Unique FEnder\Squier Basses

[Strat Hater]

The P's, J's, Jags get most of the attention. I thought I would start a thread of not so common Fender made basses, yes these can include Squiers.

These are only pics I found on the net but I thought this would be a good start.

All I know it is a Fender HM. I assume that HM stands for Heavy Metal.



Any others, Mustangs, P Lytes, MB series, Katanas, or others I don't know about. This could be educational

[Bluelephant4]

I have a squire standard series pj combination. It has a jazz pickup in the bridge and a p in the bridge. It has a jazz profile neck too..

[micgtr71]

One of my students has a five string p bass with two jazz pickups. It is aged white and has a rosewood neck. She strung it up with flats.

[Malak the Mad]

Originally Posted by Bluelephant4

I have a squire standard series pj combination. It has a jazz pickup in the bridge and a p in the bridge. It has a jazz profile neck too..

I think he means this…





…a Squier Standard P-Bass Special, now since discontinued. Precision body, Jazz neck and a P/J pickup configuration. Only certain colors had the matching headstock; the satin pewter (pictured above) and the black with chrome pickguard.

[ggvicviper]

Originally Posted by Strat Hater

The P's, J's, Jags get most of the attention. I thought I would start a thread of not so common Fender made basses, yes these can include Squiers.

These are only pics I found on the net but I thought this would be a good start.

All I know it is a Fender HM. I assume that HM stands for Heavy Metal.



Any others, Mustangs, P Lytes, MB series, Katanas, or others I don't know about. This could be educational

HM = Heartfield Model

Check out this thread for more cool stuff: More Fender Bass Rarebirds

[khutch]

Originally Posted by Malak the Mad

I think he means this…

And that is a beautiful bass. I'm not sure that the fact that this particular model is discontinued makes it unique however. There are P/J Jazz and Precision models in the current Fender lineup and they are common enough to be staples rather than rare birds. Otherwise I would put up my Reggie Hamilton. Some of the current Telecaster models and the Reverse Jaguar probably qualify as unique. Anything that has been in production long enough to be widely copied by other manufacturers is not unique.

Ken

[JimB52]

One of my favorites, recently discontinued so not too rare.
The Roscoe Beck IV



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[Philbiker]

The old Squier Pro-Tone basses were cool.

[GODSBASSMAN]

DR Heartfield series basses by Fender. :>)

[Strat Hater]

Originally Posted by ggvicviper

HM = Heartfield Model

Check out this thread for more cool stuff: More Fender Bass Rarebirds

Cool, I never heard of them before last night

[Strat Hater]

Interesting pickups. how the poles are on each side of the string instead of right nder, or the 2 pole pieces per string. Kinda cool

[Buslady7803]

I have the black P&J Squier like that pewter one but I took off the gaudy chrome pickguard and put on a pearly red one, changed all the hardware to black and man it looks much better...but it doesn't stay in tune too well. Bleh...
Really wanted the pewter one tho, so hard to find used.
Hooked up to my new amp, it sounds like thunder though!
I wanted to put that black pg on it but it doesnt fit right, so the red one got its spot. This bass's name is Raven.

[Malak the Mad]

Originally Posted by khutch

And that is a beautiful bass. I'm not sure that the fact that this particular model is discontinued makes it unique however. There are P/J Jazz and Precision models in the current Fender lineup and they are common enough to be staples rather than rare birds. Otherwise I would put up my Reggie Hamilton. Some of the current Telecaster models and the Reverse Jaguar probably qualify as unique. Anything that has been in production long enough to be widely copied by other manufacturers is not unique.

Ken

Thanks, Ken. I am particularly proud of My Sexy Beast, especially given the hoops I had to jump through to get it. However, I must politely disagree on what is rare and what is not. I will concede that a lot of "where I'm coming from" is semantics, but I think it's still a valid point based on the intent of the OP's topic.

Are the two Squier Standard P-Bass Special models I mentioned unique? No, surely not. But the OP specifically said "not so common" in his full post, otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned them. As far as other manufacturers go, certainly there are many very similar models, but we're specifically talking about Fender/Squier in this thread.

The P-Bass Special, like the Squier Pro-Tone (which I've never had the pleasure of trying out…dammit!) has been discontinued for a while now, thus "not so common". But bear with me. There's more to my gist than just that.

Out of ninety bass models listed on the Fender/Squier website (not counting all the different color variations), there are only eleven that have a Precision/Jazz pickup configuration, ten if you count the Tony Franklin series as only one (fretted and fretless), but let's keep it at eleven. So that's a little over a 9-to-1 ratio against.

How many Precision bodies have a P/J config and a Jazz neck?

One.

Not terribly common. In fact, damn thin on the ground and probably not easily found brand-new in most music stores, save for the titanically huge ones. That or the odd little store who's owner wanted to stock something "not so common".

To clarify some more, another reason I singled out those two Squier P-Bass Specials is because of the rarity of a matching headstock. It almost seems like a fashion statement among Fender/Squier models, and like anything related to fashion, it comes and goes based on the decisions of a small number of people at the top of the production chain. "What's in and what's not this year", if you will. How many Fender & Squier models are there in current production with this particular mix of body, neck, pickups and a color-matched headstock?

None.

So, to sum up ("Finally!", I'm sure a few are saying ) I chose them as "not so common" because;
Discontinued/Hard-To-Find Model
Precision Body/Jazz Neck hybrid
P/J Pickup configuration
Color-Matched Headstock

On a side note, unless I miss my guess, I think a lot of fellow TB-ers would love to see more color-matched headstocks from Fender & Squier. Right now, and someone please correct me if I missed a model or two, there are only seven (not counting natural-finish models) out of ninety models that carry that little esthetic touch. They are;

Fender
50th Anniversary Jazz
Aerodyne Jazz (Mad Love for my first-ever bass!)

Squier
James Johnston Jazz Bass
VM Jaguar
VM Jaguar Special*
VM Jaguar Special SS*
Deluxe Active Jazz IV & V*
*only if you get the black version

I'm guessing the Squier line is where Fender tries out it's more experimental and non-standard ideas, unless they have a big-name artist behind a design. Eh, c'est la vie!

Happy New Year, everybody! Rock On! See y'all at the next Mayan Codex Countdown, or whatever End-of-Times prophecy someone writes a semi-literate, poorly-researched, sensationalistic book about next.

[lowphatbass]

[themacinator]

This is my Fenderbacher. Body and neck is a 60th anniversary P in fiesta red. Electronics are official 4001 Rick

[sven kalmar]

what about the Squire Bronco? hehe. For all i know it might be cool. I owned the squire Telecasterbass for some time...

[Malak the Mad]

Originally Posted by lowphatbass

Sweet lookin' bass!

I'd forgotten about the Squier Contemporary. I think I've only seen it mentioned once before. Now I've got a zillion questions…

When did you get it?
How much was it?
How does it sound/work/feel?
What was the timeline for it's production?
Was it a predecessor to the Standard line or was it part of some other long-forgotten series?

Enquiring minds want to know!

[lowphatbass]

Originally Posted by Malak the Mad

Sweet lookin' bass!

I'd forgotten about the Squier Contemporary. I think I've only seen it mentioned once before. Now I've got a zillion questions…

When did you get it?
How much was it?
How does it sound/work/feel?
What was the timeline for it's production?
Was it a predecessor to the Standard line or was it part of some other long-forgotten series?

Enquiring minds want to know!

Got it in Japan. AFAIK these basses were never imported into the US, this one doesn't even say "Made in Japan" anywhere on it. It's a JV serial number, probably late '83 or early '84. I believe it was the earlier non-export version of the "Jazz Bass Specials"/"Power Jazz"/'P-J Bass".

It plays incredibly, the upper range is really pronounced, it holds low tunings really well also...the neck just doesn't move. Fit and finish is outstanding as you would imagine...most JV's are. The finish is thick, but I think it's nitro, it's much softer than the bullet-proof shells you typically find with older MIJ Fenders.

[khutch]

Originally Posted by Malak the Mad

However, I must politely disagree on what is rare and what is not.

Well, as long as you are polite. By your criteria my Reggie Hamilton also qualifies since it has as many unique features. I suspect there are several current production models that have as many as well. Yours, mine, and those all look like typical Fenders at a glance though and for me a unique bass has to look unlike other Fender models. A bass that looks so different from the Fender norm that most people would question whether it is a Fender would be best in other words.

Ken

[Malak the Mad]

Originally Posted by khutch

Well, as long as you are polite. By your criteria my Reggie Hamilton also qualifies since it has as many unique features. I suspect there are several current production models that have as many as well. Yours, mine, and those all look like typical Fenders at a glance though and for me a unique bass has to look unlike other Fender models. A bass that looks so different from the Fender norm that most people would question whether it is a Fender would be best in other words.

Ken

That's definitely a fair set of criteria. And yes, I do consider the Reggie Hamilton to be quite a stand-out, almost unique even, amongst it's peers. What surprises me is how so much can be packed into one bass and still go for $900 brand new. Too bad I can't nab one while Fender's doing their big year-end sale. $100 can go a long way towards a few refinements.

But then again, I do only need one kidney…