Butterscotch Blonde Beauty in da.... Port! ;)

[Grand Wazoo]

Well this lovely Squier 50's P bass turned up at my office right on time, and I must say, it's a bit gorgeous for a blonde. It came in a nice bulky cardboard box with proper safety inserts.

Soon as I played it I realized that whoever tuned it, must know very little about basses as it was tuned at least 4 or 5 steps up and almost sounded like an electric guitar. That was soon sorted with the polytune iPhone app, and once I got the tuning back to normal everything was fine. The bass actually plays very nicely, it is just as light as the basswood lake placid which I had last year. But it's got this real "spank me" sound that someone like Flea would probably like. The pine wood is really peaky and resonant, niiiice! It has some very neat veins under the transparent paintwork, so also pleasing to the eye.

The bridge saddles needs to be lowered a touch and the neck is set straight. Never been too keen on the strings these come with so as soon as these die, I will fit Super Slinky's on.

I took a few pics with my mobile phone, quality is sh|te but just to give you an idea

Edited April 8, 2011 by Grand Wazoo

[EssentialTension]

Looks very nice.

[Grassie]

GAS...it's a terrible thing y'know? I like that a lot. How much did you pay, if you don't mind me asking? And did you say it was made from pine???

[Hobbayne]

where did you get it from? I may get one of those myself

[Dave Vader]

Oh I want one...
The lake placid blue used to put me off, but that new one looks proper lovely.
Need money...

[Grassie]

Sorry, just seen the related earlier thread...[b]RRP[/b][i][/i] £490 for a Squire???? Sheeeyet! Still want one though...

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Grant' post='1193014' date='Apr 8 2011, 04:09 PM']Sorry, just seen the related earlier thread...[b]RRP[/b][i][/i] £490 for a Squire???? Sheeeyet! Still want one though...[/quote]
That's not the price you'll pay - and they'll be in the For Sale section in a couple of months anyway.

Three threads on these now!

Edited April 8, 2011 by EssentialTension

[Grand Wazoo]

[quote name='Grant' post='1193014' date='Apr 8 2011, 04:09 PM']Sorry, just seen the related earlier thread...[b]RRP[/b][i][/i] £490 for a Squire???? Sheeeyet! Still want one though...[/quote]

I paid £329 all incl free courier next day delivery using DPD Couriers (they are the bllx, they text you and email you at every stage) from GuitarGuitar.

i must add, I was lucky, that was the last one. But they have 4 more on order and I can't guarantee whether the other 4 will be £329 or £490 as advertized.

I say get in there. I gave a link earlier [url="http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/bass_guitars_detail.asp?stock=11040414260931"]http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/bass_guitars...=11040414260931[/url]

[Raggy]

Are those frets wonky

[Cat Burrito]

I like the contours. I toyed with having them put into the slab body of my 51RI to give it a 54 / 55 look.

This looks to me like Squier are just continually raising their game

[Grand Wazoo]

[quote name='Raggy' post='1193052' date='Apr 8 2011, 04:33 PM']Are those frets wonky [/quote]

Not yet. But I have asked Sheldon to build one like that with fanned frets / 5 strings and reverse headstock, who knows... maybe one day he will say yes.

[iconic]

looks lovely, such a simple, clean, classic look, enjoy her.

it's only fair you do a youtube video, playing something to match the era.....Sam and Dave Soulman for instance

Edited April 8, 2011 by iconic

[mart]

That really does look nice. You have excellent taste GW!

Am I the only one thinking that these are a more fitting 60th anniversary P than the official Fender jobby?

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='mart' post='1193228' date='Apr 8 2011, 07:54 PM']That really does look nice. You have excellent taste GW!

Am I the only one thinking that these are a more fitting 60th anniversary P than the official Fender jobby?[/quote]
No you're not alone.

[Grand Wazoo]

I've got some better shots of it now, you can really see the wood grain on the back and sides, and also in the belly contour.

I have played it a couple of hours, set the intonation, the saddle height and tightened the machineheads it is perfect now, the only minus point is one I expected, and that is a very mediocre pickup, I needed to raise it towards the strings a fair deal to get a decent amount of low end. Luckily as soon as I have a spare half day I'll fit the Lollar and the correct wires and pots, isolate the control cavity as it does hum a fair bit when you take your hands away from the strings, but I fixed that on last year's model (the lake placid blue) I know just what to do with this one too.

One other thing to note about this pine wood malarky.... wow, once you plug it in, it's really resonant, that part I like a lot. Overall: great level of workmanship. the neck pocket is faultless as you can see below, tight and perfectly fitted. The tinted neck is a pleasure to look at, and really complements the body butterscoth colour.

We are very impressed here, even the gf said "oh please can that one be mine?" Wimmen, huh?

anyway sod Sue Rider! lol

[Bassman Sam]

These photos are gear porn at it's best, I think I'm in love.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

nice

[Schnozzalee]

This is the only one I don't like, I love your Dingwalls and the Fiesta red/ Pearl precision but I think i prefer the Placid Blue finish on these with chrome covers. I don't doubt it'll sound fine with the lollar if it resonates! I had a similar finish on a Tokai Hardpuncher n I wasn't keen - just my opinion

EDIT: That said...with some shinys

Edited April 8, 2011 by Schnozzalee

[Soloshchenko]

Just when I'd started to feel I didn't need another bass this comes along. I'll probably be getting a second hand one when they hit the for sale section here.

[merello]

[quote name='Grant' post='1193014' date='Apr 8 2011, 04:09 PM']Sorry, just seen the related earlier thread...[b]RRP[/b][i][/i] £490 for a Squire???? Sheeeyet! Still want one though...[/quote]
£329 at GG

[Grand Wazoo]

Here are a few anorak notes for those who are interested...

Last year, I've bought the same bass, the Lake Placid blue, (pic below) at a much cheaper price, I've bought it new from Nevada and paid £234. This one I've got from GuitarGuitar and costed me £329, thats £95 dearer than last year's model. Inflation and high oil prices, probably a combination of both but there you go.



I keep a record of all the details of every bass that go through these doors, to use as a future reference to compare basses specs, as in this case, and I recorded the weight of the Lake Placid Blue which has a basswood body at 9.12 lbs / 4.42 Kgs, now this Butterscotch Blonde has a pine body and weighs: 8.12 lbs / 3.96 Kgs that is exactly a pound lighter than the LPB one. Go figure?

I won't bother you with other details but the other major difference I've noted is in the neck profile, infact that the neck is shallower than the LPB throughout the whole neck length, and the fingerboard radius at the 12th fret on the Butterscotch is 0.04 less deep than the LPB and by being so, it matches the Classic Vibe Precision Fiesta Red instead of the orginal LPB which was slightly deeper and beefier.

I can only assume that this slight shaving of the neck profile has been done so to avoid the bass being neck heavy since the difference in weight between body woods i.e basswood vs. pine is so remarkable.

However this morning playing this bass compared to my other Squier Fiesta Red showed a disappointing comparison, this pickup on the Butterscotch lets it down big time, is thin, lifeless and no matter how you adjust the height, you never get an even sound. Too close to the E string side and it farts, too far and the balance is weak compared to the G and D strings. It's got to go, so I am going to swap it asap with the Lollar because as it is, it's just a joke, a pretend, sounds like crap I am afraid, I had forgotten how bad it was on the LPB, I remember swapping it straight away with a quarter pound Seymour Duncan for a reason, now I know why. Oh well the pickup is the only things that lets it down everything else is a bonus, lighter, more resonant and perfectly put together.

Edited April 9, 2011 by Grand Wazoo

[tom1946]

At its retail price you can pick up a good MIJ, I know I had one.

Great review as always GW

[Grand Wazoo]

[quote name='tom1946' post='1193663' date='Apr 9 2011, 11:36 AM']At its retail price you can pick up a good MIJ, I know I had one.

Great review as always GW [/quote]

Thank you for the good comment on the review, in case you didn't know, I also bought a CIJ (Crafted in Japan) last year and sold it to Clarky for £450, just before they were been discontinued, I have paid £499 for it, but the other criminal stores that were taking advantage of the fact that these were the last ones, some of them were flogging their last stock up to £680 - £700 so not quite the cost of this Squier, but (and this is a big but) the CIJ [b]weighed 10.14 lbs / 4.93 Kgs[/b] and was the heaviest bass I've ever owned, not only that, I tried to get on with the slab body (sans contour y'know?) but on a long night, both the sharpness of the non contoured body really started to dig into my forearm and the weight knackered me. Needless to say it was also [b]the best[/b] sounding Fender 51's reissue I have ever had but the discomfort didn't justify the value factor in the long run. We are in the year 2011 and manufacturers are building basses that weigh next to nothing, why should we put up with those dinosaurs just for the "vintage" effect?

[SignsOfDelirium_bassist]

Damn I wish I had one of these! So envious I don't suppose you know if the old style bridge/pickup covers will fit on these given the high mass bridge do you?

[Grand Wazoo]

[quote name='SignsOfDelirium_bassist' post='1193704' date='Apr 9 2011, 12:29 PM']Damn I wish I had one of these! So envious I don't suppose you know if the old style bridge/pickup covers will fit on these given the high mass bridge do you?[/quote]

I personally don't know, since I've never tried, not being too fond of them really, but I seem to recall seing some pictures of one or two with those covers on.

Put it this way, last year's Sonic Blue Classic Vibe Precision's used to come with them on and since those also have the hi-mass bridges it's safe to assume that if you find someone here that is willing to sell their cover there's not reason why you couldn't drill two holes on the body and fit that one or... worst case you can always order one as a spare from Fender, and for your info the part number is: 0077335000 - Chrome Bridge Cover on (572) Sonic Blue Only as you can see on this link: [url="http://www.squierguitars.com/pdf/SquierMasterPartsList.pdf"]http://www.squierguitars.com/pdf/SquierMasterPartsList.pdf[/url]