Mornats

I've seen 3 out of 4 of these bands play before and it'll be a good show! A proper good alt rock night it will be.

Despite having very recently satisfied my cheap-but-brilliant jazz GAS with a Squire VM purchase I'm looking at these J&Ds with er, GASsy eyes. Hehe. How heavy are they? That's the only downside to the cheaper basses IMO. They're usually quite heavy. My Squire is 8lbs 9oz which is the upper end of what I'd call nice and manageable but I tried a natural finish one which must have been over 11lbs and was far too heavy.

So, I got my clear perspex scratchplate today and after a little filing it fits quite nicely. It just needed a 1mm trim around the neck socket and the back of the pickup hole. I printed off a design, miraculously guessed the correct size when resizing it, dusted off my printer that I've not used for 3.5 years and coaxed it back to life. So, even though you guys have convinced me that it's a stunning bass as is, I've popped on an alternative scratchplate. I may alternate between this, the original black and any others that take my fancy. Here it is, perhaps not for everyone but I like it for now [attachment=173036:10552483_10152324217506555_3120080939812933437_n.jpg]

Oh awesome dood!

I sold a 1988 fretless in that lovely see-through wine-red earlier this year. Beautiful bass but it couldn't sit there not being played. My current SB320 is a one from 1995. My very first one was a pearl white SB301 that I bought brand new in 1994 from a music shop in Preston for £330. Best reason for taking out a student loan ever.

I was down to 3 basses for just under 3 hours before I was back up to 4. I think I hit 6 at one point? Was at 5 for ages. I have: Bass Collection SB320 Overwater Classic J (Tanglewood one) Yamaha TRBX 504 Squire VM Jazz The Squire is currently my favourite and also my newest bass. Bass Collection was my main gigging one for ages but we'll see how the Squire works out when I take it out.

Spoilsport OK, other than playing around with designs under a clear scratchplate I'll keep it as it is. For now

Nice one cheers, I think I'll order that clear one. I may have to put some stiff paper underneath it so that it doesn't droop into the cavities around the pup and control plate. I was also thinking of black hardware too but I should really stop now

The only trouble I'm having is finding one that will fit a Squier. Most places do US and Mex Fender ones but no one seems to do Squier. I guess I'll take the plunge on a Fender one and hope I don't have to file it down too much.

[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1412083298' post='2565441'] How about getting a clear scratchplate and putting a printed graphic below it. You could try all manner of colours that way. [/quote] That's a cracking idea mate. I would probably want to chop and change if I were putting custom designs in there. Thanks for the idea! [quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1412083298' post='2565441'] Faux leather was easier to find on a Sunday morning. [/quote] Isn't it just?

Yeah that's what I'm thinking too. It's pretty much spot on.

Yeah, there's about half an inch gap around the neck pickup and big trench heading towards the control plate so it doesn't look nice at all without one. I guess that's a big difference between the US made ones and the Squires. I took this pick to get an idea of how the pup was fixed in place but you can see what I mean. [attachment=172802:DSC_0207.JPG]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1411939820' post='2564213'] If you like the way it looks and sounds maybe live with it for a bit before making any decisions..? [/quote] Aye, spot on there again. I'm actually very happy with the sound and I'm only thinking about upgrading the pickups based on other people saying they would/should upgrade them. I'm not listening with my ears! If I do feel like I want to upgrade them then Entwistle pickups get a good write up on here. Anyway, that can wait. I was thinking of changing the pickguard to give the bass a more unique look. I've always thought that Fenders (and by their relation, Squires too) were the bass equivalent to a silver Ford Mondeo - every other one looks the same as the rest. However, I do think this particular colour scheme is a little different to most Fenders anyway. I may play around with pickguards still but I'd keep the original one. I'm liking it more and more each day Did you do any mods to yours Valhalalf? Thinking of doing any?

One dodgy photoshop job later... [attachment=172738:jazz-bass.jpg]

Now, where can I get something like this, in a Squire shape from the UK? http://www.greasygroove.com/proddetail.php?prod=0965-PG-F-S-D-JB Actually.. I could probably just get a sticker to go on it...

I do love this bass! Unbelievable value. I was trying to be good. I was down to 3 basses for around 3 hours before I realised that what was missing in my life was a nice jazz bass. The neck is just superb, so nice and slim yet still somewhat substantial so that it feels right, and bassy. I may put some upgraded pickups in at some point (and a KiOgan harness thing which seems to be highly recommended) but at the moment I like the sound as it is. Plenty of time for that though as this one is staying for a long time I think. I actually really like the black pickguard now. If anything, I'd keep the black and maybe try and get one with some graphic on it. First thing that comes to mind is the yellow on black Nirvana smiley face...

More pics! It's got a really nice subtle grain on the fretboard which is just lovely and not what I expected on a cheap bass. I love it [url="https://flic.kr/p/pqWQR6"][/url] [url="https://flic.kr/p/pqEBQz"][/url] [url="https://flic.kr/p/pqVm5C"][/url] [url=https://flic.kr/p/p9t42n][/url] [url=https://flic.kr/p/poV2HU][/url] [url=https://flic.kr/p/poV3uy][/url] [url=https://flic.kr/p/pqEF7p][/url] [url=https://flic.kr/p/p9sDfW][/url] [url=https://flic.kr/p/p9rSyT][/url] [url=https://flic.kr/p/p9sbDw][/url]

Well if I want bling I do have my Tanglewater: [url=https://flic.kr/p/jCjPat][/url]

I think discreet is bang on the money there. Nothing will match the block inlays like a black pickguard. It's grown on me massively I have to say. Not that I disliked it, I just thought a bit of bling would liven it up and make it stand out.

I sold my lovely Dean Hillsboro today (shame to let it go but a MM pickup isn't for me it seems) so had to cheer myself up somehow. So, having seen a couple of bands play with jass basses I decided that I had a jazz bass sized gap in my life. I've had contemporary jazzes with soapbars, P/J jazz shaped basses but never a proper jazz. So that had to change. I popped down to my local PMT in Bristol (great shop, great guys in there) and tried a few basses out. I'd shortlisted it t a VM jazz and a Jaguar special - both Squires. They only had a Troy Sanders Squire Jaguar in and I didn't like that. The tone just didn't stand out for me. It seemed quite lost. Nice bass otherwise, especially for the price. So I tried a CAR Squire VM Jazz. Oh my, it was lovely! It played just right for me. It wasn't too heavy, nicely balanced and substantial, but not heavy. (I weighed it just now actually and it's 8lbs 9oz). The sound is just classic jazz bass of course. So having played it I asked if I could compare it with an American Standard Jazz, just to set a benchmark. Bear in mind that the Squire was £246 and the US one was £1150. The US one was lighter. Build quality flawless where the Squire was "merely" excellent. It would take a nit-picker to list any differences really. The US jazz had custom shop pickups and sounded more refined and mellower and "just nice" in that "hell yeah, that's just nice" kind of way. I mean that as a big compliment by the way. The Squire though just sounded right. It played right, it felt right and it sounded right. There just wasn't £900 worth of difference between the two. I'm not knocking the US model, it's a mighty fine bass, it's just that the Squire really felt like my kinda bass. I tried a natural ash Squire VM too as I quite fancied that as the finish but it was way heavier than the CAR one. I estimate 10 - 11lbs based on my experience with my Tanglewaters. So I ended up buying the CAR one and I'm well happy with it. I've always rated the Squires quite highly and you just can't knock them for this price. So here's a pic and I'll upload more once I get it out in daylight tomorrow hopefully: [attachment=172695:10681707_10152311342886555_1617797028_n.jpg] Now, here's a question... black isn't my favourite colour as a pickguard. Anyone got any pics of a CAR jazz with a maple fretboard with black inlays with a pickguard that's an interesting colour? Let's see 'em!