It used to be the case that you’d walk into a music store, pick up a Squier Bullet, and marvel at how sharp the fret ends were. But nowadays, it’s still the case. I went to four different music stores and tested out about 8 Squier Bullet Strats. 2 had good fret ends, and the other 6 didn’t. Ouch! They should include a box of Band-Aids.
Let’s dig right into the review.
The Good
At $129, the Squier Bullet Strat HSS is probably the best buy on the new market. Yes, it has issues to be discussed in the next two sections. But we’re talking about the price of an inexpensive guitar pedal here. Plug this guitar into an amp, and guess what? It sounds like a Strat, because it is a Strat. Once you deal with the sharp fret ends, the rest of the fretwork is decent. Mixed into a track, this is an easy and cheap way to get Strat tones on your recordings. It’s amazing that anyone can make a guitar this good for $129. It’s a good choice for a beginner or someone building a super budget guitar collection.
The Bad
The worst part of this guitar is the fretwork. As stated above, 6 out of 8 models I tried had sharp fret ends. You can successfully argue that ten minutes with a fret end file from StewMac would take care of that problem, and I’d agree. It’s worth doing. Otherwise this guitar is unplayable. Once you get rid of the sharp fret edges, you have an instrument that will play pretty well considering the price and sounds like a Strat.
The Ugly
If you were to ask me what to replace on this guitar to make it a semi-pro instrument, ie something you could tour with, I’d say everything. The tuners are cheap, the neck is cheap, the body is cheap, the pickups are junk, the electronics are junk, the hardware is junk. I don’t think this guitar is a good mod platform. The Squier line on the used market goes like this: Bullet, Affinity, Standard, Vintage Modified, Classic Vibe. They go up in price. The Classic Vibe is a really good instrument. The Standard and Vintage Modified lines are both pretty good mod platforms, because they’re basically full-sized Strats. The Bullet and Affinity models are both thinner than the full-sized Strat. That’s one reason I don’t like them as a modding platform. The Affinity is definitely better than the Bullet.
So what do I think about this guitar? It’s the best value for a new guitar around $100. Using a fret file on the fret ends is mandatory, but that’s pretty easy to do. Once you do that, you’ve got a good instrument for a beginner. For a more advanced player, I just don’t like it. I think the Affinity, which you can grab used for $80 to $100, is a better super-cheap choice. But I’m still surprised at how good this guitar is for the money. It really does sound like a Strat.
One more thing. Modding this guitar is an example of putting good money after bad. Find a used Standard or Vintage Modified or even better a used Classic Vibe and mod that instead. They’re full-sized Strats. Heck, the Classic Vibe doesn’t even need any mods – it’s very good right out of the box. But if you want to buy a new guitar for around $100, get the Squier Bullet Strat HSS. And a fret end file.
