Tailoring a Squier Affinity Jazz Bass... My build thread.

[Big Hoss]

Dave, I'm curious as to why you like the brass saddles ?

Why not put a Gotoh 201 on there?

I love the look of brass on musical instruments. It just looks right to my eye.

Gotoh 201 was another option but a $100.00 + bridge seemed a tad high and I thought the High mass bridge was cast steel.

 

[Big Hoss]

Can anyone point to a photo or article about the bent / pulling away HiMass CV bridge that lowsideonacurve mentions?

I haven't seen or heard any other negatives about it and am a bit shocked.

 

[marko138]

I love the look of brass on musical instruments. It just looks right to my eye.

Gotoh 201 was another option but a $100.00 + bridge seemed a tad high and I thought the High mass bridge was cast steel.

I only paid $35 for my 201. Classifieds here...or ebay...I forget.

 

[Big Hoss]

What is the Gotoh bridge base made from?

 

[lowsideonacurve]

Can anyone point to a photo or article about the bent / pulling away HiMass CV bridge that lowsideonacurve mentions?

I haven't seen or heard any other negatives about it and am a bit shocked.

I didn't read about it anywhere, I was talking to someone at gc about it and pulled a cv off the rack and showed him the gap, it was slight, but there.

 

[Big Hoss]

Honestly, I rarely darken the door of Guitar Center. Too many kids with big time dreams and small time effort noodling around with instruments doing unspeakable things to them on the wall. Not saying the issue isn't legit, but judging an instrument on the wall at GC as being representative of all of that make / model doesn't really pan out all that well. Kind of like judging a major power tool on the floor at Lowes or Home Depot. Too many ham fisted idiots with their hands on them...

Mind you, I still VERY MUCH like the look of the CV bridge, but again, I am NOT wedded to this bridge. If I could score a Gotoh 201 with the brass saddles, assuming the base is cast steel and not pot metal, I am good going that way...

 

[lowsideonacurve]

Okay, here's a photo of the other cv bridge I put on my vm fretless so I could use the steel bridge that fit under the cover for my cv P. ;

You can see the feeler gauge goes under nearly up to the screws, believe me the screws are tight.
The bass feels and plays fine, just 4 ounces heavier and not even a smidgeon of noticeable increase in sustain.

I hope you don't think I went into all this to cause you any grief, I just wanted to let you know what I've found to be facts, being that the cv high mass bridge isn't really what it appears to be and to give you a heads up in case you wanted to something else. Since you where planning mainly cosmetic upgrades, the cv bridge does look good and will still work just fine, it just won't ad any sustain.
I've been gassing for one of those Rumble combos like in your avatar, I'm sure what ever you decide on, it will look killer next to that beauty.
Cheers

 

[Big Hoss]

Okay, here's a photo of the other cv bridge I put on my vm fretless so I could use the steel bridge that fit under the cover for my cv P. ;

You can see the feeler gauge goes under nearly up to the screws, believe me the screws are tight.
The bass feels and plays fine, just 4 ounces heavier and not even a smidgeon of noticeable increase in sustain.

I hope you don't think I went into all this to cause you any grief, I just wanted to let you know what I've found to be facts, being that the cv high mass bridge isn't really what it appears to be and to give you a heads up in case you wanted to something else. Since you where planning mainly cosmetic upgrades, the cv bridge does look good and will still work just fine, it just won't ad any sustain.
I've been gassing for one of those Rumble combos like in your avatar, I'm sure what ever you decide on, it will look killer next to that beauty.
Cheers

No worries. I am just trying to get a fuller understanding of it is all...

 

[Big Hoss]

2 big questions.

#1. Is the surface under that bridge completely flat as verified with a straight edge?
#2. Is the bottom of that bridge completely flat, again verified with a straight edge? I mean made flat...

I am wondering if this is an issue with as you suggest the bridge tail pulling in with string pressure (bad and not really fixable) or a cheap casting that is not milled completely flat (bad, but VERY fixable using a piece of plate glass, granite, or other dead flat hard surface, various grits of sandpaper, spray adhesive, and water... (Not unlike lapping the backside of a wood chisel to insure the best bevel when you hone the front... ).

Assuming it is a slightly curved casting, the issue is quickly and easily fixed...

I am also looking into the Gotoh bridge, but like the CV bridge, there is very little readily available on the specs of the castings, and worse, the brass saddles from Gotoh tend to be Chromed. not the look I am going for...

Best case scenario. The issue is with a factory curved / not dead flat bridge, or not dead flat bass body. I can fix that super easy and move on my merry way...
Second best scenario. The Gotoh 201 bridge has a cast, and perfectly machined base plate, and I can swap over my brass saddles, or source up Gotoh's unchromed brass saddles.
Third best scenarior. The Gotoh 201 has a cast and perfectly machined base plate, and I can dechrome the brass saddles. Did I mention that I REALLY want the Brass saddle look?
Last best scenario. Least work probably, but no clue how to source them... The Squier OE saddles can be swapped for some unknown brass jobs. Probably should call Danny D's and see what they can do for me...

Some guys dig the chrome ash tray look, and that's great, but that's not my style. I prefer the brass saddles. I like the look of the thicker bass on the CV and Gotoh bridges, but not 100% wedded to it...

 

[Big Hoss]

No photos, but I took a look at mine with a known good machinists straight edge. Mine is actually bowed counter to the direction yours appears to be, AND there are burrs in the bores for the screws that will push the bridge slightly proud of the mounting surface.

IF anything needs to be done, the bore holes need to be deburred.

 

[lowsideonacurve]

I just checked the first cv bridge and it sits flat on a glass table top and the feeler gauge couldn't find a gap on any side.
You can see in the pic above the watery looking reflection of the overhead light, so I'm sure the body surface on the vm jazz is isn't perfectly flat due to the thick poly finish. However, the feeler gauge only found a gap along the tail end where the strings pulled from.

It might be more than you want to do, but a string through conversion looks doable on that bridge.

 

[Big Hoss]

The pick guard arrived today, it's fitment is actually FAR closer than I anticipated... The neck pocket opening is a bit too tight, need to trim there, and around the control cover....

This particular pick guard is FAR better looking than the photos online... Should be interesting once I get it on...

 

[Big Hoss]

Okay, trimming was exceedingly easy, so I got the pickguard on...

I ended up just BARELY having to trim the opening for the pickup on the right side facing the instrument. Less than 1/8" needed to be cleared. Same with the left side of the spot where it meets up with the control plate. There is a gap on the right of the control plate, but it is very minor, less than 1/16", and some nudging of the control plate should close that... Probably won't bother as it is not noticeable more than a couple of feet away...

 

[Big Hoss]

Today's deliveries, and that brings me to a point where I am almost ready to dive in nose first...

So I got the MG Chemical Total Ground conductive coating to finish off the shielding. At the same time, I also picked up a couple of Musicians Gear 90 degree end instrument cables. I HATE the way the input cable stuck STRAIGHT up out of the amp, this gives me a LOT more clearance without putting pressure on the amp, or cable... I must say, the Musicians Gear cables are NOT what I expected, I was thinking this would be the same as the Musiciansfriend cables I bought years ago that were in reality nice AXL cables with a MusiciansFriend sticker slapped on the cardboard sleeve. This doesn't look too bad, but certainly not my ideal...

 

[Big Hoss]

Okay, so the plan is thus...

Over the next couple of days, I need to do some work on the wifes car, and clean my shop. I have cabinet doors and refinishing supplies all over my bench. Knock out the doors and get them ready for fresh stain...

By Saturday, I should have time to at least have the bench clean, and covered with a moving blanket. Bring the bass in and strip the strings, pickups, pick guard, control plate bridge etc... The body should be stripped aside from the neck. Bag the neck with a plastic bag, and mask around the body so that no overspray could potentiall get to the neck/ headstock.

Mask the body such that the only exposure is a tightly trimmed bridge pickup opening, and then the control cavity, and neck pickup cavity will be masked to allow some overlap above the top, but covered by the pick guard and control plate.
The overlaps will be connected via masked opening as it were across the top but underneath the pick guard / control plate.

3 coats sprayed into the cavities, insuring no bleed over to the top, and 3 or more coats of coating applied with pipe cleaner through the wire routing to the bridge pickup routing.

This will likely suck up my entire weekend. waiting for each coat to dry.

Once those are taken care of, verify that the holes needed for the CV bridge would be covered by the OEM bridge if I need to revert back to stock on the bridge. Only seen issues stated from the one member on this thread, and it is concerning, but I don't think it is a universal problem with the bridge. I am willing to find out...

Install the Duncan Designed pickups in place, finish fine adjustment trimming on pick guard, install PG, Control plate, and then do the headstock logo...

Finally, strings, and setup and testing, then I should be done...

 

[static0verdrive]

A note of caution if you want to replace your pots with CTS: The control plate holes are too small! You'll need to order a new one from allparts or drill out the holes to be 3/8". Also, once I finally got the holes drilled, I popped the pots in and...... crap. The CTS ones are so much bigger I had no choice but to reinstall the control plate in the only place it fit - which of course didn't line up with the original three screw holes. Luckily the new spot covered the old holes, but I still hated screwing new holes into the body. The hipshot bridge fit in perfectly with no need for new holes so the possibility didn't even occur to me! Ah well it's all done now. I think in the future for cheap basses I'll stick to improving the shielding if needed, popping on high-mass bridges (and maybe better machine heads) but leaving stock electronics.

 

[static0verdrive]

Oh yeah and as I mentioned in your other thread about the noise, be sure to connect all your shielding to common ground.

Also, if your strings are going to be off for more than a day or two, you may wish to consider loosening the truss a little until you're about to put it all back together and string it up.

Good luck! Keep us posted.

 

[Big Hoss]

A note of caution if you want to replace your pots with CTS: The control plate holes are too small! You'll need to order a new one from allparts or drill out the holes to be 3/8". Also, once I finally got the holes drilled, I popped the pots in and...... crap. The CTS ones are so much bigger I had no choice but to reinstall the control plate in the only place it fit - which of course didn't line up with the original three screw holes. Luckily the new spot covered the old holes, but I still hated screwing new holes into the body. The hipshot bridge fit in perfectly with no need for new holes so the possibility didn't even occur to me! Ah well it's all done now. I think in the future for cheap basses I'll stick to improving the shielding if needed, popping on high-mass bridges (and maybe better machine heads) but leaving stock electronics.

I am not planning on doing the pots yet... No real need AFAIK.

 

[static0verdrive]

I am not planning on doing the pots yet... No real need AFAIK.

Nah. Granted I do find the volumes now have a better taper, as in 100 down to 0 in a uniform way, rather than almost all of the volume control being in the first 35% of the turn. Similar with the tone - now there's usable tones anywhere I set it, rather than it going from bright to mudbutt... but considering I have it up most of the time to cut through the band, it wasn't really a worthwhile upgrade considering the new holes etc.

 

[bassrich]

I am not planning on doing the pots yet... No real need AFAIK.

This is another area I was pleasantly surprised about on the affinity the pots are great at tapering way better than my mim not a jump in the range