This is 100% true. I only changed the nut on my very cheap strat copies to a graphtec tusq nut. However, i did block all the trems. I don't use it anyway and it really helps the tuning stability. Didn't even change the trees and cheap tuners. Manually stretching the strings when tuning is also something that really helps the stability for me. Alway tune up to a note, not tune down. And of course properly setup the guitar..

Might as well saved up their money for a better built guitar. The Squire us how ever a nice beginners guitar. The sound ain't bad and can tweak the action without spending money.

and fret leveling! it's nuts what a difference it makes when you lower the action ... i used to have it on 4 or 5mm (1/5 in) and then decided to lower it to 0.5mm (1/50) .... it's so much easier to play but the little fret height differences turn noticeable

Agree 💯 percent .

Totally true, even more so because a properly filed nut affects the action and is an important aspect of a good setup. I do wanna say that while i agree that a proper nut material and filing job is the thing to look at first, tuning machines can make a HUGE difference especially on very cheap guitars. I got a used, cheap Dearmond m66 years ago and I had it properly gone over by a good luthier with a new nut, fret level, and full setup. Intonation was perfect, played like a dream, but still tuning stability was very bad. I decided to try replacing the machine heads with those hipshot locking tuners with the universal mounting plates. Took me 30 min to switch them out, they dropped right in with no drilling, and it solved the problem completely. Now i can bend all i want and it never goes out of tune, and they were super cheap too. That being said, i believe the improvement wasn't necessarily because the tuners were locking, but simply because they were much higher quality then the stock ones that were super cheap and crappy. I have a squier classic vibe telecaster that came with vintage style tuners and it holds tuning just as good as the locking ones. That being said, i may still switch them out for locking ones! Here's the deal: I initially bought the hipshots to deal with the tuning stability, but i soon learned i had underestimated the convenience of betting able to easily and quickly change strings. Because i find changing strings to be so tedious and annoying i'll often put it off and play with old strings for way longer than i should. Old strings sound so much worse than new ones, and funnily enough, old strings won't stay in tune! With the locking tuners I'm now changing my strings regularly so my tone always sounds nice, the strings play smooth, and last but not least, I'm always in tune, not just due to the locking aspect of the tuners, but because they encourage the regular changing of strings. So there you have it, my case for locking tuning machines!

Exactly. Thought it would be like $50 not double that cost

hdrjunkie just picked up a Squier for $50 last week lol

Say lol one more time

It sound great

Definitely worth it though

I think the biggest issue squire has is their clients. Mostly new players, mostly people who don't want to take the time to learn to admire the instrument. I've put a lot of work in on my tele from squire. But it was nice out of the box. More importantly (in my case) it's been a great mod platform to get a feel for certain parts before installing them into more expensive guitars (or sometimes keeping them cause they just compliment that tele so well 😅)

Dude it aint just you. Played 29 years. Metal. Mostly Jacksons and Charvels. I today still own and collect the 80s Jap charvels. I was on road for work and wanted to play. Picked up an affinity strat for 300 in tx. This thing smokes!! WAY better bang for the buck than the new fenders. I still play and love my MIM strat but whats thebppint of the American? Buy the squire get good, buy the Mexican be done

Doesn't matter how good you are if you can't get the notes out or it keeps going out of tune

Thats you screwed so man

is a fender.

I agree. I have the black 70's modified and love it! Just needs a better nut and I plan on going with a bone nut which you can order preslotted for like 15 bucks or less from StratOsphere

Yep. My 40$ Squire has stock tuners, and they are stable as can be.....and I bend the sh!t out of my strings. My Squire Strat is slowly becoming my favorite guitar. FYI, I own a Carvin CS6 (great guitar), and a PRS S2 single cut (not as good as the Carvin, but a good guitar nonetheless)....and yes, the 40$ pawnshop guitar sounds fantastic and plays better than both....and NO, I’m not a Squire fanboy, I’m just being honest.

Yeah,...but you didn’t

@@fendertremolo9793 saw 1 review vid and gave it a thumbs down. They said they had to buy 2 sets to create 1 good 1

Dude, there are lots of really cheap Chinese locking tuners on Amazon and eBay. 9 of my 10 guitars have locking tuners. I paid from $11 to $35 for each set, most were $15. The $35 ones were for my Fender Malibu Player.

As above... They have, and like a Squier; good quality and dirt cheap.

I was going to say the same. I appreciate the technology and what not, but I'm not there yet. I'd rather put $200 towards a Fender.

So a classic vibe is the same price as an affinity + good tuners.

Hipshots make universal tuners that are still pricier than most other standard aftermarket locking tuners but they're still nowhere near the 130 euro price point that graphtech locking tuners reach. The graphtech gear ratios are extremely convenient and save a lot of time when you're tuning up but they don't offer any additional stability and imo it's not worth the approx 50 euro difference in price between graphtechs and hipshots.

@@scottN1980 You're missing the point here. You buy the Squier Affinity and then upgrade its cheap components later on after you have saved up some money.

I agree. Those tuners cost way more than the guitar. With the nut, do you get the curved one or the flat one?

yeap. that's THE one reason i got my CV instead of a MIM (back in 2012 the Mexi Fenders had ceramics and the other tuners)

Do yk if I can also add hipshot locking tuners to my CV without drilling any holes or anything?

The new affinity’s have those tuners as well

@@jeridrozniarek7411 what affinity do you have? Did they come like that from the factory?

@@justinvelazquez2182 I bought my CV second hand. The guy installed these on there. No screws needed

I bought mine in 2004 (a Squire Stratocaster) so 16 years ago and I am finally going to really try and learn it with my Nephew as he is getting a guitar set this Christmas.

@@generalawareness101 cheers, mate

Bought mine in 08 from my guitar teacher when I was 8 years old and I still use it, it needs tweaked but still in great physical shape

My Squire Bullet in cream white semi metallic is still gorgeous, and prettier year after year. I hope my cheap Asian versions age as well.

You poor bastard 😆🇦🇺🍻👍

Thanks so much for the kind words!

All my guitars with 6 in-line tuners have roller trees and locking tuners. They really help with tuning stability.

Mine too

Mine as well

Y'all are lucky. First Squire I got I thought it was me just being terrible. It made me quit as well. I didn't understand some guitars you are basically having a wrestling match while trying to learn how to play.

Mine too🙋

@@SkyFalllast YES! I bought mine in 2004 and after one lesson and stuff I stuck it in the gig bag and just now pulled it out. Pristine old new stock, lol. This thing was horrible at staying in tune and I didn't use the trem at all. Eventually I got disgusted and 16 years later I am about to try again as I have parts on the way but I need some locking tuners that drop in and the Tusq XL nut but I am waiting on them to reply as they have nothing near my dimensions.

did you have to drill holes?

Same with my Classic Vibe Strat... I am one of those who actually enjoy the look and feel of those "vintage style" tuning machines

@@0000song0000 i'm vain so i'd like to get rid of the squier neck, but i just cant justify it since the tuners are so solid.

My Squier 70 Tele Thinline holds tune really well with the stock tuners...but I realize that this depends somewhat on luck....but do check one of these babies out....great value, fit/finish, sound...what a doll!

I really shouldn’t judge because I’m only half a year into playing but I think my bullet strat isn’t bad at all at holding the tune. Again, this is my only guitar but it’s anything but annoying. Even the g string I that i hear goes out of tune all the time actually is perfectly good. I really only have to tune it up a couple cents once in 3-4 days. Usually it’s just the 2 thinnest strings. If that’s considered bad, well.. ok. I understand. It’s a cheap guitar anyway.

@Abraham Sink hi

Rumdy gimme a squier now

Hi rudy bro hey bro did ya know bro 035 hahah so funny

Barter one of your guitars with my squier.

All I require is an 8-string

Agreed. The inexpensive Fender locking tuners only need you to ream the existing pin holes out toward the end of the headstock a tiny bit for them to sit right in there like they were born there. Use a round file or a drill and 3/32 bit, works just dandy and takes all of 5 minutes! The Ratio locking tuners are a fair bit more expensive than the Fender locking ones. I have the Fenders on my Squier Stratocaster Standard, which I bought almost brand new for $230 Canadian--a steal! And they work like a charm.

The secret to doing nuts is NOT to file the slots but instead file the bottom of it, try it, do more, try it and just don't go too far. Cutting slots is not how you set string height above the fret.

Awesome! You'll love the upgrades! 👍

Cool! BTW, I did go with the Graph Tech trees fyi (haha, cream ones since I didn't change the nut :-). I would have loved to try the Ratio tuners but they were nearly half the price of the guitar so I scaled back to the Hipshots.

Darrell Braun Guitar exactly right - the Hipshot tuners are a HUGE improvement! Cream Graph Tech string trees look good with the cream nut as well. Wouldn't you know Allparts just started shipping the locking tuners with the guide pins that fit the Squier for $60/set after a 2 year absence. This gives everyone a 3rd option now!

Good to know, I'll check them out 👍

Sure - this is the reference number TK-7591-010 6-in-line 2-Pin Locking Tuners Chrome

Hey man, how you put the fender tuners?? Do you have to drill the holes to fit them?

Hello Juan , did Darrell ever answer one your Questions? I tried it often, but never get n answer.

Corners are cut all over on cheap guitars, tuners is just a place where you notice it more easily.

I had a Squier Telecaster. It played well and sounded good even though it had a top-loaded bridge. Wish I still had it...

Bruce Kelly I’m afraid that these tuners won’t fit your bullet. Most bullet strats have trapezoid style tuners and have a weird screw pattern. These tuners have dual post tuners, which is standard on most gender guitars (except vintage spec guitars). When I got new tuners for mine, I just drilled new holes. It’s not a big deal and doesn’t really affect resale valuez

That635guy dang these won’t fit either :( well in that case should I go for a $50-$80 set if I gotta change them anyway.. I kind of want gold or black cuz mines two tone sunburst but since trem chrome still might not look right

Bruce Kelly there are gold hardware kits for fender guitars that can range from 120 to 250 dollars. It includes trem, tuners, jack, etc and it’s all the same gold. No guessing which colors will be similar and which won’t

That635guy right and if it fits bullet. Thanks a lot for the info though

Bruce Kelly no problem, always glad to help! I just don’t want people wasting their money like I did :(

Couldn't agree with you more, I had an early tele and I loved those vintage style tuners...

@@tyecook9630 not all early classic vibes came with those. Some came with cheaper tuners. It depended on the luck of the draw

😂😂

Took me back to Diddy's Kong Quest

Grovers are wicked tuners

@@freedom6046 i have grover tuners on my freshman acoustic guitar ans they are awesome. Never go outa tune.

tuning 'up' only fits in with correctly cut and lubed nut slots. A slot too tight or tall will prevent the correct fretting and cling to the string at tuning.

Switching from 9s to 10s doesn't require recutting the slots in the nut.

Jon Brooks wouldn’t the slot be too small if you went from 9’s to 10’s

I have a 93 jap squier strat and it's been great. I've had no complaints with it. I'm guessing an early 80's jap squier is probably even better quality. I know they also made Korean squier strats in the 90's, and I have no idea what the quality of those was like.

If they’re loose and feel terrible, then their terrible. Tuning stability has way more to do with the nut and string pull than the tuners

My Indonesian Squire was pretty good too. Now it's awesome, and totally gig worthy! 😀👍

I just bought a Squire Deluxe Jazzmaster. I’ve got to say I’m amazed by the quality of the guitar! The tuning keys on that sucker a great! With a set of 12s it holds the tuning perfectly even with heavy use of vibrato arm! If the tuning stability is great, is there really any reason to change them? Sound?

Nice! just play and enjoy ☺

Proud to be Indonesian 😁😂

Because Tele's don't have tremolo bridges.

Glad to help!

Dude cheers , i bought a starter squire with 10G amp and love it for starting out , rock on

😀 Thanks! Squire guitars are awesome!

They sure are indeed my man!

I installed Tonerider alnico pickups in my Squier Jim Root tele, and sold the originals on ebay. That was a good upgrade.

👍Me too! Serious value for money!

Darrell Braun Guitar awesome brother 👍

You love your strat's what?

@@danterosales6985 Thats just short for stratocaster

@@nickcintron1960 you missed the joke

Glad to help!

I found 2, 89 Korean Squires. One body had been stripped to the bare wood. It was pretty buggered up. I got a solid maple body for the neck. It is my main Strat now. Both necks are like a 59. I am old enough and been playing 55 yrs to have played most of those great vintage models. Between my dad's friends and my friends they had many. My teacher had a pre CBS blonde Bassman amp. Those Korean ones are good but change the tuners. The other one is intact except for Grovers. Some have wrong threaded nuts on the truss rods though. Watch out for those. It was a US vs Metric screw up. Of course even that is fixable if you want to got the trouble.

I agree with you 100% and many cheap guitar made in a Indonesia are good , I guess made in the same factory by OEM. ?

agreed

Most of quality hard wood come from there.

theyre still made by Fender just because theyre made in indonesia doesnt mean theyre worse...

I think it’s a matter of consistency, maybe they have a killer down in indonesia that works in maybe one out of twenty guitar and that one it’s freaking just as good but, you save at least 1,000$

Edgard Ucha * So you're saying that now you have seen this video you are now going to change our the tuners in your guitar ? Makes me think either your guitar didn't need new tuners in the first place and this video just Sold you on it, or your guitar may have had tuning issues that you didn't know how to addressee.

Ray Ross i have exactly the same experience. Absolutely no tuning issue with my 2008 Strat Standard

Luckyyyyyyy

My squier affinity tele stays in tune perfectly

Lucky. Every 2 weeks or so I always have to tune it back up

My 2007 Squier Standard is my favorite guitar of all time. Tuning stability is amazing

how rich are you

@@realhakora Not rich at all. That spans 50+ years of buying guitars, and I seldom pay more than $400.00 for a guitar and then upgrade it.

most if not all squiers are good enough some people are just very picky

Thanks for the kind words Sam!

Rob Baartwijk Hey Rob! Think they’d work on a Squier Strat? Sorry I’m kinda new to this!