SOS - Anyone else got it?

[reverbbb]

TheGoodTexan posted this phrase:

Squire
Owners
Syndrome

I thought it was pretty cool. It is where one may love everything about their guitar, except that it has the "Squire" name on it. This often results in trading or selling off the guitar, only to find that it was not so bad after all. That seems to demonstrate how much emphasis we put in a brand name.

There are some cases of the MIM Squires being the exact same guitar as an MIA guitar.

Not all Squires are great, or even good for that matter. But I think that most of the MIM Squires are very good guitars except with a little cheaper pots and switches. That does not change the tone or the feel of those guitars by very much.

I have a Squire Jazz bass that also says "by FENDER". This is a really good playing bass. Yet, I find myself every now and then, wondering what it would be like to switch the neck so that is says "Fender" instead of "Squire"

Do you have SOS?

[TheGoodTexan]

I had SOS with that 84 MIJ Squire Tele. I loved that guitar, and I've never been much of a brand snob at all. I never really cared. I think I got that way from seeing Jeff Healey play Squire Strats early on in his career..... but then again I don't guess he really care what the headstock said anyway....talk about a blindfold test!

In fact, I kind of wore it like a badge of honor. I liked the fact that I had a cheap guitar that was awesome.

But then SOS got a hold of me...and I am ashamed of it. I guess I got what I deserved (I lost that guitar forever).

Maybe it also goes along with EOS (Epiphone Owner's Syndrome)...although I've never owned an Epiphone. I would love to have a Dot or a Sheraton II....but then would I get rid of it for a Gibson 335? I've played some SWEET Dots....and some crappy 335s.

[e-merlin]

Nope! My #1 is a slightly modified Squier. I also have a Squier Heavy Metal Tele from Korea. Getting rid of them because they say Squier on the headstock would be about the same as buying a guitar just because it said Gibson on the headstock.

If it plays good it is good.

[Joel Terry]

My first Fender (and my first decent) electric six-string guitar was a 1983 MIJ Squier Stratocaster--the kind modeled after the early '70s Strats. Black body, black pickguard, maple neck...a gorgeous guitar. (My very first Fender was a 1971 Precision Bass that I acquired when I was 10, which I still have to this day, FWIW.)
I received my Squier Strat on Christmas 1983. Oh, how I loved that guitar. It was with me throughout high school and college. In a lot of ways, it was my very best friend and confidante. It looked great, played great, and sounded great.

A few years ago, a fellow with whom I worked just happened to have an original 1977 Fender Stratocaster neck (maple) laying around his house, a detached leftover from his guitar playing days. He sold it to me for the ridiculously low sum of $50. Aside from some well-worn frets, the neck was in great shape. I took it home just as fast as I could and took the Squier neck off, and slapped that Fender neck on--now, it had cache...it had legitimacy (or so I thought at the time) 'cause it said "Fender," NOT "Squier."

I hear the echoes of Bruce:

Originally Posted by TheGoodTexan

But then SOS got a hold of me...and I am ashamed of it. I guess I got what I deserved.

Amen, Brother C. Amen, indeed.

Several years passed, and I had acquired several other Stratocasters and Telecasters. That black Stratocaster, I never really played anymore. It just didn't feel or sound the same after I changed the neck. I eventually sold it to a friend's son two or three years ago for a couple hundred dollars.

Oddly enough, I still have that fabulous-feeling Squier neck (Yes, I'm largely a sentimentalist--I couldn't get rid of the entire guitar; I had to keep part of her! ), and I keep thinking of finding a nice, simple Strat body for her. I'd love to have her back in the fold. I miss her.

So, in short, I think the whole SOS thing for me changed as I got older. I'd be proud to put that wonderful Squier neck onto a deserving Stratocaster body once again. :D

Joel

[PraiseCaster]

Let me tell you youngins; Back in the day (that be the mid 70's fer all you whippersnappers), I was a bark at the moon guitar snob! Not that I only bought "the brand", but because I beleived that those "other" brands were inferior, plain and simple. Plus all my guitar snob buddies would have laughed me to shame, if I had one of "those" cheap copies!

Well, for the past year plus, my Number One, has been a Squier Affinity Special Telecaster. Now it does say on it "by Fender", but we all know it is simply the licensing agreement. Let me tell you, this cheap lil Chinese made "copy" is on my short list of one of the best guitars I have ever had! And way back in the day (4 day's after God invented dirt), I owned a lot of guitars. A lot! But most of em, paled in comparison to my beloved lil Number One.

So, my SOS has cahnged from being a snob, to being a fan! My SOS, is a good thing!

[timgreene]

For me it was headstock shape, more than brand logo. I have owned two of the 1983 large headstock, 70's style squires. Both were all that a strat could be. Growing up when fender did not make the small headstock, naturally that is what seemed cool, early eighties. Now that the small headstock is more the norm, those big headstocks sure look good. Squiers are great guitars for the money, and I still own four of them. Not vouching for all squiers, or all models.

I think fender uses the squier logo, as a test ground before moving models up to the fender logo, as a standard guitar. This is true with the japanese squiers in the eighties, becoming the MIJ fender standard, and with the MIM squiers in the mid nineties. The ones with the big Fender logo, and the small squier logo are the same as MIM fender standards, my speculation only.