My first "real" electric guitar was a 1977 Fender Mustang.This guitar is virtually identical in every important category except one. My Fender was a beautiful three color sunburst. The "vintage white" wouldn't be my first choice for a color but it is slowly growing on me.In one regard the Squier actually has a better design; the switches controlling the pups don't stick up quite as high on the Fender. (I used to keep hitting them while strumming my Fender - it drove me crazy.)The neck on the Squier is a little thicker than my Fender but still comfortably narrow with an immaculately dressed fretboard - Indian Laurel makes a fine replacement for Rosewood. The nut was perfectly cut and out of the box the intonation was perfect.The pups are bright and responsive just like on my old Fender.I'm not crazy about the bridge design on the Squier. The saddles have small screws for adjusting the height of the saddles and according to many reviews I've read, they eventually work themselves loose and rattle.With this in mind I replaced the stock bridge with the bridge salvaged from my old Fender. The two have slightly different fretboard radii but the change is barely noticeable.Just like my long gone Fender, the 'Dynamic Vibrato' unit on this Squier is capable of raising the pitch in addition to lowering the pitch. And just like my Fender this vibrato unit absolutely kills the tuning when used.(As a result I don't use the vibrato assembly.) If you break a string the tension on the vibrato… read more unit changes and the rest of the strings go up in pitch making it impossible to finish a song if recording or playing live. I'm not crazy about this design but I'm used to it. The keys is to not break any strings. Ha-ha!The tuning keys are more than adequate. I'm not crazy about the white plastic buttons on the tuners but they do lend a distinct vintage quality to the overall appearance.I must say I was pleasantly surprised by Squier's take on the quirky but versatile Mustang. I'm not the biggest guy in the room so the short scale and smaller body is incredibly comfortable.It appears that Squier is phasing out the Vintage Modified series and reissuing the various models as part of the Classic Vibe series with a slight increase in price.It would be hard to really improve this guitar as it is an almost perfect copy of the vintage Fender models so I would suggest buying this "VM" model while zZounds still has it in stock.

Musical Background:
Former semi-pro now a stay-at-home jammer.

Musical Style:
Rock, rock and rock. read less