Squier 40th Anniversary basses - BAD QC

[fhm555]

I think this comes down to employee integrity. Your only job is to assemble tuners to a neck. You know when screws bite down and when they don't. The assembler should be pulling these at his/her station. Not doing a sloppy job and sending it down the line. Though unfortunately I don't think QC inspects every single instrument unless they are special order.

Familiarize yourself with Asian business models and you will understand how seemingly simple mistakes make it into the wild.

 

[Yahboy]

Dont worry OP, there are QC issue happened on over 1K MIA fender too.

 

[Yahboy]

Honestly, all my previous china made Squier classic vibe bass has great QC and great hardware since 2008, except weight.....

They are low cost bass but well made.

Fender Player line need spend 10 years to catch up the Chinese quality in 2018 and price tag increase to USD 699.

There are some less than 300 bucks but well made bass around, Bacchus and Vintage brand. Check it out.

 

[Crackle]

Bass is returned. I was cool about it and GC was cool about it and I have moved on. I was just in full rant mode last night because it had just happened for the second time. I guess the excellent reviews set my expectations too high. Sorry for the stupid rant.

 

[Chrome Dome]

First 2013 Squier I ever had down through the years,and I have always loved the looks of the Tele style basses especially the vintage modified ones. Don't see too many of these out there. This one is considered the Special model with the neck humbucker pickup,and the jazz bridge pickup,and the three position toggle switch. It is a heavy one piece solid body. One piece maple neck with the skunk stripe. I think the Squier's are good quality instrument for the money IMO. Might be overkill,on all the pictures.

 

[MikeBass]

People buying a Squire and expecting the quality of a MIA
It’s a $250 bass
Meaning they paid probably $150 for it
Meaning it cost $75 (if that) to make.

 

[Crackle]

People buying a Squire and expecting the quality of a MIA
It’s a $250 bass
Meaning they paid probably $150 for it
Meaning it cost $75 (if that) to make.

I don't care if it's a $100 bass. Things like screws that won't tighten, rough neck pockets, bad grounding connections, and screws driven in at angles are QC issues that are not acceptable. I still have a much cheaper Squier Affinity J bass that doesn't have any of these issues.

 

[JKaftertwoxans]

I bought a brand new Squier 40th Anniversary Precision Bass, Gold Edition in May. This bass initially looked promising but my opinion changed quickly when I got under the hood. The neck pocket was badly oversprayed and no one bothered to clean it up; this was causing issues with the angle of the neck. The ground connection to the bridge was bad. And the bridge screws were driven in at angles that I would not consider normal. Back to the store for a refund.

Today I bought a brand new Squier 40th Anniversary Precision, Vintage Edition. I took it out of the box and was awed by its fit and finish. It was a little neck heavy but nothing I couldn't tolerate. I started to get under the hood in preparation for a setup and took the neck off. The neck pocket is good and clean. No grounding hum on this one. Then I noticed the bridge screws did not appear to be fully tightened. I grabbed a number 2 Phillips head screwdriver and found that the first screw on the G string side would not tighten. Same for the other 4 bridge screws. They just turn indefinitely. Total disappointment. Back to Guitar Center for a refund.

I can't believe these basses are making their way through QC. I suppose you get what you pay for. Absolute trash.

You are overpaying near 'custom shop' overseas instrument prices for an overseas factory built instrument. Im not sure what you expected these are sub 500$ basses being sold to you at an upcharge, just because Fender gets to pocket all that extra profit they manage to bleed out of your pocket doesnt mean the QC is any diffrent from any other inexpensively built bass. These type of issues are nearly a given on anything sub 500$ I think the real fault lies with all of you who are willing to fork out excess cash for something that does not come close to commanding the price it does, Fender inc has absolutely no incentive to change.

 

[bigdaddybass12]

I played Squier VM Jazz in GC, it ight have been a good bass, no way to tell since GC does not setup whatsoever, the action was unplayably high. I asked the sales flunky about it, he said they do no setup unless you commit to buy the bass. Is this standard GC practice?

Depends on the store. I bought one from one several years ago from GC, it was perfect. I did buy it off the wall

 

[bigdaddybass12]

We all need to remember that all these indo made basses are made side by side with other brands. The builder does not pay attention to the brand. Usually I see good work on basses as low as $300

 

[Yahboy]

First 2013 Squier I ever had down through the years,and I have always loved the looks of the Tele style basses especially the vintage modified ones. Don't see too many of these out there. This one is considered the Special model with the neck humbucker pickup,and the jazz bridge pickup,and the three position toggle switch. It is a heavy one piece solid body. One piece maple neck with the skunk stripe. I think the Squier's are good quality instrument for the money IMO. Might be overkill,on all the pictures.View attachment 5209224 View attachment 5209225 View attachment 5209226 View attachment 5209227 View attachment 5209228 View attachment 5209229 View attachment 5209230 View attachment 5209231

Have no change try this Tele caster bass in early day while she available at GC.

I found that mudbuker has Fender print on pickups cover..... curious that if FMIC use same pickups on their latest Vintera II 70s P ????

If yes, huge profit on Vintera II !

 

[Yahboy]

People buying a Squire and expecting the quality of a MIA
It’s a $250 bass
Meaning they paid probably $150 for it
Meaning it cost $75 (if that) to make.

What do you think and how you feel if you get a lemon on Am Pro bass ?

 

[jd56hawk]

People buying a Squire and expecting the quality of a MIA
It’s a $250 bass
Meaning they paid probably $150 for it
Meaning it cost $75 (if that) to make.

What about people spending $900 for the Fender Player basses?

 

[Crackle]

What I don't expect from a Squier is good quality pots, jacks, pickups, shielding, fretwork, bridges, tuning machines, and building materials in general. If you look at my Squier Affinity J in the right light, you can see it needed more sanding. It is what it is. But I still need a good neck pocket and a grounding wire that works and screws that are installed properly.

 

[MrAB4003]

Moody's says that its analysis shows that Guitar Center/AVDG earnings are weak – so weak that by the end of 2023, they will represent only approximately 0.9x the company's “interest coverage.” In other words, they are not generating enough profit to even make interest payments on their outstanding debt.

This is really alarming from a business perspective!

On another note, I was in my local GC a few weeks ago and I played a Squier 40th Anniversary J Bass. I noticed that when I turned either volume knob below 10, the volume for the respective pickup turned off. This made the volume knobs act like kill switches. Further, I turned both knobs down slightly and no sound came out of the amp! That's not normal. I know because this happened to my own Squier Jazz Bass' preamp... a decade after getting the bass new. So seeing that in the store on a brand new bass is unacceptable QC from Squier / Fender.

 

[MrAB4003]

What about people spending $900 for the Fender Player basses?

That's an even bigger shame on Fender's part! Squier's QC is surprisingly better than that of Fender's MIM lines.

 

[bigdaddybass12]

People buying a Squire and expecting the quality of a MIA
It’s a $250 bass
Meaning they paid probably $150 for it
Meaning it cost $75 (if that) to make.

Yeah, sadly not much difference between a MIA bass and a indo bass. little better tuners, instead of .99c pots it has $1.99 pots. Same necks but the better ones are hand picked. Same for bodies. Some necks slip by when you see a $300 bass with a perfect neck. Electronics vary some. You can find a $300 bass that sounds great and an occasional MIM or any $1000+ bass that lacks that great sound. Fit and finish seem to be the big difference.

 

[AmunumA]

Hi there, I came across your discussion because I have exactly the same problem as Crackle, on the same model. I live in France and the bass comes from a German store.

This is the second one I've bought because I loved the first one so much (sunburst model)!

With the second one, I decided to mount the neck and hardware on an ash body. When I took the whole thing apart and saw the neck pocket, I couldn't believe my eyes! This is not the work of a luthier, but that of a Sunday tinkerer! Removing paint with a router on an already calibrated instrument??? Why not use a chainsaw?

So I took the Sunburst apart to see if this was the case, and it is! Only slightly less serious...
On the green, there's almost 1 millimeter of vertical drop. The screws pull on the neck in a vacuum. As a result, the neck only bears on the body from the sides. Not good for sound transmission and stability of the neck. Very bad from a guitar manufacturer.

Okay, the squier has to be worse somewhere, but here... even my 2003 model, "Affinity", the cheapest of them all, has a perfect neck pocket!

I'll keep it, I'll fix it myself, but I'm not happy, and that's normal. Even Harley Benton has perfect construction! Fender, where have you been!

Thanks to you, good music!

 

[TheDuff]

I bought a brand new Squier 40th Anniversary Precision Bass, Gold Edition in May.

I can't believe these basses are making their way through QC. I suppose you get what you pay for. Absolute trash.

Well at least you didn't lay down big $$$$ on an expensive Gibson and find all sorts of mind blowing problems, pcb electronics that are not serviceable, etc.

It could have been worse.

Those Squires are not bad after you upgrade them. It can be expensive to upgrade a Squire like that special anniversary one. After upgrading cost is added a person could have purchased 1 of those excellent Player basses, like a Fender Player Jazz Bass.

I still think the Squire is decent, just not as sensible in the long run, most likely.

 

[TheDuff]

Why continue to buy cheap basses hoping that somehow one will not be a cheap bass? Your time is worth more than the savings. Buy a better bass.

I myself purchased recently a great inexpensive bass guitar. A Yamaha 304 active preamp humbucking bass, varitone. I didn't take it apart. It plays and sounds great.

Because it was not expensive I like it a lot and it is a great addition to my other older bass guitars. It is not passive. If it goes black some day I can either throw it away without any great loss or I can rebuild the electronics with inexpensive parts into a passive version.

Yamaha makes great guitars.

It's always a good idea to be considering getting a better bass guitar if you are a musician. Musicians are normally serious about their art and they appreciate nice instruments.