NEW Squier Telecaster Bass!

[grrg63]

1. wish these had contoured bodies.

2. wish they would have put a regular 4 barrel bridge on the single pickup model.

They both sound great on the promo vids fwiw.

 

[selowitch]

1. wish these had contoured bodies.

I actually like both contoured and non-contoured bodies. Non-contoured sometimes helps keep weight down.

2. wish they would have put a regular 4 barrel bridge on the single pickup model.

Agreed.

They both sound great on the promo vids fwiw.

They sure do!

 

[lazylarry]

Just bought one. Very happy so far. Excellent quality and lots of fun to play. I've been playing Precisions for over 40 years. This isn't a P bass, but it's familiar enough to be comfortable, and very different - in a good way. It's like a precision / EB3 love child.

 

[JavierFarias]

I'm in new york right now and I had the oportunity to try de Special Telecaster Bass, great sounding bass, but the A string buzzed like hell. I tried the bass right out of the box, so maybe a good set up would have fixed that.

I'll be in Los Angeles by the end of the week, do any of you know a store in LA that has the Telecaster bass? I'd like to try the standard telecaster bass, and maybe take it

Javier

 

[SurferJoe46]

Go to the Mother Ship.

GC/Hollyweird

 

[Lowbrow]

What I love about the 1-pickup model is that it looks like it could have been built in Leo Fender's garage.

 

[SurferJoe46]

I actually like both contoured and non-contoured bodies. Non-contoured sometimes helps keep weight down.

Why would a contoured body weigh more that one that had all the uncut sharp edges still on it?

I distinctly remember building pretty much that same body and when I cut the contours into it (gut relief, arm relief and more rounded edge routing) I had a substantial amount of wood debris on the floor that was no longer attached to the body.

That pile of kerfings and sanding powder had to amount to a loss of weight - not adding to it I feel.

 

[96tbird]

Why would a contoured body weigh more that one that had all the uncut sharp edges still on it?

I distinctly remember building pretty much that same body and when I cut the contours into it (gut relief, arm relief and more rounded edge routing) I had a substantial amount of wood debris on the floor that was no longer attached to the body.

That pile of kerfings and sanding powder had to amount to a loss of weight - not adding to it I feel.

Joe, I feel you just may well be correct in your assumption. The pile if debris would also indicate to me that a proportionate amount of mass had been shed, and since mass is subject to gravity on the surface of Earth, it therefore has "weight". From there it is certainly beyond mere conjecture that the mass from which it has been removed would weigh less on the surface of the planet. Of course on the ISS it makes no difference because mass has no weight up there.

 

[SurferJoe46]

Joe, I feel you just may well be correct in your assumption. The pile if debris would also indicate to me that a proportionate amount of mass had been shed, and since mass is subject to gravity on the surface of Earth, it therefore has "weight". From there it is certainly beyond mere conjecture that the mass from which it has been removed would weigh less on the surface of the planet. Of course on the ISS it makes no difference because mass has no weight up there.

Dang - I'm certainly glad that I had a correct thought there for today.

With being married and never being right since I said: 'I do' up until this post, I thought I'd never have a correct thought, idea or make an intelligent statement ever again.

Maybe there's hope for me yet. Now if only I can hear what my wife said when she says: " Hey! Didn't you hear ANYTHING I told you in the past hour?"

 

[Simon Langley]

A couple of quick snaps. The replacement arrived and is in food shape. A little paint run on the body coming out of the neck pocket on the treble side and a slight finish dimple on the neck that is barely noticeable. Other than that it looks good. Replaced original round wounds with Chromes and installed a Wilkinson four barrel bridge I had lying around. The bridge was a little tricky as the mounting holes were narrower on the OE bridge. Just doweled the old holes with toothpicks and used them for reference to install the new bridge. Plays and sounds nice. Definitely a gigable bass. BTW the OE strings are perfectly fine unlike the OE strings on the SS Jag bass in case anyone is wondering.

 

[Simon Langley]

So, two gigs in and am enjoying this bass. The four barrel bridge was a must but other than that I don't feel this bass needs any other tweaks. Oh yeah, the Chromes too but that is personal preference and to each their own. Not near as much neck dive as you would think, even with just a nylon Ernie Ball strap. The neck is wide but comfortable and the shorter scale makes up for it. Was able to set it up with reasonably low action without fret buzz. Nice balanced tone that will get better as the flats break in. Anyway, just thought I'd give the update and bump the thread.

 

[selowitch]

Why would a contoured body weigh more that one that had all the uncut sharp edges still on it?

I didn't explain that well. What I meant was a lot of existing non-contoured bodies on, say, a Telecaster, tend to be lighter in weight than those on contoured bodies like that of a Stratocaster.

Obviously, bodies of the same mass will weigh the same and those of differing mass will weigh differently.

In this case, simply declining to cut the contours would probably add a very negligible amount of weight to the finished product, assuming all other factors remained the same.

 

[JCW1024]

Hello all--just joined this forum after picking up one of these basses earlier this month. I've been a guitar player for close to 30 years, but this is my first bass, and I'm really happy with it. The local dealer had ordered one of each for me to try out, and while I was almost positive I was going to take home the single-pickup version, when they came in and I tried both of them out, I ended up going with the Special--I liked the tones in all three pickup positions (as opposed to just the middle position on the other one), plus I just couldn't pass up the neck on this one.

As Simon Langley did above, I'm going to switch out the saddles for some brass Wilkinsons that I ordered (except I plan to just drop them into the existing bridge, rather than replace the whole thing--I hope they have the same size intonation screws). I also plan to try out some flatwounds--I've been reading good things about La Bella strings, but if anyone has any other recommendations, I would certainly appreciate them.

Next up: some sort of bass rig--the only thing I have is a Vox Pathfinder Bass 10, which, as I'm sure you all know, is a nice little practice amp, but isn't going to rattle any windows.

 

[Simon Langley]

You should be ok with that bridge. Heck, if they put that bridge on both models I wouldn't have changed it. I appreciate the attempt to keep the standard true to vintage spec but...

I've thought about getting the special as well and see if my wife can tell I have both. Hoping that as long as only one of them is out at a time she won't notice the pickup difference.

I think this is perfect bass for a first time convert. Welcome to the dark side. Any questions, don't be afraid to ask. The crew here is very helpful and knowledgable.

 

[selowitch]

Is that a Fender logo on the neck pickup? Interesting....

 

[Batmensch]

Is that a Fender logo on the neck pickup? Interesting....

Yes.
Why do you find that interesting?
Those Fender "mudbucker" pickups have had that Fender logo on them since they were first introduced back in the seventies, it's nothing new.

 

[selowitch]

Yes.
Why do you find that interesting?
Those Fender "mudbucker" pickups have had that Fender logo on them since they were first introduced back in the seventies, it's nothing new.

Interesting only because it mutes the "Squier" branding just a bit in favor of Fender.

 

[96tbird]

Lets get it straight. Squier is not a brand, it is a product line within the Fender brand. It is Fender. Fender, Squier division, designs and produces them, the parent, Fender, distributes and warrants them. It is a division within Fender that is as big of a part of the Fender marketing plan as is MIM. What is special about it and the most interesting is that the Squier line is producing models that never existed before such as the Telecaster; the model in question in this thread.

It's like a Ford Focus: designed in Germany with all kinds of German produced parts, but its still a Ford. A product of Ford Europe.

 

[4StringsEnough]

Lets get it straight. Squier is not a brand, it is a product line within the Fender brand.

I haven't bothered with the rest of the thread to see why you're getting so hot under the collar about this. But Squire IS a brand and to suggest anything else is laughable. Yes, it's also a product line within Fender but it is a brand that Fender chooses to apply to its cheapest guitars to protect the parent brand image from being tarnished. Dictionary definition of 'brand':

a. A trademark or distinctive name identifying a product or a manufacturer.
b. A product line so identified: a popular brand of soap.
c. A distinctive category; a particular kind: a brand of comedy that I do not care for.

 

[jweber76]

I believe t-bird is fired up about this because there is another thread on TB right now embroiled in a heated debate over this same subject... It has gotten pretty ugly over there (t-bird is not involved in the ugliness but I'm pretty sure I saw him there, as was I.) let's not let this get out of control and try to stay on topic.