Fender Squier 51
The Squier 51 deserves a special place on this site. If there's ever to be a Hall-Of-Fame here, the Squier 51 would be firmly placed as one of its entrants.
A contradictory mix of originality and Frakenstein-ism, the guitar body-doubles the Stratocaster, gets the neck of a Telecaster and the pickguard from a P-bass.
Add to this a cock-eyed single coil pickup in the neck position and a hot humbucker in the bridge and a Telecaster-style control panel that consists of two knobs: the front knob controls volume, the rear knob splits the rear humbucker and acts as a 3-way switch to blend the pickups.
All together it leads to 5 different sounds from a very cool-looking axe.
Poor Sales = Great Prices
The Squier 51 did not do so well in the stores when Fender launched it a few years back. Experienced guitar players/buyers disdained the toy-like way the guitars were advertised.
The box the guitar came in looked like something you'd see at Wal-Mart or Target.
Guitar salespeople probably had much to do with this guitar's demise, being that many are so called 'purists' don't believe guitar music comes from anything that costs less than $1000. "These aren't selling too good," is how one retailer described the Squier '51!
Thus came the blowouts and sub-$100 prices, bottoming out at around $70 in some stores.
Fast forward to the present day and of course Squier has discontinued the model. But now, however, a cottage industry has now grown up around these instruments because players discover how cool these 6-stringers really are.
Birth of a Hot-Rod
Hip guitar players and tinkerers soon realized that paying $70 for a guitar meant huge potential for upgrades with the left-over dough.
Bodies were stripped and repainted, necks were swapped, hotter pickups installed, custom switches dropped in and the next thing you know, guys were starting to wake up and notice.
It's easy to catch the project guitar bug. Like knocking over a long row of dominos, one seemingly easy change to this guitar can lead to another, then another, then another, until not much of the original guitar remains.
Forums have been devoted to this model and at least one company makes custom pickguards for it.
Insider's Tip: Where to Find Squier 51 Guitars
"Activity on Ebay is beginning to push prices up as more players discover the awe-inspiring potential of the mighty 51.
"At press time, Ebay prices are hovering around $120-$180 for completed auctions, which are still incredible deals, but far from the $70 blow-out days. We got our 51 on Ebay for $160, including shipping, it needed a complete setup."
"Discounts still abound for this model. Ebay is the most obvious but you may have to wait it out until you're the lucky winner. One can also find them on Craigslist and even at yard sales. Then there's the parts market--bodies, necks, loaded pickguards and miscellaneous hardware abound on auctions and forums."
With the right combo of parts, you could possibly build one of these on a shoestring budget.--Josh