Litte Project- Squier modding

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boebl

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Hey Guys,

You know that situation - delivery date for a bass is delayed a few weeks, so your mind fills with stupid ideas... so follwing - much text, much ideas ;)

I was thinking for quite a while about tweaking my little Squier Affinity P-Bass 21th Anniversary-Edition.
Reasons are varying - more to learn something about exchanging parts, and because I just can't sell it (only for so little money, I'd rather just leave it hanging on my wall than giving it away), as it's my first bass and I think it's quite beautiful.
We are talking about the Squier on this Pic:


So I've been thinking about possible options:

-I want to exchange PUs. Stock Squier PU are NOT good, and I never really liked their sound. The bass itself is not sounding too bad, but I always felt the PU are a weak spot.
-Also the potis are quite noisy, so they are on my the list, too.
-Exchanging the bridge was also something I thougt about - but as I saw the "Fender Vintage Bridge" looks excatly like the one I got on my bass I decided to leave it be... for the moment.
-Dumbest idea: Exchanging the neck - but I think a good new neck would be way too expensive and...stupid.

But this all would be kind a senseless - I got those 3 basses one the pic +1 to come, and this little Squier is never going to be as "good" as any of my other basses - so I had to give it a REASON to picked out of the others.
And this was easy. It's a p-bass, it's surrounded by nice "hifi"-basses.... soooo?
Yeah - I'm gonna try to give a little vintage sound to it.

So I have to admit - you are not the first people I'm telling this. I already asked questions in a german forum, where - as I know - a lot of Fender P-Bass "pros" are around.
Their reaction was quite easy to sum up: It won't be worth it.
I'll have to put more money into this bass, then it's worth - and for the $$$ I could get some other basses. Or maybe another body for my bass - as my is likely to be Agathis, wich is known to be boomy with undifferentiated sound - but the body is the only thing I don't want to change :)
First I wasn't quite sure if it's really Agathis. I somehow hoped it would be Elder, but:
<-- big picture.
Seems like it's Agathis.

So, to achieve a vintage sound, I was aiming for flatwounds. Labella or Thomastics were often recommended, but I was a little afraid if it wouldn't be too muddy because of the bodywood - so I first wanted to get some Labella Chromes, wich are said to be a little brighter than regular flats - but I got a hint to try Earnie&Ball flats, as they are quite similar to the Chromes, but not as "sterile" or "cold".
For the PU "Dimarzios" were recommended. Potis, whatever. Original Fenders would do the job.

So what's happening next? ...
Well in fact everything happened already. I ordered DiMarzios, new tone&volume poti and the flats. This cost me almost 60% of what I payed for the bass ;) Yesterday I got everything, today I exchanged PUs and Potis. Lot of soldering, lot of burning fingers. I wasn't able to play it today (only to test it's working - and it is).

Tomorrow I'm gonna record a clip with the new PUs, and another one with the flatwounds.

For comparison, here's a clip I recorded with the Bass a few days ago
boebl - Pbasstest - SoundCloud
(I just played SOMETHING to have a reference, so don't pay too much attention to the playing and the riff ;) )
 
gotoh makes a nice replacment bridge that is pretty cheap it has a heavy bass and the saddle height screws have small grooves they ride in so the saddle don't shift and it's a direct bolt on and i think there around 25usd
 
uh, not able to edit my post - yesterday I made quite a few spelling mistakes ;D

Well...fretless... uhm... I'd rather buy a fretless with ebony FB in the future. I'm not too comfortable with "ripping frets out" - my basses are my girls - ripping frets is like breaking teeth for the sake of better performance. Not cool, imo ;D

I've just been recording a little, now it's time for a string change - then mp3s are coming!
But I can say as much: it was worth it! I love those PUs!
 
Interesting thread, especially because I have been wondering about tweaking my Squier P-bass a little. I'm looking forward to hearing the new mp3s to compare the before and after sounds.

boebl said:
...Well...fretless... uhm... I'd rather buy a fretless with ebony FB in the future. I'm not too comfortable with "ripping frets out" - my basses are my girls - ripping frets is like breaking teeth for the sake of better performance. Not cool, imo ;D...
Click to expand...

Hmm, my little girl (my daughter, not my bass!) is actually in the process of losing her milk teeth, which is one important step for her along the way of growing up. And I think you've made a very good analogy - the frets are like the milk teeth, and they need to come out in order for you bass to truly grow up! :D
 
you owned me, mart - but I still like my girls with teeth (as long as they don't bite). Maybe this will change with growing wisdom, and when I'm 70 I'll love the chicks without even more. We'll see ;D

nevertheless - here's MY baby


And a bit more of my bad playing :)

New PUs, old strings (I like this sound quite much, I have to admit - no idea what kind of strings I had on, maybe Fender Nickels?):
boebl - pbass-dimarzio - SoundCloud

With the flats:
boebl - pbass-flats - SoundCloud

As you know, flats have to be a little worn out to sound good. I like the way they are going - and in fact they have quite a different sound through my amp. All my recordings are done directly to my jamman, i.e. pure bass signal (hence the overdriven parts, it's not that good for recording bass :/ ). With my tubepath I'm really approaching a full "in your stomach" sound - so I'd say: Mission accomplished!
I don't know if I'll stay with the flats, as I really liked the roundwound sound with the new Pus. And also I still have to tweak the PU heigth and neck relief. The flats are 50-105, and I was used playing 45 or 40 - so a lot to be adjusted ;)

But considering this bass was around 220€, and my investment now with strings, pickups and potis - I got a pretty decent bass for like 360€. I like it!
 
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boebl said:
I'm not too comfortable with "ripping frets out" - my basses are my girls - ripping frets is like breaking teeth for the sake of better performance. Not cool, imo ;D
Click to expand...

Hahah I love the analogy. I love the idea of modding cheap basses. It's not the most sensible thing to do but screw sensibility for the fun of it. The bass sounds very good. The new pickups really give it more articulation and clarity. I think it sounded kinda good even before the modding. What's the Dimarzio btw? Is it Model P? I once installed a Dimarzio Split P on an old Washburn and that pickup was pretty cool. It was like 2 humbuckers in a P pickup.
 
Thanks guys. I tried recording something with my laptop mics... but everything was just "krrrrrrrchhhhhhhhhhzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz". By now, I really like it. I'm playing it quite a lot right now - also because the flats need a little playing to sound good.
The sound is really low and punchy - and with a little thumb picking + palm mute I get great upright-like tone.

From time to time I plug my WW in, and it's like a totaly different dimension of playing bass - much richer sound, much greater handling - but as hard as I try, I'm as unable to let my $$NT sound like the p-bass, as the other way round
 
Fully agree with ya on that Boebl...playing on a Fender or a Wick are complete different experiencezzz....8:
 
Hey Boebl, i listerned to the recordings, that presicion of your sounds like a true precision ought to sound like, nicely done, that mod.
 
boebl said:
you owned me, mart - but I still like my girls with teeth (as long as they don't bite). Maybe this will change with growing wisdom, and when I'm 70 I'll love the chicks without even more. We'll see ;D
....
Click to expand...

LOL!

Those sound clips are great - they really show the difference. Firstly the new P/Us make you play a little bit faster and fit more notes in - that's really useful. :lol: More seriously, it's like siderocks said: they give much more articulation. It gives a different meaning to the term "precision"!
 
Dude, putting on flats & changing the pickup is a girlyman mod.
I said it before, rip the frets out. it's only a bloody Squire ffs.:roll:
Girls with teeth might look good, but gummy chicks are in a completely different league!;)
 
oh greg, but i likeeeeee it that way :(

;)

No Fretless for me right now. I played few and I like the sound quite a lot - I just don't want to play one. Maybe later, but then with ebony board, for sure.

And don't talk about girlymods, I also changed the potis ( I know... "uhuuuu" ) and burned my f'ckn fingers soldering. Chinese industrial tin needs quite a lot of heat and force to melt. But if soldering is too hard for me, I won't take anything even slighty sharp or dangerous near to my bass.
 
Sounds good. Real diggin the 70% tone sound. I have one in closet too, was my first bass also. I will mod too, wasn't sure pups were "real" pbass size. cool!
 
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