Affinity strat bodies

[Kyri]

These thinner bodies, often get overlooked. I have a white one I got from a gigging musician who used it for years. I got a red one as a compete guitar because I liked the neck (it was cheap). And very recently I got the most beautifully figured wood body I could ever ask for, they all sound good as long as they are matched with a decent neck.

They are not full thickness which put me off at first, but the wood quality is pretty good and consistent at least for the 3 I have.

The squier standards (a step up from the affinity's?) have a full thickness body but for the few I have seen and disected, they are not of the same quality. A black one I had was full of knots when I tried to open it up for a locking trem mod, another one had a ply front and back when I tried to strip it down to the wood which was 6 pieces... (I had a sore arm after all that sanding)

So heres to the most recent affinity body which is so nice it will get a decent neck to go with it.

What affinities have you got and do you like them?

Regards

Kyri

[tmenss]

Just got my first Affinity Monday, MIC, ~2004 or 2005 Cream color, white pg and rosewood fb. It's sound is really good, a tad thin and doesn't have sustain as I would like but has that distinctively clean Strat sound in all registers from low to high. My jaw just dropped to the floor when I heard it for the first time coming outta my Champ 600 speakers. Guess I'm in love with it because like I said it ain't perfect but I'm starting to treat it like a gem. In fact I bought it to "make it perfect" by modding it, like the neck- I want to mate an all maple neck and fb (a tinted one), larger frets, fix the trem with a large steel block, I have some Bill Lawrence L45s that sing that I wanted to put into it. I just picked up a nice Squire standard with a really nice neck..BUT..The Affinity hands down (IMHO) kicks the Standard's butt in the Strat tone department. I would have thought the alnico's in the Standard would have warmed things up and tend to a woodier sound but they didn't seem to have the mid to high glassy shimmer of the Affinity's pups. The Standard is clean, clear and I like it's tone but it doesn't grab me like the Affinity's sound. I guess I'll have to start experimenting with which components I'll keep or swap on the Affinity. At first I thought I didn't like the small thin neck of the Affinity but in reality I'm more dexterous on it's fingerboard, I like the meatier neck on the Standard, the fingerboard is very well shaped throughout and I really like the large frets, I'll try the swap but if it really affects the tone all bets are off. I'm just not certain what is causing such a large discrepancy between the two guitars....perhaps the bridge or the trem..anyway I think I'll have some fun figuring it all out.
Some problem points on the Affinity..Neck pocket isn't completely parallel front to back and slightly side to side.I'll remove neck and clean the pocket first and determine if I need to shim (hope not to need to). The frets are playable but I'll end up levelling and dressing them. I'm sticking a bone nut in. I'll order GFS steel trem block and probably replace the bridge pieces.
tony

[thaus]

I have one Affinity body and while it's ok and I got it for a steal, it is a rather cheapo piece of wood. Routes are sloppy, the trem route is too deep for the thin body, and the finish isn't exactly something to write home about! On the positive side, it cost me $60 for the whole guitar and it is light. The neck was a write-off IMO with all the fret sprout, slight twist at the 12th fret, and there is a hump at the 17th fret. It will become my practice neck for fret-leveling and then re-fret practicing. Would I buy another........not for me unless it was like $20.

[peskypesky]

i just bough a midnight blue affinity a few weeks ago and it's a fine guitar. i'm not too bothered by the thin body. itlooks good, sounds good, and the neck is nice...BUT for me, the neck is too narrow (nut-width) and the strings are too close together. i've been toying with the idea of putting a new neck on it, but i don't really need another guitar, so i'll probably sell it soon. of course, since i got it for $49, i have to say it was worth the money.

[Kyri]

I forgot to mention that bodies I have are all from around 1999-2002, maybe they were good years for the woods used I dont know. Squiers can be so variable, even having 3 might not be a representative sample!

[mtjo]

The Affinity bodies are all over the place depending on how it is being packaged and which Affinity version. The straight up Affinitys are Alder bodies with the 41mm nut and most of the SE Affinity bodies are Agathis with a 42mm nut. I have an 04 Indonesian model with the 41mm nut. The guitar weighs in at 8 lbs even with the thinner body which has me thinking it is Agathis and not Alder. The Squier site only lists the Arctic White bodies with the SE model but it has a 42mm nut, so I have no idea which version mine is. That being said, it is a fine guitar and the body has no issues or flaws. I like the neck on mine so much that I am looking for a similar neck for an Esquire project.

[Shades of Blue]

Good guitars for beginners. I personally think that the Squier Bullet is heads and shoulders above an Affinity with some mods.

I personally am done with Squiers. They are TOO different from guitar to guitar and you never know what you are going to get. I had a bullet and loved it, but I just built a Highway 1 Strat with all original Fender HWY 1 stock parts for under $300 on Ebay. I will gig with the HWY 1 and have my MIM for home use.

[Ray-Boy]

I have a Squire body that I've stripped right down to the grain and it's a nice piece of wood. I've also heard that they vary to a great degree from unit to unit. Maybe I just got lucky. This one had black paint on it that made it look like something used for target practice in the civil war but I got the bod, neck, and Squire tuners for $30 so what's to whine about?

[coldengray]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

Good guitars for beginners. I personally think that the Squier Bullet is heads and shoulders above an Affinity with some mods.

I personally am done with Squiers. They are TOO different from guitar to guitar and you never know what you are going to get. I had a bullet and loved it, but I just built a Highway 1 Strat with all original Fender HWY 1 stock parts for under $300 on Ebay. I will gig with the HWY 1 and have my MIM for home use.

how on earth did you build an ENTIRE HWY 1 for under $300....through ebay? I keep my eyes open pretty much daily on there and feel that strat parts tend to get overpriced quickly by overzealous bidders.....advice please!

[Diocletian]

I have a Chinese made Affinity and it's got a full thickness body. No idea what the bodywood is but I don't think it's ply.
And yes, I like it, I replaced the neck with one with a maple fretboard, put in a DiMarzio Super Distortion/Fender middle single/DiMarzio PAF neck and plan on replacing the pots with CTS ones at Xmas.

[Lionheart413]

I have a 2006 made in Indonesia Affinity. I bought it off of Craigslist for $35. It was originally in one of those beginner packs with the little frontman amp and all, so the body is made of Agathis, not Alder. I like the way it sounds, it resonates really well, and it feels a lot more "alive" than some other squiers I have played. There's not a big difference in tone from this one to other ones I've played but I can really feel the vibrations in this one. This is a quality I appreciate though. I really could do without the thin construction of the body though. The bridge on my guitar is kind of a frankenstein piece, the baseplate is off of a MIM standard trem, it has GFS stainless steel saddles that look like the USA strat saddles, it has the GFS solid steel trem block, and it's held together with Callaham Stainless steel screws. With the thin body the bottom of the trem block sits flush with the back of the guitar, and when the springs are hooked into it I can't use the rear tremolo cover. This isn't a big deal really but I wish I could use it. If the guitar body was 1/8" thicker it would all clear just fine. As for the actual wood of the body it is truly unique. Through my research I have found that Agathis is a pretty rare wood as far as guitar construction goes. It is native to Eastern Asia which is why Fender uses it on some of their asian budget models. The tone is described as being similar to mahoghany, though a little bit deader acoustically. When I refinished my strat I decided to try and stain the body using standard hardware store wood stain and minwax pre-stain conditioner for hard woods. It worked out fine except that there were several soft spots in the wood that absolutely inhaled the stain, making them almost black when everything else around them was a bright green. I did some tinkering on it and it looks pretty neat now, but those soft spots really caused me some headaches. If I had to /could do it again I would just apply a clear coat directly on the bare wood and then add coats of tinted clear to make a transparent finish.

I just realized that this is a really long post....sorry about that

[Lionheart413]

Kyri, the finish on that body you posted pics of looks great! Did you finish it or did you buy it like that? If so where'd you get it from? haha

[Kyri]

Originally Posted by Lionheart413

Kyri, the finish on that body you posted pics of looks great! Did you finish it or did you buy it like that? If so where'd you get it from? haha

No I got it like that, on ebay... due to the pictures being so good and the fact that I knew that it should fit the neck I had in mind for it, I got it. Much cheaper than a full size mex or us body that may or may not have fit the neck. I have since completed the guitar with the body as bought, I finished (refinished, anyway) the neck myself but there is another thread on that. Luckily the neck was very, very slightly wider than the neck so a little tiny bit of sanding of the body and I got a very nice tight fit neck to body. Here are a couple of pics. I have been enjoying playing it!

[Lionheart413]

Wow, I bet. It looks really nice, congrats!

[Kyri]

Originally Posted by Lionheart413

I have a 2006 made in Indonesia Affinity....I did some tinkering on it and it looks pretty neat now, but those soft spots really caused me some headaches. If I had to /could do it again I would just apply a clear coat directly on the bare wood and then add coats of tinted clear to make a transparent finish.

Any chance of a picture of it? Sounds like you put some work into it... I had one body which had hard and soft spots (some knots were rock hard) but it was all hidden under a black covering and only discovered when I drilled into the body to fit a locking trem At least with a s/b you know what you are getting.. but generally have to pay more as well, as a result!
regards
Kyri

[Lionheart413]

Originally Posted by Kyri

Any chance of a picture of it? Sounds like you put some work into it... I had one body which had hard and soft spots (some knots were rock hard) but it was all hidden under a black covering and only discovered when I drilled into the body to fit a locking trem At least with a s/b you know what you are getting.. but generally have to pay more as well, as a result!
regards
Kyri

Yeah, I'm waiting to post pics until the finish has cured and I have been able to buff and polish it properly. It will be a little bit longer. I just want to wait until you can get the full effect of it before I show it off. It definitely has some "character" though haha.

[JRSIV]

To me, this is where the "Squier Haters" get a lot of their ammo and crap all over every Squire even though there are great ones available. The Affinitys are a nice guitar...compared to what? Yes, if it's up against a Wal Mart First Act, then yeah, the Affinity is worlds better and a greater value. But against anything with Fender on the headstock (MIM, MIA, MIJ etc...) they are very rough. Great budget guitars and beginner models but sometimes the hyperbole gets ahead of the truth.

When the Classic Vibes were first making the rounds on the forums and I read review after review with such glowing statements like "As good as a Custom Shop Strat!" and "The neck blows away my MIA Strat!" I was really sceptacle. But, like most things in life, when seen with my own eyes and I played it for myself, the truth was shocking. They were amazing guitars, and not with any "for the money" or "for a Squire" post script!

Using similar language to describe Bullets and Affinity's to me is just hurting what the CV line has done for Squier. For $100 they are cool little project pieces and sometimes I'm sure a real peach of an example will blow you away but like most have stated, the Afinitys and other lower end Squiers are very hit and miss. But I've never heard that said of the CV's in a year and a half of following all the hype.

I'm just trying to bring a little perspective and keep the Squire detractors at bay. If it's said that all Squiers are great and that it seems we're unable to distinguish quality from the quanity that a Squier allows then when someone who already suspects Squier guitars picks up an Affinity, Bullet or even a Deluxe or Standard and they aren't blown away they'll think "I knew they sucked..." and walk away.

[tmenss]

JRSIV, I agree with your hit and miss, project guitar characterization. My Affinity has a certain mojo tone, but I wouldn't have used that setup for regular playing. Doing a setup for my playing tastes affected tone in ways a that pickup adjustments don't fully recover. Some things improved some got worse that quickly. The early "sweetness" seems more more elusive with my current setup. I may have caused some resonances elsewhere on the guitar when I floated the trem. The original setup had all the springs jamming the trem against the body and the bridge pieces where set very high. Maybe adding mass to the trem block will help. Then again to JRSIV's point...maybe when its' all said and done I would have been better off buying a Squier CV or going Fender MIA Stratocaster instead. Anybody else out there experience similar drastic tone changes when altering setup?

[Diocletian]

Originally Posted by JRSIV

To me, this is where the "Squier Haters" get a lot of their ammo and crap all over every Squire even though there are great ones available. The Affinitys are a nice guitar...compared to what? Yes, if it's up against a Wal Mart First Act, then yeah, the Affinity is worlds better and a greater value. But against anything with Fender on the headstock (MIM, MIA, MIJ etc...) they are very rough. Great budget guitars and beginner models but sometimes the hyperbole gets ahead of the truth.

I understand what you're saying, however, look at it this way:
Guys on this forum clearly really like Squiers. If they didn't the wouldn't be posting in here. Right?
So they must have or had some nice Squiers, probably Affinities or Bullets. So the odds of people on here having a really nice Squier Affinity are much higher than on any other guitar forum.
People who bought really crappy Affinity's aren't posting here. Could be 90% of people either hate or didn't like their purchase of an Affinity that much, but the other 10% did, many of whom post on here.


So....there you go, a whole big post that doesn't explain an awful lot about much at all.

[dhb2000usa]

I displayed this on another post, but I bought this a few weeks ago:


And converted it into this:


Then added these:


The guitar came already set up perfectly and now plays, looks and sounds great.

[Kyri]

Very nice! Does it play as well as it looks? Edit - just noticed your last statement I was too busy looking at the guitar to notice the first time!

[dhb2000usa]

Thanks Kyri, I was so amazed at how well it played and felt I sent ZZSounds an email asking if they did setups before shipping. They said no, it must have been done at the factory. I have gotten a couple of strats from other sources (including a CV50s) that had some bad action and needed setting up.

[Diocletian]

That needs a black trem and jack plate! I'd have got black Lace pup covers too, but NICE all the same!