Bass VI — worth upgrading from a Classic vibe to a vintera II ?

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I've been playing my lake placid blue squier classic vibe bass vi a lot recently — It was a little underwhelming until I shimmed the neck and raised the bridge, but now it is a lot of fun to play.

 

It has a set of LaBella flatwounds on it and although I have not noticed any obvious shortcomings, however I can't help but wonder whether I should upgrade to the vintera II bass VI?

 

I'd appreciate any comments from anyone who has spent some time with both the classic vibe and vintera II versions of the Bass IV.

 

Edited September 22 by Jean-Luc Pickguard

[Inga]

wouldn't say it's worth the change, very similar in feel on both honestly, I'd just stick with what you've got and make it work

[Cosmo Valdemar]

I haven't played the Vintera VI, but having played the Vintera Precision it wasn't drastically better than the equivalent Squier.

 

I have a Squier VI and it is wonderful.

Edited October 15 by Cosmo Valdemar

[Musicman666]

i was checking out the squires ...a couple or red flags being the potential intonation issues on the low e and some kind of acceptance that the neck pocket was a little open to neck swivel on the secondhand one i checked out ( maybe some would consider this a positive feature?) ...so i ended up paying about twice as much for a vinterra ...hard to point to any one particular thing other than to say the vintera just felt and played and sounded better ...why?   i have no idea ...maybe im just imagining it since i didn't have both side by side to compare at the same time but it does seem to ooze quality...

[Cosmo Valdemar]

8 minutes ago, Musicman666 said:

i was checking out the squires ...a couple or red flags being the potential intonation issues on the low e and some kind of acceptance that the neck pocket was a little open to neck swivel on the secondhand one i checked out ( maybe some would consider this a positive feature?) ...so i ended up paying about twice as much for a vinterra ...hard to point to any one particular thing other than to say the vintera just felt and played and sounded better ...why?   i have no idea ...maybe im just imagining it since i didn't have both side by side to compare at the same time but it does seem to ooze quality...

You've done the right thing - tried both and gone with the one that felt better. Congratulations, it's a beauty!

[BigRedX]

45 minutes ago, Musicman666 said:

i was checking out the squires ...a couple or red flags being the potential intonation issues on the low e and some kind of acceptance that the neck pocket was a little open to neck swivel on the secondhand one i checked out ( maybe some would consider this a positive feature?) ...so i ended up paying about twice as much for a vinterra ...hard to point to any one particular thing other than to say the vintera just felt and played and sounded better ...why?   i have no idea ...maybe im just imagining it since i didn't have both side by side to compare at the same time but it does seem to ooze quality...

 

The neck pocket on my Squier VM Bass VI was plenty snug enough. In fact so much that I chipped the finish trying the get the neck off to fit a shim. The biggest problem for me with all the Fender/Squier designs is that the neck is way too narrow. Mine is narrow compared with my guitars never mind something designed to use with bass strings which are twice as thick.

 

OoI what is the string spacing at the nut (E to E centres) on the Vinterra version?

Edited yesterday at 13:39 by BigRedX

[Musicman666]

42mm is about the nut width of bass vi as well as the jazzmaster and jag ...the jazz bass is 38mm! ...strat and les paul are about 43mm ... so sounds like the squire is faithful to the original design as is the vintera vi. Why were you fitting a shim ..action too high?

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

My squier vi needed a shim as the angle of the strings behind the bridge was originally too shallow, which after fitting labella flats was causing a sitar-like sound where one string was vibrating against a screws on the trem unit.

[BigRedX]

55 minutes ago, Musicman666 said:

42mm is about the nut width of bass vi as well as the jazzmaster and jag ...the jazz bass is 38mm! ...strat and les paul are about 43mm ... so sounds like the squire is faithful to the original design as is the vintera vi. Why were you fitting a shim ..action too high?

 

Is that the width of the nut or the distance between the centres of the two E strings?

 

The nut width on my Squier VM Bass VI is 41mm but the distance between the centres of the two E strings is only 35mm which puts the strings much too close together, and even more so when you consider that they are much thicker than guitar strings. For me this second measurement is the important one. Overall nut width tells you nothing about the string spacing. Compare this with the Eastwood Hooky which has a nut width of 50mm and 42mm between the centres of the E strings and is consequently much more playable (for me).

 

As has been said shimming the neck is required to get a decent string break angle over the bridge. The increased downward pressure of the strings on the bridge by changing the break angle also goes along way towards stoping the bridge from wobbling around without needing to fit inserts. Wobbly bridges are fine on Jaguars and Jazzmasters if you want to do MBV impressions, but IMO have no place on a Bass VI. Plus once you've replaced the E and A with something more suited for playing bass, the vibrato mechanism goes from extremely subtle to almost inoperative.

[Musicman666]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

 

Is that the width of the nut or the distance between the centres of the two E strings?

 

The nut width on my Squier VM Bass VI is 41mm but the distance between the centres of the two E strings is only 35mm which puts the strings much too close together, and even more so when you consider that they are much thicker than guitar strings. For me this second measurement is the important one. Overall nut width tells you nothing about the string spacing. Compare this with the Eastwood Hooky which has a nut width of 50mm and 42mm between the centres of the E strings and is consequently much more playable (for me).

 

As has been said shimming the neck is required to get a decent string break angle over the bridge. The increased downward pressure of the strings on the bridge by changing the break angle also goes along way towards stoping the bridge from wobbling around without needing to fit inserts. Wobbly bridges are fine on Jaguars and Jazzmasters if you want to do MBV impressions, but IMO have no place on a Bass VI. Plus once you've replaced the E and A with something more suited for playing bass, the vibrato mechanism goes from extremely subtle to almost inoperative.

that does sound possibly like a badly cut nut ...i will measure mine and get back to you on that one. 

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I couldn't get on with the narrow string spacing on my Classic Vibe VI at first, but I managed to persevere and eventually managed to get comfortable with it by not thinking of it as a bass but a different class of instrument it in the same way I'm able to play my strats, teles and ukuleles.

[BigRedX]

28 minutes ago, Musicman666 said:

that does sound possibly like a badly cut nut ...i will measure mine and get back to you on that one. 

 

The nut is cut fine. The strings are already a little too close to the edge of the fingerboard. The neck is just much too narrow for bass guitar thickness strings, which isn't surprising considering that my skinny-stringed guitars have wider necks (and string spacing at the nut) than this.

 

16 minutes ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

I couldn't get on with the narrow string spacing on my Classic Vibe VI at first, but I managed to persevere and eventually managed to get comfortable with it by not thinking of it as a bass but a different class of instrument it in the same way I'm able to play my strats, teles and ukuleles.

 

Think if the Squier had the same relative string spacing (slightly adjusted for the thicker bass strings) as my guitars I would have been able to adapt, but I was forever playing the wrong string especially when I switched from alternating up, and down strokes to all down strokes or playing patterns that swap between the A and G strings which is something I do a lot in my current band. 

 

I got on better with the Burns Barracuda which had wider string spacing at the nut, but unfortunately narrow spacing at the bridge (compared with the Squier), but the best overall compromise for me is the Eastwood Hooky.

 

Ideally I think I might want something with the same string spacing between the E, A, D and G strings as the Hooky but have the G-B and B-E string spacing just a bit wider than it is on the Squier.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

3 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

 Plus once you've replaced the E and A with something more suited for playing bass, the vibrato mechanism goes from extremely subtle to almost inoperative.

I've had no problems with the vibrato on either of my Squier VIs, nor has the string spacing ever bothered me, but that's just personal preference.

[Musicman666]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

 

The nut is cut fine. The strings are already a little too close to the edge of the fingerboard. The neck is just much too narrow for bass guitar thickness strings, which isn't surprising considering that my skinny-stringed guitars have wider necks (and string spacing at the nut) than this.

 

 

 

well it looks like the original bass vi has a thinner nut than a strat so presumably on that score alone you are not comfortable with the bass vi.

[BigRedX]

3 minutes ago, Musicman666 said:

well it looks like the original bass vi has a thinner nut than a strat so presumably on that score alone you are not comfortable with the bass vi.

 

Width-wise the neck is very much in skinny 70s Strat territory.

[Musicman666]

6 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

Width-wise the neck is very much in skinny 70s Strat territory.

the strat is slightly larger but yes in the same territory ...i think the squire is faithful to the original bass vi in terms of neck width.