mcnach Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 So I bought this Squier Precision, a Mike Dirnt model, a couple of years ago... that's just before my Precision love blossomed and this bass played a big role in that! It was light, very comfortable neck, slimmer than most Precisions, somewhere between a P and a J, cheap, and made some great noises. It came with some roundwound steel strings, which also started to open my eyes to stainless steel strings... great feel, nice sound... it looked like this (on the right): I liked that it had no routing or anything under the pickguard so it looked nice without one: At the time I started a thread about it, [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/197094-mike-dirnt-squier-p-bass-anyone/"]here[/url]. It is a bass that didn't see a lot of action for a while, but that I felt strangely attracted to... and ultimately led me to other Precisions. There was nothing wrong with it, but I never truly *loved* it. First of all, I am a bit racist (of tree species) when it comes to fingerboards. I can have flings with rosewood, but I only really fall in love with maple. Especially lacquered. Yes, I could have changed the neck... but I wasn't keen. It was meant to remain cheap, and the neck was lovely. Plus, the square kind of body/neck joint makes it harder to find a suitable neck. I used it for busking a lot. It was my inexpensive but nice player kind of bass that I was not too worried about if I used it outside and could get dirty or whatever. It was also light, did I mention that? That's a nice thing when carrying a bunch of things about in town. I changed the pickup earlier this year. The original was ok, but a little unrefined. I bought an Entwistle neodymium one, based on the good reviews and low price... and found it didn't fit the bass as the ears were too big. No problem... I didn't like the big lettering on the Entwistle pickup covers, and I bought new covers for it, in white. It ended up looking like this: Those pickups are great! I started a thread about them [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/258271-entwistle-neodymium-p-type-pickups-pbxn"]here[/url]. I have used this bass without pickguard a lot. I also tried two different ones, a white one (pictured above), and a 3-ply mint green one which I think looks nice with the kind of creamy aged white colour of the bass body. I played some gigs with it now, with the new pickup... It sounded great. Huge. Not exactly traditional Precision, but for that I already had now the red Classic 50. Great sounds. Fat. Powerful. Yeah! Still... rosewood. Sorry, I could not love you. "I'll take you home tonight and play all night, but I will not take you to meet my parents" kind of deal. Until... I found a CV series Squier neck online, new, maple, lacquered... from a 50s series, with the squareish neck bottom!!! It wasn't the yellow tinted one, which would have been AMAZING, but it looked great in pictures. So I went for it. Sure, it cost more than what I paid for the bass, and I was hit with £40 charges (it was in the US)... but it was BEAUTIFUL. To my surprise, it was nothing like my own CV50 Squier neck... this was less chunky, and in fact not too far off the Mike Dirnt one.The fit was very good too. The holes did not align, ok, but that's easily sorted. While the original neck fit was nearly perfect, this one leaves a bit of a gap, tiny... I'll call it "70s Fender vibe" It works. It's not something I'd be too impressed with on a £800 bass, but I can live with it here. I gave it to my favourite (well, one of my two favourite luthiers, because I know two lovely ones now and I don't want the other one to be upset if he reads this ) luthier, to make sure the neck was fitted nicely and took the opportunity to ensure frets were levelled etc. I also replaced the nut, just to get a nice one in and cut it just right. I got it back a couple of days ago... and it looks like this: I also like the fact the neck is a Squier, so I'm not changing logos or anything... Its new neck is as comfy as the original, but I like it a lot more, just from a personal preference point of view... the lacquered feel is lovely. So here it is... it's not exactly a new bass day... but almost! Now I'm confident this bass is here to stay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jezzaboy Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Really nice with the maple neck. I had a black one a few years ago that I put a Status pickup and new tuners and bridge on and it was a great bass. Nice and light unlike the boat anchor Mexican one. Where did you get the small thumb rest from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted July 25, 2015 Author Share Posted July 25, 2015 [quote name='jezzaboy' timestamp='1437857870' post='2829622'] Really nice with the maple neck. I had a black one a few years ago that I put a Status pickup and new tuners and bridge on and it was a great bass. Nice and light unlike the boat anchor Mexican one. Where did you get the small thumb rest from? [/quote] The thumb rest... It was attached with double-sided sticky tape (the same method I use here) to the pickguard of an OLP bass I had years ago. I kept it, and in fact had it replicated in aluminium (got that on the L2000 and the CV50 Precision) and black acrylic (on my Precisions/PJ and a Jazz). I wish I could buy them somewhere, I could use a few more! Having just a couple made is too expensive to make it worthwhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jezzaboy Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Thats a pity. They look so much better than the off the shelf ones you can buy. Ta. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle psychosis Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 WANT!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted July 25, 2015 Author Share Posted July 25, 2015 [quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1437862019' post='2829666'] WANT!!!! [/quote] move along, move along, nothing to see here... (but lots to hear! I've just downloaded UB40's "Signing off" and been playing along with this bass... seriously, these Entwistle pickups are amazing. If you have anything P-bass shaped that you're not entirely sure about soundwise, give these ones a try... £26!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkHeart Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Looks better with the maple neck, I changed the stock pup to an entwistle neo in the one I had and it improved it loads, got rid of mine cos I dont get on with p necks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted July 26, 2015 Author Share Posted July 26, 2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted July 26, 2015 Author Share Posted July 26, 2015 [quote name='DarkHeart' timestamp='1437909750' post='2829859'] Looks better with the maple neck, I changed the stock pup to an entwistle neo in the one I had and it improved it loads, got rid of mine cos I dont get on with p necks. [/quote] The Entwistle Neo is a beast, a wonderful loveable beast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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