Weird and Wonderful Squier Guitars

I really like non-standard guitars. Vintage be damned! Give me the big radius fingerboards, alternative scales, rounded heels, the lot.

You can pay a fortune for a Fender Ultra Luxe, or you can get something cheaper. Squier is cheaper, but still “cool”. So here are a bunch of weird and wonderful Squiers I’ve come across, so I can remember they exist when I’m looking for something.

Some common themes you’ll see in Squier guitars I have my eye on are 12-inch radius fretboards (I just quickly sell anything with a 9.5-inch radius), sculpted neck heels (ditto, I often play at the higher end of the fretboard), and a Stratocaster-style tremolo block. These are personal preferences. But they’re also more “modern” and definitely not “vintage”.

You can definitely get those features on other guitars, both cheap and expensive. But I can’t make this a list of everything!

I’m putting this down roughly in the order of “I’d buy that!”

I’ve put in the cover image for this post a guitar I don’t actually want, but do like looking at — the Paranormal Supersonic. It’s cute, it’s pink, it has a funky layout, but it’s just not of a shape or spec list that’s for me.

Squier Contemporary Active Jazzmaster HH (2018)

I kind of love HH guitars. You can get a surprising range of tones out of them, depending on the pickups.

What’s cool about the Contemporary Active Jazzmaster HH is that it breaks from tradition in so many ways.

• Comes in Shell Pink (this obviously comes first!)
• 12-inch fretboard radius, 25.5-inch length (thin C-shape, 21 frets)
• 2-point Stratocaster-style bridge
• Sculpted neck heel
• Graphite nut
• Satin neck
• Active SQR Humbuckers (needs a 9v battery. But whatever, it lasts over 1,000 hours, and only drains while plugged in)
• 3-positions witch
• Roasted Maple Neck

You do have to think about whether active pickups suit your style. But you can play whatever you like with them (here is a good clip with them as cleans. They sound like single coils!)

This one comes in a few versions, so I have to be sure to find the one with a normal tremolo block and no Floyd Rose bridge.

Squier Contemporary Telecaster

It’s so rare to see a Squier with a sculpted neck heel, but many Contemporary series models have it.

I’d love a Contemporary Telecaster (just don’t want a Floyd Rose which is why I don’t want the Strat – but I like the Contemporary Strat Special).

What makes the Contemporary Telecaster different:

• HH pickup configuration — A rail SQR humbucker in the bridge, and an Atomic humbucker in the neck position (Described as SH by Fender). 3-position switch (no split)
• Roasted maple neck
• Graphite nut
• 12-inch radius fretboard, standard 25.5-inch scale length
• Stratocaster-style bridge (not the standard 3-block saddle)
• Sculpted neck heel

Squier Paranormal Strat-O-Sonic

Why it’s weird and different:

• Soapbar Alnico single-coil pickups. (They look like P90s…)
• Push-pull control for series/parallel and phase switching
• Compensated wraparound-style bridge
• 12-inch radius fingerboard
• Short 24.75-inch scale length

This guitar is weird and cool. I love it. I don’t care that the fingerboard is laurel and not something else (I’m not too fancy… I like ’em all).

I really like short-scale guitars. They’re just slightly more comfortable to play.

Squier Contemporary Stratocaster Special

This guitar has it all, really, for a Squier. A 12-inch radius, contoured heel, three pickups, and a bridge that works (personally, I am not a fan of Floyd Rose).

Why this is cool and different:

• Three alnico Squier SQR pickups in an interesting configuration, five-position switch
• 12-inch fretboard radius
• Graphite nut
• Sculpted neck heel (yay)
• 2-point tremolo, like the big boy Fenders

They sell these new at time of writing but they’re a bit pricey!

Squier Paranormal Custom Nashville Stratocaster

This is the Squier take on the Nashville Strat that also comes in Fender configurations.

Why it’s weird and different: It’s not just a Tele/Strat hybrid. It’s a hybrid of a Strat with a Nashville Telecaster.

This means it has

• Three Fender-designed alnico pickups – probably the same as on Squier Stratocasters, but they look cool
• A Telecaster-style string-through-body bridge
• A “hybrid” Telecaster/Stratocaster body
• Telecaster-style switching
• Vintage-style tuners
• A push-pull knob for engaging the neck pickup in positions 1 and 2

This one doesn’t have a sculpted neck heel — but Fender stopped doing that on their MiM Nashville, too (the last one was the Deluxe).

Squier Contemporary Jaguar HH ST

This is an awesome-looking Jaguar, one of the offsets that gets less attention than the Jazzmaster. Why this one is weird and different:

• Twin humbuckers (Squier SQR Atomic – passive)
• 12-inch radius neck, 24-inch scale
• Roasted maple neck
• Sculpted neck heel
• Coil split and series/parallel switching

If you’re looking for an HH guitar don’t really need a whammy bar, then this is worth a serious look.

Squier Vintage Modified Telecaster Custom II

Another weird Squier. The Vintage Modified line had some really interesting guitars!

The Vintage Modified Telecaster Custom II (cripes, that’s a long name) is unique for its

• Dual “Duncan-designed” P90s (Alnico 5)
• Stratocaster-style 2-point tremolo bridge and saddles
• Four control knobs — Les Paul-inspired (tone and volume for each pickup)

A fly in the ointment here is the 7.25-inch radius fingerboard. Just not for me. But plenty have liked it for decades! Nor does it have a contoured heel.

Despite those, it’s a unique and interesting Squier I wouldn’t mind owning.