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The Squier Mini Precision Bass Club

#4,321
Since my Black mini is at the Techs for a new Mahogany body. I decided to pick up a Red mini as a project while I wait for a couple of months to get the Mahogany mini completed. I have the spalted Maple pickguard, electronics and Dimarzio relentless pickup from the Black mini and I will install that on this Red mini. I already have a Black Hipshot A style bridge so I will get a set of Ultralite Black mini clover tuners for this one. I'm also going to take a stab at replacing the fretboard inlay dots with these Red Jasper stone inlay dots that I came across on reverb. I have never tried to replace fretboard inlays but there is quite a few youtube videos on the subject and it does not seem that hard to do.
Another fun project :hyper:

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#4,323
Sounds like alot of fun.Cool looking dot inlays.I have moded 2 of these mini P's.I defretted both of them.on my second mod,I used maple vaneer fret slot fillers above the 12th fret ,and white plastic name badge blanks to fill slots below the 12th..I added a dot to the 1st fret center and side marker.Looks feels,and plays awsome.on my first mini mod I used a 1/8 inch drill bit to drill a hole in the center of each dot inlay to remove them for my first try at this.then i screwed a 1 inch no 6 sheet metal screw into the center of the dot.I just wiggled it incircles back and forth,and kept pulling,and screwing it in tighter while the dot was comming out.Be carfull not to drill to deep,the dots are fairly shallow.If the no 6 screw comes to loose,switch it to a no 8.This method worked very well for me.However,If you are going to defret one of these leve the dot positions alone.Dont try to change their location.Learn to play your notes closer to the fret line,and listen for the correct intonation.I made the mistake of changing the location of the dots to the fret lines and it only confused me.If you are going from fretted to fretless,learn from Yoda.Leve dot positions alone.JUST SAYIN
 
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#4,324
honeydorick said:
Sounds like alot of fun.Cool looking dot inlays.I have moded 2 of these mini P's.I defretted both of them.on my second mod,I used maple vaneer fret slot fillers above the 12th fret ,and white plastic name badge blanks to fill slots below the 12th..I added a dot to the 1st fret center and side marker.Looks feels,and plays awsome.on my first mini mod I used a 1/8 inch drill bit to drill a hole in the center of each dot inlay to remove them for my first try at this.then i screwed a 1 inch no 6 sheet metal screw into the center of the dot.I just wiggled it incircles back and forth,and kept pulling,and screwing it in tighter while the dot was comming out.Be carfull not to drill to deep,the dots are fairly shallow.If the no 6 screw comes to loose,switch it to a no 8.This method worked very well for me.However,If you are going to defret one of these leve the dot positions alone.Dont try to change their location.Learn to play your notes closer to the fret line,and listen for the correct intonation.I made the mistake of changing the location of the dots to the fret lines and it only confused me.If you are going from fretted to fretless,learn from Yoda.Leve dot positions alone.JUST SAYIN
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Pictures or it never happened
 
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#4,326
Big dumb wanted pictures of my defrets.Here goes.The Mini P on the LEFT,was my first attempt,I changed the fret line positions,and dot inlays.DONT DO THAT.If u learned on a fretted bass it will only confuse you.I installed a music man type pick up,removed pickguard on both basses for solid red look.I changed all the hardware to black and used clear acrylic for the electronics covers.I lowered the nut on both basses to compensate for no fret wires.I used high mas bridges on both.lowered the actions and set intonation as close as possible.The Mini P on the right was an improvement.Used white plastic ID cards for fret slot fillers to the 12th fret so I could see them better ,then maple vaneer for the the rest.On both projects,after I installed the slot fillers,I sanded the fret boards flat with Leveling beam,and 9.5 inch radius block.Both of these basses sound fantastic if you want the old school sound.I use D'Adderio black tape wound strings on both.If you slap and pop these are not for you.These Basses can sound just like a stand up double bass.Even closer than my electric acoustic Luna short scale bass.The combination of fretless,tape wounds,and electric pickups is as close as you will get to a double bass sound in my oppinion.I will never go back to fretted again.These things sound Heavenly.slides mwah and vibrato,No peddles,I love it. AND NO DARN FRET NOISE.
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IMG_0451.jpg IMG_0451.jpg IMG_0451.jpg
 
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#4,327
honeydorick said:
Big dumb wanted pictures of my defrets.Here goes.The Mini P on the LEFT,was my first attempt,I changed the fret line positions,and dot inlays.DONT DO THAT.If u learned on a fretted bass it will only confuse you.I installed a music man type pick up,removed pickguard on both basses for solid red look.I changed all the hardware to black and used clear acrylic for the electronics covers.I lowered the nut on both basses to compensate for no fret wires.I used high mas bridges on both.lowered the actions and set intonation as close as possible.The Mini P on the right was an improvement.Used white plastic ID cards for fret slot fillers to the 12th fret so I could see them better ,then maple vaneer for the the rest.On both projects,after I installed the slot fillers,I sanded the fret boards flat with Leveling beam,and 9.5 inch radius block.Both of these basses sound fantastic if you want the old school sound.I use D'Adderio black tape wound strings on both.If you slap and pop these are not for you.These Basses can sound just like a stand up double bass.Even closer than my electric acoustic Luna short scale bass.The combination of fretless,tape wounds,and electric pickups is as close as you will get to a double bass sound in my oppinion.I will never go back to fretted again.These things sound Heavenly.slides mwah and vibrato,No peddles,I love it. AND NO DARN FRET NOISE.View attachment 5095860 View attachment 5095860 View attachment 5095860 View attachment 5095860
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Holy moly, Not F$&@ing around! Pretty inspiring!
 
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#4,329
cashmoneywill said:
Little NBD with my newest Fender Precision Bass Jr. Loved my squier mini so much that I've been on a search for its fender counterpart. Back to back, I think the squier still has fantastic quality. At $600 for the Jr. I still think I got a steal, prices have been through the roof on these. Just strung up with the Labella mini-p flats as well.
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Nice find Cash! I have seen them go for $900+ so that is a good deal :cool:
 
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#4,330
cashmoneywill said:
Little NBD with my newest Fender Precision Bass Jr. Loved my squier mini so much that I've been on a search for its fender counterpart. Back to back, I think the squier still has fantastic quality. At $600 for the Jr. I still think I got a steal, prices have been through the roof on these. Just strung up with the Labella mini-p flats as well.
View attachment 5096696 View attachment 5096699
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Sweet score !
 
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#4,331
cashmoneywill said:
Little NBD with my newest Fender Precision Bass Jr. Loved my squier mini so much that I've been on a search for its fender counterpart. Back to back, I think the squier still has fantastic quality. At $600 for the Jr. I still think I got a steal, prices have been through the roof on these. Just strung up with the Labella mini-p flats as well.
View attachment 5096696 View attachment 5096699
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Nice score. So which one sounds/feels better?
 
#4,333
cashmoneywill said:
Recency bias makes me lean towards the Fender, but mainly just because of the more finished neck.... .
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On my last couple Squiers (Bronco and Mini), I took some steel will to that thin (i.e. barely existent) neck finish, and applied several coats if Tru-Oil, and couldnt be happier with it. The stuff is cheap and nearly foolproof, and really does a nice job versus that stuff they apply at the factory (in fact, on my Bronco, my skin oils were causing discoloration of the wood, right through the original finish, almost immediately. I didnt give it the chance on my Mini P).
 
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#4,334
cashmoneywill said:
Recency bias makes me lean towards the Fender, but mainly just because of the more finished neck and better balance in the lap. I think the neck profiles are exactly the same. You don't miss out on much with the squier!
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I sanded the neck on my Mini, rolled the edges, polished the frets. It's super comfy now. If only it didn't have such a narrow neck I'd play it more often.
 
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#4,335
I'm going to paint the headstock on my black Mini. Can I use flat black paint - as flat paint is more forgiving - since I'm going to add clearcoat layers on top of it anyway? Are there any visible differences between gloss paint with clearcoat layers and flat paint with clearcoat layers?

Also, I was going to order some headstock decals today, but the Atexx Music site has disappeared. :rollno:

Link Removed
 
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#4,336
cashmoneywill said:
Little NBD with my newest Fender Precision Bass Jr. Loved my squier mini so much that I've been on a search for its fender counterpart. Back to back, I think the squier still has fantastic quality. At $600 for the Jr. I still think I got a steal, prices have been through the roof on these. Just strung up with the Labella mini-p flats as well.
View attachment 5096696 View attachment 5096699
Click to expand...
That's amazing. They're nearly the same size!
 

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