Squier Classic Vibe 2019

[Woodyrson]

There hasn’t been a confirmed direct drop in replacement as far as I know. I had a brand new one come through my local store with a stripped tuning machine as well, by the way.

I have some precision measuring tools, so I guess I'll take some measurements tomorrow and go on the hunt.

This thing seems to be eating up the gears in the machines, though. It's really bad. All four of the machines on mine have run into an issue of being slightly out of alignment at some point and having the screw shave some material off the gear.

 

[WallaceSnr]

I have some precision measuring tools, so I guess I'll take some measurements tomorrow and go on the hunt.

This thing seems to be eating up the gears in the machines, though. It's really bad. All four of the machines on mine have run into an issue of being slightly out of alignment at some point and having the screw shave some material off the gear.

Thanks for posting this. it's useful to get a heads up on these issues.
Lets hope they get it fixed on production.

In the mean time, nobody would blame you for returning the bass and getting your money back whilst they get it sorted.
Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[Yahboy]

A bit of an addendum to my above review and also a question.

I know there's been some back and forth about the tuning machines on these things. My experience is that they are bad. Very bad. This afternoon I removed the factory strings, oiled the fretboard, and started installing new strings. While winding the new strings, there were clear sticky spots and I could see metal shavings coming off the gears. I got to G without any major issue, but about 1.5 turns into it, the gear completely stripped. That machine is totally shot now. That's one more strike against the 2019 CV as a viable "off the rack" bass.

That said, I'm trying to decide whether to attempt a return or to replace the tuners (my preference). I know the CIC CV's would take Hipshot HB1's as a drop in replacement. I'm not sure if that still holds true, but I don't really want to go that direction anyway. I really don't want to put $100 worth of tuning machines on a $350 bass. So, does anyone have any recommendations for decent quality machines that will drop in and not break the bank?

If you wanna get previous China CV bass tuning machine, Go ebay find this seller.

Hope help.

 

[Yahboy]

I have some precision measuring tools, so I guess I'll take some measurements tomorrow and go on the hunt.

This thing seems to be eating up the gears in the machines, though. It's really bad. All four of the machines on mine have run into an issue of being slightly out of alignment at some point and having the screw shave some material off the gear.

The 2019 CV bass turning machine same using on Affinity series and Sterling sub ray 4 I own.
So far that cheap tuning machine work fine on sub ray 4, but not as smooth as my 2012 CV pbass or VM jazz bass I own.

I really have no idea why Fender put those cheap tuning machine on new CV series bass, on their rebranded VM series one has much better quality.

Couple day ago, I go to GC to make bass return(China CV70P) and decide to get new CV70J, but unfortunately zero stock. So I move to CV60J either Gamma Daphne blue or classic sunburst.
I found a VM jazz Olympic white on their stock list, so I ask for try.
Surprisingly both VM j and new CV j are almost same bass beside different tuning machine, knobs, bridge , pickguard colour , neck poly tint colour, pickups screws colour and taller fret wire.

The neck shape and fingers board radius definitely samething.

But tone are different. As my earlier post on this thread, the new CV j sound duller and dry to my ear, the VM J which sweeter tone , warmer and round like my VM77J(growl and meaty).

So, I suspect the wood on new CV j make the bass tone slightly different than basswood VM J. Maybe different pickups even fender list Fender Design Pickups. Who knows ??

Here is my VM J.

Edit.
The Indian Laurent wood are pretty like died wood near the beach. Dry process by sea breeze.
Hope the Dunlop 02 deep condition could shine it up.

 

[Texican]

I have some precision measuring tools, so I guess I'll take some measurements tomorrow and go on the hunt.

This thing seems to be eating up the gears in the machines, though. It's really bad. All four of the machines on mine have run into an issue of being slightly out of alignment at some point and having the screw shave some material off the gear.

As much as I look forward to hearing what you come up with for aftermarket tuners, I would definitely hold someone accountable for the bad tuner(s) on your brand new bass. See if Fender or the dealer will send you replacement machines.

 

[Woodyrson]

After taking measurements and spending a lot of time looking around online this morning, the only thing I've found that looks like it'll be a 1:1 drop in replacement are the WD branded full size tuning machines from WD Music. I have no experience with WD Music and no idea how high quality their "store brand" parts are.

 

[Slaphound]

Looking forward to getting a new CV '70s Precision when they become available. I'm thinking the black & Maple with nice gold PG. The walnut is nice too and so I'm not exactly convinced about black. Most likely though. I see that the wood used for the Precision body is Nato. After a quick google search, Nato is comparable to Mahogany wood. Interesting. I hope they aren't boat anchors in weight. Can anyone tell when they will become available?

 

[Riff Ranger]

Looking forward to getting a new CV '70s Precision when they become available. I'm thinking the black & Maple with nice gold PG. The walnut is nice too and so I'm not exactly convinced about black. Most likely though. I see that the wood used for the Precision body is Nato. After a quick google search, Nato is comparable to Mahogany wood. Interesting. I hope they aren't boat anchors in weight. Can anyone tell when they will become available?

AMS expects them in December, fwiw.

 

[Texican]

But tone are different. As my earlier post on this thread, the new CV j sound duller and dry to my ear, the VM J which sweeter tone , warmer and round like my VM77J(growl and meaty).

I have a VM77’ Jazz and a 2019 CV 60’s Jazz as well. I hand picked my 2019 Indonesian CV out of almost 20 different ones and I truly believe it was the best one......... AND YET I STILL AGREE 100% that the vintage modified 77’ sounds fuller/rounder/warmer/clearer/meatier compared to the drier and duller tone of my CV 60’s Jazz Bass. Aesthetically I prefer the 60’s CV, but I prefer the VM in every other aspect. Your comparison is spot on with my own experience.

 

[Texican]

Ok so I decided to embrace the inherent characteristics of the 60’s CV until I can (possibly) replace the pickups. I strung it up with an older set of La Bella Deep Talkin Bass flats and WOW, it was quite the match. Definitely does that job better than trying to compete with the aggressive growly tones from the VM77.

 

[Texican]

After taking measurements and spending a lot of time looking around online this morning, the only thing I've found that looks like it'll be a 1:1 drop in replacement are the WD branded full size tuning machines from WD Music. I have no experience with WD Music and no idea how high quality their "store brand" parts are.

I’m starting to wonder just how necessary a “drop in” replacement happens to be.?...?...

I don’t mind paying my local luthier 20 bucks to install them, and the bass isn’t worth enough for me to worry about reaming the holes or drilling an extra screw hole or two. Especially on the back of the headstock.

 

[Woodyrson]

I’m starting to wonder just how necessary a “drop in” replacement happens to be.?...?...

I don’t mind paying my local luthier 20 bucks to install them, and the bass isn’t worth enough for me to worry about reaming the holes or drilling an extra screw hole or two. Especially on the back of the headstock.

I agree, but my position is on the other end of the spectrum.

These things aren't worth enough to worry about drilling some extra holes in, but to me they also aren't worth enough to bother with doing that. I'm certainly not going to pay anyone to work on it. If I could find a set of decent quality machines and then pay a luthier to do the work for $50ish all in, I might consider that. But if I could just drop some in for $50ish and do it all myself, that just seems more appropriate for the level of instrument we're talking about here. At least for my purposes.

The jury is out on whether these WD machines are any better than the stock CV ones. I'll find out in a few days. I just can't imagine they could possibly be as bad as these stock machines, though. These are the worst tuning machines I've ever seen and it isn't close. I pulled the stripped one and then pulled one from an old Squier Affinity P-bass that I hot rodded years ago. I just wanted to see if I could possibly swap just the gear. The quality difference in the gears was astounding. If you handed those two gears to me and I didn't absolutely know better, I'd tell you the CV gear was plastic, 100%. It was that light compared to the Affinity gear and it was chewed all to pieces.

 

[Slaphound]

Amazing. It's the price point though.

 

[Woodyrson]

Just picked up the CV jazz bass in natural with block inlay...Tuners and bridge are in fine working order when I changed the strings...maybe I got lucky with a good one..
As with anything manufactured, quality will vary...

To be totally honest, I think I might have just gotten unlucky with a bad one. There are plenty of complaints in this thread about the tuners being bad, but if I recall, very few (if any) were backed up by actual experiences with failures. Mostly just general statements about the overall perceived quality. If mine had worked and held tune, I'd likely have never commented about them and never felt the need to do anything about them.

 

[Heavy Blue]

To be totally honest, I think I might have just gotten unlucky with a bad one. There are plenty of complaints in this thread about the tuners being bad, but if I recall, very few (if any) were backed up by actual experiences with failures. Mostly just general statements about the overall perceived quality. If mine had worked and held tune, I'd likely have never commented about them and never felt the need to do anything about them.

I had the same experience as you. Gear shavings and all. Bridge was not level. Pup on mine was subpar too.

None of this with my VM Jazz.

 

[Texican]

To be totally honest, I think I might have just gotten unlucky with a bad one. There are plenty of complaints in this thread about the tuners being bad, but if I recall, very few (if any) were backed up by actual experiences with failures. Mostly just general statements about the overall perceived quality. If mine had worked and held tune, I'd likely have never commented about them and never felt the need to do anything about them.

Count me in as someone with actual failure experience on a 2019 CV tuning machine. To be fair though, the box was damaged in shipping, so it may have been a result of that... the body actually had a small chunk missing.

 

[Texican]

I agree, but my position is on the other end of the spectrum.

These things aren't worth enough to worry about drilling some extra holes in, but to me they also aren't worth enough to bother with doing that. I'm certainly not going to pay anyone to work on it. If I could find a set of decent quality machines and then pay a luthier to do the work for $50ish all in, I might consider that. But if I could just drop some in for $50ish and do it all myself, that just seems more appropriate for the level of instrument we're talking about here. At least for my purposes.

The jury is out on whether these WD machines are any better than the stock CV ones. I'll find out in a few days. I just can't imagine they could possibly be as bad as these stock machines, though. These are the worst tuning machines I've ever seen and it isn't close. I pulled the stripped one and then pulled one from an old Squier Affinity P-bass that I hot rodded years ago. I just wanted to see if I could possibly swap just the gear. The quality difference in the gears was astounding. If you handed those two gears to me and I didn't absolutely know better, I'd tell you the CV gear was plastic, 100%. It was that light compared to the Affinity gear and it was chewed all to pieces.

For me, I don’t buy a “good for the price” Squier. I played dozens and dozens of them and bought two. I buy the gems. The “diamonds in the rough” if you will. For me, they are totally worth putting a few extra bucks into, especially if I’m gigging and making money with it. Basically, you can *sometimes* put better tuners and pickups on a Squier and have a bass that sounds and plays better than *some* Fenders. True, it won’t have the resale value, but “resale value” doesn’t make music.

 

[Woodyrson]

For me, I don’t buy a “good for the price” Squier. I played dozens and dozens of them and bought two. I buy the gems. The “diamonds in the rough” if you will. For me, they are totally worth putting a few extra bucks into, especially if I’m gigging and making money with it. Basically, you can *sometimes* put better tuners and pickups on a Squier and have a bass that sounds and plays better than *some* Fenders. True, it won’t have the resale value, but “resale value” doesn’t make music.

Yep, totally agree with that.

My gigging days are long gone, though. At least for a while. I haven't played out in nearly 10 years and it'll be another handful before I'd even consider doing that again. The only reason I made this purchase is that I wanted something with a different tone than my P with flats can give. And I decided on the CV because they could be good for the money. At this point, I'm just looking for something to get the job done around the house.

On that note, the WD tuning machines are supposed to be delivered today. I'll report back on fitment and quality just in case anyone is interested in purchasing what seem to be the only drop-in replacements for these things.

 

[Texican]

Yep, totally agree with that.

My gigging days are long gone, though. At least for a while. I haven't played out in nearly 10 years and it'll be another handful before I'd even consider doing that again. The only reason I made this purchase is that I wanted something with a different tone than my P with flats can give. And I decided on the CV because they could be good for the money. At this point, I'm just looking for something to get the job done around the house.

On that note, the WD tuning machines are supposed to be delivered today. I'll report back on fitment and quality just in case anyone is interested in purchasing what seem to be the only drop-in replacements for these things.

I get that. It’s much easier to tune up in your living room, than mid-song on stage! That being said I look forward to hearing your review on the WD tuners.

For what it’s worth, I found a “super Squier” video on YouTube where they put Hipshot HB7’s on an Indonesian Vintage Modified Jazz Bass... according to they video they dropped right in.

 

[InstantEctobass]

I get that. It’s much easier to tune up in your living room, than mid-song on stage! That being said I look forward to hearing your review on the WD tuners.

For what it’s worth, I found a “super Squier” video on YouTube where they put Hipshot HB7’s on an Indonesian Vintage Modified Jazz Bass... according to they video they dropped right in.

VMs and previous CVs had similar machine tuners, they weren't perfect, but weren't failing.

I can't recommand enough the Sandberg old tuning machine. They cost 60EUR and they are super smooth. Got them stock a on 280EUR Cort Bass (my first one)... maybe the best part on that bass with the humbucker pickup, because the rest has been crap haha

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