At first sight, this M80 doesn't look much like a Squier - isn't Squier supposed to just released budget versions of Fender guitars? -, but more like these Matsumoku guitars from the early 1980s that prepared the guitar world to the metal era: unspectacular outline and wood, transparent finish, Gibsonesque gear and pickups - even an Ibanez-style headstock! But the M80 is a real - though short-lived - Squier guitar from the mid-2000s, about which there is little online information, but several very positive reviews.
This one has seen its Duncan Designed HB replaced by Seymour Duncan open ones - like many Squiers, it seems that the M80 has been a good base for upgrades and modifications! It's easy to overlook this guitar - though it has a refreshing feel of honesty that made me want to know more about it -, but when you read what Tod Krause, its designer, says, you may reconsider:
“I’ve been working on the M-80 for a long time. I designed it for somebody who was playing at a club, working with a label, about to be signed, or had been signed. I wanted to build a “workingman’s” guitar for a new generation of players. That guitar evolved from many years of seeing things in guitars that I like or dislike. A lot of designs on that guitar are my gut-level reaction to what I see people playing, my playing, and what players tell me they like and dislike – or find comfortable and uncomfortable.
“There’s a lot of design in the M-80 that doesn’t meet the eye. For example, the body comes from a shortened Mustang guitar. If you put a longer-scale Neck on a Mustang, you have to shorten the body so it feels right. I placed the strap buttons, so that when the guitar is hanging, it feels familiar. Let me put it this way … I’ve got 25 years in the business, and the M-80 is the accumulation of 25 years of designing and building guitars for the world’s most discriminating players.” – Todd Krause
Strange that the guitar was discontinued so quickly...
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I've got one of these in the transparent red. My buddy in Virginia has one. And my buddy in Florida has the transparent amber model. All three play well and sound great, better than one would expect but in agreement with the majority of reviews.
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