The Squier Mini Precision Bass Club

[jazz3625tonic]

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Those RotoSounds would absolutely NOT be MY choice of string for ANY short scale bass.

I only suggested them because the poster to whom I was replying wanted that gauge range.

To be clear, I do not, for a short scale bass.

What you described is nothing more nor less than what a string which has too little tension will do - it will flop around and be inconsistent in pitch, no matter how good all of the other factors about the instrument are.

For the life of me, I have no idea what drugs the engineers took, who first suggested that strings for shorter scale instruments ought to be lighter than for long scale, be it a bass or anything else.

MOST STRING MANUFACTURERS HAVE IT WRONG !

What I personally would suggest for a short scale bass is a whole step HEAVIER, in order to recover the tension lost when comparing it to a long scale bass.

So, these are the changes which might make sense :

If the G on a 34" bass was .045" in diameter, then on a 30" bass, it should be more like .051" to maintain the same tension (if the 'unit weight' remains the same, IOW, the core diameter and how the wraps are done internally).

If the D in a properly balanced set was 60 in long scale, then for short it should be 68, given the same considerations about the build of the string.

If the A in a properly balanced set was 80 in long scale, then for short it should be 91.

If the E in a properly balanced set was 106 in long scale, then for short it should be 120.

The above gauge numbers are based upon the premise that for a string of a given diameter and internal construction, the active portion of the string is 1.133 times the length on a 34" scale bass that it would be on a 30" scale bass.

If you tune it to the same pitch on the shorter scale bass without changing the gauge nor construction of the string, then the tension will be 1/1.133 of what it would be on the long scale bass.

If you want the tension not to be reduced on the short scale bass while keeping the same pitch, then you must increase (multiply) the diameter of the string by the ratio of the scale lengths of the two basses, in this instance, by 1.133, to get the required diameter for the short scale bass.

This is what I did in the above examples.



- - - - -

BTW, a good example of a set which has properly balanced tension from string to string is the GHS Balanced Nickels.

Even so, the only short scale version of those has gauges from 44 thru 106, but it is still heavier than a 40-95-ish set.

Anybody who likes roundwound bass strings [and has a long or a short scale bass] ought to consider trying GHS Balanced Nickels.

Unfortunately, there are less bass string choices in general for folks who prefer flats, or anything else not roundwound, such as me.
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Yep, I have GHS Balanced Nickel Shorty's on my Mini and they sound fantastic. I highly recommend them. Unless someone else comes out with something new that will be better than the BN's they will be the only strings I use for the Mini P. After I put them on my Mini I picked up a long scale set for my Fender Flea Jazz Bass and I am equally impressed to say the least. I love flats but these BN's sound superb. GHS hit it out of the park with these strings But as always, YMMV. Cheers.

 

[Bass-jay]

Just finished making a 3 ply, black scratch plate. I'm glad I made effort , as I'm quite happy with the new look.
I was going to mount an active Emg while I was at it. There wasn't room for the battery unfortunately.
Oh well the stocker sounds great!

That’s well nice buddy Great job on that plate

 

[pcake]

okay, it's official -

d'addario short scale strings will not fit this bass without some of the thickest winding on the tuning peg. of course, my mini P came with long scale fenders on it, so it came with lots of winding on the peg, but if you're a no-wind purist - which i have always been - d'addario strings for 30 inch scale basses do fit mikros but do not fit the mini P.

my husband used a scotchbrite pad to smooth out the neck (if you do this, do it gently - the pad will grab the rough parts of the grain fine, but could damage the neck finish if you press hard) - then followed if with a jewelry polishing pad, and now the neck is smooth as glass and the sealer shined it up some, too.

the next step for my mini P will be a white pearloid pickguard.

btw, my experience with rotosounds is that they're stiff as bridge cables.

 

[J Posega]

The thing I keep bringing up about the full diameter string on the tuner is that it can stress the windings and core to the point that one or the other breaks, plus your strings are more likely to slip out of tune more often.

 

[DavesnothereCA]

okay, it's official -

d'addario short scale strings will not fit this bass without some of the thickest winding on the tuning peg. of course, my mini P came with long scale fenders on it, so it came with lots of winding on the peg, but if you're a no-wind purist - which i have always been - d'addario strings for 30 inch scale basses do fit mikros but do not fit the mini P....

....btw, my experience with rotosounds is that they're stiff as bridge cables.

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Same here, about no windings around the tuning pegs.

The last time that I tried RotoSound flats, they were long scale (which BTW are much heavier gauge than their shorts), back in the early 1970s on my last full size P bass, a 1972, before I went to rounds on that bass, and prior to getting my Ric.

I did find those RS77 flats to be very stiff, but did not understand as much about gauges back then.
~

 

[Verne Andru]

I am doing the opposite: converting a 28.5" (72.4 cm) baritone I built a few years ago into a 6-string bass.

I would just purchase a set of baritone strings and put them on. The scale length of the Mini Precision is similar to a baritone, or at least close enough so the bridge position does not have to be moved but you would need to purchase a 6-string bridge and nut. String spacing may be a problem, I don't know.

Or am I misinterpreting what you want to do?

View attachment 3979788

Get a set of Bass VI strings.

 

[Verne Andru]

Just finished making a 3 ply, black scratch plate. I'm glad I made effort , as I'm quite happy with the new look.
I was going to mount an active Emg while I was at it. There wasn't room for the battery unfortunately.
Oh well the stocker sounds great!

I put an EMG in my Les Paul PeeWee, which is about as small a body as you're going to get. I used a 12volt to get it to fit - no issues whatever. Here's the difference in battery sizes -9v followed by 12v.

 

[SBassman]

Get a set of Bass VI strings.

The problem with Bass VI sets is that the E is usually only a 90 or 95. Good for some, but hearing what I hear in this mini with 105s, I'm personally staying with 105s.

 

[pcake]

The problem with Bass VI sets is that the E is usually only a 90 or 95. Good for some, but hearing what I hear in this mini with 105s, I'm personally staying with 105s.

my mini P didn't come with 105's - did you or your luthier put some on?

 

[SBassman]

my mini P didn't come with 105's - did you or your luthier put some on?

No. Def straight from factory. And also Fender support replied to me that the stock set is 105 to 45.

 

[SBassman]

Here are the quick mods.

- Gotoh GB707 compact tuners
- Matching large strap buttons.

 

[jazz3625tonic]

Here are the quick mods.

- Gotoh GB707 compact tuners
- Matching large strap buttons.

View attachment 3981853
View attachment 3981854
View attachment 3981855

Nice!

 

[DavesnothereCA]

my mini P didn't come with 105's - did you or your luthier put some on?

No. Def straight from factory. And also Fender support replied to me that the stock set is 105 to 45.

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Fender has become very unprofessional as of late !

This is yet one more example - inconsistency.

Obviously, they anticipate that the Squier Mini P will sell based primarily on price, and it looks like this may be to a large extent true.

Of course, looking like one of their flagship products cannot hurt.

But still, Fender is resting upon their laurels.

resting upon their laurels - Bing
~

 

[DavesnothereCA]

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....For the life of me, I have no idea what drugs the engineers took, who first suggested that strings for shorter scale instruments ought to be lighter than for long scale, be it a bass or anything else.

MOST STRING MANUFACTURERS HAVE IT WRONG !

What I personally would suggest for a short scale bass is a whole step HEAVIER, in order to recover the tension lost when comparing it to a long scale bass....

....BTW, a good example of a set which has properly balanced tension from string to string is the GHS Balanced Nickels.

Even so, the only short scale version of those has gauges from 44 thru 106, but it is still heavier than a 40-95-ish set.

Anybody who likes roundwound bass strings [and has a 'standard 'long or a 'regular' short scale bass] ought to consider trying GHS Balanced Nickels.

Unfortunately, there are less bass string choices in general for folks who prefer flats, or anything else not roundwound, such as me.
~

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It would be remiss of me not to mention that one example of a better [higher] tension set of non-roundwound strings for a standard short [or standard medium] scale bass are GHS Brite Flats, which if for short and medium scale, are only available in medium [49-108] gauge.

Invalid Link Removed

The short scale version will NOT properly fit the Squier Mini P as the winding is too long [32.75"], but are great on my Gibson SG bass, and I expect would fit a Squier Bronco or a Squier Jaguar SS, or a typical Hofner.

I have happily used the long scale light gauge [45-98] version of them on my Ric 4001 prior to trusting their shorts for my Gibson, and I believe that GHS Brite Flats are the same strings which were sold during the 70s by Dean Markley, as 'Ground Round Wound', which was when I first tried them on the Ric [exact same gauges, BTW], and never turned back.
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[pcake]

No. Def straight from factory. And also Fender support replied to me that the stock set is 105 to 45.

i suggest you measure the string gauges with a caliper if you're concerned with matching the gauge - i did, and mine were definitely 40-95s.

 

[DavesnothereCA]

i suggest you measure the string gauges with a caliper if you're concerned with matching the gauge - i did, and mine were definitely 40-95s.

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If you are succinctly and subtly suggesting that we not take Fender's word about what strings are on the bass, let me be blunt :

Do NOT take Fender's word !

The Fender support rep was prob'ly reading their own website, and we have spotted at least two errors there about nut width, and likely [a few posts ago] these string gauges as well.
~

 

[pcake]

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If you are succinctly and subtly suggesting that we not take Fender's word about what strings are on the bass, let me be blunt :

Do NOT take Fender's word !

The Fender support rep was prob'ly reading their own website, and we have spotted at least two errors there about nut width, and likely [a few posts ago] these string gauges as well.
~

to be honest, i'm not a trusting soul, so i'm not worried about whether i can take fender's - or any other manufacturer of anything's word - for anything. i assume there may be issues, and i check when possible from other users or user reviews. or in the case of sweetwater, often our rep will have someone measure or check something i ask about.

i just wanted people who like the strings and want to get more of the same gauge to know what gauge was on my mini P. i've already changed them out for a set of 40-95 d'addarios as even though the bass is pretty new, the strings weren't very... er... perky. the d'addarios sounded better to my ear immediately, and it helped that my husband rearranged the pickup so both parts are the same height - now string volume is the same across all 4 strings where the 2 lower strings were much quieter originally.

 

[Diver]

I don't know why all the fuss, has anyone tried to validate specs from previous Squier instruments? I went through that exercise with my BassVI and that was a festival of tolerance madness if you tried to use website or manual specs.
To the point of asking earlier if 14 mm on paper is the same as 14.23... mm in real life, it is in the music industry and Fender is not the only one doing that, and that counts for their top of the line instruments.

This is a $180 bass, the sole fact this thread has more pages about its specs than some top of the line instruments makes me wonder about our expectations for it.

Music makers rarely disclose revision updates in a production model, whereas a piece of software or any mechanical engineering project would document all instance updates for the customer and support channels.

This also led many manufacturers or factory managers to take liberties in their production runs, to the detriment of spec tolerances, but also to the veracity of marketing assets which are rarely able to catch up with updates made on the hardware.

All I know is that cheap instruments always require some elbow grease and acceptance in the lack of accurate information about them, which can and should only be validated with having the instrument in hands and leaving your calipers at home.

I mean, as soon as you see the strap buttons, you should feel lucky that the bass isn't just a toy at this point and has a truss rod.
It wasn't too long ago that the only choices in bass was whatever the only store around had on display. There was no orders, let alone internet delivery to your door. Heck, if you had told me in the 90s that I could get a cheap good Squier bass in the mail, I would have laughed at you on so many levels.
I love this bass for what it is, something I am not afraid to have the kid drop or slaughter, but also something I can grab on the go, plug without the need of fancy pedal boards and have a simple but great bass experience where I need to remain humble and adapt to the pros and cons, rather than expecting the bass to behave like another more expensive bass.

Strings too softs? It helps me me on becoming more sensitive with my fingertips
Can't slap without the string to touch the pickup poles? I since learned to slap in a different position.
String spacing at the nut is not the one expected? Deal with it or use the bass as a learning experience to file your own nut.

Break a wire? Learn to fix it, stand next to your tech or go on youtube, but the price alone wound incentivize me to learn how to fix it rather than to splurge half the price of the bass in repairs.

I personally enjoy being challenged by the shortcomings from this bass, given the price point, which strikes me as a great value for the price, but also balanced perfectly so that I am not tempted to upgrade it to something I would like it to be, but instead having me adapting to it.

After this rambling, I decided that I shall name my mini P "Mr Humble Rumble" to top the personality profile of this bass.

Talking about humility, I always had an unfounded and biased aversion for P basses as I wanted a J sound, based on not much more than assumptions.
25 years later, I try this mini P, because of its price, and now I think I get why people like P basses and I believe has to do with many of the things I mentioned above.
So if you are reading this and like me, always preferred J over P tones, this bass is a dangerous gateway to P bass GAS.

Cheers!

 

[Volker Kirstein]

... After this rambling, I decided that I shall name my mini P "Mr Humble Rumble" to top the personality profile of this bass. ....

Mr Humble Rumble. I like it! (I named mine Li'l Red)

 

[pcake]

i call mine "the mini". not big on names for basses - the only one with sort of a name i call "the little guy" because the name MB2 isn't one we associate, and it's my smallest, shortest scale bass.

btw, right now my sweetie has the mini in his workshop and is intonating it