Been playing this guitar approx. a month now. The finish is great out of the box: I love the body color, frets are real nice and the neck is smooth and plays very well, as you'd expect from a Squier.
There are few negative sides however as you'd expect with this price: I had to change the strings shortly from the box due nickel sensitivity. While at it, I attempted to switch the pickup covers to "aged white", quickly noticing that fender stratocaster standard pickup covers do not fit it. Unfortunate. Also the top cover was screwed in quite tight from the factory. Seems that the poplar body couldn't take it and 3 screws didn't tighten back anymore afterwards. It's easy to fix but quite unhappy to do it for factory new guitar. The worst thing with the functionality so far are the tuning machines- they are absolute trash. A lot of empty play when switching directions, movement is not very accurate so you end up going back and forth, and if you touch the tremolo, guitar is immediately slightly out of tune. Also regarding the saddle and tremolo, it seems to be doing it's job but using tremolo with factory 3 springs my handle started very quickly to have extra play in it. It feels it's from the handle or saddle threads. I removed 1 spring and it feels so much better to use now. Electonics seem mediocre, pot feel is not the best but they work. Seems as if it's planned that user would semi quickly drop in 150€ more to upgrade with the Fender mic & cover set. Just something to keep in mind though upgrading is fun. Still playing with the pickup height to experience the sounds of ceramic single coils. Unfamiliar with them from before.
Special mention to the cable jack, I love the feel of it. The plug snaps in easily and firmly.
One more thing for consideration whether one likes fiddling: In my opinion the guitar needs full adjusting from the box. It seems someone tried, but the strings in mine at least were unneccesarily high. Then you end up checking truss rod adjustment / adjusting. Then you end up resetting mic height and intonation. Now it's a blues machine.
I recommend getting it due to 9,5" neck radius if you're into training or playing chords. For me at least it's much easier with this than the HB models, which with I end up getting unintended harmonic more often.
