• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Should I modify my Squier or upgrade to another bass?

#61
Im not sure you will get a real earth-shattering difference if you change pick-ups and electronics. Strings, yes. But why spend money for a different headstock? Squiers are great basses
selowitch said:
I have tried many Affinity basses that I was expecting to be only okay-at-best. To my surprise, I found many of them very lightweight, playable, and good-sounding. The fretwork was iffy in some cases, but that's often true of USA Fenders costing many hundreds of dollars more.
Click to expand...
my experience exactly. My 5er jazz are similar in fretwork to the Fenders, but the 4-string jazz is a better bass than every Fender I have compared it to so far. An excellent bass. Indonesian built. I don't play 4s any longer, but i can't bring myself to part with it. I need therapy.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ewe2 and DJ Bebop
#64
As usual it all depends. I have four MIM Fenders and four Squires that have been modified to my liking.
HOWEVER...when I say modified I mean that all that is left stock on these basses are the bodies.

The only exception would be my butter cream MIM Jazz that has a WD fretless neck, R cocco rounds, and after market pick guard. The electronics and bridge remain stock.

Even my 77 Fender Jazz was modified with Dimarzio PAF's, J Retro 4 band active electronics and Baddass bridge.
My 70' Fender Telecaster has a Bill Lawrence L-90B Humbucker and after market pick guard. Both of these basses were modded long, long ago.

The only completely stock bass in my arsenal would be my EKO violin and Tacoma Fire Chief basses.

So, as you might see, my advice is to buy what you like and tear into it!!!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Roger W, ewe2 and DJ Bebop
#66
Someone already mentioned this and I wanted to weigh in and agree that it may be possible the flatwound strings on your bass are largely responsible for a lackluster tone.

I encountered this "problem" when I first started using a secondary bass with flats. I didn't realize that the way I EQed my bass for rounds was vastly different from how I needed to adjust my tone for flats.

For awhile, I was disappointed with my tone with flats until I started experimenting with different settings. it probably took six months or so of fiddling before I could really dial in a pleasant and appropriate flatwound sound.

Nowadays, when I switch bases from the one with rounds to the one with flats, I make sure to change my EQ settings appropriately. If I don't, then my bass sounds muddy on the bottom end and sterile in the upper mids.

Also, flatwound strings tend to develop a different character as they age when being played.

I've found that new flats have a harsh, clanky sound when they're fresh and that it takes many hours of playing over several months for them to mellow out properly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJ Bebop
#67
bassGtar said:
What does "very secondary" mean to a person with seven basses? Second? Seventh? Eighth?

If it is fun, do it. Otherwise, this this is great advice:
Click to expand...
I'll keep saying that until I don't have to say it anymore. :thumbsup::laugh:
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJ Bebop
#68
I've gone this route before on a P and a J Affinity bass. Strings, bridge, nut, pickups, controls. Yeah they were better than when I started, but I'll be honest and say that they never did measure up in my eyes. I sold em off (at a loss) and was glad for it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJ Bebop
#72
Upgrade electronics and looks. This started as a Squier Affinity.
IMG_20230109_194303.jpg

IMG_20230109_194253.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: JRA, Roger W and DJ Bebop
#73
I did this to three SX basses. One jazz type, two Ps.

It was more about I could after I also liked the neck feel on all of them. Plus I had pickups I was going to put in my Fender P, Model P, and a 60's CS, but did not after I got them. So in the SX Ps they went, Model 1 with maple neck with rounds, and CS 60 with rosewood with flats. I bought pickups for the SX 70s Jazz on purpose, Ultra Jazz.

I like how they all came out and have no need to replace them.

:)
 
  • Like
Reactions: JRA, MrAB4003 and TyBo
#74
Inconnu said:
I'm a bit in a dilemma. Not a big one, but still…

As a very secondary bass, I've acquired a Squier Affinity PJ, 5 years ago. Second hand (ex-store rental), strung with flatwounds. It's light. The fretboard is actually rosewood (and a nice one too), the inlays are shiny pearl dots, neck is straight (never needs adjustments), frets are all right, action, intonation, nothing bad to declare. OK, I barely take it out of home and I bought it specifically to have a bass with flatwounds on it (not my regular sound).
The only downside I see to that bass is the electronics, including the pickups. Before investing more money on parts than what the bass cost me, I'm evaluating if I'd be better off selling it and getting a "better" instrument. I do like the Squier I've got, but it's not "love", if you see what I mean…

I've tried many new basses lately, including MIM Fenders, and aside from the Sire D5 I really liked, I was quite unimpressed by the quality of new mid-priced instruments these days.

But still, assuming there's pretty much a $100 difference between a Sire D5 and the cost of my Affinity + mods… Well, be the voice of my conscience, please!

Note that the D5 is an example here, I'm not set on that specific bass all ready… but almost.
Click to expand...
You should do both
 
#77
Inconnu said:
I'm a bit in a dilemma. Not a big one, but still…

As a very secondary bass, I've acquired a Squier Affinity PJ, 5 years ago. Second hand (ex-store rental), strung with flatwounds. It's light. The fretboard is actually rosewood (and a nice one too), the inlays are shiny pearl dots, neck is straight (never needs adjustments), frets are all right, action, intonation, nothing bad to declare. OK, I barely take it out of home and I bought it specifically to have a bass with flatwounds on it (not my regular sound).
The only downside I see to that bass is the electronics, including the pickups. Before investing more money on parts than what the bass cost me, I'm evaluating if I'd be better off selling it and getting a "better" instrument. I do like the Squier I've got, but it's not "love", if you see what I mean…

I've tried many new basses lately, including MIM Fenders, and aside from the Sire D5 I really liked, I was quite unimpressed by the quality of new mid-priced instruments these days.

But still, assuming there's pretty much a $100 difference between a Sire D5 and the cost of my Affinity + mods… Well, be the voice of my conscience, please!

Note that the D5 is an example here, I'm not set on that specific bass all ready… but almost.
Click to expand...

I hear nothing in here about what is actually "bad" about the instrument. Just, "The only downside I see to that bass is the electronics, including the pickups."

What do you mean? What's the downside to the electronics?
 
#78
hbarcat said:
Also, flatwound strings tend to develop a different character as they age when being played.

I've found that new flats have a harsh, clanky sound when they're fresh and that it takes many hours of playing over several months for them to mellow out properly.
Click to expand...

I have only experienced GHS flats so its true that they do this but I found it doesn't take all that long. Other flats might be different. But if you're going to play flats, just assign a bass for it. Buy more basses!

More to the point, I have a great Squire CV Jazz, I might upgrade the bridge sometime and drop in a active preamp upgrade maybe but I'm pretty happy with everything else. But these are "nice to have" options, they're to enhance an already solid sound. Sometimes we grow beyond our initial axes and we've new ideas about tones; if that's the case with you, perhaps that's a good reason to upgrade your axe, but you might be chasing something you can never recapture, you can't fix something that was never broken to start with.

This is why I started buying different basses, based on broad ideas of what I wanted from a bass and choosing basses that hopefully would embody most of the qualities I was looking for, at the budget I could afford. I accepted that basses were their own thing and that I can modify them to a degree but it wasn't going to change their essential nature at least as far as I see them. Everyone's different, that's just my experience.
 
#80
Inconnu said:
I'm a bit in a dilemma. Not a big one, but still…

As a very secondary bass, I've acquired a Squier Affinity PJ, 5 years ago. Second hand (ex-store rental), strung with flatwounds. It's light. The fretboard is actually rosewood (and a nice one too), the inlays are shiny pearl dots, neck is straight (never needs adjustments), frets are all right, action, intonation, nothing bad to declare. OK, I barely take it out of home and I bought it specifically to have a bass with flatwounds on it (not my regular sound).
The only downside I see to that bass is the electronics, including the pickups. Before investing more money on parts than what the bass cost me, I'm evaluating if I'd be better off selling it and getting a "better" instrument. I do like the Squier I've got, but it's not "love", if you see what I mean…

I've tried many new basses lately, including MIM Fenders, and aside from the Sire D5 I really liked, I was quite unimpressed by the quality of new mid-priced instruments these days.

But still, assuming there's pretty much a $100 difference between a Sire D5 and the cost of my Affinity + mods… Well, be the voice of my conscience, please!

Note that the D5 is an example here, I'm not set on that specific bass all ready… but almost.
Click to expand...
If it's a competent feeling bass the electronics might be the way to go. Years ago I bought an Aria Pro II SBCB and it was just meh. It felt and played well and felt comfortable. It also had a very good Peavey pickup. Something was off though. I gambled on a Babicz bridge and the tonal transfer was like night and day. It went from an average bass to my #2. I have over 50 basses.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back