I recently got my hands on a Squier Bullet Hard Tail Strat.  These guitars used to sell for around $100 on sale.  Now they’re the same price the Affinity line used to be, and the Affinity line is the same price as the Standard line used to be, and so on.  And honestly, they can sort of get away with it because they’ve sort of increased the quality… but I find it painful that Squier’s cheapest guitar is now almost $200.  I mean, a Shure SM57 cost $99 a decade ago, and it’s the same price.  The Bullet has almost doubled in price.  But the real question is this: Is this guitar worth $189?  The answer is yes.

The Good

The infamous sharp fret ends that happened on many Bullets in the past seems to have been fixed… but I’ve only checked a small sample, so I might be wrong.  Still, the model I played was pretty good – fretwork was reasonable, the shape of the neck was CNC perfect, the pickups sounded about like what you’d expect.  I applaud the decision to make hard tail bullets, because the trem system on the Bullet Strat was always terrible.  This guitar reminded me a LOT of the Affinity Strats from ten years ago.  I could recommend this guitar to anyone.  Played good for the money, sounded good for the money, looked great for the money.  It sounds like a Strat.

The Bad

The back of the neck had that cheap guitar feel – barely any finish, and… it’s hard to explain unless you’ve played a lot of great Strats, and then you play one of these and say “This ain’t great.”  Could you add some additional finish and make it feel better?  I don’t know, but it’d be a fun thing to try.  Obviously the action wasn’t race car low, nor could it be – this guitar could benefit from a fret level/crown.  Not uncommon in cheap guitars.  YMMV.  Would I be happy with these pickups?  Nope.  I’d upgrade to GFS Alnico V low output pickups.  They’d sound better.

The Ugly

Well, I don’t like the price.  I think this guitar would be a great value at $149.  Yes, it’s improved over the old Bullet, but I just feel like Squier have pushed up the price a little to fast on this guitar.  Also, no bets on the quality of the electronics or the fret wire.

Summary

I think it’s a $149 guitar for $189, but I do think it’s a good guitar for this price range.  As a first guitar, it’s not a bad choice, but I do still prefer the Affinity series slightly.  Still, those are more money.  I give this guitar two thumbs up.