NBD - Squier Vintage Modified '70s Jazz

[Dave Sloven]

Well I posted a thread under this title back in June but then it was wiped.  For whatever reason when I started to type in Squier this title popped up so hell why not use it?

I've had it for a few months now and after having the truss rod adjusted by my local tech Pete it has been really sweet.  In the meantime I have been collecting a few items with a view to taking it to Pete again eventually and having a full set up done and a Graph Tech TUSQ XL nut installed.  These are the items I have purchased (the Hipshot stuff is on its way from ebay sellers):

Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound SJB-3 pickup set (you can hear this set in a bass just like mine here)

Three Hipshot HB7 tuners (for the A, D, and G strings)

One Hipshot BT7 tuner with the bass xtender key (for easy drop tuning)

Hipshot A style brass high-mass bridge for Fender five-screw type mounting (Chrome, model number 5A4FM1BC)

With a good nut (which will help the xtender key) this should be one bad-ass bass!

The factory bridge is kind of cheap and cr@ppy looking, and the saddles move around a bit.  The tuners could be a lot better in terms of feel and movement, although it doesn't go out of tune that much.

The only other thing to think about is the pots, wiring harness etc.  Basically I see there as being two options:

1. Passive with CTS pots (any ideas on pot values?), good wiring, jacks, and capacitor, with a series/parallel switch on the bridge volume or tone pot to allow for series operation of both pickups together using the bridge volume as a master volume.  This will give a fatter, more P-bass sound when I want it.

2. An active preamp, such as the J-Retro preamp from John West.  I would add a battery door underneath to make battery changes easier.

Any opinions on these two options?  The J-Retro would be around three times the price of the passive option.  Is it worth it?


I mainly play stuff like '80s hardcore d-beat punk, mid-paced crust punk like Amebix, and doom metal on this bass but I would like to eventually play other styles as well, maybe thrash metal when I have more experience playing bass.

Here's a photo of my bass as it is at present.




 

[m t soule]

that's a lovely set of colours Mr Orange!

[Dave Sloven]

Cheers! The teal blue is nice

On the Quarter Pound pickups, the first thing you notice is the size of the pole pieces.  Compare these with the ones that are currently in my bass.  They are so big that they are practically touching one another

[AndyR]

I think I saw the original thread... but I'd completely forgotten what it looked like. I see what you meant in my AV75ri thread now.

It's funny, a week ago I wouldn't have regarded the ash/maple look as something I wanted on a bass... but now I've been playing one like that for a few days... MIGHTY FINE LOOKING BASS YOU GOT THERE, SIR!!

[Dave Sloven]

I found it looked a bit too jazzy so I added the Alternative Tentacles sticker, which matches the white one on my SG Junior.  Jello &co sent them to me in a package with a Ratos de Porão CD a couple of years ago.

I think the body on mine is actually what they call 'soft maple', rather than ash.  I suspect that's to save costs.  The maple is probably as bright as ash, but I think it is quite a bit heavier.  Well at least it is well balanced.

Speaking of lighter basses though, everyone should really check out the Gibson EB bass.  They are truly a beautiful instrument, light but well balanced with the very nice Babicz full contact bridge,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psezobkVBLE

That natural finish is the one I tried. It is ash

[AndyR]

Interesting! Is that a short-scale? I've got one of the Faded "SG" basses - very tasty.

[Dave Sloven]

It is standard long scale, 34".  Here are the specs for the EB, according to Gibson:

Solid Ash body in four grain-textured nitrocellulose finishes
34" scale length Maple neck with rounded profile
Rosewood fingerboard with acrylic dot inlays
Jim DeCola designed coil-tapped humbucking pickups in the neck and bridge positions
Highly engineered Babicz™ bass bridge
Grover™ bass tuners with 20:1 ratio

Definitely the best bass Gibson have made, by a long shot IMHO.  Every time I pick one up I get severe GAS.

[Dave Sloven]

All that Hipshot hardware arrived today.  I will install them and the SD Quarter Pound pickups as soon as I finish grading these essays and catch up on my studies, and then when the Graph Tech TUSQ XL nut arrives I will take the bass to my tech for a setup.  Otherwise if I don't find the time before the nut arrives I might just take it to Pete and get him to do the whole lot at once.

[_tom_]

Looks good! Really like the black box inlays, goes well with the rest of the guitar! I love my Vintage Modified p-bass, squier are really good value for money if you get a good'un.

[Dave Sloven]

I just ordered one of these.

I like the fact that it starts out from the passive tone in the centre position. I was thinking of replacing the cheap Asian pots and plate with more high-end passive stuff, but when I added up the cost of new knobs, pots, cap, jack, etc it would have been half the cost of one of these units and these seem to be capable of much more.

https://www.audereaudio.com/Pro_JZ3.htm

This is the pickup and preamp combo I've gone for, and it's a Squier as well, but obviously mine has different woods.

I hope that it works well for my style of playing/music.  I don't play slap but people often say that what works well with slap will work well with a pick (in terms of EQ).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNXi0MpaBJQ

[Dave Sloven]

Got the bridge and pickups in; the screw holes for the tuners did not line up properly and will have to be dowelled and redrilled by the tech to fit them when I have the nut fitted.  BT7/HB7 is the right model, it's just that Squier seem to have rounded up their measurements when converting from inches to milimetres and it's slightly out.  Here's a photo of the bridge and pickups.  I still need to adjust the height of both

[Dave Sloven]

Well, after a lot of messing around I finally got that Audere JZ3 PRO preamp to work without shorting against the shielding (mainly by using a lot of electrical tape) but the chrome plating on it is so poor that it has already started to flake off on the edge where it butts against the pickguard.  Considering that it is designed to be taken out every time the battery is changed that is pretty lame.  I think I will have my tech install a battery door on the back of the bass so that I don't have to do that.

[Dave Sloven]

Audere are sending me a new plate via Priority Post, together with a set of black knobs in case I want to install those.  I'll probably keep the chrome ones though unless I transfer the preamp to another Jazz with a different colour scheme.

The preamp itself sounds pretty sweet.

The bass is currently with the tech.  He advised against fitting a battery door, given that batteries last years (if you don't leave the cable in the jack!).  He is fitting the Graph Tech TUSQ XL nut, the Hipshot tuners and bass xtender key, and generally setting it up, including adjusting the pickup heights.  I'm not sure where to set the heights.  He will just even the volume between bridge and neck and set them at a height where they do not sound too hot.  With the Quarter Pound pickups the neck can sometimes sound too hot.  Given that I have an active EQ that can boost frequencies as required it's probably better to err on the side of too low.

[Dave Sloven]

Got the Graph Tech TUSQ XL nut and Hipshot tuners in and the bass sounds amazing!  Pete at Dr Guitar did an excellent job of fitting them and setting up the bass.  The difference between the high, mid, and low Z modes on the preamp seems even more noticeable now.  It has a broad selection of tones and the Quarter Pound pickups are beastly.