My bass collection doubled yesterday with the addition of a Squier Vintage Modified Precision Bass. I've been playing them in stores locally for the past 2 months or so and finally purchased one last weekend.
I got it at music123.com, taking advantage of the 20% off cupon they had running last week. That got me a price of $200 rather than $250, and no tax or shipping. Pretty good deal.
I must admit I am dissapointed by the bass. firstly the packaging is sub par for something that gets shipped. The box has very little inside it to keep the bass from sliding all around. Just a couple pieces of cardboard. No padding, packing peanuts or anything. It arrived fairly dinged up.
Upon removing the bass the first thing I noticed is that there are a ton of flaws in the paint. They look like dimples or dents in the wood. They are in a semi random row about 3/4 inch wide and go from the end of they bass across the face to the upper cutaway. They are visible on the back side too.
Also on the side of the bass, below the controls and jack, there was, I thought at first, scuffed paint. There were about 5 black lines, very visible. After rubbing the area with a cleaning cloth it came off. Conveyer belt skids or something?
The 3rd issue is the deal breeaker. The action on it was a mile high out of the box. I did expect that, so I got out my setup tools. At first adjusting the truss rod had an effect. But as I dialed out bow from the neck it began to not do anything. There's tension on the rod when I turn the adjusting nut, but the bow isn't coming out. It also had horrible buzz on the top frets after making a slight reliefe adjustment.
My recent experience with my newish MIM jazz bass gave me a clue to what that issue was. I removed the strings and the nect to inspect the neck pocket for buit up paint as on my jazz. The first thing I found was a sandpaper neck shim. The second was a lot of sawdust and actual wood pieces in the in the corners of the pocket. The screw holes on the back of the neck also had big splinters around thier edges, as if drilled to quickley or with a dull bit.
I removed the shim, blew out the dust, and lightly buffed the wood on the back of the neck with some very fine sandpaper to remove the splinters. The surface on the neck pocket is another matter. It's about the same smoothness as rough grade fence lumber. I'm guessing it can't be too level either. It wasn't ever sanded and just painted over. Again it looks like a cut made by a dull bit.
I reassembled it and tried lowering the saddles again. This time It went better, but I'm concerned about the truss rod not seeming to have an effect on the neck. I'm going by my luthiers today to see what he says. If it's a dud, I'll ship it back and try again.
The biggest bummer is that the sound is killer. It's exactly what I was looking for. It's also very comfortable on my fretting hand. I was a little concerned about a neck wider than I'm used to but that isn't gonna be an issue at all.
I also didn't expect it to be a jewel of a bass but the stuff I saw as far as it's condition when it left the factory has me a little concerned. I have to admit, of the 4 or 5 I played locally, only one had even close to a decent setup on it. All the rest were just like this one when I unboxed it. The paint is another concern. There are flaws similar to this on my MIM jazz, but I got over it. Not nearly as many. I guess I'll decide after the luthier looks at it.
All that blathering on deserves a pic so here she is.
Link Removed
I got it at music123.com, taking advantage of the 20% off cupon they had running last week. That got me a price of $200 rather than $250, and no tax or shipping. Pretty good deal.
I must admit I am dissapointed by the bass. firstly the packaging is sub par for something that gets shipped. The box has very little inside it to keep the bass from sliding all around. Just a couple pieces of cardboard. No padding, packing peanuts or anything. It arrived fairly dinged up.
Upon removing the bass the first thing I noticed is that there are a ton of flaws in the paint. They look like dimples or dents in the wood. They are in a semi random row about 3/4 inch wide and go from the end of they bass across the face to the upper cutaway. They are visible on the back side too.
Also on the side of the bass, below the controls and jack, there was, I thought at first, scuffed paint. There were about 5 black lines, very visible. After rubbing the area with a cleaning cloth it came off. Conveyer belt skids or something?
The 3rd issue is the deal breeaker. The action on it was a mile high out of the box. I did expect that, so I got out my setup tools. At first adjusting the truss rod had an effect. But as I dialed out bow from the neck it began to not do anything. There's tension on the rod when I turn the adjusting nut, but the bow isn't coming out. It also had horrible buzz on the top frets after making a slight reliefe adjustment.
My recent experience with my newish MIM jazz bass gave me a clue to what that issue was. I removed the strings and the nect to inspect the neck pocket for buit up paint as on my jazz. The first thing I found was a sandpaper neck shim. The second was a lot of sawdust and actual wood pieces in the in the corners of the pocket. The screw holes on the back of the neck also had big splinters around thier edges, as if drilled to quickley or with a dull bit.
I removed the shim, blew out the dust, and lightly buffed the wood on the back of the neck with some very fine sandpaper to remove the splinters. The surface on the neck pocket is another matter. It's about the same smoothness as rough grade fence lumber. I'm guessing it can't be too level either. It wasn't ever sanded and just painted over. Again it looks like a cut made by a dull bit.
I reassembled it and tried lowering the saddles again. This time It went better, but I'm concerned about the truss rod not seeming to have an effect on the neck. I'm going by my luthiers today to see what he says. If it's a dud, I'll ship it back and try again.
The biggest bummer is that the sound is killer. It's exactly what I was looking for. It's also very comfortable on my fretting hand. I was a little concerned about a neck wider than I'm used to but that isn't gonna be an issue at all.
I also didn't expect it to be a jewel of a bass but the stuff I saw as far as it's condition when it left the factory has me a little concerned. I have to admit, of the 4 or 5 I played locally, only one had even close to a decent setup on it. All the rest were just like this one when I unboxed it. The paint is another concern. There are flaws similar to this on my MIM jazz, but I got over it. Not nearly as many. I guess I'll decide after the luthier looks at it.
All that blathering on deserves a pic so here she is.
Link Removed
(note: i'm not calling you "stupid", just "misinformed"...ergo "ignorant")
