Getting a Squier Classic Vibe bass VI to play well

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I have an Andertons Factory Special Run LPB Bass VI, which I bought soon after they became available. I fitted it with a set of LaBella flats and set it up as best I could without dismantling the bass. While it was fun to play, it was ultimately a little underwhelming.

 

One problem was that the E string touched one of the bridge screwheads, causing a sitar-like buzz. To fix this, I wedged a Herco nylon plectrum under the string at the point of contact. Another issue was the trem — it had no usable travel and was essentially as much use as indicators on a BMW. The strings also felt disappointing: too floppy, lacking tightness and definition. Trying to get anywhere near the Wichita Lineman tone was pointless.

 

I’d occasionally take it out for a noodle, but I’d never recorded with it or played it live. Today, I wondered whether a thicker shim in the neck pocket might help. I cut a few pieces from an Amazon brown card envelope, put a capo on the neck, loosened the strings, and carefully removed the neck screws. I was able to ease the neck out of the pocket, fit the shim, and reassemble it.

 

I then spent a little time setting it up with just the tiniest hint of relief. Because of the shim, the bridge had to be raised considerably. I had no idea which Allen key size was needed, but after some trial and error, I found that 1 mm did the trick. I also raised the pickups. With the greater break angle, the strings now feel tighter and more focused. The E string no longer vibrates against the screwhead, and the trem now has useful travel.

 

I dialled in a twangy 60s Fender amp sound on my Fender Mustang GTX100, with tremolo and spring reverb, and spent a couple of hours playing. It’s amazing how such a small change in neck angle has completely transformed the bass. I’m now looking forward to recording it, and plan to use it in this month’s Basschat composition challenge.

Edited 10 hours ago by Jean-Luc Pickguard

[Rodders]

Glad you could find a solution to make it work for you, especially with the flats.

 

I love the sound of a Bass VI, I tried a friend's custom model that is based on the fender design but large mitts and sausage fingers don't like the close string spacing!

[HeadlessBassist]

7 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

I had no idea which Allen key size was needed, but after some trial and error, I found that 1 mm did the trick.

 

All American OEM basses use imperial Alun Keys. You can get an imperial set from B&Q for relatively few pennies. The one you really wanted there was probably the 0.05" one. 

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

50 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

All American OEM basses use imperial Alun Keys. You can get an imperial set from B&Q for relatively few pennies. The one you really wanted there was probably the 0.05" one. 

This is for a Squier, so I knew i'd need a metric one.

[Cato]

I got one of the purple ones from Andertons a couple years ago.

 

I bought a  set of Bass VI Newtone rounds at the same time because I'd heard bad things about the stock strings and I was prepared to buy a new bridge to sort out the widely reported intonation issues.

 

However when it arrived I quickly decided that it was fine as stock, it even took me over a year of playing it pretty much every day to put the new strings on it.

 

The E string on the old set required a fairly gently touch, hit it too hard and it would choke out because of the low tension, but nothing that really required a big change in my picking style.

 

The new strings, when I finally got round to fitting them sorted that, although they did make the trem a fair bit stiffer it's still completely usable, although I use it in a fairly subtle way to add a bit of vibrato. I'm not trying to do dive bombs with it.

 

Played through my HX stomp with a ton of reverb and a touch of compression it gives me exactly the baritone 'surf' tones I bought it for.

 

All in all one of my better purchases, I guess maybe I just got a bit lucky or the specs on that particular FSR run were slightly different to the earlier models that most of the online negativity is directed towards.