I Prefer The Squier Bullet Mustang To My Other High End Guitars - Clips Added - Results!

Fiftyshadesofjay

Seriously.

Just been messing about here at home and I can play that Mustang so much better than either my Musicman St Vincent or Gretsch Pro.

Probably because I’m such a short arse and have tiny sausage fingers but it’s genuinely effortless on the Mustang, it has a small neck, fairly big frets, flat radius, everything that works.

Dare I say it the pickups sound just as good as well.

Seriously tempted to sell the others and get a couple of these, maybe a nicer Mustang just because. They just work for me.

Anyone else have similar experiences? Am I mental. I know they’re great guitars for the money for sure.

*Blind comparison clip added...

dazzajl

After a long time having no desire to play at all, it was the simple joy of a bullet tele that brought it all back. Brand new from Andertons for £95 and as nice to play as anything else. Even looked fabulous too. 

I’m not saying I don’t appreciate the work and craftsmanship in finer instruments but it’s not essential to a great playing experience. 

Gerz6558

I have one too and have largely had a very similar experience. It's very light and comfortable, sounds fine and stays in tune. Dont need anything else really when you think about it.

Thinking of putting a single coil in the neck.

punchesjudy

Haven't got a bullet Mustang but my favourite guitar I own cost me £200 and many much more expensive guitars have come and gone since getting it. Just feel at home when playing it.

TeleMaster

The neck on the St Vincent is one of the nicest necks of any guitar I've ever played. I sold it because it had poor higher neck access and got the Albert Lee instead. The upper note access is much better but the neck isn't an ebony board and is slightly thinner, and I miss that neck, even though I prefer the AL overall.

Having had a Bullet when I was younger, I'm scratching my head as to how you can prefer it!!! But I guess, it's all personal isn't it. 

munckee

I have a squier Jaguar and a Harley Benton 335 and I love playing both. 

My Strat which is way more expensive does have a feeling of great quality about it but I love them all. 

I’m tempted to try higher end jags to see if they feel any better than the squier. 

thecolourbox

I think it could be the Mustang shape and scale more than the fact it's a Bullet though they do seem very well thought of. I've not played a more comfortable instrument than my Vintage Modified Mustang though a fair chunk of that may be the setup work done on it. Yes it's also got fancier pickups than it should have but even unplugged it's so comfy to play because it's small and the neck scale is a joy

thegummy

Sounds like you just prefer that model to the others, the price probably has nothing to do with it.

Other guitars can be as high end as they can be but still won't be any more like your preferred shape.

That's why I say beginners are better off buying a few different cheap guitars to find which model they prefer. Once they know that they can decide how high end they want to go on that model.

Gerz6558

TeleMaster said:

The neck on the St Vincent is one of the nicest necks of any guitar I've ever played. I sold it because it had poor higher neck access and got the Albert Lee instead. The upper note access is much better but the neck isn't an ebony board and is slightly thinner, and I miss that neck, even though I prefer the AL overall.

Having had a Bullet when I was younger, I'm scratching my head as to how you can prefer it!!! But I guess, it's all personal isn't it. 

Not sure on previous iterations of bullets, but the current bullet mustangs and tele's have a very good rep. 

HAL9000

Said it here before - the only guitar I've ever regretted selling was a Squier Affinity Tele which, as I recall, cost me £140 back in the day. Very comfortable and a lot of fun to play. Electrickery bits weren't the greatest but worked ok. I've now got an American Std Tele which is a lovely instrument but I'm still very tempted to buy another Affinity as backup.

guitargeek62

Fiftyshadesofjay said:

Dare I say it the pickups sound just as good as well.

Not sure I agree on this part, but tone is very subjective! I've got a spare set of those going spare if anyone wants them though - £15 posted 


They are great little guitars though, a little fettling out of the box and they're perfectly usable. They're also a superb basis for more intense modification, though watch the topcoat on the finish as it's brittle AF!

Lestratcaster

My 1997 Squier Affinity plays better than a Fender American Standard Strat - I have living proof of this as one of my guitar students has one that cost £1400 compared to my £120 one back in the day when I got it - mind you its been modified to f**k!

SPECTRUM001

I have already waxed on about my cheapish Mustang 90 - but very happy to say it again, as it is the biz.

Really hoping to have my new pickups this month, so (fingers crossed) will be able to complete the fretwork and setup.

I do think there is mileage in the "simple, light and accessible" guitar being good for a beginner (I am have been playing consistently badly for years).

And when in the hands of an accomplished player... 

TeleMaster

Gerz6558 said:

TeleMaster said:

The neck on the St Vincent is one of the nicest necks of any guitar I've ever played. I sold it because it had poor higher neck access and got the Albert Lee instead. The upper note access is much better but the neck isn't an ebony board and is slightly thinner, and I miss that neck, even though I prefer the AL overall.

Having had a Bullet when I was younger, I'm scratching my head as to how you can prefer it!!! But I guess, it's all personal isn't it. 

Not sure on previous iterations of bullets, but the current bullet mustangs and tele's have a very good rep. 

No matter how good they are for the price, and putting personal sentiment aside, there is no comparison to a £2300 Musicman.

But if the guy likes the Bullet more he likes it more, and that's absolutely fine. 

WezV

here is my bullet mustang upgrade project
https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/173196/wezv-q120-challenge/p1

it was better than it had any right to be out the box, but definitely benefited from some attention to the nut and frets.

Its even better now its fully modded and upgraded.

dazzajl

TeleMaster said:

Gerz6558 said:

TeleMaster said:

The neck on the St Vincent is one of the nicest necks of any guitar I've ever played. I sold it because it had poor higher neck access and got the Albert Lee instead. The upper note access is much better but the neck isn't an ebony board and is slightly thinner, and I miss that neck, even though I prefer the AL overall.

Having had a Bullet when I was younger, I'm scratching my head as to how you can prefer it!!! But I guess, it's all personal isn't it. 

Not sure on previous iterations of bullets, but the current bullet mustangs and tele's have a very good rep. 

No matter how good they are for the price, and putting personal sentiment aside, there is no comparison to a £2300 Musicman.

But if the guy likes the Bullet more he likes it more, and that's absolutely fine. 

Yup. Sometimes you can keep all the foie gras and champagne and nothing can touch fish and chips with a beer. 

Gerz6558

TeleMaster said:

Gerz6558 said:

TeleMaster said:

The neck on the St Vincent is one of the nicest necks of any guitar I've ever played. I sold it because it had poor higher neck access and got the Albert Lee instead. The upper note access is much better but the neck isn't an ebony board and is slightly thinner, and I miss that neck, even though I prefer the AL overall.

Having had a Bullet when I was younger, I'm scratching my head as to how you can prefer it!!! But I guess, it's all personal isn't it. 

Not sure on previous iterations of bullets, but the current bullet mustangs and tele's have a very good rep. 

No matter how good they are for the price, and putting personal sentiment aside, there is no comparison to a £2300 Musicman.

But if the guy likes the Bullet more he likes it more, and that's absolutely fine. 

Playing devils advocate slightly, but if it feels comfortable, sounds good and stays in tune there is absolutely a comparison there.

My personal feeling is that modern day cheap guitars keep getting better and better, and that lofty premium to the higher end stuff gets more and more difficult to justify.

thecolourbox

I think it's a bit like our car situation at the moment - my partner and I have a shared Fiat Panda (2012) because she is small and reaching pedals in anything bigger was a bit difficult. It's decent, very efficient, quite a tall car so space is less of an issue because you sit upright etc, can fit a lot more in it than you'd think and because it's small it can shift as the engine is pulling hardly any weight. I got a company car last year, a brand new Ford Fiesta ST, which I know isn't high end but it should be a step up. It is noticeably quicker off the mark, quieter, etc etc, but really the only thing I'd really miss if I didn't have it any more would be the shape of the seats which are nicer for bendy roads. Everything else is neither here nor there, the Fiesta is "better" of course but not worth the extra. We might get about £2.5k for the Panda if we were really lucky, maybe. The Fiesta was a company car so I didn't buy it, but the list price for the company car tax value was just shy of £20k. I wouldn't need to spend £17.5k to replace the seats in the Panda

Fiftyshadesofjay

See I think there definitely is a comparison. I will concede that the others are built to a higher standard, of course they are.

However no amount of that can compensate if there’s something about the cheaper guitar that works for you.

I’ve always preferred a flatter radius and honestly I feel like that and the shorter scale length just fits my hand like a glove. 

I get the point that the pickups may not be for everyone but I genuinely think they sound good, especially for overdriven sounds. I even compared them recorded to my others and I reckon most people would be hard pressed to guess which one was the cheap guitar. 

ICBM

At the end of the day a solidbody electric guitar - especially one with a fixed bridge - is a very simple construction, and as long as the basic parts and materials are well enough made - which they are on a Squier - then there's no reason the result shouldn't be perfectly playable and good-sounding.

If anything, it's more ridiculous that people are prepared to pay upwards of £2000 for one than that you can get a decent one for under £200. Yes, they're better - but it's utterly diminishing returns before you even get to a fraction of that price.

WezV said:

That's fantastic. It wouldn't raise many eyebrows if you said it was a 60s Duo-Sonic with some changed parts. (OK, they never did the Duo with competition stripes either...)

Fiftyshadesofjay

WezV said:

here is my bullet mustang upgrade project
https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/173196/wezv-q120-challenge/p1

it was better than it had any right to be out the box, but definitely benefited from some attention to the nut and frets.

Its even better now its fully modded and upgraded.

That is awesome