Glad to hear folks like the stock pickup! Thats a huge plus....it seems string choice is the issue for Mini P bass....anyone have a fav string set for theirs?
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The Squier Mini Precision Bass Club
- Thread starter sabre79
- Start date
I like shirt scale Chromes. Nice and rubbery. The pickup goes really deep but there's also some high end
I use D'Addario short scale stainless steel 45-100 and I really like them..no issues and stays in tune great but I replaced the tuners with Hipshot ultrlites...
Ibanez Mikro Strings fit perfectly, except for the G, which is cut too short. I used a generic .045 nickel roundwound.
I'm only up to page 20 of 120 pages in this thread, but hopefully I am contributing something in this post anyway.
I measured the stock strings with digital calipers and they are not .045 to .105. The 1st string measured 0.037 and the E measured 0.094. I don't remember the exact measurements of the A and D strings, but they were somewhere just under 0.080" and 0.060" respectively. I was thankful that they were on the thin side as this had potential for putting on a thicker set of strings which would then be less floppy.
So -- I had a set of Rotosound 66s that I took off of a 34" bass a year ago and figured I would see what kind of result I would get in adapting them to this 28.6" scale bass. First off, I did the usual bend, then cut method -- BUT, the slot is too narrow for the 0.0105" E string to fit into (ARGH!). At this point, I figured I would chance unwrapping enough of the outer wrap to allow the end of the string to feed into the slot. As I carefully unwrapped that bit of the outer wrap, I started winding that loose wire further up the string in the hope of keeping the wrap from unraveling. After it was wound around the post, I trimmed off that excess wrap as best I could.
Well, the winds in the first inch of the outer wrap started spreading apart only very slightly, but once the string left the post toward the nut, the wrap seemed unaffected. Yes, I wrapped a 0.105 string around a smaller post, but it worked well enough for me. See photo below. The string sounds great! Of course, the A, D, G strings were a piece of cake and did not require any special treatment except for the bend-then-cut technique.
I initially wanted something other than stainless steel strings on my Mini, but in my mind, the Rotos were expendable, so I went ahead with my [successful] experiment. Turns out, I like the sound of the Rotos better than the stock strings. And thankfully, the floppiness is gone! (Rotos specs: .045-.065-.080-.105).
Check out the photo:
![20210227_134914[1].jpg](https://www.talkbass.com/data/attachments/6548/6548474-1d82cd60692137af69a8188737b09bcf.jpg?hash=HYLNYGkhN6 "20210227_134914[1].jpg")
Only on page 20 ...
It turned out that Fenders own website was not a reliable source of information for this bass.
I have bespoke / custom made Pyramid tapewound strings on my mini.
.055 .075 .095 .112
and a set of bespoke / custom made Pyramid flatwound strings - waiting for another mini - if I’m ever freed from lockdown.
tapewound
.055 .075 .095 .112
and a set of bespoke / custom made Pyramid flatwound strings - waiting for another mini - if I’m ever freed from lockdown.
tapewound
~Only on page 20 ...
It turned out that Fender's own website was not a reliable source of information for this bass.
Patience !
He'll reach the relevant pages soon.
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Patience !
He'll reach the relevant pages soon.
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Not again! I’m going to need something stronger in my tea.
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Yes, those numbers were what the guy at Sweetwater emailed back to me, after I asked them to check an instrument against the gauges and the nut width which they had parroted from Fender's site.
SW soon updated their page, and a couple of days after that, so did Fender.
Fender has posted wrong specs for other basses too on their site, such as the nut width of the Squier Bronco [which is actually 1.6", not 1.5], and dealers again have trusted and copied them.
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And I'm pleased that you are happier with a real 45-105 set.
I am too, on my short scale basses, though I use flats or grounds.
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I’m going to need something stronger in my tea.
And what would be a good pairing with Tetley, anyway ?
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Either a spoonful of sugar~
And what would be a good pairing with Tetley, anyway ?
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or have it black with Rum to make Gunfire Gunfire (drink) - Wikipedia
If we were still in the European Union Jagerree might have been nice. Jagertee - Wikipedia
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I dislike mine strongly. My Mini P barely resembles a typical Precision sound. I don't know if the problem is that it was wired wrong, or if the pickup itself just sucks.
I may swap out the pickup in a few weeks, I haven't decided if it's worth the effort.
Most people understand that in that price range, Squiers can be a bit of a crapshoot. Inconsistent QC is just a risk you take with a $175 instrument.
Nice! Do you have any sound samples? I'd love to hear how this mini works with tapewounds.
If it was wired wrong it would have obvious flaws like low output, missing frequencies etc. Maybe you can post a gut shot?
RE: pickup swaps
IME, strings, and playing style, effect your sound much more than pickups. My basses sound totally different if I slap & pop the poop out of them near the bridge, stroke them gently near the fretboard, strike them with a pick, or pluck over the split coil. Heck, due to a long ago broken finger, plucking with my index finger or middle finger produces two different sounds!
Unless your original pickup is total crap (which is a possibility on cheap Squiers), a pickup swap will not result in a gross change. Pickup swaps generally result in subtle changes in tone/output, your bright and twangy goat will not suddenly turn into a roaring bull. Many, many apocryphal stories of "huge sound changes" involve an unmentioned string swap and setup, as well.
IME, strings, and playing style, effect your sound much more than pickups. My basses sound totally different if I slap & pop the poop out of them near the bridge, stroke them gently near the fretboard, strike them with a pick, or pluck over the split coil. Heck, due to a long ago broken finger, plucking with my index finger or middle finger produces two different sounds!
Unless your original pickup is total crap (which is a possibility on cheap Squiers), a pickup swap will not result in a gross change. Pickup swaps generally result in subtle changes in tone/output, your bright and twangy goat will not suddenly turn into a roaring bull. Many, many apocryphal stories of "huge sound changes" involve an unmentioned string swap and setup, as well.
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Yes, it could be an off-spec [even a budget bass has a spec] pickup, and a replacement with another of the same may sound better.
IME, the only time that a pickup is likely to make a big difference to the sound is when it is an entirely different type of pickup, such as humbucker vs single coil, or if it is also placed at a different place along the strings, in fact just moving the SAME pickup will make a notable change.
I would expect an active EMG to sound different than a passive pickup of the same outside appearance, and if I had a Mini-P and actually planned to play it, I would consider such a pickup, even if I liked the original, because I like active EMGs anyway, having had them on my Ric since 1985.
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I like Annas Swedish Thins Ginger. One quick dip.~
And what would be a good pairing with Tetley, anyway ?
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The tone knob only works when volume is on full, and it is lacking the normal punch of a P. It sounds kind of hollow overall as well. I'm pretty sure something is up.
I may try to put in the new pickup and replace the pots myself, though that will probably make things worse.
Swapping the strings and a setup didn't make a big difference. All it did is get rid of a weird chorusy sound from the factory strings.
