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Squier Vintage Modified Precision Bass PJ

GregT

GregT

Jan 29, 2012
2,942
4,888
Southwest Missouri
#1
I was hoping some of you had bought one of these and could give me your firsthand opinions of them. I am considering getting one. I know the Vintage Modified gets great reviews, but this is the one model that I think looks best for me. It is the one with the PJ configuration. And it comes in red which is what all my best guitars are.

Yes, I did search for threads on this exact model and have read all I could find. If you want to list all the threads on this I couldn't find, please feel free to do so and I will read those.
 
#4
I got a sunburst one a while ago and love it. The only things I've done to it so far are a 60's reissue tort pickguard and a set of DR flatwounds. The pickups are good enough to use in a studio (which I have done with compliments from the engineer) but not good enough that I don't want to replace them anyways. The neck pickup soloed sounds like you'd expect a P to sound, the J bridge sounds like what you'd expect that to sound like. Can't complain about that!

It's a more modern Precision neck profile, not the old baseball bat, which I appreciate. Setup was decent out of the box and I only had to do some truss rod tweaking and bridge settings - no fretwork! The body is quite light and the tuners are a little heavy, so as far as Fenders go it's a little more neck divey than most but still not bad.
 
#6
I just bought a VM Precision. Frets did not need leveling, but the ends were not finished well - they were long and sharp. Less than an hour with a Stewmac fret file fixed that. The Duncan Designed P pickup seems to be hotter than the pickup on my '08 Am Std P. No big deal, I just set it a little farther from the strings. I put on a set of Sadowsky flats (the .040 - .100 ones) and did a setup. The neck profile is nearly identical to the modern Am Std P and the overall sound and playability is also nearly identical. I am mega-pleased with my new backup bass!
 
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#8
I like the neck on mine - it's very thin front to back, yet quite comfortable, and the gloss hasn't gotten 'sticky' or slowed my playing. Had the fretboard rolled and fret finish tidied up a little, but it was pretty good out the box. The P pup sounds much better than the J to my ears; I changed it to a 3 way switch with one vol & one tone, and find myself still mostly soloing the P. May stick a different J pup in, or swap both to a matched set.

As mentioned above, the body is very light, and the tuners are the standard Squier weight, so it has a tendency to dive slightly, this was easily sorted with a good strap.

It's a nice instrument, all in all. Ideal backup for me at the moment, and if they made a model with a maple board, I'd own two of these basses right now.

EDIT: Incidentally, it's the CAR finish, and it really does look nice.
 
#10
Lots of folks with opinions in this thread: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/new-squier-vm-series-part-2-a-1023147/

I have the sunburst p/j and love it, it's my main gigging bass. I put on new strings out of the box and it was good to go. My only issue with it was that touch of neck dive mentioned above. I installed a set of Hipshot ultra light tuners (including an xtender on the E string), and it hangs perfectly now, but a strap with texture on the inside would probably be fine.
 
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#14
Just bought one in LPB.
It really does seem a heck of a lot of bass for the money.....but. Had to shim the neck to get a playable action, no real biggy, and one of the bridge screw holes was stripped which I fixed with a few wood slivers. Anyway it's light weight and sounds fantastic, especially the bridge pickup which is wonderfully burby.
All it needs now is a mint green pick guard....mmm
 
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#19
godofthunder59 said:
I didn't have to shim my neck, I got the action set super low. Every time I pull this bass out it amazes me.
Click to expand...

Mine had low action out the box, no buzzing, and took a setup well.

Then I switched out another Squier VM neck, strung it up, and the action was even lower than when I got it.

I'm starting to believe the body may be a little bit magic, cause that second part has NEVER happened to me before.
 
#20
Here's a pic for anyone interested in the colour. I fitted a ratty old vintage bridge as the string spacing is narrower on the HM bridge.
 

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