RuanR wrote: A friend of mine who recently started playing guitar got himself a '98 standard squire strat, and he brought it over so I can have a go (because that's what friends do), and damn, frankly, I was amazed. Even though it is a squire, I think he got a real gem, it plays like a dream, and it absolutely destroys my 2 (similarly priced) les paul copies, at least on clean. Especially if I set my amp to the Twin Reverb model, wow, just wow. Crystal clear, chimey tone, i got goosebumps.

I now officially have strat gas. sigh.

p.s. in my guitars' defence, I do definitely prefer them with hard overdrive/fuzz.

Ahh! I also have one of those gems, actually did a thread a while ago on mine. There are some amazing Squiers out there, but you're lucky if you manage to find one.

My thread:

http://www.guitarforum.co.za/guitar-gear/one-serious-squier!/

Oh yes... when I teach guitar I see everything from R70 000 guitars owned
by business owners right down to bargain bin (sub)entry level guitars.
And sometimes you just pick up an instrument that is WAAY above it's
price class in terms of playability.

The way I look at it is that a good musical piece of wood is a good piece of wood no matter if it ends up in the Suhr factory or the Squier factory. I think the more expensive builders spend more time testing the wood and so the big price you pay normally guarantees a certain quality. With cheaper guitars you need to shop around but if you find the right one then there is no reason why they can't sound as good as any guitar!

Obviously pickups and hardware play their part too but it is all too easy to become guitar snobs (me included) and I have probably missed out on some real bargains in the past!

RuanR - if you only have Les Pauls then I would suggest getting a strat too (and a tele...) so that you can cover all avenues! I love strats but also like playing with gain so I personally use a super strat with a humbucker in the bridge so that I can get the most from it when I play live.