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Buying a Squier Affinity P bass as a mod platform?

boristhespider7

boristhespider7

Jan 27, 2008
1,572
766
UK
#1
The background: I have an excellent US Fender P standard that i love and is my main bass. It's sunburst w maple neck. However i would love a 2nd P bass for back up and so i can string 1 bass with flats and 1 with rounds. I'd love this 2nd bass to be a black P with maple neck as i just love the look and have always wanted one

Now i would love a 2nd US Fender but thats out (even 2nd hand UK prices make this a no go).
MIM's i've played have all felt like i'd need to plow in extra cash to make it decent. The necks in particular have needed work.
Squier CV's feel pretty good (eg. Matt Freeman). However i don't like the basswood body (too soft), thick laquered neck and vintage frets
Squier VM's feel pretty similar to the MIM's to me, plus they don't do the black maple combo.

This leaves the Affinitys. Now i've tried out a few of these recently (all the newer ones with open back tuners). I've been really surprised at the quality of these, even the necks have been better than the MIM. So i'm thinking:
Buy a black Affinty P bass
Replace neck with Maple Mighty Mite neck
New PU (probably Kent Armstrong or Model P)
Probably replace the electronics
Jobs a good un!

My calculation is that this will total less than the CV and will give me a solid alder P with better PU and nicer feeling neck. Anyone done something similar to this or can chime in with any thoughts? I'm really after people that have experience modding an Affinity rather than "just buy a used US" etc
 
#2
Main things I would look at are the nut, tuners, and bridge. Those will help keep rock-solid tuning.

Just be careful because you could easily spend more modding it.

I had a Squier Affinity Strat that I was going to upgrade. The new pickguard and pickups cost me about $50. Electronics were another $20. The neck was meh, but it was going to cost a pretty penny to replace. Nut would be about $12, tuners more... In short, I was going to spend a ton of money and decided to just sell the parts and look elsewhere.
 
#3
You will definitely be putting more into this bass than it will be worth, be sure to keep that in mind.

I personally would use an actual Squier for a cheap modding platform and not just for financial reasons. I haven't seen a brand new affinity but they traditionally use smaller pots as well as smaller screws right down to the bridge adjustment screws. A VM or CV will be a lot closer to standardized Fender parts and pieces in my experience.
 
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#5
DiabolusInMusic said:
You will definitely be putting more into this bass than it will be worth, be sure to keep that in mind.

I personally would use an actual Squier for a cheap modding platform and not just for financial reasons. I haven't seen a brand new affinity but they traditionally use smaller pots as well as smaller screws right down to the bridge adjustment screws. A VM or CV will be a lot closer to standardized Fender parts and pieces in my experience.
Click to expand...

That's what it came down to for me. I found the replacement pick guard didn't match up very well at all and was a tight fit on the cavity.
 
#6
About the only thing an Affinity might need is some careful checking for basic neck straightness, the knobs haven't fallen off (not likely even if the pots were 6 inches in size) and that it's a color you like.

I've got two Affinities now, both are Ps, and even though one is a teenager at 17 y/o --- and the other is closer to 20 y/o ---they still have what some are want to decry as "junk pots" that are clean, work perfectly and yes --- the knows don't fall off.

I am so tired of this old saw, saying that the mini pots are some kinda junk!

The ONLY problem I had on the oldest Affinity is that one of the pups died and I swapped them for a used set of Peavey Fury pups which are still going strong.

Buy an Affinity, wax it and play it. They are quite well worth the low price as something you can look at and just know that everyone else ignorantly supposes that the pots are junk.

Grin a lot.
 
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#7
I picked up a newer affinity p/j over last Christmas. Stock, it was pretty nice. All I had to do was a good setup on it and it was rockin. I bought it because I have a P and an ATK, so I was covered on the P and MM type tones. It was the right price at the time so I grabbed it. And modded the living heck out of it. I didn't buy this bass for value or to resell. I bought it mainly to mod and have a bass with some J flavor. Go figure, I now want a straight J bass bad haha. But IMO, the affinity is a wonderful platform to build off of when modding. I know there's a lot of folks out there that think these are pure garbage, but I dig it for the price, feel, sound and ease of modification. It's a great player. So yeah, it's a great platform to work with IMO.
 
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#8
I wasn't saying smaller pots are somehow inferior if you are referring to me Joe. The problem arises when you try to put normal knobs on smaller pot shafts.

For the record, I have bought and gutted dozens of Fenders and Squiers (including Affinitys.) I never once said the Affinitys were a bad bass, they are great for their price range. That being said, a proper Squier is a much better modding platform as it uses standard sizes making replacement parts much easier to find.
 
#9
I think the alder bodied Affiniti basses would be an excellent mod platform. You could go the next step and get an alder 2002-2006-ish MIM Standard. Some of the 1995-2001 MIM's are also traditional wood bodies.
 
#10
I would have suggested one of the Thomann P basses for modding, as you'd be changing the neck,and electrics so it's origins would be hidden.
You'd have an Alder body for £87 but it's red and a PJ.

I have the PB-50 and the JB-75 I much prefer the Thomann to the Affinity I've got.
Might well be my Affinity's a dog. I can take some measurements if you'd like.
 
#11
I would say yes if you were keeping the neck and body , but if you are going to replace the neck which is half the bass plus other parts then what are you keeping like 25% of the original bass?at that point I would likely just build a parts bass, buy a body off ebay like mighty mite, and then build up around that.
 
#12
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#13
DiabolusInMusic said:
I wasn't saying smaller pots are somehow inferior if you are referring to me Joe. The problem arises when you try to put normal knobs on smaller pot shafts.

For the record, I have bought and gutted dozens of Fenders and Squiers (including Affinitys.) I never once said the Affinitys were a bad bass, they are great for their price range. That being said, a proper Squier is a much better modding platform as it uses standard sizes making replacement parts much easier to find.
Click to expand...


Present company excluded of course!

I just dislike (not a sufficient word) people who try to dis something that other than an incorrectly applied, stigmatized statement about tiny pots, can't seem to get past that problem --- self induced, it is.

About parts interchangeably ---- the Affinities and Squier all differ from Fenders in quite a few dimensional areas.
 
#14
This is a close call. I think it all depends on how handy you are/what tools you already have, and if you enjoy doing this type of thing. A Dremel tool will make a pick guard fit that is tight. Toothpicks and wood glue will fill screw holes that don't quite line up. It is a lot of messing around but if you take your time and are careful you can get regular Fender parts as well as cheap aftermarket parts to fit without having to refinish the guitar. If you are replacing most everything but the body, you may be further ahead to just buy a used body off of ebay or something. If you do buy the Affinity you could sell the neck and other parts you take off to recoup some of the cost of the replacement components. Again, if you enjoy tinkering then I would say go for it. You probably could never sell your Frankin Bass for what you will put into it, but if you take it apart and sell it piece by piece you may come close.
Good Luck!
 

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