dmc79

That Charcoal Frost Metallic looks badass and no mistake. Good to know that the Fender hi-mass bridge is a drop in replacement. That Aguilar Ray type pickup looks great too. I keep being drawn to the orange FSR one with matching headstock. I wonder how long these special runs are generally on sale for. I quite fancy trying a medium scale bass, especially at those prices. I would love to see some weights posted from those who own them, also is there any neck dive? Thanks Edit: Just remembered that @Badscrew quoted exactly 4Kg on the medium scale thread for his. @0175westwood29 @NoirBass are you able to weigh yours please? I have a Squier VM Jaguar short scale which comes in at 7.2lbs / 3.2Kg, but I read that the weight & neck dive on those can vary wildly, so just wonder if there is much variation of weight in these too. Thanks. One more question: I see that it's a jazz width nut, but what is the neck thickness like, front to back? Does anyone have Calipers & can measure thickness at 1st fret please? Specs state "Slim and comfortable “C”-shaped neck profile" so I guess it's jazz like in terms of front to back profile, but would love someone to confirm this. Cheers.

Bought a lovely Squier VM PJ bass & hard case from Matt. Arrived quickly, well packed and as described, many thanks.

I don’t normally post these, and I never thought I’d even own a Squier, let alone get excited about it. After years of mostly owning Mexican and American Fenders, I’ve somehow ended up with this: 2013 Squier Vintage Modified PJ from @hooky_lowdown A recent peek into the world of short scale in the form of a Squier VM Jaguar, has made me think about looking after my back and opened my eyes to the fact that there are lighter basses out there outside of Alder bodies. For some time I’ve been wanting to try one of the Fender American Special P basses, made from circa 2011-2014 (Highway One update I think), after hearing that they have slimmer necks, and lighter, slimmer bodies than standard Ps. Well apart from the fact that mine says Squier on the headstock, I think the VM PJ offers the same, if not more, than the American Specials, from what I can see: P width at nut, but a slim jazz like front to back thickness at 1st fret of 0.792 (virtually the same as the Am Specials) as opposed to the 0.839 of the 2008 USA P bass I have. Whilst that’s not a baseball bat by any means, the slimmer PJ one feels more comfy to me. The weight (advertised by seller as 7.6lbs) comes in at 7.2lbs / 3.2 Kg (exact same as my SS Jaguar) on my own digital luggage scale and it’s so nice to strap on. Perhaps they missed a trick with not mentioning the slimmer neck on the online specs as they show ‘Modern C neck’ implying it’s the same as a Mexican / American P neck when the reality is it’s a fair bit slimmer front to back. So, this has the slim neck of the American Specials, an even lighter weight (I believe they are around 8-8.5lbs), is less than half the used price of one, and has a hi-mass bridge and the bonus of the extra J pickup. I think this is a great bass for the money. I’ve never been crazy about side jacks, probably because the only one I had before (MIM Deluxe active jazz) always felt in the way during sit down practice and it was before I discovered right angled leads. But with the right angle jack looped over the strap, I actually really like the clean look of not seeing the jack when looking down at the bass. Even thought it sounds great already, I’ll be putting in a Kiogon solderless wiring loom, changing it from VVT to VBT, and giving option to easily change out pickups if I choose to. The Candy Apple Red is a delight to behold. Photos really don’t do it justice. I had a Chrome Red for years and that was quite bright and almost looked a bit pink in certain lighting conditions, this is a more deep red and has a copper / orange tinge to it that is a lot more noticeable in person. It’s a really nice colour and it’s so great to be back to a red bass with black plate. Never thought I’d find a nice lightweight P bass with slimmer neck. I’ve never had a PJ bass before and now I have two! Freshly strung with Roto Swing bass 66 steel rounds, fancied a change as I normally use the Nickel played version of those, a bit harsh on the fingers but sounds so good with just a bit of J blended in.

Paul bought a P bass pickguard from me and paid up quickly - many thanks

I've never played a Stingray, and am not a Sunburst fan, but this looks pretty awesome. That roasted maple neck, holy cow!

@Merton Thanks for the Gator Jazzmaster gig bag pics. Is that the $40 or $80 version?

Got a TGI gig bag recently, I presume it's a bass one, my SS Jaguar fits in with about 3 inches to spare. The padding is quite basic and it feels a bit flimsy, no weight to it, so a light bass swings about a bit as you carry it.

Also put the D'Addario XL Nickel Wounds in Medium gauge (50-105) on my short scale Squier VM Jaguar. Look out for the packet with 'EXL160S', orange circle and blue strip along top. Most said of this bass that going to a heavier gauge than stock (40-95) improved the string tension and took any floppiness out of especially the E string. Seemed a lot better in this regard after the change for me.

Played my SS Jag the other week and found it ok dialled in with mostly P. . . the J is notoriously weak but I found the P ok. . . that is until I A/B'd it with my newly acquired used Squier VM PJ. That bass's pickups smoked those of the jag, even using P only on both, the Jag pickups were seriously lacking, to the point where I'm not sure I want to play it until I've replaced them with a P/J pickup set. Looking at the specs for both of the discontinued Squiers I have, the pickups are: Squier VM Jaguar short scale: Neck: Split single coil Precision bass Bridge: Single coil Jazz bass Squier VM Precision PJ: Neck: Fender-Designed Split single coil Precision bass Bridge: Fender-Designed Single coil Jazz bass I accept that the SS Jag was a very cheap bass, and as such I guess the stock pickups are about as basic as it gets. Did anyone change out the pickups on their SS Jag for a full upgraded P/J set, and if so what for? I believe the EMG Geezers & DiMarzio DP126 sets are popular. Not sure how much money I want to throw at it, as I'm still on the fence with short scale, but I want to give it a fair crack, and feel I can only do that with better pickups in it. Thanks.

Loving the black on silver here. Recently got a Squier VM Jaguar short scale in those colours, with black headstock. Love that colour scheme. I put black pickguard screws on too. @BassAdder27which bridge did you put on? What's the weight like on these? I know weight rarely (if ever) is listed on specs, but online spec describes this as 'relatively light' - still not that helpful really. Comments like this really make it seem like new Fender USA basses are hugely overpriced these days.

Bought a set of new strings from Martin. Arrived quickly & well packed. Thanks

Thanks. Was hoping for it to be lighter as I think these look great

Thanks. I will have look / play as regards to your questions. I played the Jaguar properly for the first time on Sunday. It was a little weird to begin with adjusting to the finger positions of a shorty, but soon I was really enjoying it. I think it was getting used to a jazz width nut & slimmer neck AND playing a shorty all at the same time after years of playing P basses that had me really having to concentrate! I can't say the fret buzz bothered me when plugged in, when I was using a pick (.73 Dunlop nylon) I was doing so with a light touch and I have to say it was a lot of fun to play. Along with the shorter fret reach, the best thing was the lighter weight - this thing weighs 7.2lbs / 3.2Kg! Also I have read that neck dive is a common Jaguar problem - I guess the hi-mass bridge helps, but it feels perfectly balanced. I certainly don't need lightweight tuners to help balance it. If I ever do change the tuners, it will be for greater tuning accuracy / cosmetic reasons, not balancing ones. It's too early to say if I'll ever go all in on shorties, but I really enjoy playing the Jaguar, it felt so effortless after the initial change. The other thing I had to get used to was the P/J setup, as I've never had one before. I'd read elsewhere that there is a volume dip issue with these when both pickup volumes are fully cranked, that it feels like power is being drained from the P one. I certainly noticed this, along with the J hum as it was turned up. Ended up with just a little J mixed in. Not crazy about having 2 volume knobs though, and had a scratchy tone pot, so have a KiOgon VBT (Vol-Blend-Tone ) pre-wired solderless loom with upgraded jack on the way. May look into replacing just the J pickup with a noiseless one, or going for a full P/J set sometime. At least with the loom, it will be easy to change them as I don't do soldering. Anyway, the short scale Squier VM Jaguar is a great bass for the money and a lot of fun to play.

I should add, I’m talking playing acoustically on lap here, I guess it won’t bother me as much when plugged in, but I can do the same on my P and no rattle

Wouldn’t have bothered me as it’s not like I fitted it myself anyway. I may have to add in a bit more neck relief. I just did a quick search on short scale fret buzz and a few tips were: Use heavier gauge strings for a little more tension (I have 50-105 on anyway so should be fine) Not be too heavy handed (I wasn’t bludgeoning the strings anyway, they just wanted to buzz so easily) Pick nearer the bridge (will try, even though I won’t be using the J pickup much) Do you think it’s just a neck relief issue then and nothing to do with that bridge? I’ll have to measure the action of my P at the bridge which is perfect for me and see if I need to adjust the string height too

Quick question. Is fret buzz a common problem with short scale basses? I realise of course that this it could be an issue with a bass of any scale, but I am surprised how much buzz I get from my new Squier VM Jaguar shorty. There was some buzz when it arrived, but then I took it for a setup as the action was stupidly high. It was lowered a little but the buzz seems exactly the same as before. I don’t like a really low action anyway so I certainly don’t want to go any lower and get even more buzz. The guitar shop guy did mention something about the bridge not being quite right (Babicz FCH which was on when I bought it used) and you can tell by the holes that it wasn’t a drop in upgrade, he did say that it’s a good bridge in itself, but that it may possibly need some kind of adjustment / refitting another time. Would this be something that could cause fret buzz? I did experiment a bit with trying to be a bit less heavy handed, and the buzz went away a bit, but then I moved over to my P bass and the action was spot on for me with no buzzing. I’d just like to know if there is some way of sorting this, or if it’s like a common thing with short scale basses or something. The thing is I would quite like short scale to work for me, just for the sake of my back and hands, as the Jag is so light and comfy to hold. Thanks

Just curious, how much do your medium Squier Affinity H Jaguars weigh? Thanks

Tried one once, couldn’t get used to the string spacing.

I’ve never been one for having multiple basses at once, but this week I did get a short scale bass just because I’ve wanted to try one for a while. When we play songs in silly keys like Eb and Bb, that first to fourth fret stretch kills my hand, so the idea of a shorter (and lighter) bass than my Precision really piqued my curiosity. Got a Squier VM Jaguar, after reading a lot about people loving the P/J pickup combination, fast & slim neck and contoured body shape (some short scales are slab bodied like the Fender Mustang). I took it to a local guitar shop for a setup but can’t wait to get it back and play around, seems like it will be a lot of fun and it’s so light. Don’t know yet if short scale will work for me but I’ll give it a try. It’s a cheap bass but I’ve read that players love the neck & body so much that they don’t mind using it as a mod platform and throwing money at pickup, bridge, tuners, electronics replacements, etc. Mine came with an upgraded bridge from the previous owner which is nice. It seems to be a lot of bass for the money - they were discontinued early 2019 and can now go for more used than they were new.

Fender Jazz does seem a popular choice. I’ve seen more of those in the bands at big worship events than any other bass. I was thinking recently that I don’t think we’ve had much gear chat in this topic. It would be interesting to share what bass / basses we play in church, whether we play through amps or in ear monitors, if we use pedals, etc. Anyone care to share? I’ll kick things off: I play a Fender USA Precision through a small Pedaltrain Nano board which is mainly just a tuner (Boss TU-3W Waza Craft) & Tech21 VTDI which goes straight to the sound desk through XLR. Everything on the pedalboard is powered by a CIOKS DC5 isolated power supply mounted underneath. The bass, pedals, power supply & board itself were all bought used. It still all cost a fair bit, but it’s quality stuff and is by far the best setup I’ve had in over 20 years of playing. For years I didn’t even have a pedal tuner, I used to tune up before practicing then plug straight into the amp! The VTDI is really nice and versatile, I used an MXR M81 preamp with DI before, it was good but very transparent, it hardly seemed to do anything at all really. VTDI gives you cab simulation, so it sounds like you’re playing through an amp even though you’re not. I now couldn’t imagine not having a cab sim on a ‘silent stage’, bass sounds so sterile without it, sometimes others play bass (not always their main instrument) and just go through a tuner to the desk and it can sound quite dull and flat. My VTDI ‘magic box’ certainly adds something special in the mix. It’s a pedal you have to take your time with, as there’s some settings I tried which I really disliked (it can get very clanky / grindy / aggressive for example), or sometimes I liked a setting at home practice but then it didn’t work on a Sunday. It has a blend too so you control how much of the cab sim & your dry bass signal you want. Some people put it up to the max, but I prefer it around 50/50. It’s nice to be able to add a touch of drive on it too. Learning how the drive / character / blend knobs interact is a task in itself. You can do EQ adjustments on it too. It does a lot of great stuff and perhaps it’s only downfall is not being able to use it as a headphone amp too, as quite a few DI boxes / cab sims offer this now. At home I practice through a small Ampeg practice amp but generally with IEMs plugged into it. The amp is loud even just on volume level 1-2. I dread to think what would happen if I turned it up to 11! I’m playing around with a couple of overdrives (Darkglass Vintage Microtubes & EHX Bass Soul Food) but it’s more just for fun at home. Other than a bit of drive / extra grit here and there, I’m not one for effects. I’ve had a couple of chorus pedals, but done nothing more than play along to some Cure songs with them, get bored and then sell them. Same with a flanger. Never bothered with stuff like octavers & envelope filters (what the heck even is one of those?!) I just want to get a nice tone and to sound good in the earphones and hopefully in the room & online mix too. We ditched amps / powered speakers a few years ago and use IEMs (Shure SE215) through Allen & Heath personal mixers. We have a sub speaker too. It took a while to get used to in ears, but I can’t imagine not having them now, the ability to turn instruments & vocals up and down as you choose is pretty clever. One last thing is that I’m maybe one of the last few old school worship team musicians left still holding a torch for printed music. Everyone seems to use iPads now. I prefer paper. Never owned an iPad and can’t say I ever want to! Will enjoy seeing what you all use . . .

Love it! This reminds of a time in my first church back home when I was in the congregation and sat next to a guy with learning difficulties who had took a shine to me. He had trouble pronouncing some words, and as we were about to stand up and worship, he turned to me and enthusiastically said “We’re gonna do some sinning now!”. Seconds later as we rose to our feet, he excitedly declared “I love sinning!” I didn’t know what to do with myself. He said it loudly enough that a couple of others nearby also heard it. I just looked at him and smiled and said “Me too!”