Black Squier Stratocaster

1985 Edition

This Japanese Strat was my first ever electric guitar. My folks and I bought it new in December 1985. It was my only guitar for several years. My left hand was shaped around this fretboard. Every time I pick it up and start playing it, I feel like I’m back home. My hand and this fretboard are almost symbiotic.

Sometime in the last decade, it was set up for gentle and precise whammy bar work, think Hank Marvin rather than Ritchie Blackmore. It has a floating tremolo and it’s equipped with slightly heavier strings than my other Strats. I use it all the time in the studio. It’s great to create moody soundscapes. I think it’s featured on Almeria, Home Is Where I Was Born, L’Aviatore, and Meant To Be.

The original pick-ups were a bit too powerful and modern, so at some point they were replaced with  Fender RI-singlecoil.

Early ’80 Japanese Squier Strats were very good. At the time there was some snobbery about them because they weren’t Made in America and because they were branded Squier, but in time people have pretty much come to agree that these were excellent instruments and their value in the second-hand market reflects that.

This wasn’t my only Japanese Strat. The other was a beautiful 1983 sunburst JV ’54 reissue, an absolute gem. For many years in the 90s I swapped around the necks of my two Squiers. Somehow I thought that the swap would benefit both guitars, but perhaps I just fancied a change. Unfortunately the ’54 strat (with its original neck firmly back on) was part-exchanged when I bought my black US ’57 Strat. It was a pretty good deal but I surely miss her to this day. Thank goodness I kept this black Squier!