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Main diff between Squire and Fender?

I know this post is old......but I have a 1997 Mexican Fender Jazz bass, it's a GREAT bass! Hard to find the good ones around! I don't like it as much as I liked my Ric before it got stolen, but that was 4 years ago! I've owned several squiers, 2 MIM Fenders(both great! EVEN generic off-brand basses that were cheap but AWESOME. I'll play a squier, or a fender. The newer squiers are very exceptional and worth the money..especially the VM series. I had thought about trying the classic vibe series, those basses sound great as-is! Just my two cents.
 
If you get the skills to do the finish work then your Squire and go head to head with a Fender.I changed the tuners to Hipshot,Babicz bridge, did a fret job,and put in Nordstrum pickups and My Squire gets more play than my American Standard.Then one day a bass player asked to noodle with my bass and offered to trade straight across for his Lakland 55-01.So I did and went to work on another Squier that I feel I did a better job than the first.So fit and finish and components seem to be the biggest difference.I take Squier decal off and put mine name on it because it is no longer the same bass just the wood so why not.I am building up one now for a bass player in a church band.Looks like a side business.But I do it for fun I don't want money for my labor.It is like when we raced cars when we were kids we'd work on a ratty looking 56 Chevy and go race the kids with the fancy new cars and eat them up.
 
Sorry this is an old thread I'm commenting on here, but wanted to chime in on the Fender vs Squire Thing...

I have the little Jag in my pic to the left, which is a Squire 34". It's very playable, and after setup is one of my favs. This is my 1st Squire and couldn't help but to notice that each and every fret wire sticks out more than it should. Not necessarily sharp edges, but certainly feels like the less-than version of fret dressing. Also, if you are a wood person, the body is "Agatihs" (not sure I spelled that right), which, I believe is code for basswood. On the Jag Bass specifically, you get Alder for the body wood and probably some better attention to fit and finish detail. Now, having said all that, The neck on my bassi is maple, plays comfortably. The passive electronics are very usable and provide me with great tone. I replaced the bridge with a BABICZ and put a Fralin PJ set with 5%+ bridge pickup. So, specific to my bass, if you don't mind basswood, if you can dress frets, and are willing to invest in better quality pickups, the finished project/product is getting closer to a fender than a squire without the fender up-front expense.

Hope this helps someone!!