Squier VM '70s Jazz bass modded and upgraded -- my Super-Squier!

I have a number of nice basses that hardly ever need maintenance or anything, but I've been wanting to tinker around a little more intensively without risking screwing up something rare or valuable, so I asked my wife for a VM '70s Jazz for Xmas. I had tried one in a store and was impressed with it as a solid and relatively cheap platform for modding. I also really liked the neck, particularly the look of the black blocked and bound combination with the maple board. The profile and finish on the neck is pretty much just what I like. It was a decent bass when it arrived:



I had some Lindy Fralin pickups (5% overwound, steel poles) left over from when I had tried them in my Sadowsky. They seemed like a good fit (they're relatively aggressive for Fralins) for the maple body and neck, so I dropped them in and noticed a big improvement in tone.

Next to go were the tuners, which were pretty crappy. I got some black hipshot ultralites to shave a little weight off the end of the neck. I also put on a black string tree and some black knobs.

Surprisingly enough, my wife thought the best transformation in terms of appearance came from just replacing the silver PG screws with black ones. Looks more clean, IMO. A black Badass II bridge arrived today (Man, are they heavy!!! -- made a surprising difference!) and dropped in fairly easily, though I was a little alarmed by how crooked the bridge screw holes were originally drilled. You'd think they would use a drill press or something . . .

After a full setup and some new strings, this bass smokes. The body and neck have great resonance, and the Badass magnifies it all. The Fralins have the vintage growl in spades. FWIW, I'm keeping the Squier logo. Nothing to be ashamed of. This Super-Squier rocks!!!





I've been thinking of getting a black control plate. Would that be too much?

Oh, and possibly an Audere, though I don't yet know if I would want the 2- or 3-band EQ.

Thanks for the replies! I'm thrilled with the results. I'm not selling my Sadowskys, but I think it holds up pretty well against any Jazz under $1k.

A black control plate sells for <$10 on ebay, so I'll probably snag one and see how it looks. I'm kind of digging the chrome though, as it gives the black knobs a "floating" look that I like.

Luvmusic, I had to drill one very small hole per tuner in the back of the headstock for the tuners. It took me all of five minutes to do, and you just have to line up the hole reasonably straight. I eyeballed it but achieved much greater accuracy than the crooked holes that were drilled for the stock tuners. I'm not much of a craftsman, and it was really easy. Just make sure that you only have enough of the drill bit exposed so that you can't run it all the way through the headstock and you'll be fine. Between the Badass and the lighter tuners, the balance is now perfect. Zero neck dive.

39reasons: Squiers don't come with the covers, but they are available pretty cheap. I use such different right hand placements for various sounds that neck covers pretty much just get in the way for me, but I do like the look of them.

ihateusernames said:

i'll opine against the black control plate. imho that's overdoing it and will start looking like one of those black steel wheel, primer paint, black window, painted taillights, painted headlights, painted side markers hondas/nissans that fart up and down the street all day long.

Click to expand...

Wow! Dead thread walking. It's been a year since I finished modding the Squier.

FWIW, I kept the chrome control plate. The black knobs look better against the chrome I think.

I also ended up replacing the Badass with a ABM bridge as the Badass could not be adjusted side-to-side and I never could get the strings to line up perfectly (I'm a perfectionist). So I had to drill new holes for the ABM bridge.

FWIW, Here are some updated pics, though they were taken before I swapped out the Badass for the ABM.