Squier Affinity?? Is that you?

[SpankBazz]

My first guitar was an Affinity strat and it's the only electric I play. Nice feeling neck and I upgraded the pickups to EMGs a long time ago and it's a fantastic instrument. The cheap tuning pegs keep tune well also.

I bought an Affinity Strat out of the pawn shop because someone set it up nicely.
I gifted it to my buddy, who's a pro musician, when I moved away.
He also put some EMGs in it and he loved it.

 

[godofthunder59]

I have a Affinity Jazz that I use as a backup for my AVRI 66 that I use in a Zeppelin tribute I work with. I did put a tort guard on it and a 66 reissue pickup in the neck position. It's a great bass honestly I like it better than the '66 AVRI. Go figure.

 

[micguy]

The cheap way to make a solid body instrument (with a cnc machine to make the wood parts) also happens to be the precise way to make an instrument. And the basic design of P's and J's is a good design - made pretty much anywhere, you can make a decent instrument.

The differences between levels of P'a or J'as lies in some fine details - the higher end ones sometimes have reinforced necks, but past that, it's pickups and hardware details. They should sound a lot alike, and I'm sure some folks at Fender stay up nights worrying about how to make teh higher end ones attractive enough that people will pop for the extra bucks.

Most of my basses are one off custom builds, but I also have a Squier Bronco I just bought last Christmas. It doesn't have fancy wood (it's painted), and I did a lot of detail work to get it to where it's a good playable instrument (a hum cancelling pickup and I levelled the frets). I also changed the rest of the hardware for weight reasons (some of the hardware I already had in my stock). So, my "$130 Squire" ran about $550 all in, if you assign reasonable values to the parts I already had. Broncos are short scales, and the neck joins at the body further from the bridge than most Fender necks, so the thing is really short and stiff, and has no noticeable dead spots - it is sonically, a great neck. It'll never be worth a lot (it says Squier on the headstock), but i's a very nice instrument now. I've played it at a couple of gigs, and it's only flaw is....it's not a 5 string with a wide neck that fits my hands well (what I am used to). I built the thing to develop mental plasticity - force myself to play something a bit different from time to time. For that, it's perfect. If my hands ever shrink 3 sizes, I might find it more playable than my big basses.

Can an Affinity be a good musical instrument? Of course. Out of the box, it might have some minor issues, but the playability stuff I can fix for very little money, given a few hours of detail work. If you find the demo a bit dark, I could wire that thing in parallel, and it'd be capable of being brighter than the higher priced ones - you can dial it in to wherever you want with the right loading capacitor. Then it's just the hardware questions - if you're not picky, you probably don't need to change anything, but if you are....yeah, that will cost a bit.

 

[Sharko]

Awful lot of people listening to this comparison with their eyes and prejudices.
3 of these basses sound REALLY similar to me, with only the MIJ as the outlier, sounding brighter.

 

[maggie_bass]

Would be interested to see how the Classic Vibe 60s and 70s ones hold up...the prices for those are ridiculous now, but so is everything

They're great actually. I have a 60s Jazz I got used and it's really nice. Although, I am glad I don't have sweaty hands because the neck is laquered.

 

[SpankBazz]

Awful lot of people listening to this comparison with their eyes and prejudices.
3 of these basses sound REALLY similar to me, with only the MIJ as the outlier, sounding brighter.

The consensus is that the Affinity is "dark".
The other 3 have more high end, for sure.
I can understand wanting to be clear and not muddy, cut through, etc but I wonder how much should bass players be concerned with treble.
Me personally, I don't want my bass to sound anything like a guitar but some players are really into a lot of zing.
In other words, the lack of super high end on the Affinity is fine by me.

The MIJ bothered me with how weak it sounded next to the Affinity.
It was lower output and lacked low end. Maybe the mix in post is to blame.
I've never been sold on MIJ Fenders, despite their reputation.
I'll take an MIM over an MIJ any day.
That's just me, though.
Seems like the Fenders I like are the ones that everyone else hates. LOL.

 

[godofthunder59]

The consensus is that the Affinity is "dark".
The other 3 have more high end, for sure.
I can understand wanting to be clear and not muddy, cut through, etc but I wonder how much should bass players be concerned with treble.
Me personally, I don't want my bass to sound anything like a guitar but some players are really into a lot of zing.
In other words, the lack of super high end on the Affinity is fine by me.

The MIJ bothered me with how weak it sounded next to the Affinity.
It was lower output and lacked low end. Maybe the mix in post is to blame.
I've never been sold on MIJ Fenders, despite their reputation.
I'll take an MIM over an MIJ any day.
That's just me, though.
Seems like the Fenders I like are the ones that everyone else hates. LOL.

Fender Mexico has really upped thier game starting around 2018. I have two Player Precisions and two Vintera 70's Telecaster Basses, absolutely great basses.

 

[SpankBazz]

Fender Mexico has really upped thier game starting around 2018. I have two Player Precisions and two Vintera 70's Telecaster Basses, absolutely great basses.

I ride for MIMs.
My #1 is an 2002 MIM. I have more expensive basses. I have "better" Fender Jazz basses. But that one is my hands down favorite.
From what I understand, 2002 is the year they changed the body wood, changed the pots, and put in a proper bridge pickup.
That 2002 MIM gives me exactly the 70's Jazz bass tone I desire. I changed the neck and pickguard for purely cosmetic reasons, it's stock otherwise.
There was another bunch of upgrades for the 2009 model year, and those are the ones I hear people rave about.
I have a Vintera 70's Jazz and I love that one, too.

 

[jd56hawk]

The Affinity basses never get the respect the Classic Vibe and Vintage Modified basses do, but they're...well, they're okay.

 

[Yahboy]

Fender Mexico has really upped thier game starting around 2018. I have two Player Precisions and two Vintera 70's Telecaster Basses, absolutely great basses.

I am disagree ..... 4 Fender player P ( 2018,2019, 2024x2 ) and 1 Vintera II 60s P ( 2025 )still has poor QC compare to 2008-2018 China Squire Classic Vibe bass.....

But my Vintera 1 50sP are fine, this unit are hand pick by myself at guitar store.