Squier Vintage Modified Jazz 5er????

[natw42]

with that width at the nut... I suspect it's not going to be a 19mm at the bridge.

The Jazz V DeLuxe is 19mm at the bridge and 51mm at the nut.

I could live with the only slightly narrower nut if they keep the 19mm at the bridge.

I'm not so sure - I just rechecked the Squier site, and the Dlx J and the VM 5 show the some bridge under their specs: "Standard 5-saddle"

So who knows?

Wannaflea - I charge you with heading to your local musicmart with a ruler! Get on it!

 

[Darkstrike]

Ahh, where you from bud? Im on thenTB app for iPad so I cant see.

Darkstrike is our resident Irishman. I know there are other people from Ireland on TB, but none so (in)famous.

Natw42 has it, I'm hiding in a small corner of the Emerald Isle.

Darkstrike - I lurked on your custom Gadow thread awhile back - how is that bass treating you?

Very, very well so far, completely happy with it, thanks for asking!

Still haven't had a chance to carry it to a jam session though.

 

[Wannaflea]

I'm not so sure - I just rechecked the Squier site, and the Dlx J and the VM 5 show the some bridge under their specs: "Standard 5-saddle"

So who knows?

Wannaflea - I charge you with heading to your local musicmart with a ruler! Get on it!

One small problem. Shop I tried it out at was Sam Ash, NY. Im now in the Florida Keys. Potentially problematic

Natw42 has it, I'm hiding in a small corner of the Emerald Isle.

Very, very well so far, completely happy with it, thanks for asking!

Still haven't had a chance to carry it to a jam session though.

Ahhh my family on my Mums side is Irish, practically related

But Jersey is 9 by 5 (miles) and has one music shop which has had the same 5 or 6 basses in it for the lastyear or so . You're definitely better off

 

[squarewave]

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[Darkstrike]

Ahhh my family on my Mums side is Irish, practically related

But Jersey is 9 by 5 (miles) and has one music shop which has had the same 5 or 6 basses in it for the lastyear or so . You're definitely better off

Aha! I didn't realize Jersey was so small!


I nabbed pic's of both the Deluxe and the VM 5 off of Squiers site, and overlayed them, after making sure they were to scale. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but it might be a rough guage, it shows the VM 5 having a thinner neck across, and a slightly tighter string spacing.

 

[Wannaflea]

Aha! I didn't realize Jersey was so small!

I nabbed pic's of both the Deluxe and the VM 5 off of Squiers site, and overlayed them, after making sure they were to scale. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but it might be a rough guage, it shows the VM 5 having a thinner neck across, and a slightly tighter string spacing.

Depressingly miniscule

Oooh I love the effect that that had on the colour of the wood. Looks lovely and dark

 

[Darkstrike]

I dug what it done to the pickguard, like it's a trans blackburst one on natural wood, or something.

 

[Wannaflea]

Patent it! Pateeeent it!

 

[tedsalt]

What I'd like to know is how does the pickup placement compare to 60's or 70's jazz basses? Anyone know?

 

[conqr]

Two things come to mind: I won't judge the bass till somebody slaps some REAL rounds on it, and second - the 4str already weighs 10+lbs - what the heck does the 5 weigh?

 

[Wannaflea]

- what the heck does the 5 weigh?

The term 'anvil with strings' springs to mind...

 

[FrenchAK]

That high C looks mighty close to the edge of the fretboard... I'm hoping it's just that picture. I *am* a four string guy at this point, so I guess I'm used to having tons of space.

I'm sure this will a) be an awesome bass, and b) weigh a ton.

My VM J-4 is a great player, and weighs a ton!

 

[justbark]

The VM5 arrived this evening. I've only played it unplagged and it is fairly resonant. So far, I'm not concerned about the low B as the tension seemed consistent with the other strings and my other Squiers.

I'll be comparing it to the most recent model Affinity 5.

First off, my bathroom scale sucks - bad. There was a lot of variance everytime I weighed the dang thing. According to it, the VM5 is about 10.2 lbs. Per the scale, that's 2lbs heavier than the alder bodied Affinity.

As you'll see in the pictures, the major differences between the VM and Affinity are:
- the bridge
- body shape
- nut
- string tree
- tuners (vintage vs. gotoh style)
- neck feels a little more chunky than the Affinity. This is a plus for me.

Here they are side by side. Notice that the bodies are shaped a little different. The VM-5 has some more girth in the lower right area.

Now you've probably noticed that the VM5's bridge is not as tall and has rounded edges instead of square. I think it resembles the USA jazz bridge now. Also, the VM bridge has 6 screws compared to the Affinity's 5.

i tried to measure the string spacing. I'm a really picky string spacing guy but I can't tell a difference playing them side by side. The Affinity 5 is wearing DR High Beam .125s.

VM5 bridge

Affinity 5 bridge

Here is a comparison of the headstocks and nuts. The biggest improvement with the VM5 here is that the low B has a nice clear path to the tuning peg. Notice how the B gets skewed slightly on the Affinity.


VM5

Affinity

The nut on the Affinity holds the string in pretty deep while they are a little higher on the VM5. They also appear to be a different material. Anyone know what they are made of?

VM5

Affinity

The nut width measured the same, but I can get better pics of them if needed.


Here's a shot of the back. The VM5's neck has a smoothy, silky, satin feel. It feels just a tad more satin-y than the Affinity neck. In my opinion, the VM5's neck finish is second to the Highway-1.

The brown sunburst Affinity has some pretty dark maple. That is not true for all of them as my other Affinity is brighter.

The VM5's fit and finish is better than the Affinity. I could not detect any sharp frets unlike both Affinitys that I own. The setup seems like it is on the mark, but I need to play it more before forming an opinion.

You know how Ernie Ball, Fender, and other builders talk about their hand selected grade AAAAA+++ body wood? Well, those guys didn't make it to Indonesia. They also don't have the luxury of covering up these flaws with paint. Behold, the grade FFFFFF---- maple!

Give me a few days and I'll get back with you all on how it plays and sounds. Any questions, just let me know. I leave you all with a shot of the family. I love me some Squier jazzes! Now make a P5!

 

[PrietoBass]

First off, my bathroom scale sucks - bad. There was a lot of variance everytime I weighed the dang thing. According to it, the VM5 is about 10.2 lbs. Per the scale, that's 2lbs heavier than the alder bodied

2 extra lbs!!! Ouch! My Affinity 5 weights in at 9 lbs, and I think that is a little on the heavy side for me.

The nut on the Affinity holds the string in pretty deep while they are a little higher on the VM5. They also appear to be a different material. Anyone know what they are made of?

The Affinity 5's nut is made of the cheapest plastic you could ever find. It would bend like an S under string tension. That's one of the first upgrades I did to mine; I put a bone nut instead.

From the photo the VM nut looks to be of the same material as the one in my Classic Vibe J, which I haven't had a problem with. That's much better, IMO.

 

[Darkstrike]

If I'm reading those measurements right, the VM-5's string spacing is 17.5mm, and the Affinity-5's is 18mm...

 

[justbark]

I put in about an hour of just jamming to some music and here are my impressions of the sound:

Setup:
Planet waves cable --> M Audio fast track pro --> USB port --> Apple Garageband '11 --> no effects on the bass amp "model".
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 212 Pro Amazon.com: Sennheiser HD 212 Lightweight Semi-Circumaural Headphones - Silver: Electronics

- no grind to speak of. With both pickups and tone control maxed, this bass is polite, modern, and mid scooped. It was pleasing to my ears. Maybe those duncan designed pickups share some of the same guts as the quarter pounders?
- Bridge with tone rolled all the way down is like putting a pillow on the bass. Tone halfway down sounded better
- pickup buzz was average for a jazz bass. The Affinity is a lot noisier and has hotter pickups.
- stock setup has medium action. High enough to dig in, but not super low. There wasn't any buzzing.
- string tension is higher than my Affinity basses wearing DR high beams and black beauties. The B string seemed tight to me.

 

[justbark]

If I'm reading those measurements right, the VM-5's string spacing is 17.5mm, and the Affinity-5's is 18mm...

In looking at the picture of the VM5 again, I did not get the tape measure exactly parallel with the bridge. That *could* account for .5mm in variance. Maybe we'll say it's 17.5678 ;-)

I don't have a regular tape measure, so I can't measure the back of the neck. All I can say is that it seems hair fatter in the back compared to the Affinity. I like it a ton better; it's almost more stingray-ish.

If you have the mod bug, the VM5 seems like a much more solid platform to start from. It makes me wish I didn't put so much money into the black "big block" bass.

 

[justbark]

The Affinity 5's nut is made of the cheapest plastic you could ever find. It would bend like an S under string tension. That's one of the first upgrades I did to mine; I put a bone nut instead.

From the photo the VM nut looks to be of the same material as the one in my Classic Vibe J, which I haven't had a problem with. That's much better, IMO.

I agree 100 percent. I swapped the black bass's nut out for a graphtech. My luthier said the stock nut was practically welded in there. Like pulling wisdom teeth, he had to break it up and remove it in pieces.

 

[natw42]

...
- no grind to speak of. With both pickups and tone control maxed, this bass is polite, modern, and mid scooped. It was pleasing to my ears. Maybe those duncan designed pickups share some of the same guts as the quarter pounders?

Guess Wannaflea's impressions were true for the majority - it wasn't a dud. It's more of a polite sounding bass then.

Thanks for the info justbark!

 

[bound'n'blocked]

I wish Guitar Center would get these in stock so I can try one out. I really dont want to order one without playing it first, although all of my other basses were purchased this way.

BnB