NEW Squier Strat with USB & iOS connectivity
Squier seems to be Fender’s testing ground for new ideas and concepts lately. And, now, they’re introducing an innovative new Strat guitar model that can directly connect with and record to Apple iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or Windows-based computers. Cool!
Announced today, this new Squier Strat Guitar with USB and iOS Connectivity (phew, that’s quite a catchy name) features an onboard mini-USB connector that allows players to interface directly and easily with all these devices, with no additional hardware needed – including GarageBand and other music apps on iOS. And get this, it’s available at, of all places, the Apple Store for $199.95!
A mini-USB to USB as well as a mini-USB to 30-pin cable (the old Style iPhone connector) is included, and the guitar also features a convenient onboard stereo headphone jack with volume control for use in USB/iOS mode. Further, it’s still a fully functional Stratocaster model that can be plugged into any instrument amplifier.
For more information, go to http://www.fender.com/features/usbstrat/.
Available at the Apple Store for $199.95.
Very cool, and affordable !
i love it! but is it mod-able?
Wow, that is weird!
great way to quickly lay down guitar tracks on Barbarians!
stupid spell check, I mean garageband not barbarians …..
Sounds like a great idea to me!
Very cool guitar, especially at $200! Works very well with Garageband. Just be careful with the usb connector at the guitar, it is very vulnerable. My usb plug broke and I was trying to be very careful. However, Fender consumer relations was very good about it and sent me a replacement in less than a week, no hassles! I noticed they changed the angled usb plug to a straight one. Good move. The Apple Store that brought the guitar in for me is totally ignorant about this product. Everyone claimed no knowledge. They didn’t know why it was delivered to the store!
I should also add, reflecting the low $200 purchase price. While I believe it is a good guitar, it was not setup at all by the factory. The saddles were just installed with no intonation, the strings needed height adjustment, the pickup height needed adjustment, and the trem claw was screwed in all the way so as to lock all trem action. The truss rod and frets seemed fine. A setup and intonation that I did myself revealed a very nice playing guitar in the end. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t come close to the tone, play and feel of my Eric Johnson or my American Standard Strats, but for $200 and the ability to plug straight into Garage Band, this Squier Strat is great!
I’ve been playing my iOS Squier since February.
The first change I made was to replace the plastic nut with one of bone (from the shin of a buffalo). Now, the sound is fantastic!
I agree that the guitar had no factory setup. Everything was off! Even setup properly, the squier’s neck has a twist in it. Still, once properly setup it plays ok and with the better nut, sounds wonderful.
I record all of my practices on either my mac laptop (garageband) or my 3rd gen iPad (garageband) and even my iPhone 5 (garageband).
For amplification, I bought a Fender Mustang I modeling amp that also includes it’s own USB. With the amp, I connect to Fender’s Fuse website which is fantastic! Although they don’t say it supports iOS, the amp will connect to my iPad via the Apple Camera Connection kit’s USB and running garageband on the iPad, I can use it to record from any guitar plugged into the amp. Not bad for $100 if you already have another electric guitar. I only wish fender would release an app for the amp like the one they have for the Mac!
BTW I did discover that the squier isn’t built like the stratocaster … dimensionally, that is. I bought some roller saddles to replace the stamped ones on the bridge, only to discover they were too wide. I also bought fender locking tuners to replace the non locking ones that came on the guitar. They looked the same but the two small pins that fit into holes predrilled on the headstock are in the wrong position by about 1/16″ so they won’t fit, either.
Should you decide to replace the nut, be forewarned … it’s really glued in place! I cut mine down the middle but when I pinched it together to remove it, it still took two chunks out of the top of the fretboard which I then had to reglue in place. And the nut slot still had glue everywhere that had to be chiseled and filed! Not an easy job but the sound improvement was ultimately worth it. If I had to do it again, I’d go to an experience luthier and pay them to do it.
One design flaw, and I mean this sincerely, is the location of the USB and headphone jack on the guitar … right next to the strap button on it’s bottom where you set the guitar down. Dumb! Setting it down with either cable attached will destroy the cable when it bends. At $15 a pop, I’ve already been through two! I finally found inexpensive (less than $10 each) right angle connector adapters from Amazon and that seems to have solved the problem. But, they should have either recessed the connection into the guitar or moved it to along the top side, away from the controls. Either of these simple solutions would have made this a non-issue. I may eventually route a channel on the top edge for the iOS circuit, my self.
Still, for $200 this is a good guitar that could be great! And if you like traveling light, all you need is the guitar, your iPhone 5, a cable and your earbuds and you can rock out and record yourself playing through some wonderful amp simulations in garageband!
Happy trails!