Author Topic: Customised Squier Jazz (Read 165 times)

terryc · « **on:** July 02, 2015, 01:24:44 AM »

Thought I would share this with you all, okay it has nothing to do with Alembic but here goes. I bought the above for a very short lived 60's cover band I joined(3 gigs and that was it!). It's made in Indonesia, after an initial set up by myself the action was better but I thought I would put my own mark on it. I replaced the bridge with a Wilkinson style bridge in gold, a gold control plate with matching knobs which are slightly larger and gold pickguard screws and string retainer. Then through FB(The North East Bass Bin) a guy was selling a set of Fender Noiseless pickups with a preamp. These were a steal at ?80 for the whole lot!(work it out USA people). I didn't need the pre amp as I have the best already but these PU's alone are very expensive!. I replaced the two single wires on the PU's with shielded two core cable, rewired the plate with high grade copper wire replacing that cheap thin stuff that was on the original plate, replaced the bridge volume with a Fender large size 250K pot, put a Fender push pull pot on the neck PU so I can switch between series or parallel and wired in a modified tone control with a circuit I got off the web, it has two resistors and two capacitors, it give a more rounded bass tone graduating to a less harsh treble. I have used it for a few gigs now and it is a nice second bass even though it is passive!

bigredbass · « **Reply #1 on:** July 02, 2015, 11:08:10 AM »

Good stuff, Terry. I love 'hot-rodding' Squiers, for me it's a lot easier than buying a parts guitar (like Warmoth) which often cost as much as an off the rack piece.

I keep having a daydream of taking the James Johnston Jazz and adding white EMG's and 18v, but that five string Precision is really telling me it wants to be set up with a Nordstrom 5-string PJ set-up and a Babicz bridge . . . . .

I see very little difference in the better Squiers and the lower priced Fenders.

Joey

hieronymous · « **Reply #2 on:** July 02, 2015, 11:34:53 AM »

Looks like a nice candidate for Activators with gold script!

I bet it sounds great, looks like it's been a fun project putting it together. Nothing wrong with passive basses - other than Alembic electronics I'm 100% passive!

terryc · « **Reply #3 on:** July 03, 2015, 12:23:11 AM »

Cheers guys..for all you electronic geeks out there, note that the 'hot' signal wires are red and the grounds are black and there is heat shrink on any overly exposed bare wire..I am a stickler for details !!