NBD: Squier Vintage Modified PJ

[dmc79]

I don’t normally post these, and I never thought I’d even own a Squier, let alone get excited about it. After years of mostly owning Mexican and American Fenders, I’ve somehow ended up with this: 2013 Squier Vintage Modified PJ from @hooky_lowdown

 

A recent peek into the world of short scale in the form of a Squier VM Jaguar, has made me think about looking after my back and opened my eyes to the fact that there are lighter basses out there outside of Alder bodies.  
 

For some time I’ve been wanting to try one of the Fender American Special P basses, made from circa 2011-2014 (Highway One update I think), after hearing that they have slimmer necks, and lighter, slimmer bodies than standard Ps. Well apart from the fact that mine says Squier on the headstock, I think the VM PJ offers the same, if not more, than the American Specials, from what I can see: P width at nut, but a slim jazz like front to back thickness at 1st fret of 0.792 (virtually the same as the Am Specials) as opposed to the 0.839 of the 2008 USA P bass I have. Whilst that’s not a baseball bat by any means, the slimmer PJ one feels more comfy to me. The weight (advertised by seller as 7.6lbs) comes in at 7.2lbs / 3.2 Kg (exact same as my SS Jaguar) on my own digital luggage scale and it’s so nice to strap on. Perhaps they missed a trick with not mentioning the slimmer neck on the online specs as they show ‘Modern C neck’ implying it’s the same as a Mexican / American P neck when the reality is it’s a fair bit slimmer front to back.
 

So, this has the slim neck of the American Specials, an even lighter weight (I believe they are around 8-8.5lbs), is less than half the used price of one, and has a hi-mass bridge and the bonus of the extra J pickup. I think this is a great bass for the money. I’ve never been crazy about side jacks, probably because the only one I had before (MIM Deluxe active jazz) always felt in the way during sit down practice and it was before I discovered right angled leads. But with the right angle jack looped over the strap, I actually really like the clean look of not seeing the jack when looking down at the bass. Even thought it sounds great already, I’ll be putting in a Kiogon solderless wiring loom, changing it from VVT to VBT, and giving option to easily change out pickups if I choose to. 
 

The Candy Apple Red is a delight to behold. Photos really don’t do it justice. I had a Chrome Red for years and that was quite bright and almost looked a bit pink in certain lighting conditions, this is a more deep red and has a copper / orange tinge to it that is a lot more noticeable in person. It’s a really nice colour and it’s so great to be back to a red bass with black plate. Never thought I’d find a nice lightweight P bass with slimmer neck. I’ve never had a PJ bass before and now I have two! Freshly strung with Roto Swing bass 66 steel rounds, fancied a change as I normally use the Nickel played version of those, a bit harsh on the fingers but sounds so good with just a bit of J blended in. 
 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2022 by dmc79

[NJE]

I played one of these in Andertons a few years back as I was drawn to the amazing colour, as you say there’s almost a burnt orange tint in there, lovely colour.

 

I played a lot of fenders that day, including a very expensive Adam Clayton signature, and this was the star of the day. Great build, lovely neck, light and just a joy to play as it was set up well out of the box.

 

I still need to buy one at some point.