NBD - Squier Mini P in Dakota Red! (big pictures)

A box hath arriven! I wonder what's inside?


Another box!




Within is a bass! Behold Li'l Red! Am I the first TBer to actually have one in hand?





The tuners are weak sausage, and getting a tuned string to be stable requires a multitude of micro-adjustments. They will be replaced.

Case candy!


While tuning it up (it came with floopy loose strings), my eyes kept being drawn to this. Easily fixable, but whatever.


I started playing, and it feels nice. I was enjoying it immensely, when I noticed this:


A deep scratch through the finish into the wood. I'm waiting for a call back from Musik Produktiv to explore my options. I'd be happy with a partial refund, but would prefer a pristine bass.

 

It was €169, actually.

Anyway, I've been in touch with them, and sent them the pic of the scratch, and now I'm waiting for a response again. I understand it's a beaurocracy(sp?), so it may take a day or two to get it resolved. But I'm confident it will be.

As far as worth it goes, the quality is on par with my other El Cheapos. Which is surprisingly good for the money. I know I'm paying a premium for the name on the headstock, as well. But my Squier Bronco is a fine beast indeed, so I'm giving this on the benefit of the doubt.

As far as playing it goes, I've only noodled for a hot minute, but plan on dinking with it some more later tonight. Here it is with my other El Cheapo Ps:

L-R Costway (€67 NIB) Spellcaster, Gear4music 3/4 LA Bass (€98.50 NIB) Blue Belle, and Squier Mini P (€169 NIB) Li'l Red.

 

Musik Produtiv is giving me a €20 partial refund, and I'm OK with that. Now I can start doing a proper setup.

While taking off the tags, I actually looked at them, and had to chuckle.

 

The partial refund showed up in my account today, so I felt safe to start fiddling with. The first thing I did was fix the weird winding on the D string. As I started loosening the string, I noticed that the tuner was wobbling slightly. When I got the string off, I found that the nut of the (ferrule/hull) was loose. Not even finger tight.

Naturally, I tightened this down. Then I did the same for all the others. Each and every one had a loose nut.

This was probably the cause of the tuning persnicketyness. Upgrading the tuners is not a priority if all it is is loose screws and nuts. I will revisit the tuners when I get new strings. At this point, I believe my only option for strings is Ibanez brand strings for the Mikro.

Anyway, it's getting too dark to go further. Tomorrow I'm going to have to take it all apart just to tighten screws and nuts.

 

I went over the bass screw by screw:

The screw holding the D tuner was 3/4 turn loose, the G tuner 1/4 turn. E & A were tight. I also lined up the E tuner a little straighter.

The upper horn strap pin and neck screws were all snug. The bottom strap pin, on the other hand, is stripped, and will not tighten. It's snug, but will have to be dealt with before regular playing can begin. Anyway, I see the "washer plate" on the neck joint has become the merest slip of plastic.


Before I checked the pickguard, I popped the knobs and snugged the jack and pots. The pickguard and bridge screws were all snug. There was sawdust under the pickguard, and the the cavity is shielded and grounded.


The electronics appear to be hand soldered? At least, that's what I'm reading from the joints and rosin spatter.


I put it back together. The bridge looks like the saddles are high.


But the action is quite OK.

 

You probably already know I'm a big fan of inlay stickers. Thinking about the Mini P. I've narrowed it down to 2 choices:

Red MOP Block:


Or MOP Red Dice:


I'm leaning towards the dice, as it's much more forgiving for placement: I don't have to worry about centering and squaring as much. Also, I have a set of Dice Knobs laying about.

But, the blocks are classier.

What do you think?

 

I finally got around to hanging it on a fish scale. 6.27 lbs.

 

Thumbrests hath arriven. I ordered a single 2-pack, but I guess the person packing it saw 2, and threw in 2 2-packs. Score!


I put one on, using one of the pickguard screw holes. I'm only using 1 screw, because I don't want to drill into it at this time.



It feels a little too close, one end is lying on top of the fretboard. If I reef hard on the E string it slaps against the rest. It may work better above the pickguard, but I really don't want to mar the finish with holes or tape. I'll probably remove it when I change strings next week.

 

Ibanez Mikro strings hath arriven.


Laying the E string across shows the taper starting just past the nut. Woo hoo!


Then, I noticed the way the G string fits.



I have 3/4 of a wrap.

But, as you can see here, the tapers all start just past the nut.


While the strings were off, I also applied the red pearl block stickers, and removed the thumbrest.

 

Single G-string hath arriven, and hath been installed. The G-string is no longer tenuous.


Posing on the terrace.

 

No. I'm going to have to find red ones.