I've had my SBVI for about a year and I am having loads of fun with. I've had no problems other than the E and A strings popping off the saddle. In addition to the popping off of the saddle the screws roll down until the barrel meets the bridge. I've used lock tight, nail polish and tape to no avail. It just stinks!! I would simply like to trade out the bridge for something good. On a side note I wound up some pickups making them extra hot and they sound amazing!! I used Alnico V magnets, reverse wound the middle pickups. The resistance readings are 17 lead, 16 middle and 15 k Ohms for the neck pickup. I set it up so the action is real low however true to the Squier name I have to adjust the neck almost every time I it. It would be amazing if I didn't have to worry about the bridge barrels collapsing and if the strings stay sat. Any recommendations?
Squier Bass VI update: I bought a Fender Mustang Bridge Assembly for $45.00 and viola! Not only is the bridge stable I am able to properly intonate the instrument. No further modification to the barrel grooves. Since the barrels are already set for the neck radius which seems to match the neck curvature I am set. Ill post again if there are any changes. Yesterday I stopped in to a vintage guitar shop called RetroFret in Brooklyn, NY. They had a real bonafide 1961 Fender Bass VI. Anyone who says there is no difference between an American made Fender pre or post CBS and a Squier is incredibly wrong! Wow was the real thing incredible. It felt great, straight as a nail and it's pickups sounded great for a guitar as old as my grandpa. I don't care how pretty it is Ill never waste my money on a Squier again.
Hello, I am writing to you from Argentina, I am a luthier and I want to make a vi bass different from the fender but I am trying to find the technical specifications of both the fender and the danelectro and other vi basses, what I am interested in knowing now is if the bridge is the same as a guitar bridge, I can use any guitar bridge or it has a different size, I know it's not a bass bridge, and I have the same doubt about the pickups, I know that the Gibson one uses a bass pickup, the same as the Gibson EB, but the Fender seems to be for a guitar but I can't find if it is or not. I apologize for my basic English, as I mentioned I am from Argentina and I do not speak fluent English, if you could help me with these questions I would appreciate it, regards!
Yes, they use standard guitar bridges and pickups, generally speaking. You could get more specific information if you re-post your question in one or both of these megathreads The Short-Scale Six-String Club Part 4 - for the original six-string basses! Official Squier Vintage Modified Bass VI Club
Hello, thank you very much for your answer, today I received an email from Fender telling me that the pickups such as the bridge are not guitar and bass, but specific to Bass VI, they did not know how to give me the information of the measures, I did not want to insist much , but they gave me websites of replacement manufacturers to which I already sent emails with the same question, in the same way that I continue to investigate with other Bassvi manufacturers such as Schecter, Danelectro and others. I guess the measure must be between the guitar and the bass, but I will wait for them to respond, thank you very much and greetings!
I apologise for the misinformation: I was pretty sure the bridge, at least, was a normal guitar bridge (or, to be exact, that this was true for the Squier version; I know it is true for other, non-Fender models). Again, the people at the links that I gave you before know more than me. Anyway, are you going to make a copy of the Fender or not? Funnily, there is a new, Peruvian member with a similar story (only, he is the customer, not the luthier), Bass VI project most versatile wiring options? to whom I just suggested that he repost his (electronics-related) question in one or both of those links.
Danelectro Bass VI use the same bridge and tuning machines as their 6-string guitars. Google "danelectro bridge" for options.