Cato

Just watched the first review I've seen of these that isn't a promo for a guitar shop. He's reviewing a Strat but I suspect many of the review elements will hold true for the basses Short version: No major build issues, but the initial set up isn't great. The reviewer points out that there are better specc'd Squiers in terms of pickups and that it doesn't feel any better than a Squier CV. His conclusion seems to be that it's an OK guitar but there are better options in that narrow £500-600 band.

Wasn't the reason that Leo Fender originally put the ashtrays on the Precision because he thought the pickup was ugly and wanted to hide it? I'm so used to seeing bass pickups that I don't think about it too much these days but I remember as a teenager, when I first became interested in basses and guitars, wondering why guitar pickups tend to be slimmer, rounded, more low profile affairs, sometimes even behind shiny chrome covers whilst many bass pickups are basically just huge plastic bricks with zero refinement.

I've been rediscovering Lonnie Liston Smith recently. Got to be one of the most underrated Jazz/Funk guys from that era, he's up there with the very best.

I'm not sure how well that's going for them judging by the number of Epiphones that were originally listed at £1k+ that regularly turn up in the seasonal sales at places like Andertons with significant discounts. People don't seem ready yet to pay that kind money for a brand that's been associated with affordable instruments for decades. Maybe Fender have taken note and decided it's better to sell cheap Fenders than expensive Squiers.

I like the Candy Cola colour. I imagine they're pretty decent instruments, probably not going to set the world alight but there will likely be a decent demand just as there was for the Mexican stuff that used to be at the same price point.

Prices have risen so much in the last few years that they've found space for a new range between Squier and Mexican Fender.

I'll probably check out the Andertons youtube coverage when it's over. Dangerous business though when I'm currently GAS free.

I think it does. I'm not someone who's a great believer in tonewoods etc but I think having the magnets in those exact positions on the string length is where most of the tone come from. Also the split P is functionally a humbucker so apart from anything else it's less susceptible to hum and noise than ,say, the single coil in a jazz.

If the problem is the Precision body shape then literally any body shape with the split pickup in the same spot will sound like a Precision. If it's the split pickup shape itself that causes offence then there are versions that are sold in humbucker style cases but it's going to take a bit of research to find which, if any, production models are currently using them in the correct P position.

I really like that, I'm a sucker for those quirky retro designs. Just had a look at them online, the website is a bit turn of the century but there's some lovely guitars and basses on there.

I'm always keeping half an eye out on what Squier are doing. Apart from anything else for the last few years the finishes available on Squier's skinny stringers have been a lot more appealing to me than the rather bland offerings in the Fender Player range. Also, every now and then Squier does something really cool like the baritone Jazzmasters a few years back or the FSR run of purple Bass VI's they did for Andertons a couple of years ago. That purple VI has become one of my main squeezes and at the time I bought it there was no equivalent Fender model in any range outside the custom shop. I'd take a punt on a Squier tomorrow if saw something that ticked the right boxes.

I think it's more convention than anything else, maple fretless boards are standard on Sire fretlesses at all their price points. That said, there may be an issue if it's a maple fretboard on the Squier that you're thinking of defretting The deep poly coating (can be up to 2mm) over the wood makes it difficult to defret and refinish cleanly. When I looked into doing exactly this a few years ago the guy who I spoke to about it (who's a reasonably well known luthier) basically said he wouldn't do it for that reason. I ended up leaving the Squier alone and getting a Sire V7 fretless instead.

That brings back memories. Took me ages to nail that left hand slap thing when when I was working through the Talking Bass slap tuition vids some years ago, just to get a percussive sound rather than the strings crashing horribly into the fretboard or just being completely inaudible. Like an almost embarassing amount of time for such a simple looking movement Now, even though I rarely slap I find that I do it more or less subconciously sometimes when I'm playing normally just to add the odd percussive ghost note on lines. It's a useful little thing, works well on skinny string guitar too.

I was a bit nonplussed by the upside Explorer thing when I first saw these a few years back, but that looks cracking.

Probably worth pointing out that semi hollow doesn't always equate to light. The bigger bodies combined with the solid centre blocks mean that many of them can be at least as heavy as a standard solid body. There's also bound to be a fair bit of variation in weight even between the exact same models, so if weight is a key issue then it's definitely going to better to be try before buying wherever possible.