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Squier Short Scale Jaguar Bass

Gary Stoner

Gary Stoner

Guest
Mar 18, 2018
2
5
70
United Kingdom
#1
Hi Folks,
I’m new to this forum, I’m in the UK and have been playing bass on and off for 40 odd years.
I have completely fallen in love with my new Squier short scale Jag bass, I picked it up second hand on EBay for £120, by far the best £120 I’ve ever spent and I’ve got the best recorded bass sound I’ve ever had and it’s great to play but now I’m ready for a few mods and I’m looking for some experienced suggestions please. I’m want to fit a vintage style tort pickguard (looks great with the black body) new tuners to help stop neck dive and a new bridge that doesn’t rattle, also maybe looking at replacement pickups.
Can you offer any advice, product names and model numbers would be useful.
Cheers,
Gary
 
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#5
I had that bass for a little while. It greatly benefits by a complete swap of all electronics, if nothing else.

The tuners are quite fragile – real junk, really – though I wouldn't say they are heavy. I had no neck dive whatsoever on this bass (or on any short scale bass, for that matter), but I suppose it could happen. The cloverleaf on one of my stock tuners busted completely off when I ran into something with my gig bag. It happened on the way to sell the bass too!

I installed a pair of Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder pickups. Those are really great on a short scale bass. They give it a ton of meat and definition.

I would've replaced the bridge too, but I never got around to it before selling the bass. I was about to leave on a tour, and I needed some cash to take with me, so I returned it to stock and sold it to a friend.

If I was to have this bass again, I would set it up the same way, but I would indeed change out the bridge, and replace the tuners as well. I'd probably put a Hipshot bridge and Hipshot ultralight tuners on it. To me, this bass has good bones for the price, but almost every piece of hardware or electronics on it should be replaced to make it perform its best. Heck, if I was going all the way, I would even replace the neck plate with one that has a nicer looking plating, in order to match all the rest of the replacement hardware.
 
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#6
Firstly, if you love the tone of it, don't change the pickups. "Better" is 100% subjective. A $200 set of pickups isn't better than a $25 set of pickups, if the $25 set gives you the sound you want.

For hardware, it depends on how much you wanna spend. For really good stuff, I recommend Gotoh GB350 Res-O-Lite tuners, and a Hipshot A-style bridge (I actually prefer the D-style for the looks, but then you'd either have to drill holes in your body, your buy a tailpiece as well).
 
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#7
A Future Pilot said:
Firstly, if you love the tone of it, don't change the pickups. "Better" is 100% subjective. A $200 set of pickups isn't better than a $25 set of pickups, if the $25 set gives you the sound you want.

For hardware, it depends on how much you wanna spend. For really good stuff, I recommend Gotoh GB350 Res-O-Lite tuners, and a Hipshot A-style bridge (I actually prefer the D-style for the looks, but then you'd either have to drill holes in your body, your buy a tailpiece as well).
Click to expand...

Are those all drop in parts? I plan on picking one up and modding the heck out of it.
 
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#9
I have one I picked up last Christmas to scratch the short scale itch. I changed the bridge for a Gotoh version of the BBOT Fender one, put on a set of Gotoh reverse tuners I got s/h, a set of D`darrio short scale strings and a set of racing stripes from Amazon. And I painted the string tree black to match the headstock.
20180402_145401.jpg
20180402_145440.jpg


The thing is, the tuners are the same size as the vintage Fender ones and the base plate on the last tuner sticks out over the top of the head so will need some work to make it fit. I didn`t change the pickups as the stock ones are fine.
 
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#10
Made a few changes to mine. Most important was getting rid of the awful stock strings. D'Adarrio tapes work very well with this bass. Changes the pup's to Seymour Duncan 1/4 pounders, that made a big difference, new pickguard, new knobs. I have no issue with the bridge, but am thinking of updating that too. Tuners, while they are a bit fidgety to tune, stay in tune well once you get them in tune so have not seen the need to replace them (yet...). Strap locks, and maybe the easiest update, the black pick guard screw mod. Oh, and an ashtray....

IMGP0003 (2).JPG
 
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#11
GoLeafsGo said:
Made a few changes to mine. Most important was getting rid of the awful stock strings. D'Adarrio tapes work very well with this bass. Changes the pup's to Seymour Duncan 1/4 pounders, that made a big difference, new pickguard, new knobs. I have no issue with the bridge, but am thinking of updating that too. Tuners, while they are a bit fidgety to tune, stay in tune well once you get them in tune so have not seen the need to replace them (yet...). Strap locks, and maybe the easiest update, the black pick guard screw mod. Oh, and an ashtray....

View attachment 2970469
Click to expand...
Something's wrong0429180921-00.jpg 0429180924-00.jpg Ah! Much better!:)
 
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#18
GoLeafsGo said:
Made a few changes to mine. Most important was getting rid of the awful stock strings. D'Adarrio tapes work very well with this bass. Changes the pup's to Seymour Duncan 1/4 pounders, that made a big difference, new pickguard, new knobs. I have no issue with the bridge, but am thinking of updating that too. Tuners, while they are a bit fidgety to tune, stay in tune well once you get them in tune so have not seen the need to replace them (yet...). Strap locks, and maybe the easiest update, the black pick guard screw mod. Oh, and an ashtray....

View attachment 2970469
Click to expand...
I like the bridge cover!
 
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#20
Heh heh! Just got one of this and it looks so ripe for customising...

Not an ashtray, I've got one (and a Pickup cover) coming for my Maya Fretless which has the holes so must have been fitted with them back in the 70s!

Wondering about getting a full set of Jaguar stainless covers and fitting active tone controls etc.
 
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