Help, budget Squier Jaguar SS mods/upgrades? (GFS, Wilkinson, etc)

[ajdes]

Theres lots of threads on modding/upgrading Squier VM Jaguar bass guitars, but most people seem to be using some fairly expensive parts (hipshot tuners, seymour duncan pickups, etc..).

I'm curious if anyone has tried to do some more budget oriented upgrades like the parts available at guitarfetish? I've used them before on regular Squier guitar and thought they were a pretty good value.

Just kind of brainstorming. Anyone tried any cheaper tuner, bridge, or pickup upgrades on the Jaguar? Was it worth it? Thanks

 

[ajdes]

something like these tuners might be a cheap option for reducing neck dive:
TK-7567 Single Lightweight Wide Post Bass KeyChrome / Bass side

would require drilling some holes though

 

[buldog5151bass]

I'm not sure Guitar fetish parts would be an upgrade.

 

[ajdes]

anyone ever tried replacing the nut on one of these? I read somewhere that they are the same width as a Jazz Bass. Would one of these precut ones fit: TUSQ Nut Bass Fender Style Jazz 4 String

I also spotted this cheap "heavy duty" bridge which I think would be an upgrade: https://www.amazon.com/Allparts-BB-3410-003-Economy-Bridge-Black/dp/B004MNGOCE

 

[ajdes]

I'm not sure Guitar fetish parts would be an upgrade.

Thats probably true to an extent, though the Squier hardware on here feels very cheap IMO. I'm not sure it would take much to improve it. What do you think about some of the parts I linked from allparts.com?

At a minimum, I think I would like to try to address the neck dive with a lighter tuners and a heavier bridge

 

[buldog5151bass]

My experience with All Parts is pretty decent, but I would spend money on tuners (and subtract weight), before I would replace the bridge +and gain weight).

 

[pcake]

i think the best thing to do with any mod that isn't just for fun is to figure out what you actually don't like about a bass. my husband recently routed a mikro for me, then dropped in a pair of fender vintage style jazz pickups. the difference was truly amazing; the mikro with the jazz pickups is probably my best sounding bass in the house.

the question is whether you personally dislike the tone of the jag, and if so, what you dislike about it. lots of cheap bass pickups don't have outstanding tone, so changing the jag pickup to another cheap pickup may not be an upgrade - it might just be a change. my jag sounded fine and better than some cheap basses, so replacing it with a meh pickup wouldn't be an upgrade to me.

there was nothing wrong with the jag hardware, either. i turned it back and forth from standard tuning to drop D to other alternative tunings, and i had no problems with the tuners. maybe i got lucky, but when i sold it after years of heavy playing, the buyer was thrilled to get it.

yeah, lots of people mod the bronco, but it has the cheapest guitar pickup from the squier lineup - it's not even a bass pickup. it's noisy. and the bridge is odd and harder to intonate. i could see cheap upgrades making sense for the bronco.

and it couldn't hurt to try cheap drop-in parts and pickups in a jag. if you don't like 'em, you can always change them back.

 

[ajdes]

i think the best thing to do with any mod that isn't just for fun is to figure out what you actually don't like about a bass.

To clarify, this is mostly just for fun =)

Everything on the Jag is playable as-is. The tuners tune fine and the tone is ok. The biggest issues on mine are the neck dive and the nut setup. This is why I started looking at lighter tuners and a heavier bridge.

In terms of the pickups I think its mostly just fun to tinker. I think theres some surprisingly good sounding cheap pickups (to my ears) made by companies like GFS, Wilkinson, Dragonfire, etc. Most of my experience is with their guitar pickups but I suspect the same is true for bass. I'm thinking about giving these a try: Bass Pickups – Epic Custom Shop , a little more expensive than "cheap" but i've read that they are good quality.

 

[ajdes]

I found some hipshot "licensed" ultralight tuning machines on ebay for $60 a set. I've read they are not quite as good as the USA ones but should still be plenty good enough for my needs. That seems like the way to go for a tuner upgrade.

 

[ajdes]

If anyone else is interested in replacing the nut on one of these, I removed mine and took measurements. Turns out it is flat bottomed so a Jazz nut will not work (as I had previously thought). Here are the measurements:

length: 1.496"
height: 0.215"
width: 0.135"
e-to-g spacing: 1.147"

I'm currently looking into the best replacement. I'm planning to switch to black hardware, so I will probably go with a black nut.

 

[JamesOrinL]

Did you find a nut that fit?