With all due respect - I cant see how anyone could recommend a Squire unless its a first bass for a kid. A used MIM is WAY better... IMHO.
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Low-end Fender, or a high-end Squier?
- Thread starter Tupac
- Start date
My MIM Deluxe Jazz sounds like angles singing and my Squier Js and Ps are just as good.
Otherwise I wouldn't own them.
Otherwise I wouldn't own them.
I have a very nice CV 50s P Squier and a couple of 2010 MIM Standard P Basses.
Coin toss.
If anything, I gotta give a nod to the MIM's because the Squier had fret sprout that required filing.
Coin toss.
If anything, I gotta give a nod to the MIM's because the Squier had fret sprout that required filing.
It's a Fender. They're all the same, other than the woods & hardware used and where they're made, plus the price difference.
At the end of the day, it's a fender bass. It's nothing special. Pick whatever looks better to you.
At the end of the day, it's a fender bass. It's nothing special. Pick whatever looks better to you.
I haven't read through the whole thread, but it depends on if you plan on reselling at some point. A MIM Fender will retain at least some of it's value, a Squier probably won't.
I owned a Squier VM Jazz Bass that I got for dirt cheap on Craigslist. It was in perfect shape. But because it was a Squier, I got an incredibly great price. I ended up flipping it after a few months. It was a very nice playing and sounding bass, btw.
A true Fender bass will sell for a couple hundred bucks, pretty much any day of the week. The optimum would be to buy a used MIM at a good price, then you probably won't lose any money if it doesn't work out.
I owned a Squier VM Jazz Bass that I got for dirt cheap on Craigslist. It was in perfect shape. But because it was a Squier, I got an incredibly great price. I ended up flipping it after a few months. It was a very nice playing and sounding bass, btw.
A true Fender bass will sell for a couple hundred bucks, pretty much any day of the week. The optimum would be to buy a used MIM at a good price, then you probably won't lose any money if it doesn't work out.
- Jun 25, 2006
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- Owner, Pike Amplification & 3Leaf Audio
The Squiers of today are light years ahead of anything Fender was making 10 years ago. I recently played a vintage vibe Squier Strat that played better out of the box than most $1000+ instruments. I preferred it to the MIM and MIA Fenders. I suspect they're PLEK'ing them.
Consider MIJs too.... Not as many around and maybe slightly more $ than MIMs, but I have found them quite playable.
- Jun 25, 2006
- 3,226
- 341
- Disclosures
- Owner, Pike Amplification & 3Leaf Audio
That's a great option too....especially the E serial number instruments from the mid 80s.
High-end Squiers is the CV and VM models; as in not the oft-considered bargain basement Affinity line.
Squier has really upped their game in the last 8-10 years or so, and the VM and CV series basses are frankly amazing. Don't let the logo fool you; these things are excellent-playing and -sounding instruments and very affordable. Not sure about the PLEKing, though. That would really up the production cost.
This thread is about 5 months old, which means MIMs aren't the cheapest new Fenders anymore.
In the last two or three months, we've seen the Fender Modern Player basses come to market. The Modern Player Jaguar is selling for $399, which puts it right in the price range of the Squier CVs, and makes it the lowest priced Fender out there at the moment.
FWIW, the Fender MPs are basically Squier CVs with a Fender decal on the headstock. People can still debate the MIM/CV issue, but we can clearly see that FMIC has blurred (or erased) the line between a low end Fender and a high end Squier. The MP series offers essentially the same (Squier) product, just in slightly different packaging.
In the last two or three months, we've seen the Fender Modern Player basses come to market. The Modern Player Jaguar is selling for $399, which puts it right in the price range of the Squier CVs, and makes it the lowest priced Fender out there at the moment.
FWIW, the Fender MPs are basically Squier CVs with a Fender decal on the headstock. People can still debate the MIM/CV issue, but we can clearly see that FMIC has blurred (or erased) the line between a low end Fender and a high end Squier. The MP series offers essentially the same (Squier) product, just in slightly different packaging.
The MP series offers, among other things, humbucking pickups and (on the Tele) a different headstock shape. And while they retail for slightly more than the CVs, the markup "for the logo" is relatively modest in this case.
My point was, pickup and slight cosmetic differences aside, that the MPs and CVs are both made in the same China factory - same necks with glossy finish, same high mass CV bridges, same hardware...in essence the same product. (BTW, if you look at a CV 50s P and the MP Tele, you'll see the headstocks are exactly the same, as is the rest of the neck.)
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photos courtesy of fellow TBer Jordacr.
Again, FMIC has blurred the line between the low end Fender and high end Squier by offering what is basically a CV bass in a Fender wrapper. IMO, the Modern Player Jag could have easily been released as a Squier, and nobody would have batted an eyelash.
I myself would go with a vm squier. The new jag longscales are about the best bass guitars you will find for under $400.
Just to chime in... I have a Fender 70s classic series jazz (MIM) that is undoubtedly better than any Squier I've played. It's a quality instrument, fit, finish, playability and sound are perfect.
Not to start another argument, but I'd say there is quite a difference between these 'higher end' MIMs and the standards, generally.
I also have a MIM standard P I bought of line 2nd hand, so no trying before buying, and it's OK. No rough frets and the finish is good, but it's just a bit meh. Nothing special.
My back up is now a Squier VM Jazz and it's a beauty. Not on par with the classic series 70s jazz, but for the money, it's hugely impressive.
Not to start another argument, but I'd say there is quite a difference between these 'higher end' MIMs and the standards, generally.
I also have a MIM standard P I bought of line 2nd hand, so no trying before buying, and it's OK. No rough frets and the finish is good, but it's just a bit meh. Nothing special.
My back up is now a Squier VM Jazz and it's a beauty. Not on par with the classic series 70s jazz, but for the money, it's hugely impressive.
