The Squier Mini Precision Bass Club

[Ping2000]

So I stumbled across the Kids Guitars section on the Fender website last year and since I saw the Mini P I vowed to get one. Mostly because I wanted a lightweight bass that didn't make me look tinier than I already am (5'1'' adult here).

And finally, on the 1st of April I received my own Mini Precision! I was actually quite surprised by its quality for the price, specially the neck. It came already setup with low action, the frets are rolled, didn't stick out from the fretboard, and the fretboard itself has rolled edges, I'd say if this thing came with a finish instead of being just raw wood it would have surpassed my 2011 Fender MiM Jazz Bass neck out of the box.

Of course it's not perfect, since it has some neck dive and the stock pickup edges are a little sharp but still, nothing that a couple of mods can't fix, I think.

So what I want to do first is to send it to my go-to luthier so she can put a finish to the back of the neck and headstock along with putting some custom vinyls and change the stock bridge to a Hipshot Kickass which I had lying around.

Though, from reading this thread I have a couple questions about some other mods I have seen here:

1. I saw that some of you changed the stock pickup with a Dimarzio Relentless Middle. I plan to do the same but I read somewhere that the screws that came with it were too long for the body of the Mini P. How did you solve it? Did you have to use the stock screws that came with the bass and use them with the Dimarzio pickups?
2. About upgrading the electronics, do you happen to know if there's a wiring kit in existence for this bass? I have seen that this kit from Amazon could work but I don't know if the pots will fit. Talking about pots, what pots does the Mini P has? Are they normal sized or mini pots?
3. Regarding knob replacements, which I think come hand in hand with the type of pots this bass has, what's the diameter to make them fit? I'm interested in this kind of knobs, which it says that fits 6mm pots.
4. About the Hipshot HB6 3/8'' UltraLite Tuners as a replacement from the stock ones, are they really drop in replacements? Because reading the last posts I remember someone had to sand down the headstock holes to make them fit, is that always the case to make this upgrade or just a particular case?
5. And finally, about solving the neck dive issue, how did you solve it? Did changing to a high mass bridge and getting lighter tuners solve the problem for you?

P.S. if you're wondering about the softcase in the photo, it's a Fender FE1225, I just bought it preemptively once I knew from reading here that a guitar sized case fits the Mini Precision, and it sure does, this thing is much smaller than what photos make them justice!

View attachment 4645561

I got a wiring harness made by Sonic Pickups. It has mini bourns pots, so no fit issues. He also let me add a puretone gold jack to match my gold hardware for only the cost of the jack. I got the Hipshot gold tuners with the mini clover heads. It took awhile to get them since he told me they don't sell many of the mini clovers in gold. They look cool and seem to be a close match to the Midnight P Bass.

 

[Ping2000]

I did a lot of research (aka scouring Google Images for "all black p bass") until I came across the Midnight P Bass, as well. So I can't say my design was entirely original. Although I think the gold pickups really pop, whereas black pickups on a black pickguard on a black body is just a sea of black, and everything gets lost.

As for the Relentless pickups, I almost went with those, but after finding the Sixties P, I knew they'd give me that vintage tone I was after. The Relentless should be great for a more modern sound, though.

Well you did a great job. Dyeing the neck was a bit daunting. I think it came out OK. Once I get the headstock face painted it will be clear lacquer time. Hopefully it turns out as nice as yours.

 

[Philtastic]

So I stumbled across the Kids Guitars section on the Fender website last year and since I saw the Mini P I vowed to get one. Mostly because I wanted a lightweight bass that didn't make me look tinier than I already am (5'1'' adult here).

And finally, on the 1st of April I received my own Mini Precision! I was actually quite surprised by its quality for the price, specially the neck. It came already setup with low action, the frets are rolled, didn't stick out from the fretboard, and the fretboard itself has rolled edges, I'd say if this thing came with a finish instead of being just raw wood it would have surpassed my 2011 Fender MiM Jazz Bass neck out of the box.

Of course it's not perfect, since it has some neck dive and the stock pickup edges are a little sharp but still, nothing that a couple of mods can't fix, I think.

So what I want to do first is to send it to my go-to luthier so she can put a finish to the back of the neck and headstock along with putting some custom vinyls and change the stock bridge to a Hipshot Kickass which I had lying around.

Though, from reading this thread I have a couple questions about some other mods I have seen here:

1. I saw that some of you changed the stock pickup with a Dimarzio Relentless Middle. I plan to do the same but I read somewhere that the screws that came with it were too long for the body of the Mini P. How did you solve it? Did you have to use the stock screws that came with the bass and use them with the Dimarzio pickups?
2. About upgrading the electronics, do you happen to know if there's a wiring kit in existence for this bass? I have seen that this kit from Amazon could work but I don't know if the pots will fit. Talking about pots, what pots does the Mini P has? Are they normal sized or mini pots?
3. Regarding knob replacements, which I think come hand in hand with the type of pots this bass has, what's the diameter to make them fit? I'm interested in this kind of knobs, which it says that fits 6mm pots.
4. About the Hipshot HB6 3/8'' UltraLite Tuners as a replacement from the stock ones, are they really drop in replacements? Because reading the last posts I remember someone had to sand down the headstock holes to make them fit, is that always the case to make this upgrade or just a particular case?
5. And finally, about solving the neck dive issue, how did you solve it? Did changing to a high mass bridge and getting lighter tuners solve the problem for you?

P.S. if you're wondering about the softcase in the photo, it's a Fender FE1225, I just bought it preemptively once I knew from reading here that a guitar sized case fits the Mini Precision, and it sure does, this thing is much smaller than what photos make them justice!

View attachment 4645561

To answer your questions:

1) The Dimarzio Sixties P I got are the same shape as the Relentless, so likely have the same screws included. Anyway, I used the included screws, and they were fine.

2) The Mini P has Mini Alpha pots that are 16mm in diameter. I mistakenly bought ones with long shafts, so I had to use some washers to get the proper spacing. Make sure to get pots with short shafts.

3) Shaft diameter is 6mm, split shaft.

4) IIRC, a previous poster here said the Hipshot Ultralite tuners were direct drop-in replacements, which is why i ordered them. But as you know, the holes were just slightly too tight. Maybe with a bit of force they would have fit, but a little sanding to enlarge the holes by a fraction of a millimeter was no big deal. Yours may need some work, or none at all.

5) I wasn't personally aware of any neck dive before making any mods, but I also never used a strap. Just tried it now, and it seems pretty well balanced. Maybe a tiny bit of dive, but definitely nothing serious. I probably wouldn't have even noticed if I didn't go looking for it just now.

Hope that helps!

 

[Philtastic]

Well you did a great job. Dyeing the neck was a bit daunting. I think it came out OK. Once I get the headstock face painted it will be clear lacquer time. Hopefully it turns out as nice as yours.

Thanks, but I used a vinyl wrap on the headstock, not any kind of lacquer or paint, so don't give me too much credit.

It did turn out better than I expected, though. Especially after the disaster that was trying to vinyl wrap the pickguard.

I like the tint you've given the neck. That would have gone great with the gold hardware. Wish I'd thought of it before, but I'm definitely too lazy to try it now.

 

[Ping2000]

Thanks, but I used a vinyl wrap on the headstock, not any kind of lacquer or paint, so don't give me too much credit.

It did turn out better than I expected, though. Especially after the disaster that was trying to vinyl wrap the pickguard.

I like the tint you've given the neck. That would have gone great with the gold hardware. Wish I'd thought of it before, but I'm definitely too lazy to try it now.

I used 30 drops of colortone vintage amber and 12 drops of Kalamazoo mahogany in a 1/2 ounce of bekol (recipe from a you tube video). I'm pleased with the color.

 

[honeydorick]

Hey guys,FYI,when I installed my black clover leaf hipshot ultra light tuners in my Mini they had some play,instead of being to tight and sanding.I used tin foil wraped around the tuner shaft as a shim.That worked perfectly for sizing,didnt take much to get a snug fit.It does take patience though,to do the fitting.Im very happy with my Hipshots.Since I play my Mini,sitting in my lap like a clasical guitar player,I dont worry about neck dive much.Fits me perfectly.

 

[amr1695]

To answer your questions:

1) The Dimarzio Sixties P I got are the same shape as the Relentless, so likely have the same screws included. Anyway, I used the included screws, and they were fine.

2) The Mini P has Mini Alpha pots that are 16mm in diameter. I mistakenly bought ones with long shafts, so I had to use some washers to get the proper spacing. Make sure to get pots with short shafts.

3) Shaft diameter is 6mm, split shaft.

4) IIRC, a previous poster here said the Hipshot Ultralite tuners were direct drop-in replacements, which is why i ordered them. But as you know, the holes were just slightly too tight. Maybe with a bit of force they would have fit, but a little sanding to enlarge the holes by a fraction of a millimeter was no big deal. Yours may need some work, or none at all.

5) I wasn't personally aware of any neck dive before making any mods, but I also never used a strap. Just tried it now, and it seems pretty well balanced. Maybe a tiny bit of dive, but definitely nothing serious. I probably wouldn't have even noticed if I didn't go looking for it just now.

Hope that helps!

Thanks! That's a lot of useful info, I feel much more safe about the next mods I'm gonna do to my new Precision.

I don't mind some kind of modern tone to my Mini P to be honest, my MiM Fender Jazz Bass with GHS Precision Flats already cover the vintage tone that I like. So many years playing with that setup that it kinda surprised me to play with the brightness of the stock roundwound strings on the Mini P.

I remember now how much I dislike how they feel so to add some tonal variety between basses I think I'll string it with some GHS Pressurewounds, a kind of a middle ground between flats and rounds.

One thing about the Mini Pots, I found these CTS 250K Split Shaft Mini Pots on Ebay, are these the ones that have the short shaft that I should consider to get?

 

[amr1695]

Hey guys,FYI,when I installed my black clover leaf hipshot ultra light tuners in my Mini they had some play,instead of being to tight and sanding.I used tin foil wraped around the tuner shaft as a shim.That worked perfectly for sizing,didnt take much to get a snug fit.It does take patience though,to do the fitting.Im very happy with my Hipshots.Since I play my Mini,sitting in my lap like a clasical guitar player,I dont worry about neck dive much.Fits me perfectly.

That's quite relieving to know! So to put some of those Hipshot UltraLites one doesn't have to necessarily do some sanding.

Hahah, about the neck dive, I noticed it too when I was sitting, but maybe I'm just too used to the Jazz Bass body that I don't know how to play with the Mini Precision body properly, so my neck kind of always went down.

I've played with my J Bass since 2012, and this Mini Precision which I got a few days ago is the first Precision type bass I got (its Jazz neck width was also one of the reasons I wanted to get the Mini version instead of the regular one). So maybe I just don't know how to sit properly with it yet.

 

[DavesnothereCA]

....4) IIRC, a previous poster here said the Hipshot Ultralite tuners were direct drop-in replacements, which is why i ordered them. But as you know, the holes were just slightly too tight. Maybe with a bit of force they would have fit, but a little sanding to enlarge the holes by a fraction of a millimeter was no big deal. Yours may need some work, or none at all....

Hey guys,FYI,when I installed my black clover leaf hipshot ultra light tuners in my Mini they had some play,instead of being to tight and sanding.I used tin foil wraped around the tuner shaft as a shim.That worked perfectly for sizing,didnt take much to get a snug fit.It does take patience though,to do the fitting....

That's quite relieving to know! So to put some of those Hipshot UltraLites one doesn't have to necessarily do some sanding....

~
It also points to either a discrepancy among production runs of these basses, or could it be that one of the above-mentioned sets of HipShot UltraLite tuners is the USA type and the other is the licensed import ?

There might be minor but noticeable variances in dimensions among the tuners.

IIRC, I have read that the USA versions weigh a bit less than the licensed ones, of any given style and size.

This may be due to small differences in any of materials, design, and/or dimensions.

We know that the USA versions are reversible while the licensed are not.

There could be more to learn.
~

 

[Philtastic]

One thing about the Mini Pots, I found these CTS 250K Split Shaft Mini Pots on Ebay, are these the ones that have the short shaft that I should consider to get?

View attachment 4645966

Those CTS pots might still be too tall.

The original pots have a total height of 24.1 mm, according to my callipers. The ones I bought were 27 mm, from top to bottom. Those CTS are 28.6 mm.

A few millimeters may not sound like a lot, but it may be more than enough to impede the knobs you choose from sitting flush on the pickguard. They might also be too tall to fit in the body route. I don't know exactly how deep it is, but there isn't a lot of room, once you have the wiring in there too. Especially vintage style wires that are stiffer than modern silicone wires.

Ultimately, it's not a huge problem to solve, but you will need some washers to on the underside of the pickguard to get the shaft to sit at the right height.

You may also need to cut off the little tabs on the top of the potentiometer body, or the washers will be wobbly. But it's totally fine to do that. I don't know why those tabs are there, but they can be removed with flush cutters, and don't affect the functionality of the pots in any way.

 

[DavesnothereCA]

....You may also need to cut off the little tabs on the top of the potentiometer body, or the washers will be wobbly. But it's totally fine to do that. I don't know why those tabs are there, but they can be removed with flush cutters, amd don't affect the functionality of the pots in any way.

~
The tabs were originally there to lock the bodies of pots from turning when mounted to a metal chassis in older equipment, and there would be a small hole drilled in the chassis for each tab.

My time in electronics began with tube type radios and TVs, and this method was common back then.

I expect that current reissues of all-tube amplifiers are still assembled like this.
~

 

[TK4261]

I use the Noble 250k mini pots from Best Bass Gear in my Mini P and they are nice and smooth. I used a single nut and washer under my wood pickguard and all is good

 

[andare]

Personally I don't see the point of purchasing a wiring harness.

There's nothing to be gained from expensive capacitors, cloth wire and shiny pots. Bass guitars are not tube amplifiers that run on hundreds of volts. Most harnesses still require some soldering so if you don't have that skill and you're going to need a tech to do it, you might as well have the tech build you a harness from scratch using regular components. Any capacitor that is not ceramic will work. The value is what matters. Don't fall for paper-in-snake-oil mojo.

16mm Alpha pots is what you find in most commercial pedals so there's no need to buy CTS or Bourns if you can't find them. Alpha pots are available with a 6.3mm smooth or ridged shaft everywhere. Most knobs with a set screw will fit them.

I would definitely spring for a sturdy jack because it gets a lot of action. Switchcraft, Neutrik, etc.

 

[DavesnothereCA]

Personally I don't see the point of purchasing a wiring harness.

There's nothing to be gained from expensive capacitors, cloth wire and shiny pots. Bass guitars are not tube amplifiers that run on hundreds of volts. Most harnesses still require some soldering, so if you don't have that skill and you're going to need a tech to do it, you might as well have the tech build you a harness from scratch using regular components. Any capacitor that is not ceramic will work. The value is what matters. Don't fall for paper-in-snake-oil mojo.

16mm Alpha pots is what you find in most commercial pedals so there's no need to buy CTS or Bourns if you can't find them. Alpha pots are available with a 6.3mm smooth or ridged shaft everywhere. Most knobs with a set screw will fit them.

I would definitely spring for a sturdy jack because it gets a lot of action. Switchcraft, Neutrik, etc.

~
I agree with the rest of what you said there, but what's the problem with ceramic capacitors ?
~

 

[andare]

~
I agree with the rest of what you said there, but what's the problem with ceramic capacitors ?
~

They shouldn't be used in the audio path of a circuit. I read it on the internet so it must be true
Apparently they can be noisy.

 

[DavesnothereCA]

They shouldn't be used in the audio path of a circuit. I read it on the internet so it must be true
Apparently they can be noisy.

~
Professor Google at work then.

But seriously, I had a different reason in mind, however wanted to hear yours first.

Apparently, many ceramic disk caps have wide tolerances in their stated value of capacitance, often much more than the desired + or - 10%, so if that was true, then a lot of them might be poor candidates in any situation where a tuned circuit is happening, and tone controls of instruments with inductors [coils] in their [magnetic] pickups are such an example, causing the accuracy of the action of the tone controls to be inconsistent from unit to unit if sloppy tolerance parts were used.

BTW, the value tolerance issue can sometimes apply to the pots too - I have read some of their specs sheets while examining 'balance pot' candidates, and there can be an uncomfortably wide berth on value.

OTOH, when a cap is being used for coupling between stages of an amplifier [a typically resistive load], if we make the value large enough to avoid rolloff of the lower frequencies, then variances in value may not matter as much, as long as the caps' voltage ratings also are enough.
~

 

[FinialBassist]

~
And in that category, I am curious to encourage all of the folks who bought the FSR custom sub-short scale LaBella DT Flats a few months ago for their Squier Mini-P basses, to post here what they think of the strings, now that there has been some break-in time.
~

I was just playing my Mini with the LaBella flats and thinking how good it sounds. It has that wonderful woody quality with some nice, subtle finger sounds. Makes me think of Robin Mullarkey on Zero 7's When It Falls (especially "Passing By"), or maybe Sean Hurley. If my toddler gives me any free time this week I'll try to post a sound clip if you're interested.

 

[honeydorick]

Im an old school semi deff guy bass player, so all i need is a volume control.Rolling off the high frequencies with a tone control is actually bad for me cause I cant hear those areas.Volume control and tapes or flatts is all i need to get the JJ sound.LOL.I left my Mini controls alone in my mod though cause I still wanted the P bass look.Its great to have so many share there experiences with mods,especially for all of you that can still hear well LOL.

 

[andare]

I was just playing my Mini with the LaBella flats and thinking how good it sounds. It has that wonderful woody quality with some nice, subtle finger sounds. Makes me think of Robin Mullarkey on Zero 7's When It Falls (especially "Passing By"), or maybe Sean Hurley. If my toddler gives me any free time this week I'll try to post a sound clip if you're interested.

Definitely interested. I heard Mitch Friedman's demo of the Mini with Labellas and it had THE sound.

 

[FinialBassist]

Here are a couple sound samples of the LaBella flats on the Mini P. Full playalong of Khrungbin's "Number 3" finger style, plus a short groove on Anderson .Paak's "Come Down" with a palm-muted pick (which I'm just learning to use).

Playing errors aside, the LaBella flats are pretty much what I hoped they would be. The woody tone is especially noticeable when playing above the 5th fret. Compared to my full-scale P bass with flats the Mini P seems to a little more bass-heavy, which I prefer. So yeah, they definitely have that sound.