40th Anniversary Vintage Squier P. NBD.

[Highfox]

I just collected this and have somewhat mixed feelings atm.

The thing plays and sounds great and is setup nicely straight out of the box. On playing and feel alone it's a keeper. 

 

The thing that bothers me a bit is the way the satin finish has been slightly mismatched on the body. I'm not a stickler for perfect and don't mind the worn- in -look, but thought they might of done a better job with it. Is it that an even satin finish is harder to achieve than a gloss? 

Tried to photo what I see.

Any thoughts?

[Sibob]

Yeah I wouldn't be able to put up with that haha.

Probably down to the colour of the wood underneath, but to the point that it looks like it's had one or two coats less than the other 2/3rds of the bass, not cool.

 

I'd be sending that back if it were me. Cheap is cheap (comparatively speaking), but that's just bad QC in my opinion.

 

Si

Edited August 8, 2022 by Sibob

[Mrbigstuff]

The Squier VMJ I have is in natural and it has the most obvious block joins you will ever see. I think Sibob might be right that the difference is down to the colour of the wood underneath.

[neepheid]

That blank should only have been used for a solid finish. 

[Maude]

If that's a translucent finish then it's definitely just badly matched wood blocks. 

 

As @neepheid said, a body with that difference in wood tones (not tonewood you 'orrible lot!) should've got a solid finish. 

[Jonesy]

3 hours ago, neepheid said:

That blank should only have been used for a solid finish. 

 

It seems a lot of the Squier stuff isn't matched that we'll, even the models chosen for the Fender site don't look great. I kinda think most basses on the cheaper end where they're saving money on QC should just be solid colours.

[jezzaboy]

That Johnny Dibble guy on YT bought one of those and it was the same. If you are going to do that finish, at least pick some nice wood. And they ain`t exactly cheap.

[Thump]

I saw a Squier Telecaster recently on a subreddit called r/guitars that was even more noticeable and that was down to the wood used 

[theyellowcar]

Agree with all of the above, that would bug the sh*t out of me. 

[AndyTravis]

Yeah that’s not ok at that money…wow.

 

☹️

[Highfox]

Thanks for all your feedback.

I decided I'm going to send it back for a replacement and see if I can get something that matches a little better. Fingers crossed.

A lot of things I like about the bass, the neck width and thickness is really nice, ( and different from the other P's I own) pickups sound good and it is nicely balanced and weighted all a plus for me.

 

Stay tuned, I'll update on the replacement.

 

[BassAdder60]

Were the electrics quiet on it ? 
 

Im modifying my CV70’s and it’s now a superb bass.

 

As stock it was a buzz fest if you took your hands off the strings 

Better grounding and shielding and new PUPS has improved it no end.

 

Edited August 9, 2022 by BassAdder27

[Highfox]

10 minutes ago, BassAdder27 said:

Were the electrics quiet on it ? 
 

Im modifying my CV70’s and it’s now a superb bass.

 

As stick it was a buzz fest if you took your hands off the strings 

Better grounding and shielding and new PUPS has improved it no end.

 

Hi. 

It was surprisingly quiet! Pickups and electronics were pretty good on this. 

[LewisK1975]

10 hours ago, Highfox said:

Thanks for all your feedback.

I decided I'm going to send it back for a replacement and see if I can get something that matches a little better. Fingers crossed.

A lot of things I like about the bass, the neck width and thickness is really nice, ( and different from the other P's I own) pickups sound good and it is nicely balanced and weighted all a plus for me.

 

Stay tuned, I'll update on the replacement.

 

Good decision IMO.  It would bug me for sure!

[Musicman20]

The right decision. At the current prices it needs to be WAY better than that. 

[Highfox]

Funny, I can return it but their guitar experts said the colour mismatch is an intentional finish and can't guarantee me an even finish

 

Might try one swap to see if I can get lucky.

[Reggaebass]

I could be wrong but that doesn’t sound right to me 🙂

[Jonesy]

There's no way it's intentional, it's just 2 poorly matched bits of wood that should have been a solid colour.

 

Fingers crossed for the next one being ok though!!

[Cuzzie]

I would keep it and do a home relic job!!!

 

[Baloney Balderdash]

Doesn't bother me at all, I even kind of like it, the way that it's straight lines makes it look like a pattern done on purpose (edit!!!: I actually wrote this before I read your comment regarding you actually being told so by the shop).

 

But it's your bass of course, not mine, so entirely up to you if you can live with it, but from the other posts in this thread though I understand that there would be a pretty big chance the replacement would look the same, and it might not be quite as good a player as this one, so chances are you are gonna end worse off having it replaced, which leads me to think the best advice to you would be to either learn to live with the imperfect finish of this one, or get your money back and forget about a replacement new bass this time.

 

So the real question you'd have to ask yourself in this case I guess is:

Do you dislike it so much that you'd rather have no bass at all, but your money back, or do you think you can learn to love it the way it is?

 

Edited August 11, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[MungoBass]

17 hours ago, Highfox said:

Funny, I can return it but their guitar experts said the colour mismatch is an intentional finish and can't guarantee me an even finish

 

Might try one swap to see if I can get lucky.

Hmmm…. Do I sense a whiff of BS…

 

I would definitely look to swap it. 

[miles'tone]

I'd paint it black. 

[Maude]

21 hours ago, miles'tone said:

I'd paint it black. 

 

[Maude]

Send it back and buy the Fender Vintera for sale on here. Same colour scheme, pretty much the same price and someone else has taken the new bass price hit. 

 

 

[Highfox]

Update, I sent it back for a refund and picked up a new Squier CV 50's tele P. Give me a different feel and sound from the other P's I own, and a bass I won't mind dragging out to casual jams etc.

Haven't had any of the CV's before, but can confirm this is of decent quality and build. Basic setup and its feeling good. Little bit of fret spout but I can sort that out later. I'd say it's almost on par with the Fender Jap reissue Used to own-

 

Got it for just over €300 new, not bad.

Picci attached.