Squire 1991 Silver Series MIJ Jazz.?

[bubinga5]

Ive been offered one of these. See pics.  Its sunburst and rosewood and of course made in Japan. Any idea how good these are and what one might be worth. 

[AndyTravis]

Highly thought of mate, not quite at JV levels - £300-£500 seems to be what people are asking £250-£350 seems to be what they’re actually selling at:

[Jonesy]

I've never played one, so can't say how good they are, but being Fujigen they can't be that bad? I think pre lockdown they were going for around the £200 mark, but I've seen them around the £350 mark recently

[stu_g]

i have a squier silver series precision,very nice bass.

I changed pickup on mine and i must say i really like it and cant see me selling it anytime.

pricewise i paid £100 for mine a few years back ,i have seen them going for  around £275-£350 whether they actually  sell for that im not sure.

i owned a JV and an eighties E serial  fender japan P and to me the silver series are very alike as they would be made in the same factory.

[naxos10]

I also have a Silver Series Pbass which I purchased from the Basschat classifieds for around £275 a few years ago. It's a nice sounding well built bass.

[gjones]

I think I saw that one up for sale on Ebay a couple of week ago for £350.

 

I've had a couple and they're nice basses. The neck at the nut is somewhere between a normal Jazz and Precision measurement (they made the Jazz and Precision necks the same on both models).

 

The pickups are ceramic and have a darker tone to them than normal Jazzes, which I liked.

 

Personally, I wouldn't pay more than £300 for the bass, in the condition it's in (if I remember rightly it had some scrapes and bumps).

[bubinga5]

5 hours ago, gjones said:

I think I saw that one up for sale on Ebay a couple of week ago for £350.

 

I've had a couple and they're nice basses. The neck at the nut is somewhere between a normal Jazz and Precision measurement (they made the Jazz and Precision necks the same on both models).

 

The pickups are ceramic and have a darker tone to them than normal Jazzes, which I liked.

 

Personally, I wouldn't pay more than £300 for the bass, in the condition it's in (if I remember rightly it had some scrapes and bumps).

Ceramic pickups being a bit more powerful as I understand.?

[gjones]

1 hour ago, bubinga5 said:

Ceramic pickups being a bit more powerful as I understand.?

 

I think back in the 90s they were a bit cheaper to produce but these days I don't think people look down on them as inferior, they just have a slightly different sound.

 

I tried a Squier silver series jazz bass, that a friend had and liked it so much I bought one myself. The pickups are bassier than your average jazz, which is what I liked about it. The necks are also quite shallow, though very slightly wider than a normal jazz.

[LeftyJ]

I can't comment on the basses, but I have an E-serial Strat and a Silver Series Strat and I love both of them. The E-series has been my main guitar for years now and has seen many mods and upgrades. I could never bring myself to sell it. The Silver Series appears slightly cheaper made, with a neck finish that wears more quickly (on mine at least) and softer fretwire that wears quicker. They're both great sounding and great playing instruments though, and if it's any indication for what the basses are like, I'd say go for it if the price is right. 

[bubinga5]

Hmm. Im sure my old 90's 75 non export MIJ jazz had ceramic pickups. I always wondered why it sounded so good compared to my Suhr Jazz bass which had Alnico Suhr pickups. This vid got me thinking about the differences. Im aware that this is an SR5 but.. 

 

[Paul S]

I've owned two Silver Series basses and both were really good.  

 

I had a Silver Series Jazz and it was a lovely thing.  The slightly wider neck was really comfy.  Sold it on here to a chap and it became his main gigging bass.  Possibly still is, haven't seen him around for a while. @allighatt0r - do you still have this, Bryan?

 

I also had a Silver Series Precision which is one of those 'one that got away' basses that I should never have sold.  Beautiful woody tone and weighed around 8lbs.

[tegs07]

I’ve owned one. It’s in the Squire CV bracket in terms of quality IMO. Nice bass and £300 would be reasonable. Worth bearing in mind that a new G&L Tribute can be bagged for the same cash.

Edited November 27, 2021 by tegs07

[Bassassin]

Seems to be the case that with the MIJ Squiers, the older they are the more you pay, while quality remains broadly similar. Never had a 90s example but I'd expect them to be on a level with the 80s SQ, E & A serials I've had.

 

If it's around the £300 mark and all in good order then that's probably a pretty good deal.

[SurroundedByManatees]

I've owned a few silver series and they felt as good as most regular japanese fenders. A silver series telecaster guitar I've owned was really great playing and sounding. It had a very thick poly finish.

[naxos10]

A previous rythm guitarist in our band had a Silver Series strat he had bought it off a guy years before he joined us and had never felt the need to change. It was a guitar that just seemed to sound right no matter what it was playing.

[bubinga5]

The seller wants a trade for a BB434

[ead]

I've had a couple and they have been very nice.  Worth checking it's a wood body not the weird gluey composite thing.  Ask for a pic without the pickguard and, if he'll do it, of the neck pocket.

 

Hard to tell from your pics but it looks like there may be wood-grain there.  The 'featureless' bodies are the ones to watch out for.

[LukeFRC]

24 minutes ago, ead said:

 

I've had a couple and they have been very nice.  Worth checking it's a wood body not the weird gluey composite thing.  Ask for a pic without the pickguard and, if he'll do it, of the neck pocket.

 

I was about to say similar - some crazy wierd stuff topped off with a super thick hard sealer. I had one, think it wasn’t silver series and it was fine till I stripped it to try and fix a chip in the finish from the previous owner…

[gjones]

They're usually made out of basswood (mine were). No weird routing on the body, so good for that Jaco look with the scratchplate removed.

 

They also have a grounding strip, from the bridge to the rear pickup. Which was how they used to ground Jazz Basses when they were first manufactured in the early 60s.

Edited November 29, 2021 by gjones

[bcbass]

I  never liked mine Silv.ser.Jazz,was bit heavy and balanced poor.I think body was not wood,plywood or something like that.Watched live bass player Steve Evans,Chris Caine band,and he sounded fantastic wih his Squier Silver.ser.Jazz bass.And,as others saying wider neck,40mm and darker sounding pickups.

 

 

[tegs07]

1 hour ago, gjones said:

They're usually made out of basswood (mine were). No weird routing on the body, so good for that Jaco look with the scratchplate removed.

 

They also have a grounding strip, from the bridge to the rear pickup. Which was how they used to ground Jazz Basses when they were first manufactured in the early 60s.

Mine was definitely basswood. I did read reports of an odd composite wood though when researching buying it.

[Rayman]

Like any bass, I've found that they very. Generally pretty nice if you find a good one..... I had a jazz many years ago that felt good, sounded a little darker than a US jazz I had around the sane time. It's worth noting that the worst jazz I ever owned was a MIJ from the 90s, the one with the copper earth strip to the bridge.... it was pretty bad no matter what I did to it to improve it, meanwhile easily the best P bass I ever had, was a 90s MIJ from the bay, £120, tatty, but played like a dream, beautiful bass.

 

As always, try before you buy if you can.... MIJ doesn't always mean good.... As with ANY bass at ANY price from ANY country.