As the title states, if you're beginning on guitar, this might be a Cadillac for you. It's so much better than the stuff I started with. I actually own a Squire Bullet Stratocaster(which Squire just replaced in their line. I belive they are the Sonic series of Stratocaster now) as well. I know Sonic Stratocasters have changed the Bullet model a bit, but in comparison to this Affinity, I am impressed. I don't love the pickups. I think the middle pickup is actually decent but the neck and the bridge get extremely muddy. I was surprised as I expected them to be thin and bright but these are not thin, but muddy. Trem works nice, tuners seem to be ok and what you'd expect from a guitar at this price, nut looks pretty bad but that's just nitpicking. For this price point, I really think this is a solid choice. I plan on gutting this guitar completely and upgrading it. This is another reason this guitar is a good choice for a beginner. Guitarists could grow with this guitar.

Sound
As I said earlier, these pickups are weak. The middle position is oddly the one I liked. The pickups sound ok distorted and even lightly picked, but as soon as you start trying to chug it's a mess. Even clean, as soon as I strum a chord with any sort of force, they just break up and it doesn't matter what pickup. Its not that you can't, but in comparison to my other guitars, this one just likes to get played with a light touch. I have some Seymour Duncans to throw in on a new… read more pickguard for this because I need some more oomph, but if I was just starting out, I probably wouldn't even notice.

Features
The 2 point trem is what sold me on this guitar. I was looking for a relatively inexpensive HSS Stratocaster style guitar that had a 2 point tremolo. I have a ton of parts to use so I was looking for a guitar to basically hold the parts I already had. The bridge was a concern because Affinity guitars have a thinner body than the classic vibe Squiers and Fender Stratocasters. Fortunately that worked out, and my block *barely* fit but honestly there's nothing wrong with the existing bridge. Especially newer players won't notice and the original tremolo works great.

Ease of Use
Guitar was setup well. No intonation issues. It was out of tune as all get out, but that's easy enough to fix. Everything on this is straight forward Stratocaster. Sounds like a Stratocaster. Feels like a Stratocaster.

Quality
The finish on this guitar is a mixed bag. The blackburst is dark and the finish is smooth. The neck is pretty fast. There's a spot on the back of the body that's almost egregious. When I first looked at the back, I thought the back of the guitar was dirty. But that's the finish. There's a paint smear that someone very poorly tried to cover up. Now it's just permanent on the back of the guitar. The important part is the front and that looks good. I have seen other incarnations of this finish on these guitars before and they didn't have the same paint imperfections.

Value
You have so many choices at this(or any) price point. If you are looking for a solid Stratocaster with an HSS setup that you want to mod. This ain't bad. If you're beginning, you could do worse. I personally think this would be an incredible starter guitar. It's appeal for me was the looks and the ability to easily modify it. You could even turn this thing into an HSH configuration if you wanted.

Manufacturer Support
Never had to deal with them.

The Wow Factor
This guitar is pretty cool looking. With gold hardware and pickup covers, it looks fantastic. I am extremely happy with my purchase.

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