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Squier Affinity Bass

#22
pcake said:
you don't know you've been tricked. the guy could know little about basses and have bought it on CL himself. if it plays well, feels right (i assume you tried it), works through an amp and sounds okay, you did fine.
Click to expand...

All of ^this. Personally, I'd have been thrilled to grab the body and hardware alone for $70. Quite pretty. A new pg and quite the catch no matter who made that body.
 
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#23
Not saying that body isn't Squier, but saying it is... No clue honestly. It looks "fat" for a Squier to me, BUT it is entirely possible if not likely just a optical illusion.

IF it is Squier, it has been modded more than just a pickguard hack, hole filling and respray, that Bridge is absolutely not any Squier bridge I am aware of. The regular bent metal Squier bridges are easy as cake to come by on the cheap... I happen to have one knocking around that I might be talked into letting go of...

IF it were MY bass, and I wanted to make it look "right", I would...

#1. Source up a $10.00 Ebay pickguard, and some Fender Pickguard screws. Don't be shy about poking holes in a painted body, if you mess up you can fill, sand, refinish a whole lot easier than you can with a natural finish instrument!

#2. Depends on if that bridge works for you, but I personally would go back with at least a Squier bent metal type bridge, if not a high mass.

#3. The knobs don't look right, Again might be optical illusion, but they look like giant old 60s / 70s vintage Hi Fi stereo knobs. Swap them out for a factory set of Squier Affinity P Bass knobs. Guitarpartssource.com has them for about $7.00

Not sure if you are crazy about the color, I would be prone to wanting to strip and refin that thing just because the color isn't me... But it might be your thing... It's a $70.00 bass, go crazy with whatever you like...

Really, aside from the horrible hack job on the pickguard, the rest of the cosmetics are something I could live with pretty easily. If the line of the cut for the trim job was straight I could live with that too. Perhaps take the pickguard off, if you have a router and say a 1/4" bevel router bit with a bearing guide, set it up on a sacrificial board with a known good straight edge, and just recut the angle. With a straight line it might look pretty good actually...

I think I'd be more concerned with how well it plays though. Check out the electronics, double check the setup, probably toss new strings on it and set it up. Then play the frets off of it!
 
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#34
Whatever you do, don't repaint it unless you want your bass to be just another same old, same old.
I'm guessing that part of the reason you bought it is because of the color...because it's a great color, whatever the price.

Regardless, dare to be different. Make up your own headstock logo and get one made on ebay. Play the hell out of that bass and when you get a better one someday, maybe you can give this bass to a relative or a friend who wants to learn to play. Nothing better than buying yourself a new bass, but giving one away to appreciative novice is a lot of fun, too.
 
#35
I'm with those who say this guy might not have been scamming you. It could well be that this is the way he got the bass. Lots of cheap instruments change hands many times. If the re-paint is done nicely, then yipee, you've got a custom colored p-bass.

I wouldn't worry about the body. I don't think that an affinity squire body has anything special about it that will be lost by possibly having a replacement body. Slap a new guard on it and you can probably sell it for $100 even with folks knowing it has a non-squire.

I'd recommend a nice pearloid guard. Will probably set you back about $15 from ebay.
 
#36
jd56hawk said:
Whatever you do, don't repaint it unless you want your bass to be just another same old, same old.
I'm guessing that part of the reason you bought it is because of the color...because it's a great color, whatever the price.

Regardless, dare to be different. Make up your own headstock logo and get one made on ebay. Play the hell out of that bass and when you get a better one someday, maybe you can give this bass to a relative or a friend who wants to learn to play. Nothing better than buying yourself a new bass, but giving one away to appreciative novice is a lot of fun, too.
Click to expand...

I actually was looking for a guitar to refinish without spending a lot of money. The color in the picture looked much different than the actual color. I don't believe it was refinished. The paint is too nice to have been redone. I don't think I'll redo this one as the color has grown on me. I took the the screws (mismatched, of course) out of the pickguard and the wiring looks bad. there are 2 wires twisted together with a drop of solder on the connection. I may ultimately just take it to the repair shop and see what they think. I already have a better bass, I just like the looks of the Fender headstocks with the big tuning keys. When I saw this I jumped but it actually looks like I'll end up putting more money into it than it would be to have just bought a different Squier bass. They are regularly on CL here for around $100. I was looking at pickguards today and think I'll get a pearl one. There are no markings on the pickups. What would a better quality, easy to install alternative to the stock noname pickups? If I'm going to sink money in this, I might as well go all the way. Thank for all the replies and advice.
 
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#37
Nothing will be easier than Fender Super 55s with an Audere JZ3...4-band...preamp. Sure, it will set you back $250 but this mod won't require any soldering and your bass will be quite potent.
I recently modded a Fender Jazz bass with that setup.
Now, I'm going passive with my Inca Silver Jazz and some Lace Sensor Man O' War pickups and Madison's Ultimate Jazz bass control plate.
Regardless, there are plenty of good after-market Jazz pickups out there.
 
#39
i would guess that the pickguard was cut because the Squier one didn't fit the slightly different shape of this body. If the new one confirms this, does anyone have some advice on how to cut pickguard without it looking like a hack job? I have been thinking of some custom shapes that might look cool but don't want to crack it. Thanks.
 
#40
Hello everyone. I decided to replace the crappy wiring and the pickups on the bass. There is a seller on Ebay who has twp complete already soldered and ready to install sets for sale. One is from a Matt Freman bass and the other is from a Fender Standard P-bass. Any thoughts on how these compare? The price is the same. Thanks.
 

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