Squier Jaguar Modifications?

[Frank Blank]

I have had a scoot around the site and can't seem to find a definitive thread on this, please feel free to disabuse me of this notion and direct me if incorrect. I am selling up all my full scale basses in order to completely move over to short scale. Initially I was considering a Chowny but I am leaning towards getting a Squier Jaguar and modifying it, if, indeed, it needs any mods. Any opinions on this, any people out there who have modified a Squier Jaguar, if so what mods have been good/bad, any people who think it unnecessary? Any opinions, thoughts welcome... 

[borntohang]

Not to invoke damned names or anything, but there's an excellent and huge thread over at TB regarding the Jaguar SS. I believe it's actually onto it's third incarnation because of post limits. The most common mods are a heavier bridge to add a bit more sustain, an upgraded J pickup as the stock one is regarded as pretty weak, and lighter tuners to prevent neckdive. 

Personally I've done a lot of work to my JSS - not all of it useful. I changed the bridge out for a Wilkinson hi-mass ,which is a nice quality bridge but I can't say I noticed a huge amount of difference. I got another Wilkinson J pickup to replace the stock and that did make a difference. Great sounding pickup for not a lot of money. The stock P is generally well regarded and I really like it so haven't touched that.

I've also done a lot of wiring mods which are mostly for my own amusement, although not as many as some of the posters in that thread (I think it's AltGrendel who turned his into an active true stereo monster...). The easiest mod with the biggest difference, as with any short-scale bass, is to put some higher gauge strings on. I've been using .105's and it vastly improved the response, sound, and feel across the board.

They're neat little basses and I've used mine for all kinds of stuff. Get a lot of comments about how surprised people are when I get up with this toy-looking thing and then this roar comes out. Originally I just wanted a cheap bass that wouldn't aggravate my tendonitis like a full-scale but I've come to really appreciate it. I have a friend who is a serious session player and ended up picking one up to replace his vintage Musicmaster that had got too fragile for the road, so there's at least one pro out there using them too.

 

Edited January 10, 2018 by borntohang

[Frank Blank]

7 minutes ago, borntohang said:

Not to invoke damned names or anything, but there's an excellent and huge thread over at TB regarding the Jaguar SS. I believe it's actually onto it's third incarnation because of post limits.

I had a feeling someone would kindly point me in the direction of an excellent and huge thread! Thanks. Your comment confirms what I was thinking, tuners, bridge, J pup but I hadn’t considered the strings so that’s cool advice. Did you change tuners?

[jezzaboy]

I got one for Xmas. Put on a set of D`addrio strings, Gotoh reverse tuners, Gotoh standard bridge, black racing stripes and strap locks.

 

A lot of people seem to change the pickups but I like the original ones. The tuners and the bridge were in the spares box. I didn`t like the Fender strings so they went right away. I`m really liking the bass.

[borntohang]

18 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

I had a feeling someone would kindly point me in the direction of an excellent and huge thread! Thanks. Your comment confirms what I was thinking, tuners, bridge, J pup but I hadn’t considered the strings so that’s cool advice. Did you change tuners?

I changed one but only because I snapped the tuner stalk off - it's so light it gets chucked around a lot! There's actually a mod developed in that thread using cheap rare earth magnets to improve the output of the J pickup, which is apparently a vast difference and only costs a few quid.