Squier Mini Strat Review – A Great Travel-Friendly Electric Guitar

Guitars come in different shapes and flavors, and generally, there are Les Paul people and Stratocaster people. If you belong in the latter, there are tons of options you can choose from.

There a lot of authentic Fender Stratocasters and even Squier models with more affordable prices but all-around great value. For people with small hands, unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of options in the market, and you can’t find a smaller Fender Stratocaster, however, its subsidiary Squier provides an excellent guitar dubbed the Mini Strat.

The Squier by Fender Mini Strat is a perfect guitar for children and beginners, it will provide them ample fun and great playability thanks to its 3/4 size, short scale length, and slim neck. Even I was pleased and had a blast while playing this guitar, really a great Stratocaster at a reduced price. But how does it compare to the more expensive premium Fender Stratocasters, let’s dive deeper and find out!

The build and design of this guitar is an amazing replica of the Stratocaster, with the traditional double-cutaway body and great build quality, maybe it is not as quality as Fender’s Made in Mexico models, but it is excellent for the price of this guitar.

It is a scaled-down 3/4 version of the original Stratocaster, to be accessible for children and aspiring guitarists with smaller hands. It has a basswood tonewood and a bolt-on maple neck with a scale length of 22.75-inches in total. The neck has an excellent C-shape that is impressively playable and is a perfect electric guitar for smaller hands, on top it has a rosewood fretboard with 20 frets. I was particularly impressed by the basswood and maple tonewood and neck combo, as it provided plenty of punch that is expected from a true Stratocaster.
In the hardware and electronics department, the business is pretty standard as expected.

The Squier by Fender Mini Strat is equipped with three-single coils like a proper Stratocaster, in the neck, bridge, and the middle position. Those are connected to the five-way pickup selector, master volume knob and the master tone knob, this simple configuration gives great control over the tonality and I found them remarkably responsive.

The chrome hardware on the Squier by Fender Mini Strat is mediocre at best, but for this price range and children, it is adequate and pretty much enough. Right off the bat, I would suggest you to teach your child how to maintain the guitar in tip-top shape, because this hardware won’t last forever.

Surprisingly, this mini Stratocaster sounded excellent, really familiar to the classic Strat sound. It was extremely versatile, capable of rocking multiple genres with ease and was punchy and sharp at the right places. I found that it can get pretty warm when playing in the bass ranges, and very bright on the trebles.

With this versatility, build quality, excellent price, and Stratocaster looks, your child will be very happy to have this guitar, and even though it’s not considered to be a shredding guitar, you can shred on it from time to time.