Please allow me to introduce myself.....

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Adrian Coker, or Ace to my long time friends. I am a resident of the Chattanooga, TN/GA metro area and a working musician. I've played guitar since I was 11 years old. I am currently working as the bass player in a 5 piece Blues and Classic Rock cover band-Code Blue.

Like every other working musician, I want gear that gives me the sounds I'm looking for. More importantly, I need gear that works and is durable. I am a long time devotee of Fender guitars and basses, having owned many genuine Fender instruments-vintage, old and new.

For years, Fender has been the gold standard in instruments for working musicians.The simplicity and durability of Leo Fender's designs have stood the test of time. For most of my life you could purchase an American Standard or American re-issue Fender guitar or bass for a reasonable amount of money and be assured of a professional level of fit, finish and sound.

Unfortunately, those glory days have come to an end. While the fit, finish and sound quality of American Standard instruments remains indisputably uniformly high, the price has soared in recent years-effectively pricing me and lots of other working musicians out of the market. Even the Made-In-Mexico Road Worn and Vintage reissue series guitars are now close to $1000 street price and no longer represent a bargain for the working musician.

Since they began, the Asian manufacturers have been improving their quality control. These manufacturers, such as FujiJen, Tokai, Dyna, (Japan) Samick, Saehan, Cort, (Korea) Yako, (Taiwan) AXL, (China) and Cor-Tek (Indonesia) All of the above are capable of producing quality guitar bodies and necks in their factories, and over the years their guitars have been sold under multiple brand names-Including Squier.

In 1982, Fender decided to launch lower cost versions of their venerable Stratocaster (R), Telecaster and Precision Bass designs under the Squier nameplate. This was to counteract Japanese copies being made by Greco and Tokai that were excellent guitars and significantly cheaper than Fender's US made guitars. These early "JV" Squiers were made in Japan by FujiJen Gakki and are highly collectible today due to their high quality. From this beginning, Squier guitars have continued to be manufactured and many models have been made over the years with greatly variable results.

For most guitarists and bassists I know the Squier name is in their view synonymous with "crap." In defense of these folks, Squier has done much over the years to reinforce this view with several substandard iterations of various models-especially Strats. They've also made some instruments that were a great value and usable for gigging with minor modifications. Personally, I advocate evaluating an instrument solely on its merits and not dismissing something simply on the grounds it doesn't have the right headstock decal.

Squier's latest notable achievement is the "Classic Vibe" and "Vintage Modified" series of instruments. Since 2008, these reasonably priced ( under $400) guitars and basses have given players that like vintage Fender styling, hardware and sounds a viable option in my humble opinion.

I've made an executive decision that as I collect guitars and basses, I am going to identify and purchase  Squier instruments almost exclusively and share my experiences with obtaining, playing and modifying these instruments. My goal is to keep costs down while obtaining fun and giggable instruments. Fasten your seat belts kids...this is going to be an interesting ride!!!