Last week I bought a Squier Jaguar Short Scale bass, I allways wanted a SS bass so I could set it up as a piccolo bass. The week before I bought a Flea Junior bass but returned it for the Jaguar, what a difference!
Build quality/setup
For 259euro's I can say this instrument is very well build. The paintjob of the body is good and the neck feels smooth. The hardware is simple but effective. The fretwork is excellent on this one, no un-even frets here. IMO this is one of the most important parts, if the frets aren't level it's impossible to get a nice setup(low-action). The Fleabass had several un-even frets and one fret that wasn't seated well....
The neck itself is straight(no warp) and had a slight arc when I bought it. The arc was optimal for standard tuning, I had to tighten it a tiny bit when I installed the piccolo set (higher string-tension, d'addario set).
One thing I changed was the nut at the headstock so the strings are a bit closer to the 1e fret, I used a small iron-saw to deepen the slots.
The pickups are installed pretty sturdy, the only thing I had to reinstall was the inputjack.
Sound/playability
In standard tuning(and the strings that came with it) the sound is good (not bad and not excellent). Especially the D and G string sound very snappy. The low E doesn't deliver the punch and clarity of a full scale bass (might also be the slightly dull strings).
The P-sound is what's best from this bass, the J-sound is also good but a bit weaker. PJ sound a bit to scooped for my taste but that's typical for a PJ setup.
After installing the piccolo set the Jaguar became a Jaguar, it really came to life with this tuning. With the P-pickup turned up and the mids on my pre-amp set to the max I got a pretty convincing Stanley Clarke solo tone. Pretty amazing for sucha cheap instrument.
Playability is very good, piccolo tuning feels a bit more stiff then standard tuning due to the higher tension. But that's a matter of getting used to.
Final verdict
B+(piccolo)
C(standard)
It's not an A but it gets close
Build quality/setup
For 259euro's I can say this instrument is very well build. The paintjob of the body is good and the neck feels smooth. The hardware is simple but effective. The fretwork is excellent on this one, no un-even frets here. IMO this is one of the most important parts, if the frets aren't level it's impossible to get a nice setup(low-action). The Fleabass had several un-even frets and one fret that wasn't seated well....
The neck itself is straight(no warp) and had a slight arc when I bought it. The arc was optimal for standard tuning, I had to tighten it a tiny bit when I installed the piccolo set (higher string-tension, d'addario set).
One thing I changed was the nut at the headstock so the strings are a bit closer to the 1e fret, I used a small iron-saw to deepen the slots.
The pickups are installed pretty sturdy, the only thing I had to reinstall was the inputjack.
Sound/playability
In standard tuning(and the strings that came with it) the sound is good (not bad and not excellent). Especially the D and G string sound very snappy. The low E doesn't deliver the punch and clarity of a full scale bass (might also be the slightly dull strings).
The P-sound is what's best from this bass, the J-sound is also good but a bit weaker. PJ sound a bit to scooped for my taste but that's typical for a PJ setup.
After installing the piccolo set the Jaguar became a Jaguar, it really came to life with this tuning. With the P-pickup turned up and the mids on my pre-amp set to the max I got a pretty convincing Stanley Clarke solo tone. Pretty amazing for sucha cheap instrument.
Playability is very good, piccolo tuning feels a bit more stiff then standard tuning due to the higher tension. But that's a matter of getting used to.
Final verdict
B+(piccolo)
C(standard)
It's not an A but it gets close
and it's a great platform for modding since the body and neck+fretwork are excellent.
