Squier Jazz Classic Vibe - great but...

[Grand Wazoo]

Thanks to some recommendations both from this forum (thank you OutToPlayJazz) and from a youtube video by Ed Friedland, I've recently bought a very nice Squier Jazz Classic Vibe which I picked up in GAK (Brighton) last Saturday, I have to say I was very pleased by how it played both plugged and unplugged intonation and action are spot on.

However as soon as I took it home I opened it bit by bit to see how it compares "under the hood" to the real thing, (wiring, pots, pickups etc) Yes it plays very well, the neck is sublime and the basswood body weight is a feather compared to a 60's Jazz, but unfortunately as soon as I've lifted the pickguard it showed where Squier has cut corners in order to keep the prices down.

[b]No.1[/b] First of all it is no surprise that these basses are shipped with a transparent adhesive film on the pickup magnetic poles if you play the bass with those stickie things on, then your finger will not get in contact with the magnetic poles and will not cause any interference but... the minute you remove the 2 sticky films and you plug your bass in, at the minimum contact of your fingers with the magnets you get scratching noises and buzz galore through the amp.

Big downer [b]No.2[/b] when you lift the pickguard there is a great big gauping hole where the bridge pickup floats and it is held only by the frame of the pickguard and the 4 mounting screws, in other words if you fancied to play it a-la-Jaco without a pickguard you would have an unsightly great big hole in which you can store your mars bars in and maybe even a sausage roll, bad that, not cool! If I knew about that one before I bought it I would have declined the transaction. Why oh effing why is there such a hole under the pickguard?

[b]No.3[/b]Under the control plate. My oh my, I reckon Stevie Wonder could have done a better soldering job while Ray Charles mounted the pots. They've all got to go. Pickups, volume pots, cheap plastic covered connecting wires, input jack, the lot.

Not a biggie, mind you, as I have sourced a replacement kit based faitfhully on the 60's Jazz with cloth covered wires and sprague orange drop caps, switchcraft input jack and real stainless steel bell shaped plate rather than this chrome painted lookalike. As for the pickups I went for a set of matched stacked single coils by Seymour Duncan they are vintage voiced and stacked i.e. reducing hum as they act as humbuckers these are the models are: STK-J1n and STK-J1b these will be wired to the new 250k pots and capacitors and hopefully they will be noiseless and perfectly apt to the vintage vibe.

Unfortunately there is nothing I can do under the pickguard with that hole wich means I will never be able to play without a scratchplate. But nevertheless with the new bits in, after this weekend the bass will be well worth the extra cost.

The pickups costed me £93 (for the pair) directly from the US via a friend who lives there and posted them to me, the wiring kit £17.50, and the bell plate comes from an old Jazz project that I never finished.

I don't usually bother with a lot of mods but this was well worth the effort and this new CV Jazz will be a nice bass to keep in the collection.

[Jerry_B]

Odd. Under the hood of my Squire Standard Jazz everything is nicely done, and it didn't make any noise when those plastic pup covers were removed. The only similarity to yours is the holes around the holes around the pups (but they're not so huge, judging by your description).

[retroman]

That's a shame........

I didn't have any problems at all with my Squier Jazz. The pickups sounded a little on the weedy side, but no buzzing noises, or any nasties. I too stripped mine down, as I fitted EMG's to it, and although the components were on the cheap side, the soldering was neat on all the originals.

The only other comment were the sealed gear tuners on mine were a little sticky, so I stripped them down, and rebuilt them with some light grease, and they're perfect now

[Paul Cooke]

[quote name='bass5' post='749216' date='Feb 18 2010, 01:59 AM']Big downer [b]No.2[/b] when you lift the pickguard there is a great big gauping hole where the bridge pickup floats and it is held only by the frame of the pickguard and the 4 mounting screws, in other words if you fancied to play it a-la-Jaco without a pickguard you would have an unsightly great big hole in which you can store your mars bars in and maybe even a sausage roll, bad that, not cool! If I knew about that one before I bought it I would have declined the transaction. Why oh effing why is there such a hole under the pickguard?[/quote]

if you'd done a bit more searching on this and the other big bassist forum (the American one), you'd have found pictures of the bass with the scratchplate off... I knew about this very shortly after they first came out and this was the one biggy that put me off...

there's this post back in Oct 2008...
[url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6460091&postcount=7"]http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showpost.php...amp;postcount=7[/url]

sadly, the VMJ has the same arrangement with a whocking great hole where the front pickup sits...

[bh2]

I'm afraid some 'proper' Jazzes have the same routing.... The CV Jazz is great for the mons and would make a nice replica project bass.

[HMX]

Bloody hell, I didn't expect this. Particularly the hole under the pickguard, I found it quite funny. Nevertheless, if it sounds good and needs a bit of work done, I'm sure it'll be worth it.

[Moos3h]

The wiring on all the CV Jazzes I've had (3) has been immaculate, only my hamfisted soldering has let it down...

Also, personally speaking I would suggest that your technique isn't right, or the pickups are too high, if you are touching the pole pieces. That said, I'm fairly crap and fairly sure I touch mine and don't hear any noises as you describe.

I wonder if yours was a bit of a Friday afternoon job, under the hood?

[bumnote]

I have no experience of the CV jazz but I have got a CV 50s precision and the quality is pretty good.

Sure its got cheap pots just like were on both the cij fenders I have, but thats really only to be expected on a budget item. The solderings ok and the cavity is screened with paint.

Its not uncommon with cheaper instruments to have large routes underneath the pickguard if it makes machining or assembly easier and cheaper.

As always we get what we pay for and I think the CV series is amazing value.

[XB26354]

They gouge great holes under the pickguard on most US models, even the American Deluxes. Shocking imho as one of the classic Jazz looks is minus the pickguard. It's pure cheap cost cutting and laziness, and doesn't bode well for shielding interference either on a bass with single coils. I know Fender is the classic design but some of their more expensive models leave a lot to be desired under the hood. Then again, if Fender did everything perfectly then there wouldn't be a need for super-jazz competitors! I have owned two Sadowskys - MV5 and RV5, and build quality inside and out was vastly superior.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='bass5' post='749216' date='Feb 18 2010, 01:59 AM']... but unfortunately as soon as I've lifted the pickguard it showed where Squier has cut corners in order to keep the prices down.[/quote]
They have to cut them somewhere.

[quote name='bass5' post='749216' date='Feb 18 2010, 01:59 AM'][b]No.1[/b] First of all it is no surprise that these basses are shipped with a transparent adhesive film on the pickup magnetic poles if you play the bass with those stickie things on, then your finger will not get in contact with the magnetic poles and will not cause any interference but... the minute you remove the 2 sticky films and you plug your bass in, at the minimum contact of your fingers with the magnets you get scratching noises and buzz galore through the amp.[/quote]
I've not had this problem.

[quote name='bass5' post='749216' date='Feb 18 2010, 01:59 AM']Big downer [b]No.2[/b] when you lift the pickguard there is a great big gauping hole where the bridge pickup floats and it is held only by the frame of the pickguard and the 4 mounting screws, in other words if you fancied to play it a-la-Jaco without a pickguard you would have an unsightly great big hole in which you can store your mars bars in and maybe even a sausage roll, bad that, not cool! If I knew about that one before I bought it I would have declined the transaction. Why oh effing why is there such a hole under the pickguard?[/quote]
I replaced my pickguard with a white pearl and it would never occur to me to have a Jazz bass without a pickguard anyway.

[quote name='bass5' post='749216' date='Feb 18 2010, 01:59 AM'][b]No.3[/b]Under the control plate. My oh my, I reckon Stevie Wonder could have done a better soldering job while Ray Charles mounted the pots. They've all got to go. Pickups, volume pots, cheap plastic covered connecting wires, input jack, the lot.[/quote]
For the price of the bass I thought the wiring looked fine - although I'd agree that some CTS pots etc would improve it.

[quote name='bass5' post='749216' date='Feb 18 2010, 01:59 AM']As for the pickups I went for a set of matched stacked single coils by Seymour Duncan they are vintage voiced and stacked i.e. reducing hum as they act as humbuckers these are the models are: STK-J1n and STK-J1b these will be wired to the new 250k pots and capacitors and hopefully they will be noiseless and perfectly apt to the vintage vibe.[/quote]
Wizard 64s in mine now - not that the stock pickups were unusable.

Edited February 18, 2010 by EssentialTension

[jezzaboy]

I have a Squire VMJ and have not had any problems with it whatsoever. It has cloth wiring and the DD pickups are fine. Regarding under the scratchplate, both the 08 US P basses I have owned have routes under the pickgaurd, the same with any Mexican Jazz I have owned.

I still think that for under £300 the bass is a bargain.

Jez

Edited April 18, 2010 by jezzaboy

[Sibob]

Yup, my American Jazz has that routing under the scratchplate around the neck pickup......but who cares. I'm playing a bass that sounds and feels awesome, who cares whether it looks like Jaco's lol.
When I had my Squier CV, I remember the cavity being very tidy. Didn't think the pickups were great, but then it's a £250 bass, for that price you get a LOT of bass for your money, so you might have to drop some new pickups in it. I also found the pots to be excellent, and I didn't find it any noisier than any other single-coil bass.

If it's truely not to your expectation, why not get GAK to replace it?

Si

[Paul Cooke]

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='749359' date='Feb 18 2010, 10:11 AM']I replaced my pickguard with a white pearl and it would never occur to me to have a Jazz bass without a pickguard anyway.[/quote]
I wanted to put a clear pickguard on to show more wood... oer missuss...


[quote name='EssentialTension' post='749359' date='Feb 18 2010, 10:11 AM']For the price of the bass I thought the wiring looked fine - although I'd agree that some CTS pots etc would improve it.[/quote]

I replaced my entire control plate with a fully loaded control plate off a Geddy Lee that someone on here was selling after he'd upgraded to an Audaire setup...

but I kept my original control plate so I can revert if I ever sell it.

[skywalker]

My CVJ is a stunner, no noticeable difference from the USA Standard Jazz I had before.

[Sibob]

[quote name='skywalker' post='749637' date='Feb 18 2010, 01:16 PM']My CVJ is a stunner, no noticeable difference from the USA Standard Jazz I had before.[/quote]

I would go along with this except for the pickups, my US Jazz sounds a lot better!. Possibly the tuners too, the MIA tuners are a lot nicer, but the CV definitly do the job well.

Si

[Balcro]

The small cynic in me thinks the fitting of a scratchplate(s) could have been no more than a happy chance when jazzes and precisions were first designed. Wouldn't sound so nice if it were called a cable duct cover would it? It saves on a complicated drilling operation.

I'm fortunate in coming to bass guitars late in life so I don't have that gnawing feeling in me that says it must have a pickguard, 'cos they're supposed to. I don't have anything against Fender /Squire either. I've tried 2 CV 60's Jazz's recently and they're really fine. They're still on the oscillating GAS list.

Are they really supposed to be taken apart quite so soon. I know it's tempting, but doesn't the parts strip-out invalidate the warranty?

Balcro.

Edited February 19, 2010 by Balcro

[daz]

Was supposed to be getting mine this weekend. But a nasty surprize in the nature of car tax, and phone bill needs attending to. Not sure which to prioritize first Damn i need car, house phone and CV jazz of course, so another fortnights waiting Grrr

Edited April 10, 2010 by daz

[Soloshchenko]

To be honest, my precision played so well out of the box I can't bring myself to do any modding whatsoever. I've not even looked under the scratchplate.

[Chris2112]

I only had my CVJ for a week or two before I sold it on, but I found it to be a good bass, and perfectly useable. I thought it was miles better than my VMJ fretless, which was also pretty decent!

[Charles Obscure]

[quote name='bumnote' post='749342' date='Feb 18 2010, 04:56 AM']I have no experience of the CV jazz but I have got a CV 50s precision and the quality is pretty good.

Sure its got cheap pots just like were on both the cij fenders I have, but thats really only to be expected on a budget item. The solderings ok and the cavity is screened with paint.

Its not uncommon with cheaper instruments to have large routes underneath the pickguard if it makes machining or assembly easier and cheaper.

As always we get what we pay for and I think the CV series is amazing value.[/quote]+1 Mine appears to be very well crafted for the money I paid. I ended up replacing the pickup and wiring, though. Not because the originals were horrible, but as expected the sound was greatly improved by a Seymour Duncan QP and I figured I'd just go ahead and replace everything. Plus, I shielded all the cavities with copper foil. I don't get any buzz unless I stand directly in front of the source.
You would think that if they could take the trouble of drilling a hole for the wire on these, they could do so with the Jazz. Just get a flashy pickguard and you'll forget all about the routing.

I didn't like the cheap looking white pickguard on CV 50's P, so I had a new one made from 3-ply parchment colored material. A friend borrowed it for a gig and couldn't believe it was a "cheap" Squier.

[Buzz]

I think someone is far too picky for what is still a budget bass, and possibly has technique issues. Hitting the pole peices. Really now.

Although, saying that, it could be a symptom of the mentioned shoddy soldering and a be a grounding issue caused by dry joints.

Edited April 10, 2010 by Buzz

[bh2]

That looks great Charles, the 3 ply gives it a touch of class... don't know if I've gas for one of these. Much as I like LPB.

[faceman]

I need to do some setting work/modifications on my Classic Vibe Precision. I'm planning on

a.) Chrome Bridge/Pickup Guards - for that classic 60s look

b.) New Strings - think I'm going to get a pair of D'Addario Chromes as they aren't too loose!

c.) Adjust Pickup Height - How should they be aligned? At the moment they are angled unequally but are they supposed to be? Or should they be flat/even with each other?

d.) Potentially new pickup - Might go for an SD Quarter Pounder down the line but not for the moment!

Thoughts on the pickup adjustments?

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='faceman' post='802608' date='Apr 11 2010, 02:01 PM']c.) Adjust Pickup Height - How should they be aligned? At the moment they are angled unequally but are they supposed to be? Or should they be flat/even with each other?[/quote]
Adjust the height of and angle of the pickup so that the volume from the four strings is even.

[LawrenceH]

I don't think blaming someone's technique is very helpful when knocking the pole pieces clearly has next to no effect on other decent jazz basses (my Jap 75 at least, as I just tried). Technique or not, there's something wrong with the instrument.

Thanks to the OP for a helpful review of the cheap elements of these basses - there is a lot of love here for them but I can't help thinking people are being almost defensive about them, any shortcomings being put down to budget as if they're amazing value. You can buy an Ibanez with a 5-piece neck for £230 for goodness' sake! And I've not come across an Ibby or Yamaha with poor QC in the last decade at least. Of course, everyone wants 'that' Fender sound and look now but when you think purely in terms of the components and manufacturing techniques involved, Fenders are not good value and these Squiers are more of an overdue catch-up with other instruments at the lower end of the market. I'm not disputing that they're well worth the money if you want that sound (which I do, oh yes).