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Tricked Out Squier Club Part 3

#821
lowphatbass said:
So my "tricked-out" SQuier Bullet has a pair of SCPB pickups "bucked-up" next to each other in the sweet spot. As you might imagine it sounds pretty focused. The other day I put on these coated strings for the heck of it.....WOW...now it's just big, nasty and a lot more fun!

The bass is a real wreck but it's got a great neck, it sounds huge and it weighs in at just under 8lbs. I've still got some tweaking to do with the electronics but it's sure getting there.

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what a gorgeous bass, just looking at it makes me want to, plug in and wake up the neighbours!
 
#825
Five String said:
That is a REALLY cool bass. Why SCPB pickups? What are they known for?
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Thanks!

The decision to go with SCPB pickups was a combination of what I had around, both in basses and spare parts. Somehow I ended-up with a SC pickup that had been kicking around one of my parts bins for a few years. I also have plenty of "standard" P-basses. I had never owned a single coil P-bass, but always dug on the sound.

I'm a big fan of Sting's work. I know it's all about the player and not necessarily the instrument, but his P-bass always sounds good to me. There's some variation there as well: grinding it out with a pick and a flanger in the early years, later thumbing the strings as the music became more "pop" and the mixes got more "dense".

So, anyway(sorry, this is getting long) I figured it would be fun to experiment with a couple of different SCPB pickups in the same bass, selecting between the two, hearing them in combination, etc. One of the pickups is an Antiquity, the other is some sort of hotrodded job, maybe an old Rio Grande or something.
 
#828
But it was NBD for me today. Stopped in to the local mom-n-pop music store to kill some time. Happened across a couple of fretlesses, one a P-Lyte and the other a higher-grade Yamaha if I recall. Both way out of my price. I try to keep my basses cheap, and it's become a point of pride not to buy a bass over $200, but to have them actually sound like they were much more expensive than that. So far, I've got a good track record.

And then the owner showed me a Squier Jazz with lots of upgrades. And I mean lots. The previous owner buried himself with these, as there's no way to get the money out of the bass he put into it without parting it out. Well, he didn't want to part it out, so he straight-traded it. His loss, my gain. My hat's off to him. Especially if he reads this thread.

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The upgrades are listed here: Bass is a Squier VM Fretless in 3-color sunburst, Wilkinson tuners, brass nut, Classic Vibe bridge with brass saddles, Fender American Standard electronics and '62 RI pickups, and aftermarket pickguard.

I'll have better pics in the morning, when I plan on doing some family beauty pics.

OH, and the VM in the background is also fairly modded up, so I'll pop that into the mix.
 
#829
Picked this up yesterday, and have been playing it ever since. I've played the Squier VM Fretless Jazz a couple of times, but this one has a lot of modifications, and while the original sounds pretty good, this one goes to 11 IMHO.

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Started life as a 2010 VM Fretless jazz bass. It's been changed up a bit before I got it, which is both good and bad. Bad because I didn't get to do it myself, but good, because I didn't have to pay for it.

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Wilkinson Tuners seem a bit lighter than stock.

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Looks like the PO added a Classic Vibe bridge, put brass saddles on it, and added the pick guard and '62RI pickups. They sound very open, and say what you will about brass parts, but the bass gets a LOT of harmonics my others don't get. Coincidence? Maybe.

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Got a brass nut, too.

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I'm enjoying playing this bass so much I haven't even stopped to dust it.

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More brass. I may buy saddles and nut upgrades for my other basses based on how this sounds.

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I love the figuring in this pickguard. And those are American Standard electronics in the control cavity. Orange drop cap, treble bleed mod and push-back wiring all over the place. Nicely done, too. Not shielded, though, so I still have yet to do that.

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And a family portrait. Not all of my basses, just the jazzes. Left to right, Squier VM Fretless (Modded), Squier VM70s (Modded), Fender Jazz bass (Modded - my main gig bass), Fender Jazz V (Stock).
 
#834
Hey all, so I have a '99 Squier P that I've had since '99. It has the original maple/rosewood neck. I'm wanting to go the way of the mighty mite maple/maple. These necks fit pretty accurately yeah? I've wanted a maple board on this P since forever and I just sold a pedal so I want to order this neck ASAP. Thoughts, advice, experience please, thanks!
 
#837
Welp, I ordered a mighty mite P make neck. Can't wait till it gets here! Gonna be a fun week of goodies. I'm stoked to finally get a maple neck on my ol' P. I'll be sure to post pics when I'm done. And ask you guys for help if needed. Hopefully I won't need it though.
 
#838
Here are iPhone pictures of my modified VM jazz basses. They started out their lives as...

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Modifications:

1. Added black plastic "classic" volume/tone knobs
2. Swapped necks
3. Swapped pickguards

I purchased a white pickguard for the white bass, but I found the parchment looked MUCH better. I started with 2 70s style jazz basses and ended up with 1 70s and 1 more 80s. I love them.
 

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#840
Hey all, my mighty mite maple replacement neck just arrived!! :) anyhow, am I supposed to put a finish on this thing? Seems pretty raw and naked. Is that something people do to them, or do you just throw your tuners in, string it up, set it up and go??
 

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