LeftyBassist.com

what are your guys thoughts on the squire vintage modified jazz bass, thinking about getting one

Have had my hands on a couple. They felt great, but the hardware is cheap and shitty. I didn't get to really experience what the electronics were like, but I can tell you the necks felt good and the fit/finish was surprisingly good. I don't know what your needs are as a bass player, but I can say for a working musician these basses would make a nice platform for modding.

I'm sure there are others on this board that have more experience with them. But I'd love to grab one to play with.

well would the hardwire affect anything in the future (play ability, sound)

I'll be doing a video review of this bass soon, but long story short: I think they're one of the best basses available at their price point. I like them much better than MIM Fenders.

In my opinion, it's mostly the tuners that are the bummer as far as hardware goes. They just feel cheap and the tuner bushings are usually loose. MIMs have that same issue. I don't know if they cause problems down the line, because those are parts I usually swap out quick.

the neck and body construction is great on them. The hardware though, pure garbage. The bridge is acceptable, and the duncan design pickups are pretty ok, but the pots, knobs, and tuning heads are crap, especially the tuners. Awesome basses for modding though, I've got a couple for that purpose.

I agree the hardware/pots aren't the greatest, but I haven't had any issues with them so far and they're functioning fine. Until they fail (if they do), I've had no reason to upgrade.

I used to have a Japanese 60's reissue Jazz bass, was stolen ten years ago.

How would one of these compare? I'm in the market for a good gigging bass that I won't care if it fell off the stand and got dinged.

Go for it! It does the job while releasing one of any concern about it's welfare. I leave mine at my drummer's house when we rehearse so I don't have to haul equipment there.

I got one in natural with a maple neck for 99 bucks at the Reno Guitar Center! The fret ends stuck out terribly, and adjusting the neck in store was just not doin' it. I plugged it into a GK micro 200 amp, and a GK 410 cab, and it sounded absolutely amazing! I decided to buy it right there. Price was a deal maker, too.
I'm a luthier and bass repairman, so this was not too bad a deal. I had an old lefty 'parts' bass neck layin' around- more like hibernating, for almost 30 years! I have no idea who made it- but it is a dead -on early jazz bass neck replacement, complete with 's' curve and dead spots. I could not get the spongy Squier neck to adjust and play correctly. So, I installed the 'new' neck. Bad dead spots and 's' curve and all. It, too, sucked. So, out came some new stainless steel frets, and brass inserts and machine screws to mount the neck. After a light leveling of the veneer board, a refret, new Corian nut and and a setup- the bass absolutely kills. The stainless frets made the neck far more rigid. It sounds as good as my other two j-basses, and those are both great basses. One is a Japanese basswood sunburst '62 reissue, and the other is a Japanese alder turquoise '62 with a GREAT Allparts neck.
Both of those basses are a lot more money to build up or purchase outright. I recommend one of these Squiers highly, but make sure the neck on the one you buy is the STIFFEST one out of the basses you can find. I replaced the really low quality pots and jack. The pickups are amazing, I got a set of Nordstrands for it, but I like the Duncan designed ones so much, I'm leaving them in! Good Luck!

Mine arrived yesterday- sunburst. Agree that it is well built, excellent value, and a good platform for modding. After 10 years of my Rogue Hofner knock-off this feels like a Real Bass! would have preferred a P-bass, but it looks like the used CV leftys are hard to find. After the honeymoon is over I'll start modding it- maybe put a P pickup in the neck slot. What mods have you guys done?

The only real "dissapointment" was that the body was obviously a 3-4 piece, (not unexpected) but they could have found closer tint matches- it doesn't look quite like the nice photo they have in the ads. But for under $300, and as nice as it is otherwise, I can live with that.

I have one and I love it.
I agree the tuners are cheap and the wood matching (on mine and yours apparently) is horrible. BUT I think it sounds fantastic (you got to change the strings. I like the Slinkies on it but I'll get some DR HiBeam next.

I also own a nice Am Std P Bass and I find the sound of the Squier VM when favoring the neck pickup real close to my PBass. Overall I find the pickups to be perfectly voiced, and in my opinion (I have quite an expertise on JB pickups) you won't necessarily improve the bass by cracking $150 on replacement pickups.

As PJ mentioned it before the sound is a little rounder than and Ash/Maple 75 Jazz and less scooped and zingy.
IMO you can use it in most styles of music maybe by changing the strings or using the tone knob. Since it hella cheap you are never afraid of taking it to a gig in a dive or anything happening to it.

I played a few of these basses (one was Frenchy-Lefty's) and I will say, for the $$ they are pretty good. If you upgrade the crappy tuners, but a better $22 fender bridge on it and possibly buying some used pups, its totally worthy. The bass even sounded good stock for the <$400 range bass.

Not a bad beater bass!

Since I have owned a MIJ62, a 1998 MIM and an AmStd Jazz, I must admit that this one is by far my favorite in terms of sound. On those previous instruments I always felt that when favoring the bridge or the neck pickups the sound would become either too thin, nasally or too dark or too midish or too muddy, all in all not really usable. On the Squire the sound is great and supportive whatever the pickup balance. The pickups have this sort of hipass filter with the frequencies under 60hz being cut off which gives punch and definition. Very interestic and remarkable feature. It is pretty much how you eq a bass when you are a sound engineer. This bass has something special and unique, You just need to go over the Squire logo

Looking at mine a little closer last night I noticed that the pickups- particulartly the neck- are off-center towards the E string. The E string ends up about 3/8" to the "high side" of dead center between the two polepieces on the neck PU. Anything to worry about? Disclaimer: I play almost entirely at home, and I may eventually change the neck pickup anyway so it has a PJ configuration.

I think it is normal but you can still post a picture. One thing I forgot to mention is that besides replacing the strings you also need a set up. One thing you can do yourself is lower the neck pickup by screwing in the 2 screws with 360 degre turn. One thing you should have someone knowlegeable or a pro do is adjust the neck relief. On mine the neck was perfectly straight but a bass needs a little neck relief so you need to adjust the truss rod.

A little fuzzy, but you can see what I mean (both pickup placement and uneven piece staining):

Yes it does look odd. Are the strings probably centered on the neck? Mine does not have this issue.

Yes- strings are centered evenly on the neck- bridge looks to be in the right place. Bridge pickup is slightly off, but the neck pickup seems to be way off.

Personally I would send it back