

The sound and playability were improved with a few minutes worth of work.

Its a good basic guitar and the deletion of the tremolo means it can be made cheaper with less machine work required. 

I owned a 1975 hardtail and in comparison that was heavy, cumbersome and this guitar set up, is better than that.

If you want to buy this as a first guitar, I'd advise having the strings changed and a basic set up, this should take at most half an hour and any music shop that will look after you like this is worth knowing. Strings may have been on the guitar for sometime in storage. 

I like the D'addario strings, they have less tension, stay in tune and sound better longer, I've been using them for 30 plus years and never had any bad ones. 

The ideal 'office' guitar and for those band jobs where you may want an occasional electric.

Out of 10 all things considered a 10/10. Given that yours may need slight adjusting, this is normal for any new guitar. 

Its a budget guitar but you can make it sound and play really well. 

The routing is not 'swimming pool' so gives better sustain

Apart from the lack of Trem on a hardtail, its not much different

The Squier 'Mini' 3/4 size guitar -which may have led to the development 

of the Bullet Hardtail full-size option Stratocaster

Dartford's Fiesta Red Cellulose 400ml aerosol guitar paint from Rothko and Frost review

Using Dartford's Cellulose paints on my Fiesta Red Stratocaster project guitar

Bare bones of the Hank Marvin Stratocaster project - 

Mexican Std 2018 neck, locking Tuners for the neck and 

Kinman Impersonator pickups for the 'engine.'

For this project, I started with a bare wood Hosco Vintage pattern Stratocaster Alder body with the intention of finishing it with Cellulose guitar paints from Rothko and Frost's Dartford's product range.

The guitar body was carefully sanded down and I used Dartford's White sanding sealer 400ml aerosol as the base coat.

White sanding sealer

Fender use a grain sealer on their guitars which is sprayed on and does what the name implies, fills any irregularities of the wood. Most bodies are sanded well and I used a very light fine paper flour grade type to get a final finish. 

The Hosco body with White Sanding Sealer Primer applied, ready for top coat

The Hosco bodies are very well made and finishing before spraying is negligible. 

Application

I found with the sanding sealer that it seems to get 'sucked in' to the wood on the initial coat. I sprayed a tack coat on and watched it almost disappear and the wood 'fuzz' up in places where little strands stood up. But not to worry....

I simply waited until the coat had dried and they broke off. I ensured that they would not cause any visual defects and applied a few more coats of the sealer, allowing it to do it's job of filling and sealing.

Left to dry for a few days, I then set about carefully rubbing down with 1200 grade wet and dry paper. I used water with a few droplets of washing up liquid as this stops the paper clogging. 

The filler part does clog the paper, so you need to rinse the paper and remove the wet slurry from the guitar surfaces and wipe with wet kitchen paper. Once the rubbing down was done, I wiped over with clean running water and dried the body. The body was washed again before the top coat and thoroughly dried. 

Hycote Filler primer -  extra step

I decided to use Hycote Filler primer from a 400ml aerosol as an intermediate paint layer as it works with both Cellulose and Acrylic paints and provides a strong white blocking colour base. As I was going onto what had been a bare wood body, I know that paints can sink and these Acrylics tend to work well, it may not have been necessary to use this, but I wanted a really sound finish. In time the paint may sink as Cellulose is prone to do.

First Fiesta red top coat applied - 

it looks redder than it really is due to the lighting.

Dartford's Cellulose 400ml Fiesta Red top coat

I was very pleased with the colour match on this paint, it looks very much like the original Pre-CBS colour I found inside a 1961 Stratocaster trem route which I had the colour copied.

The white primer rubbed down, I decided to go for the final coat stage. The Fiesta Red went on well, I sprayed a 'dust coat' over to see how the paint would go on to the body for speed of the paint from the can and covered the guitar over, applying a thicker coat over this and leaving it to dry.

Fiesta Red top coat applied 

The next coats were done close together, allowing the paint to almost dry. They weren't thick coats but enough to give good coverage. The remainders would be done the next day if the weather was good and after a careful light rub down.

The paint flowed out well, there was a slight 'orange peel' effect on the surface but this was pretty much gone as the paint relaxed as it dried out.

Fiesta Red top coat in the workshop as sprayed -

it worked well, glossy from the can

Fiesta Red top coat might look 'pink' -

but in daylight to the eye it looks the right shade.

Overall findings

The paint was the right shade and went on easily. I've sprayed a lot of paints from spray guns and cans and this was easy to use. The coverage was good and you might want 2 cans to do a guitar depending on how thick the finish is to be.

I got a shine from the can and after a day or so, it flowed out as it dried and any slight orange peel was lost almost entirely.

Building up the guitar

The paint did create quite a bit of dust which means that it contains a lot of paint solids and isn't just thinned out leanly, which is why it is not cheap to buy. 

Fixed a solder wiring joint problem and it sounds great

I let the paint harden off for around a week, cut it back carefully with Farecla G3 compound by hand and then assembled the guitar up as you can see.

I've now completed the guitar and it sounds and plays nicely. 

**Please note that Dartford's have now made their 400ml colour paints a thicker mix and these give better coverage. I have sprayed a Stratocaster body and it looks great even though it hasn't been polished yet.**