Squier Debut Series Stratocaster Electric Guitar, Beginner Guitar, with 2-Year Warranty, Includes Free Lessons, Black with Matte Finish

I paid like $159 for a Stratocaster. It sounds great to a new player of guitar. Been meaning to learn to play my whole life, I got this and a 5w spark mini amp, a music teacher and professional blues musician both recommended it. It looks beautiful, also it’s cool. 1. High build quality 2. Tuned and just learning 3. Size is a proper Stratocaster, any guitar, right for me though. 4. I got the spark mini as my amp which is perfect for my use. Any amp will work. 5. I got the bare guitar but it had good strings. 6. I’m a student so can’t rank playability. I have been meaning to learn guitar for 29 years, Stratocaster made the perfect setup for an apartment dweller, and I think this is a perfect guitar for a student. It fits in a case, I keep it on a stand in the corner, I tried a keyboard so it’s super portable by contrast. Normal sized guitar.

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 think I paid $120 or so on a deal and for that, I thought what the heck, never owned a Strat and the reviews say it's a decent little knockoff. I've got 50's era Les Paul, an SG and others so I do know a good guitar though I'm no expert or luthier. Only mild negatives, the dull matte finish is a bit disappointing, I guess I just didn't look closely enough at the photo and it looks, well, cheap. And it is cheap $$$ so I can't complain really. The tuners have some slop in them but again, for the $, it tunes up and stays tuned. And it arrived set up very nicely, no buzz, nothing. I will file down the fret ends a bit, they're little daggers. Plays great, sounds very good. Honestly playing it with my eyes closed I'm not sure I could tell this isn't one of my 'good' guitars. Helluva a deal for twice this price, nice job, Fender!

I wanted to be 100% in love with this guitar and have it be playable right out of the box, and write a rave review. But unfortunately, that was not the case. This was not a guitar that had been returned to Amazon. You could tell it was brand new and never had been opened. When I first saw the color in person, I said WHOA. I love Squier Strats, especially red ones. I actually prefer them over the Fender Strats. I have way too many of them as it is, so when these first came out, I told myself I didn't need another one. But I kept seeing the reviews on YouTube. Not a single person did not rave about this guitar for the price. There may have been something here and there that was a little off, but they all couldn't believe the quality for the price point. I was also impressed by the matte finish. Alas, I am a sucker for a red Squier. I also figured maybe in time it would be one of those collector item guitars like some of the older Squiers are. So I said screw it, you only live once, Christmas present for myself, things are going to cost more from China very soon, and every other excuse I could think of, and ordered it. Going by the pictures, I wasn't impressed with that particular shade of red, but hey, it was red. I let it acclimate in the box indoors for 24 hours, like I usually do. When I finally pulled away the foam bag, I stood still and looked at it, and I really think my mouth was hanging open. I was blown away. None of the pictures do the color justice. It's a beautiful, deep matte burgundy red, like a wine red. It is gorgeous. They didn't cheap out on the pickguard like they did with the Sonic series, and just give it a plain white pickguard. This pickguard has the black stripe in it, which gives this guitar just such a beautiful accent. Some people here complained about the frets being sharp. I could see a couple here or there that I could pretty much even take down with a nail file if I wanted to. Nothing that would ever scratch me, or beginner, or a child with this guitar. Here's where things went south quickly. I tuned it up and plugged it in. Every string buzzed. It was not playable at all. Upon further inspection I saw that the truss rod had been left tightened all the way from the factory. A little loosening of the truss rod took care of most of the buzzing. I tuned it up again. The intonation was off on the low E and A and the low E still slightly buzzed. Some more tweaking and finally it was playing the way it was supposed to be. I can tell you that this guitar is light. It's thin. The pickups sound good. The fret ends are fine. The fretboard is really pretty and smooth. The tuners hold tune well. The knobs and switches work just fine. But if I was a beginner and this was my first guitar, and I didn't know anyone who knew anything about guitars, I would not have known what to do. I would have been even more disappointed than I was. Because of the rave reviews of this guitar, I am sure the one that I got was just a fluke. If anyone got it, I'm glad it was me because it was fixed in 5 minutes. But had I gotten this as a gift for a kid, I would have been really upset for the kid. Yes, I could have returned it, but I like working on guitars anyway. If you know your way around guitars and are getting this for a kid, grab one. It's a great guitar. I would definitely get it for someone, but also tell them if there's anything weird about it to let me know. Do I regret buying this? No way. I love the guitar. Just on the day that mine was made, someone in China was having a bad day.

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.

I'm a Les Paul guy but I just wanted a cheap strat because all my guitars have humbuckers or humbucker p90s I can say the price is great for a fender product, they're sub $200 strat copies that actually have a better value but they're generic brands and quality is a crap shoot. As far as this guitar it feels great, the fret work is excellent, the neck is actually bigger than I assumed it would be but it's not huge, tuners feel super cheap but work decent, the pickups actually sound surprisingly good but are very under wound relying on a strong ceramic magnet to make up for it but there output is very low they don't push the amp very hard so the gain needs to be cranked to get decent distortion, cleans it's fine. If you plan to upgrade it plan on a harness because it has cheap mini pots and tiny wire and trying to swap in Wilkinson pickups the harness was falling apart wires were popping of all over I chopped it out and tossed it, total garbage. All you need to do to hop it up is buy some decent $30 pickups and a $25 harness and your pretty much set, a $40 set of tuners is a good idea but not a must. The finish is pretty mehhh, it's matte which is fine but it's not silky smooth it has a very dry feeling. But whatever it's very low priced.

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.

Excellent option for beginners, especially for a beginner like me. The price point combined with the quality is great, making just about everyone able to give playing the guitar a shot. It was well packaged and arrived without so much as a blemish. A quick tuning out of the box and it was up and running. The classic look is wonderful (I chose the black/white), it’s built well, and the flat/matte finish is slick! I’ve had it for a couple of weeks and have been playing it everyday for an hour or so—other than having to re-tune it a bit every so often I’ve had no issues. The size/scale of the guitar is good for youthful and older students alike.

Pedazo de guitarra eléctrica, buena construcción y perfecta en sonida para la gama de entrada, la compré de segunda mano aquí en Amazon y venía perfecta.

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.

Calidad muy justa. El relieve de la veta de la madera de ve y se nota al tacto a través de la pintura. Puente muy malo. Pastillas básicas, poco volumen. Clavijas pésimas, cambiadas a los pocos dias porque no mantienen la afinación tras un par de bendings. Guitarra de iniciación para quien no sabe nada. O como es mi caso, segunda guitarra para casa de vacaciones.