Squier Stratocaster Beginner Electric Guitar, Matte Black | Starter electric guitar for kids and adults, free lessons, 2-year warranty, iconic Strat shape, under $200

The Fender Squier Debut Series Stratocaster Electric Guitar is an excellent choice for beginners, especially those just starting their musical journey. The quality is impressive for the price—well-built, comfortable to hold, and easy to play, which makes learning more enjoyable and less intimidating for new players. My daughter purchased this guitar using her Christmas money, and it has been such a joy to see her so happy and motivated. Instead of spending her time on screens, she’s choosing to practice and explore her passion for music, and that alone makes this guitar worth every penny. The sound is great for a starter guitar, and it truly captures that classic Stratocaster feel Fender is known for. The setup is beginner-friendly, and it feels like a guitar she can grow with as her skills improve. My only wish is that cases and straps were more easily available or offered alongside the guitar, as those are essentials for beginners—but that’s a small detail compared to the overall value.

Especially if you're a beginner like me, this is a really great guitar. The price was definitely right and so far as I can tell, it;s very good quality. Looks good, feels good, sounds good and seems to be very well built. Nothing shoddy at all. I had read somewhere that the tuning keys were a little sloppy and that it required frequent tuning. That has not been my experience at all. It's rarely off by more than a little and the keys are sensitive enough for tuning in very small increments. Even if you're experienced it would be a good guitar for situations where you might not want to use one of your more expensive instruments. I've had it for a month now and if I could give it more stars, I would.

This guitar is the cheapest Fender Stratocaster that you could buy. Looking at other brands that have a similar guitar that's cheaper or at the same price. I think Fender has managed to make something that is decent and playable right out of the box, whereas other brands make guitars that require massive setup right out of the box with high action issues with staying in tune. If you're going to get a entry-level beginner guitar then you should definitely get this one instead of anything cheaper or other brands. Fender definitely knows what they're doing. I didn't have any issues with the guitar. When it arrived, the action was set properly. The intonation seems to be good and the guitar definitely stayed in tune even though the strings were new. Haven't really replaced the strings because I didn't feel that it was necessary and a couple months I'll probably swap them out for some D'Addarios. Overall, I plan to slowly upgrade and mod this guitar because even though it does play and sound great, there's a lot of cheap hardware that could be easily upgraded for not too much more. Overall, this is a great instrument for a beginner. A cheap guitar is not the only thing that a beginner needs. They also need a guitar that doesn't require setup out of the box unless they're willing to learn that sort of thing, which is a little bit intimidating for some new players. And if you're willing to mod your guitar to save a little bit of money, it is a great modding platform. The only slight issue I have with it is that I ordered the black color and even though the pickguard is supposed to be white, it seems to have a slight tinge of a red Hue that's extremely subtle. It's just weird looking. It seems like they were trying to make it fully white and then some kind of dye or powder from another guitar got on it or something. I honestly cannot tell you why but it just looks a little bit reddish and I don't know why. Hopefully I in the future can replace it with like a more white looking pickguard.

Here is a quick rundown. I received this on 11/29/2024. It was set to spec as far as the neck relief and string height. The tuners worked smoothly and held the tuning. The strings as fine. No sharp fret ends and the frets were highly polished. Confortable neck shape. The pickup switch felt and worked well and the tone and volumes were smooth. The output jack was properly tightened and works well. The pickups sounded just fine and the pieces aligned under the strings just as vintage ones do. It sounds very good unplugged. The trem arm screws in properly but the trem took a lot of pressure to work. This is really no issues and I am sure they did this to keep it in tune. If you are new to Strats, the vintage trem rarely ever stood in tune, don't use the trem as it is really for show in most Strats. In the real world it takes a lot of skill and know-how to get a Strat trem to work properly and costs more than the guitar to setup, which I am telling you will be impossible anyway. These are set with the rear decked on the body so it returns to tune meaning you can only go down. If you are learning you should learn to play for real and not be a poser playing with the trem. Leave the trem arm in the bag. There is nothing needed to be done or replaced to have a good guitar to learn on. It appears the price is so low as to be get you started and updating the phone app and taking lessons online and later buying a more expensive guitar, that is where they plan to profit. The guitar is like an when you buy a low cost inkjet printer for very little money and have to buy their ink forever. Is the guitar worth it ? Absolutely. Also buy a $30 or so case to keep it in might be a good idea. Realize if you are buying this for a gift for someone to learn on, most new players quit as they rather stare at their phone or play a video game so buying a low cost guitar is a good idea. The 2-year warranty is worth more than the guitar alone. Be careful removing the plastic on the pickguard and pickups, the pickguard plastic is very soft and scratches easily. After a few days I decided that the nut needed to be filed slightly for each string so I took care of that. I also lowered the action lower than Fender specs to 4mm with no buzzing. None of these things were out of the ordinary for a new Strat guitar. I am very happy with this guitar. After a few months after being too dry in my house the fretboard did shrink somewhat making for fret sprout (sharp frets past the edge of the fretboard. Fret sprout is not uncommmon even in much more expensive guitars. So I filed the edges and polished the frets when I was at it and put a set of Ernie Ball Super Slinky 9-43 (2223). Guitars are made of wood and wood is affected by moisture. That's life. I am still happy with the guitar. If you are just learning it is unlikely you will be running you hand up and down the neck so it may not matter at all if there is some fret sprout. It was not really that bad when it happened.

I actually love this guitar. The quality isn't exactly 100% but it is an official Fender product made in China and overall it's a really good guitar for the price. Good for beginners (though I recommend you take it in for a good setup first). Out of the box it plays and sounds good. I haven't done a setup on this yet and it's almost 2 years old! It looks like a Strat, sounds like a Strat and that's because it IS a Strat. Squier isn't too bad a brand. My guitar does have a bit of fret sprout, however but I can easily fix that. The guitar is playable out of the box, overall. Pair this with the "blues" model of Vox Amplug2 headphone amp and a pair of Tascam TH05 headphones, and you're all set to do some private learning and practice without bothering anyone. Add an Orange practice amp for going to guitar lessons with. This is a fun guitar to play.

I would say for a beginner this is an excellent guitar, the one I received anyway. Very good action, surprisingly very good tuners. The nut was cut well and the intonation was spot on. Well constructed very solid instrument. I would suggest as with any new guitar to go around it with a Phillips screw driver and make sure everything is snug. The one I got was fine. Also raise the pickups to about 1/4” to an 1/8” away from the strings, the ones on mine were very low. It’ll improve the sound when plugged into an amp. Also the frets could be polished but for a beginner it’s neither here nor there. I bought this to modify after seeing all the hype on YouTube and it’s an excellent platform to do so. Bone nut, leveled a few frets ( very slightly ) polished them, new tremolo bridge ( the stock Squire ones have a very thin block ) and new pickups. Very fun to play and sounds like a Stratocaster. The thinner body makes it very comfortable ( keep that in mind when replacing the block and or bridge as you need a short one ). I’m actually a bit shocked that for little money you can have a very reliable, useable guitar.

I bought this guitar during the PRIME Day sales. Paid $115.00. I bought it for my grandson who is finally showing some real interest in learning to play the guitar. It is a starter guitar made in China and it never will be or play like an American made Stratocaster. That being said, here is what I did to make it a nice playing guitar. I am not a professional luthier, I'm just trying to make the guitar playable. 1. Unpacked the guitar and let it sit on a guitar stand for 2 days to let it stabilize at room temperature. I noticed that it is much lighter than a American made Stratocaster 2. Removed the strings, original strings are not good strings at all. 3. Polished every fret with medium scotch-brite pad. ( you need to protect the finger board so you don't scratch it. I use the blue painter tape. I cut the scotch-brite into 1/2" strips. ) 4. Remove the the tape and use a soft dry cloth to wipe dust and residue from neck. If there is dust on the body, use caution so you don't scratch the paint. 5. The finger board appeared to be a very dry wood, not very pretty. So I used some dark Old English polish on it and it soaked the polish up and i let dry completely. I wiped the fingerboard until there wasn't any polish coming off onto the cloth. Don't put polish on the pearl dots. 6. Put the new strings on. I use the D'Addario EXL-115. They hold tune very well. 7. Tune the guitar to standard pitch 8. Adjust the next until it is straight. the hex wrench is provided. 9. Re-tune and checked every fret to make they were all ok and playable. Not one high fret was found. 10. Adjusted the string height on every string, (hex wrench provided). I use a dime to set height on the 12th fret of the small E string. Check every fret to make sure there isn't any string buzz, if there is you will need to raise the height of that string. 11. Checked the intonation at the 12th fret with a guitar tuner. It wasn't perfect, but close enough. ( It is adjustable if needed) 12. Checked tuning and plugged it up to the FBA-10 Guitar Amplifier. It sounds and plays great.

My particular guitar did not have any sharp fret ends and the fret tops looked to be polished, or at the very least did not feel rough at all. It was very playable right out of the box. Action was 1.5mm on low E at the 12th fret and even lower on the high E with no buzzing on any fret when played without a heavy hand. Intonation was spot on, on all but one string which wasn't off by much. The bridge was decked when I got it, floating it was the only change I needed to make. Truss rod did not need to be adjusted at all, there was a very slight bit of relief in the neck already. I didn't check the gap between string and first fret or closely examine the nut but there was no indication that the nut was causing any problems. The back of the neck, as YT reviewers have noted is pretty rough feeling. The satin finish looks and feels great and doesn't show finger grease like a glossy finish would. It weighed in at just under 7 pounds. Guitar seems to hold tune when lightly using the tremolo but the tuners are the real weak point of the guitar. They do work, and the guitar stays in tune, but the tuners are not very smooth feeling at all. Sometimes they'll feel very difficult to turn but then loosen up, sometimes it feels like the knob turns without doing much before having an effect. Sometime a slight twist of the knob makes too much of a change, so it is a bit difficult to make minor adjustments. They're not good but they are serviceable. They are the first thing I'd consider replacing. The tremolo block is also very thin so that's something else to consider swapping. I didn't play it a whole lot through an amp yet but initial impression is that it sounds decent. Bridge pickup seems a little shrill but dialing back the tone control makes it acceptable. For the beginner that this guitar is aimed at, I don't think you'd need to change anything right away. It is perfectly playable out of the box, all a new player needs to do is tune it up and start playing. That's the way it was with my guitar but of course this could vary. However, since some reviewers had the same experience it's clear Fender must be making some effort to setup the guitars before shipping them. The initial out of the box experience, in my opinion, is better than any Indio or Firefly I've had and better than or equal to most IYV or Harley Bentons that I got. Considering you get a very competitively priced guitar, from a major brand, that may not need any work at all (unlike most budget instruments) and the free 3 months of Fender Play I think this is a real winner for a beginning guitarist. I have no problem recommending it to any beginner or even experienced guitarist.

Ottima chitarra per chi inizia a suonare. La qualità è davvero buona per essere un modello entry level Fender: ben costruita, comoda da suonare e con un suono più che soddisfacente per lo studio e la pratica quotidiana. Il manico è scorrevole e facilita l’apprendimento, mentre l’estetica è quella classica Fender che non delude mai. Rapporto qualità-prezzo eccellente. Consigliatissima a chi vuole avvicinarsi alla chitarra con uno strumento affidabile. 🎸

Item description did not mention if this is new or refurbished. It came in bubble wrappers with no original packaging. And the item was not in perfect order

Auspacken, Sichtkontrolle, keine Mängel, nicht so schwer wie die originale Strat aber überraschend gut zu spielen . Ein Mal Stimmen und loslegen die erste Gitarre bei der ich Nichts korrigieren musste. Die originale Strat klingt ja schon etwas fetter, braucht aber auch mehr Feintuning. So muss die ideale Gitarre zum Proben und für Neueinsteiger sein.

Excelente calidad-precio. Ideal para tu primera guitarra.

Muy chula tal y como se ve