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SQUIER JAG SHORT SCALE; ANY REVIEWS?

#81
lbwdog said:
.........Squier VM Jaguar Bass short scale w/PJ pickups.........

I gigged the bass last night (without a backup). Other than needing to tune it up almost a half step, it is exactly as when I took it out of the box. No intonation or action adjustments necessary. I brought it up to pitch immediately before the first set. Due to normal stretching, I had to tweak the tuning a few times till the end of the second set. After that, the tuning held firm. In my experience, the mark of a cheap bass is usually the need to tune more frequently, due to cheaper, greener neck woods, and flimsy tuners. Impressed me!

I've just got to say, I'm extremely pleased with the smaller body size, weight (6.5 lbs), and playability. Did a four hour gig with no fatigue, and honestly, I was playing fresher, more inspired bass lines. Was even complimented by the other bandmates. :bassist: Funny how a positive change can influence what you actually play (does me anyway).
I was fortunate that the gig was a semi outdoor festival (under the inside edge of a rather large pavilion with a big stage)

The only nit to pick was that its brighter overall tone had to be dialed down, especially on the J pickup. The P pickup really impressed me. Very full, rich, and even across the spectrum. Easily one of the best sounding P pickups I've ever played.

As you can tell, I feel this is one of the best acquisitions i've made in years! Especially considering it was a need purchase due to my health concerns.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the review....cool for you.
I should get mine by the middle of next week.
 
#82
StereoPlayer said:
Thanks for the review....cool for you.
I should get mine by the middle of next week.
Click to expand...
Your welcome......Hope you enjoy yours as well.

I did forget one small niggle. There is a little neck dive, due possibly to weight and/or the strap button position on the upper bout. Down the road, I'll keep my eyes peeled for a used set of ultralite tuners. Hopefully I can get the string post size from Squier rather than disassembling to measure.

I'm also surprised Squier doesn't offer an accessory gig bag for the shorties.
LOL! Just realized you could easily spend more on a tuner set and gig bag than the whole bass costs! :D
 
#83
lbwdog said:
Your welcome......Hope you enjoy yours as well.

I did forget one small niggle. There is a little neck dive, due possibly to weight and/or the strap button position on the upper bout. Down the road, I'll keep my eyes peeled for a used set of ultralite tuners. Hopefully I can get the string post size from Squier rather than disassembling to measure.

I'm also surprised Squier doesn't offer an accessory gig bag for the shorties.
LOL! Just realized you could easily spend more on a tuner set and gig bag than the whole bass costs! :D
Click to expand...
Does one have to e-mail Fender to get support for Squier instruments?

For the ultralites to be helpful, they would have to be lighter than the stock tuners. I'll bet the holes are 9/16" in diameter, which I think means you need the ultralites with the 3/8" posts.
 
#84
I was in my favorite local store today and found a short scale Squier Vintage Modified Jag in silver with black pickguard and headstock. They had it at $169 with a 15% discount to $144.50...which just was more than I could stand!

Before buying it, I noodled around on it in the store for about 20 minutes, using a Genz-Benz Shuttle 6.0/12T combo just like the one I own.

The P and J pickups do sound rather different (I'm not great at detecting nuances between pickups), and put out plenty of sound. It was very bright with the tone control up full, but turning it halfway down tamed the sound quite a bit and yielded a good, full P sound from the P pickup. I'll probably run the P up full and the J about half volume. I suspect flats are in its immediate future, as is usually the case with my basses. As far as I'm concerned, it sounds as good as my old P, J, or any of a number of Fenders I've had.

This is an instrument that is worth more than the purchase price - if it appeals to you, test drive it immediately!

Here's a stock photo of the model I bought:

JagBsVMSSSlv-xlarge.jpg
 
#89
Pilgrim said:
I was in my favorite local store today and found a short scale Squier Vintage Modified Jag in silver with black pickguard and headstock. They had it at $169 with a 15% discount to $144.50...which just was more than I could stand!

This is an instrument that is worth more than the purchase price - if it appeals to you, test drive it immediately!
Click to expand...
Exactly!!

Mine turned out to be $147 + tax ($160 total)
He was gonna throw in a gig bag but none would fit. Instead, I got a free cable and a strap (which I don't need, but what the heck?) :bassist:
 
#93
I got one of these a few days ago for my son (he's 12) and he loves it. I have a few questions/observations, though:

- The volume knobs only seem to work in the last quarter or so of the turn (from about 7-10). There's almost no sound up until there and there's a huge volume jump from about 8 to 10. Anyone else experiencing this?

- The J (bridge) pickup isn't nearly as loud as the P (neck) pickup. I've tried adjusting both and it isn't making a huge difference.

- The tone control makes little difference either fully up or down.

I'll probably replace the pots with full size ones anyway and maybe a push/pull series/parallel pot, but I thought I'd check and see if I was alone on this. The pots in there now are about the size of a dime.

I like everything else about the bass, though. The neck feels fine and has nice fretwork. The tuners work fine. The fit and finish is excellent. My son wanted the silver one and it does look cool. He's got a Bronco bass, but this just blows it out of the water on the hipness factor for about $20 more.

BTW, I picked up a Road Runner polyfoam case and it fits in there OK. I had to cut a piece of foam to wedge in the body because it's small, but it seems fine other than that.

-Don
 
#98
I got mine last week (silver btw). I play shortscale just about all the time now and thought this would make a nice fun mod piece... Out of the box the bass was surprisingly well made for such an inexpensive bass. Neck straight, Fretwork smooth, finish well done, tuners tight, all electronics worked as they should, no real workmanship or finish flaws. Setup was very bad though. I gave the strings a really good stretch and brought it up to tune... Fret buzz from 14th down on all strings. Raised the saddles a bit but still had massive buzz on the a, d, and g from the 14th frets down. Adjusted the truss rod and let it sit for a day... No improvement the next day (thought I was going to return it). Adjusted the truss rod a little further and let it sit another day hoping the neck would respond. Yesterday picked it up and the neck was perfect... No buzzes, no dead spots, brought the action down to approx 2.5mm, beautiful playability, no fret problems. Man, what a fun little bass. P pickup is great, J alone = terrible - but overall sound is good when the j is turned down. Very fast neck, a joy to play. Gonna be loads of fun... :hyper:
One more thing... Definite neck dive... Use a thick leather strap... Hope this helps...
 

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