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Is Fixing a Squier Affinity P Bass Worth It?

#22
A coworker of mine put an EMG P in his Squier and it sounds fabulous. I also had an EMG P in my Lotus when I first aquired it (before I ultimately bastardized it and made it a P+J fretless), then put a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound P in there. It's amazing what a simple pickup change can do, even to a crappy bass.
 
#24
You are in a predicament that I wish I was in (wish I had a squier p to mod). Right now I'm practically to the point of just looking around for a P-body or hitting pawn shops and doing that so I can rebuild one.

If you want THE Fender tone, go with those '62 pickups (what I'm getting), but if you want something with a bit more range, try the Dimarzio model P...it's still got P-bass character with a bit more "bite" to it. I wouldn't recommend the Seymour Duncan QP's unless you want as much output as possible or if you play with a pick only and want tons of attack in your tone. But fix up that Squier all the way dude...the biggest seller for those (and the only real differences) on the VM's and CV Squiers is the pickups and aesthetics. Some of them have a bit more to them than that, but thats mostly what they've changed. My VM j-bass is way heavy and has a sweet neck on it, but most of the tonal changes come from the pickups. By modding your current squier, you'll be passing up the CV and VM squiers by spending under $150
 
#27
A Squier like yours would be a great bass to learn how to do soldering, shielding, cosmetic work, etc. There is NO guarantee you'll get the bass of your dreams, though, so keep that in mind. I'd start with a new tone pot, since that seems to be an issue, and some different strings. A good shielding job with copper foil never hurts and usually helps. There is lots of good advice in the pickup/electronics forum, and the string forum, too. If it were me, I'd hold off on pickups and see if the tone pot and string changes give you what you are looking for.

Good luck and have fun.
 
#28
I read a different post where affinity was being compared to the VM, and some of the people in that post trashed the Affinity saying it was junk from China, and the VM is from Indonesia. Being that I haven’t own but one Affinity I can only speak for it. First off, my Affinity is from Indonesia, and as I said above, I was surprise at how well it played with out modification. I am modding because I bought it for that purpose. But I guess my question is, Are people under the impression all Affinity’s come from China?
 
#29
Alot of people are under the impression that all squiers are automatically crap, and only a genuine fender is a suitable bass. Many assume that they are made of plywood, or driftwood or something. Though most of them have not even seen what is under the poly of any of these instruments. Then you have the guys that are offended by the fender lovers and they scream and yell and then rave about the squier vm's and cv's, but in the same breath call the affinities crap. The bare bones of the affinities are solid. They just need to be set up and a couple of pieces upgraded and you will have a solid bass.
 
#30
i'd fix it.
i have an older squier pbass in the works right now.
new electronics, paint, hardware, etc.
its fun to fix it up.
as cheap as it cost me, i fixed it big, im excited to hear how it sounds.

keep us up to date on your decisions, and if you fix it pics are appreciated.
 
#32
WoodyG3 said:
A Squier like yours would be a great bass to learn how to do soldering, shielding, cosmetic work, etc. There is NO guarantee you'll get the bass of your dreams, though, so keep that in mind. I'd start with a new tone pot, since that seems to be an issue, and some different strings. A good shielding job with copper foil never hurts and usually helps. There is lots of good advice in the pickup/electronics forum, and the string forum, too. If it were me, I'd hold off on pickups and see if the tone pot and string changes give you what you are looking for.

Good luck and have fun.
Click to expand...

+1
 
#33
WoodyG3 said:
A Squier like yours would be a great bass to learn how to do soldering, shielding, cosmetic work, etc. There is NO guarantee you'll get the bass of your dreams, though, so keep that in mind. I'd start with a new tone pot, since that seems to be an issue, and some different strings. A good shielding job with copper foil never hurts and usually helps. There is lots of good advice in the pickup/electronics forum, and the string forum, too. If it were me, I'd hold off on pickups and see if the tone pot and string changes give you what you are looking for.

Good luck and have fun.
Click to expand...

+1. Make it your Frankenbass, a perpetual project. Have fun. If you try to sell, you're really not going to get much more than pocket money for it anyway, assuming you can find a buyer. Good luck!
 
#35
This is what I have learned in my experiences moding Low cost Guitars and Basses. If you are planning on making it a keeper do whatever you want to it, but on the other hand if You were planning on selling the thing down the road somewhere don't spend the money to mod it up because it will not increase the $ value of the instrument. I think that it is possible to make the bass play and sound like a dream, but in the world of resale 200 bucks worth of mods to a 100 dollar bass equals a 100 dollar bass. So with that said If you plan on keeping it mod the heck out of it, because value is subjective. If you love the bass its priceless or if you hate it its worthless. The knowledge and experience you will gain from doing projects like what your wanting to do will serve you forever as a bass player.
 
#36
My first bass ever was a Squier Affinity P-Bass, and I still play it. Out of my five basses, it's usually the one I grab for first when I'm on my way to a show. If you learn set up, then almost ANYTHING can be a great instrument. Mine is on its second neck right now (from a different affinity p, actually), and i wouldn't hesitate to spend any amount of money to keep this thing going strong.
 
#37
ThaLowEndTheory said:
Alot of people are under the impression that all squiers are automatically crap, and only a genuine fender is a suitable bass. Many assume that they are made of plywood, or driftwood or something. Though most of them have not even seen what is under the poly of any of these instruments. Then you have the guys that are offended by the fender lovers and they scream and yell and then rave about the squier vm's and cv's, but in the same breath call the affinities crap. The bare bones of the affinities are solid. They just need to be set up and a couple of pieces upgraded and you will have a solid bass.
Click to expand...

I must agree with everything that my Bro ThaLowEndTherory has posted.Some of the Affinity basses have great wood under the surface.And the fact that you can pick them up for under $50 on Craigs list makes it a perfect platform for you to learn to do your own mods without fear of screwing things up.
I've purchaced Affinity P Basses for $40 bucks...stripped and refinished them and given them away as gifts..
After some fret work and a set up I don't see how you could go wrong.Use them as a learning tool for yourself.As you move to more expensive basses there will be no need to send them to someone else to set up.You will have learned everything at Affinity school.:smug:

Here's a couple that were stripped and refinished...Before,,

P4040005.jpg

After...
P6090001.jpg

P6130055.jpg

P Bass
PA190039.jpg

PA190029.jpg

PA190030.jpg

PA190026.jpg

PA190044.jpg

Cheers.
 
#38
Thanks everybody for the help so far. Well I've definitely decided to keep it. Now the question is just which pickups to put in it. I want something with a deep punchy low end sound. I definitely want to try out some Labella strings. I've narrowed the pickups if anybody can and would be willing to provide any insight.

My choices are:

Seymour Duncan SPB-1
Fender Original '62
Dimarzio Model P

Also, I read good reviews about the Stan Hinesley Mojo pickups but can't seem to find a lot except on harmony central's reviews about them. Anybody use them or heard them?
 
#39
1954bassman said:
For some reason, sinking a lot of work, time, and money in crappy Chinese basses seems to be popuplar on this forum.
Click to expand...
I know. It's incredibly tragic. :rollno:

My advice would be to save up and buy a decent bass, and forget about fixing up a $100 poc.
Click to expand...
Absolutely.

The OP should not have said "fixing" when he meant "modding."

It'll will be an incredible waste of money he will never get back.
 
#40
One more dilemma. I also saw a MIM P bass I was considering instead. Would I be better off to get the Fender MIM or mod the Squier? I dont know enough to do the work and feel confident. I priced it out and it would be about 120 to change pickups, wiring and pots and then the setup plus around 100 or so for all the parts. Would I be better off to sell the Squier for 100 which is what I have in it and just buy the used Fender?
 

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