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Hi All I've been playing bass for about a year now after switching from guitar which I have played for many years. Funny thing is, I now never even think about playing guitar anymore as I am having so much fun with bass. I'm not overly serious and just play for fun and a Friday night jam with a few mates (drummer, guitarist and singer). However, I think the time has come to take some lessons. Only problem is I don't know of any tutors in Northern Ireland. So basically what I'm asking is does anyone know of any tutors over here? Around the Belfast/Bangor area would be great but I would be willing to travel further afield if necessary. Many Thanks David

[quote name='gjones' post='908680' date='Jul 28 2010, 09:52 PM']I was actually talking about the new ones which are out in September. Nobodys had the chance to play them yet.....but everybody wants one. I wouldn't worry too much about the pickups being misaligned on the VM bass you tried as I have an old standard Squire from 2002 which has the bridge and the pickups misaligned but it still plays and sounds great. I also have A Japanese Squier from the early 90's which is as good as Fender. I think you should go back to the shop and plug it in. If the strings sound unbalanced then there's a problem but if they don't (and it sounds and plays good).........buy it.[/quote] I took your advice and went back to the shop today. Needless to say I am now the proud owner of a Squier Vintage Modified Jazz (with a slightly wonky pickup). You were correct it sounds great and does not seem to be affected by this issue. Many Thanks. So far I'm finding all the positive reviews of this bass to be accurate. Sounds great, plays fantastic and looks good too. I slightly tweaked the neck to line it up a little better. My opinion is that the string spacing on the bridge is slightly too narrow causing this issue. As you can see from this picture if the neck is moved any more to line up the G perfectly then the E will be way out. I think if the string spacing at the bridge was just a smidge wider it would cure this. Edit.... My pics don't show for some reason Here's the links instead [url="http://www.ukimagehost.com/view/5d61facb1a1aeaee.jpg"]New VM[/url] [url="http://www.ukimagehost.com/view/5d61facb1a350ace.jpg"]PIckup closeup[/url]

[quote name='gjones' post='908657' date='Jul 28 2010, 09:05 PM']So many people are lusting after these Squiers................but nobody's actually played one yet. They may be pants![/quote] I didn't get as far as plugging them in and actually hearing them but they did seem to play really nice. In fact the first one had such a nice action that I would have bought it if I had not noticed the issue with the pickup. The finish seemed really good on them too. Shame about the alignment really or it would have been a sale.

[quote name='Johnston' post='908652' date='Jul 28 2010, 09:02 PM']Different bass then Anything of interest in??[/quote] There was a Stingray hanging right beside it. Looked nice

[quote name='bumnote' post='908603' date='Jul 28 2010, 08:12 PM']I had a similar issue with a mi japan jazz bass but it was easily fixed by undoing the necks screws slightly and moving the neck. Although the neck pocket was tight, there was still enough movement to help get the strings aligned[/quote] To be honest I don't think moving the neck would fix this..... It looked way out and also some of the other strings were lined up ok, so if the neck was realigned then the other strings would be out. Is it possible that some of these have had the wrong size bridge fitted at the factory? (too small) There was quite a bit of room between the outer strings and the edge of the neck.

[quote name='Johnston' post='908577' date='Jul 28 2010, 07:36 PM']hat wouldn't be the one that was hanging in Matchetts by any chance?? If you don't mind me asking how long ago was it, there is a forumer bought one there a few weeks back. Depending on the time line it could be the same one.[/quote] It was indeed the one in Matchetts and that was today.

Hi All On the back of this thread and the thread over on Talkbass, I went out to have a browse and maybe buy one of the Jazz Vintage Modified with the block inlay. The guy in the shop (Dawsons in Bangor County Down) had to go in the back and get a brand new, virgin, still in the packaging one for me. However whilst looking it over I noticed that the G string was running way out of line with the pole pieces on the neck pickup and I mean way out....as in, not even going over the poles but off to one side. The D string was also slightly out but not nearly as bad as the G. I pointed this out and the chap said its fine and wont affect the tone. Off course I politely made my excuses handed him the bass and left. Still determined to try one of these out I went to another shop to have a look at another one. This time it was a display one hanging on the wall and again this one was exactly the same. I showed the salesman and thankfully he seemed to agree that this didn't look right. Unfortunately he didn't have another one to look at so my investigation ended there. I had a quick check on google images and have found a few images showing this, although none of the pics look as bad as the two I have seen in the shops. [url="http://www.promusicalaska.com/store_images/5216-300.jpg"]Misaligned picpup[/url] [url="http://cachepe.samedaymusic.com/media/quality,85/brand,sameday/0326702521v3_hi-a32db93d45454671b8c18533c60b10ac.jpg"]Image of misaligned pickups[/url] To me it did not look as if the neck was misaligned because some of the pole pieces did actually line up, therefore if the neck was moved to line up the G, then the E would be out. (hope I explained that ok) To me it looks as if the pickups are actually slightly too big for the string spacing. My questions are ..... Am I being too picky and would this not even be a problem? Also, have any of the owners of these basses noticed this and are they all like this and I have just been unlucky to not see a good one yet? I really want to buy one of these .....but I am a bit concerned by this (possible) issue. I should point out that I'm relatively new to basses. I'm a reformed guitarist of 25 years and have only been playing bass for a few months, so I'm no expertand maybe I'm way off with this. Many thanks.