Squier Affinity Jaguar Bass...H?!

[J Posega]

I’m really surprised at how good my Jag is for so little money. It’s nowhere near the level of quality of my Dingwall, but I’d never expect that.

But the fretwork is honestly really good in this price range, and that’s the number one thing that makes cheap basses suck IMO.

Reverb gave me $100 refund for the shipping damage since the seller used Reverb Safe Shipping. I could have gotten an estimate from a shop for a repair, then waited for Reverb to give me that amount, but for such a small ding that I haven’t even looked at since I first noticed it I figured $100 was more than fair.

 

[Cantstandsya]

Has anybody noticed that (according to the Squier site anyway) the maple FB models (blue and black) are made in China, while the indian laurel FB model (charcoal frost) is made in Indonesia? Can those that have them already confirm/deny where they're made?

This one is Indian Laurel and made in China.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

Getting very tempted to pick one of these up; I play a short scale, and we've recently written a few songs in drop C# (generally tune half a step down). The extra scale length could be great for those, and this is a reasonable price for a backup bass for a few songs in a set.

I did hope the short scale Jag pickguards would be drop in, as I'd probably want to put a P pup in for consistency with my other bass, easy swapping live & all. Could be fun with a big 'bucket instead though.

Will be keeping an eye out for these in shops to see how I like the scale length.

 

[Yammer]

Reverb gave me $100 refund for the shipping damage since the seller used Reverb Safe Shipping. I could have gotten an estimate from a shop for a repair, then waited for Reverb to give me that amount, but for such a small ding that I haven’t even looked at since I first noticed it I figured $100 was more than fair.

I had the same thing happen with a seller on Reverb, a 1” chunk of finish shattered away at the armrest on delivery. It was obvious the seller repacked the original box, as there were no cardboard support inserts. But Reverb was the one to eat it with their shipping guarantee. I was given half off of the original purchase.

 

[Dark Moose]

I don’t have a definite plan yet but some sort of Jagenbacker?
View attachment 4312601

What bridge did you install? It seems to have fit in nicely. Thanks!

 

[Yammer]

I was wondering if folks knew what the finish is on these? I was really surprised by how thick it was an how it shattered/crumbled on impact rather than just denting. It's clearly not just paint.

 

[stonehenge]

What bridge did you install? It seems to have fit in nicely. Thanks!

Hipshot A-style

 

[J Posega]

I was wondering if folks knew what the finish is on these? I was really surprised by how thick it was an how it shattered/crumbled on impact rather than just denting. It's clearly not just paint.

The website says it’s gloss polyurethane

 

[CostaMoses]

I just ordered the lake placid blue from Sweetwater. Would love a black pick guard instead of white. If anyone wants to swap my white pick guard for your black, please let me know.

 

[Doctor Morbius]

I'd love to get one of these. I have a short scale Sterling StingRay, but the damn pickup is right under the area where I pick and it's been a bit of a problem. Yes, I have already tried lowering it. Yes, my picking technique is a bit on the sloppy side.

 

[Yahboy]

Play a black Jag H at GC yesterday, surprisingly overall build quality pretty close to Para 54J and pretty light in weight.
The E string has no floppy feel on my plucking finger which happened on both 28'-30' scale bronco and mini p.
Just the bassy voicing pickups not my favourite.
Nice bass and great value of money.

Anyone of you try install the 34' scale fender/squier neck on this Jag H body? Is it fit nicely?

 

[Dark Moose]

I just received mine. I was expecting the fret job to be OK at best, but it is actually very good. Set up was also great out of the box.
So far, I am impressed and cannot wait to start modifying it to make it even better.

 

[Fitz]

I broke down and bought one today. Black on black with the maple board. I really like it.

I bought a pair of 500K CTS pots and a Switchcraft jack when I bought the bass because I already didn't like the feel of the electronics and knew I'd immediately switch them out when I brought it home.

To those wondering: the control cavity will not fit full size pots. It's not wide enough. I had to hog out the cavity in the top where the plate butts up against the pick guard to make room for the volume pot, and I had to hog out the sides along the middle to give enough clearance for the tone pot. If you're not comfortable handling a dremel and a sanding drum attachment, maybe take it to your Luther and do the job. Luckily the wood is so soft that it doesn't take much work to hog it out. There was barely enough room for the Switchcraft jack. The cavity really is extremely narrow.

Also, the stock potentiometer values, to my surprise, were 500K, and the tone cap value is .022. You can tell that they are trying to counteract the humbucker because it just sounds so dark. I'm toying with the idea of 1M pots with this bass, which is kind of unheard of but might be necessary.

I don't want to sink the cost of the bass into a replacement pickup, so I'm going to keep the stock mudbucker for now. It sounds cool with a pick with fresh round wounds, but this thing will definitely only thud with flats or old round wounds. The pickup is most certainly the weak point here--it just has absolutely zero treble.

Also--fretwork was very, very good. Like genuinely surprised how nice the fretwork was. Nicely polished, nicely finished edges.

The truss rod needed an entire half turn to straighten out the neck, and the neck itself needed a shim because action in the upper registers was a mile high. I got that sorted out and it's a solid little bass. If it's good enough, I'm actually gonna consider selling my medium scale P bass, but we'll see.

UPDATE: I ordered a Wilkinson MWM4 pickup for this bass to see if that might help the top end, seeing that it's only 30 bucks. If it doesn't improve it, I'm going to try a 1M tone pot. I'll report back.

 

[Cantstandsya]

I broke down and bought one today. Black on black with the maple board. I really like it.

I bought a pair of 500K CTS pots and a Switchcraft jack when I bought the bass because I already didn't like the feel of the electronics and knew I'd immediately switch them out when I brought it home.

To those wondering: the control cavity will not fit full size pots. It's not wide enough. I had to hog out the cavity in the top where the plate butts up against the pick guard to make room for the volume pot, and I had to hog out the sides along the middle to give enough clearance for the tone pot. If you're not comfortable handling a dremel and a sanding drum attachment, maybe take it to your Luther and do the job. Luckily the wood is so soft that it doesn't take much work to hog it out. There was barely enough room for the Switchcraft jack. The cavity really is extremely narrow.

Also, the stock potentiometer values, to my surprise, were 500K, and the tone cap value is .022. You can tell that they are trying to counteract the humbucker because it just sounds so dark. I'm toying with the idea of 1M pots with this bass, which is kind of unheard of but might be necessary.

I don't want to sink the cost of the bass into a replacement pickup, so I'm going to keep the stock mudbucker for now. It sounds cool with a pick with fresh round wounds, but this thing will definitely only thud with flats or old round wounds. The pickup is most certainly the weak point here--it just has absolutely zero treble.

Also--fretwork was very, very good. Like genuinely surprised how nice the fretwork was. Nicely polished, nicely finished edges.

The truss rod needed an entire half turn to straighten out the neck, and the neck itself needed a shim because action in the upper registers was a mile high. I got that sorted out and it's a solid little bass. If it's good enough, I'm actually gonna consider selling my medium scale P bass, but we'll see.

UPDATE: I ordered a Wilkinson MWM4 pickup for this bass to see if that might help the top end, seeing that it's only 30 bucks. If it doesn't improve it, I'm going to try a 1M tone pot. I'll report back.

The series wiring of the stock pickup has a lot do with its lack of highs. You might want to try wiring the pickup in parallel or install a switch for series/parallel. I replaced the pickup and had it wired for series/parallel/neck coil/bridge coil switching. Series still sounds similar to the stock pickup but all the other positions have noticeably more treble.

 

[Fitz]

The series wiring of the stock pickup has a lot do with its lack of highs. You might want to try wiring the pickup in parallel or install a switch for series/parallel. I replaced the pickup and had it wired for series/parallel/neck coil/bridge coil switching. Series still sounds similar to the stock pickup but all the other positions have noticeably more treble.

Great idea. I didn’t even consider that. But I don’t see 4-conductor wire on mine. Did I miss something?

 

[Cantstandsya]

Great idea. I didn’t even consider that. But I don’t see 4-conductor wire on mine. Did I miss something?

I’m not sure if it can be done on the original pickup but I know that it’s wired in series. I suspected it was from the tone and output. The tech that did the mods on mine confirmed it.

 

[Yammer]

Yeah, this thing is way dark. I'm already in the pre-process of getting the Nordstrand Bigman 4, I want to do the same options as Randy, but I'm open to suggestion for pickup choice...anyone know what's the tightest, punchiest, most well-balanced aftermarket H pickup that might replace this one? For comparison, I have been borrowing Chris Aiken Squier P-Bass stock with the Duncan Quarter Pounder equivalent, no tone stack. Ernie Ball Regulars. I absolutely love the tone of that bass.

 

[Yammer]

If it's good enough, I'm actually gonna consider selling my medium scale P bass, but we'll see.

UPDATE: I ordered a Wilkinson MWM4 pickup for this bass to see if that might help the top end, seeing that it's only 30 bucks. If it doesn't improve it, I'm going to try a 1M tone pot. I'll report back.

What instrument do you already have in the medium scale?

 

[Fitz]

What instrument do you already have in the medium scale?

An 80s Squier Japanese P bass in 32”. They didn’t make very many.

 

[Cantstandsya]

Yeah, this thing is way dark. I'm already in the pre-process of getting the Nordstrand Bigman 4, I want to do the same options as Randy, but I'm open to suggestion for pickup choice...anyone know what's the tightest, punchiest, most well-balanced aftermarket H pickup that might replace this one? For comparison, I have been borrowing Chris Aiken Squier P-Bass stock with the Duncan Quarter Pounder equivalent, no tone stack. Ernie Ball Regulars. I absolutely love the tone of that bass.

I really really like the Big Blademan in this bass. Not sure if it’s the tightest or punchiest, but it sounds great.