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Squier Vintage Modified Precision V: who's got one?

#801
Illini10 said:
I have one.
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I am a lifelong sunburst/tort/rosewood lover.

It's funny, but when I first saw the sunburst/tort/maple combo on these bases I was turned off. Since then, I've come to quite like it.

In fact, the only colour combo that doesn't work for me on the VMP5's, is the parchment guard on the Candy Apple Red ones. I think CAR looks good with just about anything BUT parchment: white, black, black or white MOP, tort...
 
#802
Good news! I dropped my Squier covers off at James Reeds's house today he said he's going to adjust the size so it will be direct drop in ;)
I guess a couple y'all already made some inquiries :)
Good stuff!
I'll come back with a report once I've played it through my whole rig.
If I have a chance ( no promises) I'll retrofit the old pickups and record some before after samples.
What do you want to hear? I will do my best to hack at some parts that you suggest.
I am really fond of this frankenbass.
 
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#803
My favourite clips are recorded clean and dry through a DI, or straight into the instrument input of an audio interface, so I can hear the character of the bass rather than a pedalboard or amp. That also lets me run them through my gear.

They also cover several different short phrases, rather than 12 bars of the same riff. They cover mostly finger style, but include a bit of slap and some pick tones (if the player is into that).

I want get a sense of the overall character, so cover the whole fingerboard:
- Some chugging 8th notes, to hear what it sounds like on short transients.
- Some long, sustaining notes, to hear the decay envelope.
- A short phrase at the middle of the neck with the tone control wide open, half-way, and fully off.
- Noodle a bit on the D and G strings up around the 12-14th fret, to give us an idea of the character at the top end.
- Play a short riff in the first position on the B, E and A strings, so we can hear the low end balance and articulation.
 
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#804
Thanks to ShadowVampyre for the white PG. Still want to paint the headstock white and vintage tint the neck, but diggin the white on white.

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#806
Doc, funny how they are not as patient as they are when they're looking at shoes, etc. ;) Love my P5s through my CMD102p + 102hf.

I have a question for the tuner experts. I want to lighten either my P5 or my VM P5. They both weigh 9.2 lbs., but want to lighten one of them up for the extended practice sessions required by breaking in a new drummer. For four 50 minute gig sets they are great, for 2+ hours straight I need less stress on my left shoulder, so I think lighter tuners would help. Since I think the P5 already has light tuners, would it make more sense (and take less $) to invest in licensed Hipshots for the VM P5? As I understand it, my P5 tuners won't fit on the VM P5, so I can't just upgrade the VM P5 tuners and P5 with one purchase.
s
 
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#808
Fender has dropped the Duncan-designed association for the latest Vintage Modified basses, including the Precision V. I've searched, but there doesn't seem to be any info out there about the magnet type on the new Fender-designed pickups.

Without knowing whether it's alnico III or V or how the coils are wound, this would be useless information anyway.

I can confirm that the internal construction looks very similar to the Fender Am Std pickup, no bar magnets here. It's more or less vintage-voiced, but slightly hotter. Overall, it's very much a standard P Bass tone, and most owners are pleasantly surprised by the OEM pickup.

Most have found that a setup, including correcting the pickup height adjustment, helps the sound a lot. The majority are gigging their P5's without a pickup swap.

People have reported it as having a variety of qualities- some have called it honky or midrangey, others said it was too bright, and I found it a little dark and congested. Of course this is all relative to personal taste, what kind of amplifier it's run through, what kind of strings you like to use, etc.

A few of us have made the upgrade from stock to the 2008 and up Fender AM Std Pbass V pickup, and we all seem to report the same things:
- No difference in susceptibility to noise (this bass is quite well shielded, which probably helps).
- A little more "something" in the top end.
- The difference is surprisingly subtle.

IRRC, at least one person switched back to the Squier pickup, either feeling that the difference wasn't great enough to bother with, or actually preferring the Squier pickup.

The rest of us stuck with the Fender pickup, if only for bragging rights.
 
#810
I bought a set of 2014 USA Fender Deluxe Bass Lightweight tuners from the TB classifieds that were a perfect fit, but I didn't play the bass enough before the swap tp tell you if it made a significant difference. I had to drill the alignment holes for the tuners but the diameter of the tuner shaft was spot on.
 
#811
Webtroll said:
I bought a set of 2014 USA Fender Deluxe Bass Lightweight tuners from the TB classifieds that were a perfect fit, but I didn't play the bass enough before the swap tp tell you if it made a significant difference. I had to drill the alignment holes for the tuners but the diameter of the tuner shaft was spot on.
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When you say the diameter of the shaft was spot-on, are you talking about the post (the part the string wraps around), or the bushing (the hex nut that screws in from the front of the headstock, and holds the tuner in place)?

If the Fender tuners are a nice, tight fit in the Squier headstock, that's a plus for easy installation, even if they're a bit heavier than the Hipshots.

The Hipshot bushings are too small for the vintage-style hole on the Squier headstock, and have to be shimmed. Cutting and curling metal shims only takes about 10 minutes per hole, but it still adds some time and complexity to the installation. Also, while the Hipshots are supposed to be even lighter than the Fender tuners, I don't know by how much.

Also, be careful not to assume that all Fender lightweight tuners are the same. They have come in different configurations over the years, on Standard and Deluxe basses. Some have two locating pins under the worm gear, while others have the pins at the other end of the backplate, past the pinion. There may be other variations that I'm unaware of...
 
#812
steve_rolfeca said:
When you say the diameter of the shaft was spot-on, are you talking about the post (the part the string wraps around), or the bushing (the hex nut that screws in from the front of the headstock, and holds the tuner in place)?

If the Fender tuners are a nice, tight fit in the Squier headstock, that's a plus for easy installation, even if they're a bit heavier than the Hipshots.
Click to expand...

The bushing fit fine. I filled in the holes for the screws the old tuners used and drilled new holes for the holes the new tuners use. I probably have a picture on my home system if you want to see it. The only thing that was out of place was that one of the bushing washers had a built in string guide; since I was not using the guide I used the washer on the low B and rotated it around to be out of the way. I may turn it some more to be closer to the string T, but to be honest it doesn't bother me enough to do anything about it as is.


** I'd have to take a new pic, the back of the headstock pic I found is with the original tuners
 
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#816
Do Res-o-lites come in the smaller format, and in 5-string sets?

The last time I looked, they were only available as a full-sized elephant ear tuner. If that's still the case, then the spacing is too tight for that.

You need something that's sized the same as a MIM Fender tuner. I believe the regular Hipshot that fits these basses, is the HB7. Nice tuner, but nowhere near as light as the ultralight.
 
#819
Thumper said:
Thanks for the heads up, I'll do some more research
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As I thought, you've got to be careful. I only see two Fender-style Res-o-lite tuners on the Gotoh website.

The GB640 is a full-size tuner. You can check the dimensions, but I don't think it's a direct fit. 14mm shaft, 17.6mm bushing, screw holes on 38.2mm centres in the long dimension, 26 and 29mm side-to-side:

gb640-dim.jpg


The GB528's are a unique 2-screw footprint, and will still leave you with some holes to fill. Smaller shaft and bushing, too, at 12mm and 16mm:

gb528-dim.jpg
 
#820
Near as I can tell (where are my calipers, anyway?), I think the Squier peg hole is about 11/16ths (~17.4mm) in diameter. This determines the required size for press-in bushings. Note that it's supposedly a touch smaller than the hole for vintage full-sized tuners (Gotoh GB640), and a bunch larger than the one required for the Gotoh GB528...

Hipshot HB-7's are their MIM replacement, and as such, they are the drop-in for VM Squiers. Screw holes are 34.29mm apart on the long dimension, and 25.9 and 20.07mm side to side.

Hipshot US Ultralites have a 12.7mm shaft and 16.8mm bushing. This is why they need shims, in order to fit the big, sloppy holes in the Squier headstock. I read somewhere that the Licensed Ultralites are a few thou different from the US ones, but since you're shimming the hole anyway, that's no biggie.

Here's the factory info on US Hipshot weights and dimensions:

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