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Vintage Review: 2012 Squier Vintage Modified Surf Stratocaster
The 2012 Squier vintage modified Surf Stratocaster is a good design, albeit a little esoteric. When I bought one, and admittedly only held onto it for a week, the thought in my mind was that the Duncan designed lipstick pickups were less of a compromise than the pickups you found in a first generation Mexican-made Strat. In other words, if you got a decently built Strat and you put in good lipstick pickups, you had a better Strat, more or less, than a Mexican-made Strat with the pickups that they were using at the time. Of course, that was only a theory (and almost certainly way off base).
One thing about the Surf Strat is that the basswood body is ergonomically nicer than alder or ash, in my mind, because, given my size and preferences, Strats were generally a bit too heavy for me. I’ve bought maybe a half a dozen Strats of various types and never hung on to them because I could never handle the size and weight, even though I’ve admired that type of guitar (retro reviews for a Strat Plus, Fender 50s, Offset, first gen MIM, Eric Clapton and others are coming along or being revised from earlier reviews, etc.).
You would think that with the three lipstick pickups, you would have a guitar that sounded just like a Danelectro, and it sort of did but sort of did not. The VM still has a definite strat flavor, which might have been deliberate because in the planning rooms of Squier and Fender, I would imagine that the one thing they didn't want was their loyal audience to realize that they simply had a Danelectro in their hands and that maybe it was better to just get a Dano for half the price.
One step that I could take in this review was taking it to a band rehearsal with the group I was in, Handa-McGraw International. The reason why it was a great idea is that McGraw, who is the main guitarist in the group, was also an avid surf guitar fan, and so having him play the guitar and getting his impressions would add a great deal of expert opinion to the review.
After McGraw played it for 30 minutes, he noted that he liked the guitar's lightness and was impressed by the “Duncan Designed” lipstick pickups saying that the pickups delivered a good Dano chime that still had a Strat feel." His final judgment was that it could be a good surf guitar, but still felt that a regular strat could do the job just as well and was more versatile.
My opinion on the Duncan pick ups was different because I had owned a 60s era Danelectro before this and my feeling was that the pick ups were quite good but didn’t quite have that nice trebly quality that I like to describe as an “electric six string that has a resonance like a 12 string.”
My feeling is a lipstick equipped Fender is a good idea, but it probably would’ve been better to put it in a Jaguar or Mustang body, with the latter being an especially a good fit because it would be similar in profile and weight to a Danelectro yet have the definite look of a Fender.
One thing that impresses me about the Squier VM Surf Strat is that it seems that time and time again the Vintage Modified models are beautifully designed, particularly in terms of the cosmetics. They’re always such cool looking guitars for the price and the Surf Strat is no exception.
From what I’ve read, you can get these particular models used at a reasonable price, and if you like the Danelectro sound, it’s worth trying out. The only reason I didn’t take to it was because, in my mind, if I could get a three-pickup Danelectro, then that’s what I preferred because of the way the thinner neck feels and the lightness.
So, the Squier VM Surf Strat did have one big effect on me; I liked the three lipstick configuration enough that I bought a used Danelectro Mod 6 with its HSS lipstick configuration and enjoyed that one for quite a while.
Al Handa
July 2013 (rev 2025)
Specs:
Basswood Body
Pearloid Pickguard
3 Duncan Designed LS-102 Lipstick Pickups
C neck
Vintage tuners
Maple neck, rosewood fretboard
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