Squier CV 70s Jaguar LRL BK

I was worried that there would be flaws that cannot be easily repaired but fortunately this was not the case. After a few easy fixes this guitar became really good. Very basic tools and skills were needed.
I have played Mexican and American jazzmasters/jaguars in the past. I think that this one is as good as the Mexicans. If you can overlook the "squire" logo, this feels more expensive than a classic player Mexican jazzmaster I played recently.
Keep in mind that Mexican Fenders and Squires can have big variations from one guitar to another. Having said that, here is my detailed review.
Frets:
The top of the frets was rough and needed to be polished. There was no need for leveling or recrowning. It was easily done with a fine sandpaper and minimal effort. The fret ends were properly cut and dressed without sharp edges.
Binding:
The binding had some dark stains near some frets (maybe it was just dirt). This was easily fixed with a wet scotch brite sponge. Other than that the binding was perfect.
Nut:
The nut was cut properly with correct spacing and height. I replaced the strings with 10’s without any problems. My only complaint is that the nut is bright white and it looks out of place. The binding and the back of the neck are tinted. The nut looks too “new” in comparison..
Neck:
There is very little shimming. I did not remove the neck to confirm that, but it looks that way. Even so, the action is low and the strings stay put. There may be a little buzzing but this is the case with most vintage spec’d jaguars/jazzmasters. It is part of the charm! I might experiment with the shimming angle in the future but for me it is ok as it is.
Fretboard:
The laurel fretboard is not dark. It does not look like a rosewood fretboard. Other than that it is very good looking. The inlays are fine with no scratches, gaps or height differences.
Tuning machines:
They look good and work properly. But the screws on the back of the headstock needed to be tightened. 2 of the 7 screw heads were stripped, so it was hard to tighten them. I will replace them asap. BTW this was also the case with a Mexican Baja telecaster I bought a few years back. The tuning machine and pickup screws were so badly stripped that it was very hard to remove them. (I mention this for comparison purposes between Mexican Fenders and Squiers)
Pickups:
These are 100% jaguar pickups. You can probably get even better performance with an upgrade but the characteristic jaguar sound is definitely there. I was impressed. They have low noise and correct “body” and output level. Not too hot nor too weak. And they are very well balanced with each other (neck vs bridge).
Bridge:
This is a mustang bridge. The strings remain firmly in the slots, even without significant shimming. There is no height adjustment for each string. This is not a problem but it would be better if the saddles were height adjustable.
Tremolo:
The tremolo feels solid and works well. The only problem I found is that the arm is not firmly mounted to the slot so there can be a very small annoying “delay” between starting to move the arm and the actual spring movement. It is very easily fixed with some masking tape. Maybe a threaded arm would have been a better option, although not as “authentic”.
Pots/switches/chrome plates/pickguard:
All 100% functional, firm and good looking.
Strap buttons:
There are small round pieces of black felt mat between the strap buttons and the body. Impressive!
Body:
The body finish is flawless and the internal cavities are painted with graphite for electrical shielding. Again very impressive. The sum weight of the guitar is 3.5 kg.

Pros:
Good value
Great as an upgrade platform
Very good looking
No major quality issues
Has real jaguar character

Cons:
Needs proper set up and some fixing before it is ready to play
Does not come with a gig bag

I hope this helps!

Amazing guitar overall, at a good price, with some work to do to make it play good.
Offsets at this price - squiers in this price range in general (I also own a Jazzmaster CV) - Often seem to come with a few issues out of the factory.

You will need to put a higher gauge of strings as these guitars were not inteded for 9's, aswell as maybe shimming the neck. I also have an electronic problem on mine where the bridge pickup has a much lower output than the neck, which can be annoying when switching. Also had to oil the fretboard a bit since it was really, really dry.

If you can do these things by yourself, or are willing to go to a luthier to have it done, I really encourage you to buy this guitar. Having tried both this and the Player Series Jazzmaster / Jaguars, this feels and sounds much better in my opinion, and it is a really good modding platform for a good price range if you're into that

This is a nice guitar at this price point but you are going to need to set it up properly. Mine arrived with quite a few issues that rendered it unplayable.

Firstly Thomann does not check third party guitars. I've bought a Harley Benton from them earlier in the year and it was playable out of the box. I was surprised that this Squier arrived in such a poor state.

Here's what needed fixing.

The Nut
This guitar arrived with a very poorly cut nut. The string height on the Low E at the nut was .6 when it should have been closer to .2. This was like this across all the strings which put them out of tune on the lower frets. The solution was to file the nut to the correct height.

Strings and intonation
The guitar came with 9 strings Jaguars are designed to be used with heavier strings 10 or 11. Heavier strings keep the floating bridge in place better the 9s didn't create enough tension to reliably do that.

Neck
The neck had to be shimmed to increase the break angle of the strings over the bridge.

I'm not a professional guitar set up guy and all of these problems at once confounded me because they all affect each other in some way. I ended up taking it to the best luthier and tech in my city. He charged me a very reasonable £52.50 (€ 58.75).

The point I would like to make is that this guitar required a fair bit of attention to make it playable. You will want to factor in the extra cost or time when considering your purchase.

Pros
◘ Good build quality
◘ Price

Cons
◘ Needs setting up

I bought this guitar since I am a massive Johnny Marr fan, and this seemed like a perfect budget option. I found Mike Adams' (Puisheen) video review of this guitar on Youtube, and it convinced me to pull the trigger on it. As soon as it arrived, I noticed some glaring setup issues, but nothing too crazy (granted, I was expecting to face some problems that are often seen on this model). The bridge needed to be raised to increase the downward tension of the strings behind it, the nut had to be filed a bit to fit 11s (because for some unknown reason, this guitar came equipped with 9s, which is mind-boggling). The fretboard was dry so it needed some lemon oil. All of these fixes took me about an hour to do, but after that, this guitar plays and sounds amazing. Really, there's no other product I'd be endorsing so much after facing all of these issues, it really is that good. Also, since I was an offset guitar noob at that point, I was extremely impressed with the vibrato system. It's smooth, fluid, and just overall a perfect vibrato system (although, I am probably going to replace it with a genuine Fender AVRI vibrato at some point in the future). One other thing is that this range of Squier guitars is a perfect modding platform. You won't feel bad changing anything on these guitars, although you probably won't even feel the need to. Personally, I like tinkering with guitars and offsets are probably the best guitars for that, since there are so many options available, ranging from Mastery and Staytrem for bridges, Curtis Novak, Lollar, Creamery, Seymour Duncan, and even Fender for pickups, again Mastery, Descendant, and Fender for vibratos, etc.
So overall, I wholeheartedly recommend this guitar. Yes, it does have some issues which you should expect, but nothing major. After half an hour of your attention, this guitar transforms into an indie beast and can handle pretty much anything you throw at it.