Squier Rascal bass anyone?

[Marvin]

Also available in black apparently 

 

 

 

[mr4stringz]

A very hopeful yes. Especially given what the original Rascals now go for.

 

It'll be a different beast to the Fender version by the look of the PUs and controls with just a vol and tone and a selector switch.

 

Hopefully it’s not stupidly heavy either. 
 

Like the green, love it in black (I always do with basses). A mirrored or black scratchplate on one of these would look ace.

Edited April 30, 2023 by mr4stringz

[SurroundedByManatees]

Looks like it could be a very fun but big sounding bass. Imo it looks great already. I'll probably buy one as I have no shorty

[BetaFunk]

4 minutes ago, SurroundedByManatees said:

Looks like it could be a very fun but big sounding bass. Imo it looks great already. I'll probably buy one as I have no shorty

I have to remind myself at times that my Fender Rascal really is short scale. 

[Rich]

That would look fabulous in seafoam green with the pearly plate. 

[SurroundedByManatees]

Burgundy mist would be a no brainer for me. Would even buy it if I didn't play bass..

[Cato]

I'd be very interested to hear some clips.

 

If this does a decent imitation of the Gibson shortscale neck mudbucker thing I may find it difficult to resist.

[Rayman]

That’s very cool….. I’ve never heard of them.

 

Sonic Blue with an off white pearl plate….. I’d buy one 

[JohnDaBass]

15 hours ago, Rich said:

That would look fabulous in seafoam green with the pearly plate. 

+1

Plus maple neck

[BetaFunk]

13 hours ago, Rayman said:

That’s very cool….. I’ve never heard of them.

 

It's part of Fender's Squier Paranormal Series which according to Fender brings several forgotten gems from the Fender archive back to life although the Squier Rascal is a quite a bit different to the Fender Rascal. 

 

[Baloney Balderdash]

Yes!

 

Another short scale!

 

And for once with great upper fret access.

 

Could totally see myself getting one of these, and maybe even in that metallic green of the one pictures in the OP.

 

I assume, judging from how the pole pieces are arranged, that the 2 humbucker essentially are 2 P pickups under the cover, which would be right up my alley as well.

 

Though it would have been even better though if the pole pieces had been arranged as a reverse P, so that the natural tone difference between the 2 thicker lower string and 2 upper thinner strings would have been equaled out some instead of being emphasized.  

 

And if the black one had had the same cream pickguard as the green one, instead of pearl.

 

Edited April 30, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[Grahambythesea]

I wonder why they chose those pickups when the original had 3 lipsticks?

[JohnDaBass]

3 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

 

 

I assume, judging from how the pole pieces are arranged, that the 2 humbucker essentially are 2 P pickups under the cover, which would be right up my alley as well.

 

Nope. 

It appears to be using the humbucking PUPs used on the Squier Tele Bass. 

They appear to be a modern ( lower cost?) version of the PUPs used on the '72 Fender Telecaster bass.

The Squier Tele bass PUPs had a much wider tonal range than the originals, an extended top end but lower output.

I love the '72 PUPs I have on an all original '72 Fender Telecaster Bass  and also an original '72 PUP graphed into a Mike Dirnt  MIM bass.

I would be very happy to own one of these Squier Rascals.

 

[Cato]

4 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

I assume, judging from how the pole pieces are arranged, that the 2 humbucker essentially are 2 P pickups under the cover, which would be right up my alley as well.

Difficult to say for sure.

 

The pole piece arrangement on the covers is how fender traditionally package their humbuckers.

 

This is my 72 Thinline tele from c2000.

 

Regardless of what the pole pieces might indicate there's a traditional double coil humbucker under there.

 

I think they started doing it with the Tele Deluxe in the early 70s, maybe to diffentiate their humbuckers from the standard Gibson PAF type.

 

That's not to say it won't eventually turn out to be a split coil in humbucker housing, but we won't know until the specs are released.

 

Edit: Note to self, clean tele pickups at next string change.

Edited April 30, 2023 by Cato

[Baloney Balderdash]

Anyone knows what the strings spacing is likely to be at bridge, the standard 19mm spacing, as 4 string P and J Basses, or more likely 17mm like for instance the Mustang and Bronco short scale basses?

 

Also fretboard radius?

 

Edited April 30, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[msb]

I love Danos so the original had some appeal. 

[neepheid]

Here's way too much info about the "Wide Range" humbucker:

 

https://lawingmusicalproducts.com/dr-lawings-blog/the-wide-range-humbucker-and-the-genius-of-seth-lover

 

I had a short scale Fender with these pickups (Starcaster) and it was mud city.  Played it live once and stayed on the bridge pickup the whole night just to try and get some cut through.

[MichaelDean]

19 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Anyone knows what the strings spacing is likely to be at bridge, the standard 19mm spacing, as 4 string P and J Basses, or more likely 17mm like for instance the Mustang and Bronco short scale basses?

 

Also fretboard radius?

 

Looks like they've put a Mustang bridge on it, so I'd say it'll be the same. 

 

You'll probably need to wait for the actual release date to get the fretboard radius though. 

[MichaelDean]

Just had an email from Andertons, they're available for pre-order now.

 

https://www.andertons.co.uk/brands/squier/paranormal-series/squier-paranormal-rascal-bass-hh-sherwood-green

https://www.andertons.co.uk/brands/squier/paranormal-series/squier-paranormal-rascal-bass-hh-metallic-black

 

@Baloney Balderdash they're 9.5" radius.

[Baloney Balderdash]

I need to get that green one! 

 

Unsure how I will get on with the 9.5" radius fretboard honestly, I really prefer a flatter fretboard radius, ideally 12", but just about every other aspect of this bass, from the looks, it looks just absolutely stunning to me, to the relatively tight 17mm Mustang string spacing, the great upper frets access, and of course it's 30" short scale length, which is the main attraction to me, I wouldn't even consider it to begin with had it been a regular 34" long scale bass, and, yes, as said, just about everything else, is right up my alley, and for a quite reasonable price even, that I would actually be able to afford.

 

Love it!

 

Thomann got it up for preorder as well, says it'll be in stock in 4 to 5 weeks, so just about 1 month waiting time: 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/squier_paranormal_rascal_bass_hh_swg.htm

 

At an ever so slightly higher price though, but for someone like me who live in a country within EU it'll still be cheaper to order from Thomann for me.

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[MartinB]

These look great! IMO all guitars with dark fretboards should have painted headstocks.

[stingray_stinger72]

These look pretty cool. Squier paranormal stuff in general is a really good idea

 

There is also a 12 string jazzmaster for this year thats veeery nice looking imo

[neepheid]

On 30/04/2023 at 15:41, Grahambythesea said:

I wonder why they chose those pickups when the original had 3 lipsticks?

 

I think the whole point of the "Paranormal" series is to create instruments that could have been, but hitherto have not existed.  As in "spooky, I dreamed about a bass like that" type of thing...

[Jono Bolton]

There's also a shell pink one

 

[Jonesy]

9 hours ago, Jono Bolton said:

There's also a shell pink one

 

 

 

Ohhh, have you seen that Shell Pink one anywhere online? Can't seem to find it on the Squier site or any other retailers. 

 

GAK have the Sherwood green one for £380 and that's mighty tempting!