Choosing my first electric guitar

Question

I am going to purchase my first electric guitar, specifically a Squier Bullet Strat. I have been playing my acoustic for two years. Nothing professional, just learning basic songs, although I want to improve now that I'm going to get the electric one.

Since I don't really know much about electric guitars I thought that I could ask for some advice:

I have four options: The bullet strat with tremolo and HSS, with hardtail and HSS, with tremolo and SSS or with hardtail and SSS.

I've listened to the comparison of the HSS and SSS and it seems that the HSS has more like a punch to it, but I don't know if I'm going to regret it later?

I've heard a reviewer say that the tremolo could cause tuning problems in a squier guitar, I don't know why is that?

After all the videos that I watched I liked the HSS sound better and I firstly thought that I could buy the one with the tremolo as I can take it it off or put it in whenever I want.

What do you think? Is the HSS with the tremolo a good guitar selection?

Answer 1

The Fender Squire guitars are quite good guitars for their price point, and you're still likely to be looking to upgrade in 3 - 5 years. Not related to your question, but I recommend having a gear fund that you put some small amount of money in every month or week so when you start to feel like you've outgrown what you have, you have some money saved up.

Back to your question, I would say don't get too worried about getting the exact right guitar at this point. You're still learning, and as I wrote, you'll want a replacement or additional guitar later on.

If you get one with a tremolo instead of hard tail, you can always open the back with a screwdriver and lock down the tremolo and make it into a hard tail (effectively). You can't make a hard tail into a tremolo as easily. My very first guitar had a cheap tremolo, and using it caused all kinds of tuning problems, but I'm glad I had it. I had fun messing with the tremolo, and I learned all about the tuning problems with a tremolo, and I learned how to lock down a strat tremolo to make it a hard tail.

Regarding the pickups, it's really a matter of taste. If you are learning metal songs or harder rock songs, then having the HSS will help you get closer to the sounds of those songs. On the other hand, if you you're more about blues, pop, funk, and other genres, the SSS might be more true to what you want. I personally feel like an HSS is taking two great things (a humbucking pickup and a strat) and making them both worse by forcing them together. With an SSS, you have a strat. With an HSS, you don't exactly have a strat, and you also won't really get the humbucking sounds that you hear in popular songs that have those sounds. But it's really a matter of taste. I doubt you'll regret it later either way. If you're feeling the HSS, go with it.

One thing to know about the HSS wiring (in my experience) is that the humbucker has higher output, so switching to the H pickup will cause a volume bump up and switching to an S pickup from the H will cause a bump down. If you have everything dialed in precisely, that can be a bit annoying.

Answer 2

My personal advice is:

• don't get a cheap guitar, it will affect the way you think you play guitar

• don't buy a guitar with Floyd rose tremolo as a first guitar. It's cool to do some nice noises but not all that song use it, and it will make string change keep guitar tuning really hard.

• for the pick up, you have to try your self. What kind of sound are you looking for, the style the music you want to play. You can always buy a guitar with hambucker that can go single coil mode. Some Chapman have this feature but they are expensive.

However for my experience the first 2 point are important, the last come alone in the future when you understand what you really want

Answer 3

Go for the hardtail - a trem can have stability/tuning/action issues that someone unfamiliar with working on/setting up electric guitars wouldn't want to deal with. It's also for flourish; not a necessity.

I also suggest going with the HSS configuration - a bridge single coil can sound too thin or have too much treble, and it also has more noise. You also have the option to install a single coil later if you chose to - on Bullet strats the cavity under the pickguard is completely open/unrestricted to pickup configuration. This largely comes down to your style of music/preference, though a humbucker doesn't restrict you as much as a single coil in the bridge would.

Lastly, I suggest saving up a bit more for a slightly more expensive model. The Standard or even Affinity series would be at least twice the quality, and last I checked you could find these for $150-$250 (USA). I have personally owned a Squier Standard Telecaster and enjoyed it more than my MIJ Fender Mustang and my MIM Fender Stratocaster - standard/classic series can be even better quality than a MIM Fender. I have also worked on/modified a Bullet before and think they're fine quality for the price - but I would go with the hardtail if you chose the Bullet as the trem will only cause issues.

Answer 4

The question of whether to have a tremolo on a Strat is complicated by the fact that a tremolo changes how a Strat sounds, even if you don't use it. The springs in the back add a kind of natural reverb that won't be there on a hardtail. Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend never use the tremolo bar on their Strats but still play trem-equipped models for exactly this reason. A hardtail Strat will have a stronger attack and sound less "airy". Robert Cray is about the only famous player I can think of who plays an actual hardtail Strat.