Scored a Red SQOE Dual Humbucker Strat type for about Php5.5k from a store in Raon St.
My impressions of it are:
- Paint finish is good, with a bit of red glitter effect, black pick guard. I was looking for a white one, but
none was available.
- The guitar was not setup properly, had to adjust the intonation and truss rod.
- Neck is ok, its comfortable, the frets were a bit off though, a bit of a fret buzz between the 7th and 9th
fret on the High E string.
- The headstock branding is ok, for me it works, the way the SQOE brand is printed on the headstock.
- Tuners are usable enough, would go out of tune slightly during use.
- The pickups are ok, not too loud, it's usable.
- 3 position selector switch is a bit tight, the clicks are very audible thru the amp especially in high gain
settings.
- Volume pots used are the small diameter type with standard short shaft with a green mylar(?) type
capacitor for the tone controls.
Overall I would give it a 6/10.
I purchased the guitar as a sort of a project, a made in china guitar with made in china upgrades from a popular on-line vendor.
- Replaced the pickups with Railed Humbuckers, these are good replacements, definitely better than the
SQOE stock humbuckers.
- Replaced the tremolo block with a brass one, the stock unit was just a hollow pot metal. I retained the
stock saddle plate. I also blocked the tremolo unit.
- Replaced the String Trees and String saddles with parts that have rollers. Slight improvement because
those parts have a bit more mass (thicker materials).
- Replaced the pots and capacitors with 500k Ohm CTS pots and Orange Sprague(?) brand capacitors.
Had to remove some wood on the body though to fit the pots of the tone controls.
- Will eventually replace the selector switch with a better one, but for now I just put some thermal paste
to minimize the clicking sound.
- Replaced the Strat style black knobs with Red metal type knobs.
I like the playability of the guitar, of course it can never compare to branded ones. The tone was improved because of the upgrades. For an average player like me its OK.
BTW, there is also a SQOE Les Paul guitar with chrome hardware, burst finish in one store only in Raon street, the price is between 8k to 9k.