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

Fender Custom Shop 56 NOS & 56 'Hank Marvin' 22 fret neck Custom shop guitars review

Fender Custom Shop 56 NOS & 56 'Hank Marvin' 22 fret neck Custom shop guitars

Overview

We're looking at two Fender Custom Shop 56 Stratocasters today, both are NOS 'New Old Stock' finish and Fiesta Red coloured.

The top guitar in the picture is a 'Standard 56' for the purposes of this review, the lower one is a 'Hank Marvin' style stratocaster- a guitar based on the guitars built for Hank Marvin, lead guitarist with the Shadows, Cliff Richard and the Shadows and a solo artist in his own right in the 1990's by the Fender Custom shop.

The classic look of the 56 NOS Custom Shop Stratocaster in Fiesta Red

56 NOS Guitar

This example is a 2015 Team built guitar and is finished in Nitro cellulose Fiesta Red, in a more red shade than the usual more pinky tone, often referred to as 'Coral Red.'

The Neck is finished in a clear coat cellulose lacquer and the whole guitar feels very resonant.

The body is Alder, 3 piece and has vintage contouring. As this is a custom shop guitar, the body contours are cut more deeply than on many lesser priced models. The body is to the well known 'vintage' dimensions, routed for 3 single coil vintage pickups and for a 6 screw tremolo bridge. 

The one piece 21 fret vintage profile Birdseye 2AA Maple neck is nicely shaped, more of a D shape than a C and is quite full. The radius is 9.5" which is an improvement over the vintage radius and playing is easier with no note choking.

The neck is quite deep, which may be an issue for some with smaller fingers or used to the later C shape neck, which I tend to prefer. The frets are quite chunky and not the 'vintage wire' type which some may wish to change.

Hardware is Gold plated Fender with Fender stamped Kluson design machine heads at the headstock, butterfly wing string post for the E and B strings (which could be a round type if strictly a 56 replica), gold screws and vintage 6 stamped saddle 6 screw tremolo bridge.

Electric hardware is old style push back cloth covered wiring, full size 250k potentiometers and a 3 way pickup switch. This is a real step backwards, a complete waste of time as most players will change to an Oak 5 way at the earliest time. As they have changed the neck radius then why not logically, install the 5 way switch at the time of build? 

About the first thing anyone is going to do is to replace the archaic 3 way switch! -

like I'm doing in this photo. Fender Custom Shop - please take note -

don't waste time buying and fitting a 3 way switch here. Fit a 5 way, from the outset!

Pickups are the new Custom Shop 54's and they sound very nice, when you fit the 5 way and can slot into the in between sounds, they really sound nice for those 'Mid position' tones, which it is more difficult to get by 'balancing' a 3 way switch 'out of phase'. 

The scratch plate is the 50's single ply white type in brilliant white, the other plastic parts such as pickup covers, back plate, trem tip and pot knobs are also in 'new' white and not the 'aged' white. So essentially, the guitar looks like you just unpacked it.

Many who buy the 56 NOS in Fiesta Red are trying to have a guitar like the one that British guitarist Hank Marvin first used in 1959, bought for him by bandleader Cliff Richard. Although this guitar has a C shape neck.

56 NOS 'Hank Marvin' 22 fret neck NOS Stratocaster in Fiesta Red

The 56 NOS 'Hank Marvin' 22 fret Custom Shop Stratocaster

Overview

The 22 fret guitar came about as a result of British guitarist Hank Marvin's signature model Stratocasters. The first ones made in the 1990s with Lace pickups Hank wasn't that happy with, lower priced signature models were the Squier Japan and Fender Japan 'vintage reissue' guitars, the Squier having a c shape neck and the Japan Fender a completely incorrect V shape neck.

Both these signature models were limited run of 500 pieces and are collectible in their own right these days. A short run of 250 Mexican made signature guitars had the correct C shape neck.

A custom shop run of 54 '1959' replications of Hank Marvin's original Stratocaster was made for Oasis Music of Ringwood, Hampshire, these featured the 1958 C shape neck.

When Hank Marvin embarked on solo tours with his backing band in the 1990s, Fender again became involved in building him a signature guitar. By this time, Hank was in contact with Chris Kinman who was building his Kinman pickups, initially for Stratocaster guitars.

Hank became an endorsee of the pickups for a few years and had them installed on his new custom shop guitars with a Di-Marzio pickup in the bridge position.

Hank was seen in photographs sporting his 'new' Stratocaster, these were almost an 'upgrade' to the vintage pre-CBS (1958) guitar he had been using in the later Shadows up until 1990. The 'new' 90's guitar had a vintage single coil routed body, Birdseye Maple neck, Truss rod adjuster at the Nut end, Sperzl locking machines and Kinman pickups fitted. The 12th fret dots on the fretboard were also closer together in the '1963 spacing' style.

Hank had sets of 'Vintage' and 'Modern' Kinmans in his Custom Shop guitars, so he could use them on either modern or old Shadows tunes accordingly. Hank incorporated the 'Easi-Mute' tremolo arm designed and made in the UK which allowed easier palm muting of notes. More recently Hank has reverted to Fender pickups of the 50's variety.

Comparison of headstocks of the 56 NOS (top) and the 56 NOS 'Hank Marvin' (below)

The Fender Custom Shop 56 NOS 'Hank Marvin' Stratocaster in Fiesta Red

Our example here is a team built 2007 year made guitar. Essentially a replication of Hank's late 1990's Custom Shop guitars. These are not officially called the 56 NOS 'Hank Marvin' but the buying specification was all but that in name!

The build came about as players wanted to own a guitar like Hank's contemporary guitar from the 1990s, so a couple of UK music shops put in a specification to the Fender Custom Shop to make replicas of Hank's then current guitar.

The body is a 5 piece lay up of Alder with single coil routing and vintage contouring. Now you may think that 2 or 3 piece bodies are preferable, but the woods here are so good in tonal quality and density that they work as well as the 3 piece on the other 56.

Some years on and the cellulose has started to sink around the joints of the wood blocks, but this is normal for cellulose.

The neck is a 22 fret one piece 2AA birdseye maple, with a slight 'overhang' onto the scratch plate for the 22nd fret. The profile is a 'soft V' shape but is more like a slightly fatter 'C' shape, it is easy to play and not too wide or deep. The truss rod adjustment is at the head end and the wood in this area where the peg head starts is thicker than on a vintage 50's type neck. This does not affect playability as it is beyond the playing area. The neck also has the '1963' closer spacing for the twin dots on the fretboard at the 12th fret.

This guitar was purchased secondhand with 11-56 Elixr strings on, the neck was quite bowed and a set of 9-42 interim D'Addario 9-42's was fitted and the truss rod adjusted, as bought the guitar was barely playable. It has now been set up and is about as slick standard of my other guitars. 

The finish is Fiesta Red nitrocelluslose with a slight honey tinted neck.  

Hardware is Gold plated Fender standard fare with Gold Sperzl locking machine heads as standard. Essentially as used on Hank's guitars.

Originally the guitars were fitted with Fender's Noiseless single coil pickups as Fender allegedly would not install the 'non-Fender' Kinman pickups in the guitars, so the pickups were changed in the UK to Kinmans before sale. Although Fender installed Humbuckers in some of their guitars, it is curious why Fender did not install the 'correct' pickups for the specification?   

This specification guitar was of quite limited in production, about 12 being produced per year for a limited amount of UK retail outlets. Thus, they are rarer than the 'standard' 56 NOS standard guitars.

With a choice of Modern, Vintage or Future Vintage 'Gipsy Jazz' Kinman pickup options, all variants used by Hank Marvin, the pickup sounds to replicate Hank's material whether old or new was there. 

This guitar has the Future Vintage hotter pickups with a 64 in the bridge and 63's in the neck and middle pickup positions. A standard 5 way oak type switch is fitted, the wires are the solderless push together harness option from Chris Kinman, along with a Kinman K-9 harness which features a push button pot on the lower tone pot and the middle pot also acts as a variable position pickup selector switch, allowing one to get the mellow 'Gypsy Jazz' sound on one setting, if desired.

Side by side comparison

These 56 NOS are really  'a tale of two Stratocasters,' similar but different, the 56 'as was' type of build to the 56 'evolved' type of build. The sound of each variant is different due to the electronics, the 54 pickups give a nice vintage tone and are not 'crashy' sounding as some pickups were from the pre-CBS era.

The Kinmans give a real 'Hank' sound. Both sets are clear for both rhythm playing or single note work. Its a choice of what sound you're after.

Playing wise, the 'Marvin'  'evolved' model is easier to play due to the neck shape. Side by side for the money, even if I wasn't looking for the Hank Marvin sound, I'd choose that one for the easier playing neck and the 5 way switch fitted from 'new.'

Finding the 'Marvin' type of 56 NOS is not that easy these days, so if you do find one, don't delay if you really want it! The 'stock 56' is not a lost cause neckwise, there are people who will reduce the wood on the back to make it easier to play if that is an issue. 

Guitar reviews for You: Fender Custom Shop 56 Stratocaster in Fiesta Red with Birdseye Maple neck.

Fender 56 Custom Shop Stratocaster

Fender Custom Shop's 2015 Stratocaster

The Fiesta Red maple neck Stratocaster is a combination mainly connected to British instrumental guitarist Hank Marvin of the Shadows, perhaps the ambassador that launched that colour guitars into Rock n Roll history and created the massive interest in Fiesta Red Stratocasters in Europe!  

Check out the Shadows version of 'Apache' and their other instrumental work, the way Hank developed use of the tape echo machine as part of his playing was groundbreaking. The early 60's recordings of tracks like 'FBI', 'Man of mystery,' 'The Frightened City' and 'The Savage; still sound great today.

Hank Marvin with 59 Stratocaster from the Shadows first album cover late 1960

Hank Marvin in 1960 with his original Stratocaster

Hank Marvin owned what is said to be the first Fiesta Red Stratocaster in the UK, a 1959 one with the serial number 34346. This was ordered with gold plated hardware and Birdseye maple neck. It still exists, in the capable hands of Shadows guitarist Bruce Welch.

Hank Marvin still uses Fiesta Red Stratocasters, these being built by the Custom Shop

Here, I'm reviewing a 2015 guitar which is in almost unplayed condition, it looks better and newer than an ex-demo guitar from a music shop.

The Fender Custom shop's current offering of the 56 Stratocaster gives you a close approximation to Hank's original, with just a few small differences.

The Ash body and Birds eye maple neck along with the Fiesta Red paint and gold plated hardware replicate the 59 guitar, the differences from there are slight.

The neck is described as 'soft v' but is more a rounded shape and deeper than the 1958 C shape which Hank's guitar had.

It looks a bit more of a handful than the 58 but is surprisingly easy to play. It also has a 9 inch radius over the vintage 7.25 which makes it easier to play up the fretboard.

Fitted with slightly more bulky frets than the vintage wire type, the guitar has a nice feel.

The surprising thing is that he guitar is fitted with a 3 way pickup selector switch, how anachronistic, given that the neck radius has been updated! and for Fender, a bit of a waste as most players will want the flexibility of a 5 way, so why not fit that in the first place and waste money buying a 3 way switch which is so infrequently used and for Fender, having to source a 3 way which is almost ultimately thrown away when a 5 way is fitted?

Electricwise, the guitar is going to have the full size pots and cloth covered wiring of the originals (which is available to buy for those wanting to change to this wire covering type on other guitars).

Pickups are 50's custom shop and do sound nice, they are different in sound to the 57/62 ones I have had on previous guitars. The 50's custom shop pickups don't have the brash edge or 'clang' that the old 57/62 pickups seemed to have from the just post CBS era. 

The old 57/62 pickups do sound 'alive' which I like, the 50's set  on this guitar sound excellent and have the right sound. Pure sonic quality. That said, I have fitted 57/62 pickups to Stratocasters as an upgrade and they do sound good, particularly to emulate the Hank Marvin 60's sound.

So, what is the playing impression? Acoustically, the guitar sounds bright, even though it feels quite light in weight it sounds nice unplugged, even playing up the neck there is no choking which can often be a situation on vintage type radius neck profiles.

Even though the neck feels slightly fuller than I usually go for, it is easy to play right up the neck. The body has the slim pre-CBS 50's contours and is slim where it counts as on my original 1959 guitar and curiously, as on the Classic Vibe series stratocasters. The finish on the guitar is excellent, no blemishes at all and you are paying top dollar for a guitar from this level, it is well worth it.

Plugged in the guitar sounds great, it has new strings on when purchased and I am not sure what they are but I will change to D'Addario 10's when they need changing, strings that work well on just about all my guitars for me.

I played the guitar through a Vox AD60 amplifier which was to replicate a late 50's early 60's clean sound and also through a VOX Tonelab Studio version, against backing tracks of instrumental 60's music it sounds excellent.

I adjusted the height of the trem arm tip down slightly as I use the arm a lot, it sounds and works very nicely with a light action. An included spring for the trem arm hole is worth fitting as it tensions the arm in the threads, saving wear on the threads and keeping the arm from flopping down.

This is a great guitar and worth the money. There is a price rise coming I am told, so get one whilst you can.

The materials and crafting of this guitar are exemplary.

Fender Japan MIJ 50's '57 reissue' in Fiesta Red

Fender Japan 50's '57 reissue' c. 2005

2005 Fender 50's reissue in Fiesta Red

There's nothing I like more than Fiesta red Stratocasters, the red and white is straight off the side of a 1950's Corvette and suits the guitar so well! Up for review here is a 50's reissue Stratocaster usually referred to as the 57 reissue in Japan.

As you can see from the photos, the red varies according to the light, but is more of a 'red' than the 'salmon pink' or 'coral pink' colour of some guitars listed as Fiesta Red.

I picked this one up off Ebay and it was in very nice condition and sounded good out of the box, a quick string change and set up it plays very nicely.

The classic headstock, machines & spaghetti logo

The 57 reissue to use its Fender Japan model name is one of a limited run of guitars made by Fuji-Gen in Japan and not for export. However this gem, has made its way from the Tokyo shores to the UK and it is a nice guitar to behold.

The neck has the 'Crafted in Japan' legend and serial number under the clear coat

The guitar is as most of you will need no introduction to if you've owned a Mexican 50's vintage style guitar. These guitars are based loosely on the Pre-CBS guitars made from 1954-65 as a generalisation, the Japan made guitars are very well made and finished.

Looks great from any angle

This guitar has the vintage style of single coil pickup, a 5 way selector switch as standard and the usual hardware you'd find on the Mexican 50's reissue, including the big block trem block.

The neck is slightly more 'full' on this example from 2005. It is more of a D shape than a C but is nice to play, I use it for single not playing in the style of the Shadows instrumental music so it is fine for that.

The sound is very good and set up it plays nicely. I put  a set of D'addario 10's on it as I do with most of my guitars and they work very well.

With a Mexican 50's ST in the foreground

So all in all a collectible guitar which plays very nicely. These are quite a rare guitar in the West as they were made for the Japan market only.

 

Guitar reviews for you - The VOX AC30 amplifier

                                        

                                                                                 

The classic look of the VOX AC30 amplifier

There can be few amplifiers more classic looking and revered than the VOX AC30 twin.

The staple of many groups of the 1960's, they were first used by Cliff Richard's backing band The Shadows in 1960 to give us the classic sounds we still enjoy today.

In fact the Shadows were instrumental in the development of the AC30, they needed something that could give them enough volume to be heard over the screaming fans of the early 1960's venues.

Groups such as the Rolling Stones, Beatles and Monkees all used the classic looking amplifier.

Essentially a valve driven amplifier with an optional Top Boost which later became standard, the AC30 was a loud amplifier, equivalent to a 100 watt job.

In the 1970's the move to solid state under new company ownership was less than well received by musicians and the popularity was damaged, indeed around this time, boutique amplifier makers such as the Mesa Boogie brand became popular, further woes to the brands that had failed to move with the times. A somewhat ironic outcome as 'reissues' of the classic amplifiers are all the rage.

I did have an AC30, a 1990's reissue which was mighty heavy and quite a thing but I moved to using an AC15 which was more manageable. The 15 and 30 were both the classic reissue and both had tremolo, the 15 had reverb too both being foot switchable.

The alternative for me now is a VOX AD120 which gives me the look and sound of the AC30 but is lighter to move and also has many modelling possibilities of other amplifier makes.

The AC30 still has its adherents in the tribute band and for those who follow the Shadows and 60's bands, originals and reissues alike fetch good prices. But  my personal view is I can get the look and sound from the AD amplifiers so that is my choice, having owned the 15 and 30.