Fender Squier P Bass

Made in China, 1999, Squier Affinity p-bass. You know the drill. Bode wod of unknown origin (alder?), cream with a whte pickguard. Volume/tone/input.

It has all the features of a p-bass so that means a ten.

I play anything that is asked of me, wether it is rock, salsa, motown, top 40 or blues. I play this through a GK400RB and a 215 BW.

Not noisy. Very good p sound. Mellower than most. I have a Lakland Glaub and it is a little more open and hollow (less focused mids), but that's actually nice with flats. The original pickups do their job if you know how to play. It has a warm/fat sound. Many people comment on own good this sound and are flabbergasted when they see the name on the headstock !

It really sits wll in the mix.

Since I picked this used, I have no idea how it was setup at the factory. But let me tell you that with a little love, this thing ranks very high on playability (and I have/had a lot of basses).

The neck on mine is straight and the fretwork is flawless. I suspect the original owner of having done fretwork and nut leveling on this bass. I like my action low to medium-low and I can get it as low as many higher dollar basses without any sort of fretbuzz.

The finish is a thick poly. The pickguard is really ugly and its cut leaves a lot to be desired.

I have yet to touch the trussrod, even after changing strings (I have to tweak it on my Lakland regularly). All the hardware seem solid except the jack, wich I'll have to change. T'll change the pots to CTS too while I'm at it.

No opinion on this. I'll fix problems myself rather than call Fender for a 10 year old bass.

I've been playing for nearly 15 years now in various bands. I've had a lot of gear and have learned not to look at the headstock when buying a bass. I bought this thing used where it sat, unloved, in a music store, for 150 CAN. It felt right the moment I held it in my hands.

It is a very serviceable p-bass for anyone who is into a mellower vibe. I really think I got a gem since most Squiers I have tried did not sound/play that good: you just have to get the right one by playing as many as you can. I'd put it in the same league as some 800-900$ basses I've tried and owned over the years, it is THAT good.

If it were stolen, I'd try to find another one as good as this one.

i recently purchased a 20th Anniversary
Baltic Blue 2002 Squier P and absolutely love it.
It is a well made Indo P bass.
i rescued it from a punk rocker for a song.
Had no idea it was a 20th when i went to pick it up.
Controls were smashed into the cavity.
Easy fix, i got lucky.
i noticed these Ps are wired different when repairing it.
The film cap is ground to the tone pot (capped to its self).
Not like the average Vol to Tone cap job.
It has a unqiue Low & Treb vibe to it.
The neck is a little fatter than average Ps of the same type.
It has a beautiful rosewood fretboard.
Walnut skunk stripe and one piece hard maple base.
It is an Affinity so i'm guessing either
Alder, Agathis or Basswood for the body material.
It also seems a lil fatter than most affinity Ps.
It has a fat feel like the older Fender Ps has.
The baltic blue is awesome!
The chics love the color...No joke.
Its scarred and scratched but it
has character with its battle scars.

Unbelievable Sustain!
i'm a thumber (James Lee Jamerson style).
So i sent my basses up for that MoTown sound.
This bass can achieve Dug Pinnick rattle lows.
(Think: Life Going By: Kings X Ear Candy)
And it will hold those whole notes beyond the measure.
i was seriously astounded when i played that.

i tested it thru a Behringer BX 4500H,
2-10 Seismic Audio Cab with a 80s Fender BXR w/ 1-15 PylePro.

What else could any bassist want?
This bass is a chill maker on 3 with above rig.
Very surprised.

Very low action. It came in setup so high a MatchBox car
could ride between the strings and fretboard.
i honestly had major doubts when i first saw it.
i actually gapsed inside when i saw it laying in
a trunk of a car with another bass on top of it.
True story... no joke.
After wrenching it, lemon oiling the board,
resetting the neck and securing the neck plate, pick guard and bridge
i decided that i wanted to keep this monster around for a while.
Nice work!

It's a proven battle ax!
It's A Tank! Would Trust It In Any Situation.

n/a

i've been trying to play rock and roll for about 30 years.
i'm not a "i'm gonna keep a bass for a lifetime" kinda player.
i'm a bass slut...i dig all types of 4 string basses.
Owned 67 Fender Mustang, 77 Fender P, 75 Ripper, 60s Teiscos,
Vintage Kay Basses ,Lots of Vin Roadstar II basses
the list goes on and on...
i felt a need to write about this
20th Anniversary P because of it's truly unique character.
i've owned possibly 4 or 5 Squiers and this one blew my mind.
If Squier says it's an Anniversary model or a
Limited Edition model take it to the bank, they mean it.
Because once they're gone they are really
hard to find but very much worth the search.

If lost or misplaced i'd search for another one.
Fender really did make these different from the rest.

I have the Squier starter bass, and it's seen me through my first three years of playing (yeah, I'm pretty skint). I can't complain, it does everything I need it to, I don't know that much about basses either so I can't say that much. I'd only say the sound isn't that great and when you pick up a better quality bass you suddenly realise how bad your own is, but it's really quite decent for it's price.

It's good because you can play pretty much any type of music with it. I play in a band, again, no one style it's very mixed up, and playing through a live gig set-up it doesn't sound bad at all! It's also great for staying in tune, I hardly ever have to tune it unless I have been carrying it around a lot or banged it.

It came in very good condition when it was new, but I've three times had to go and get the pick-ups and the lead contact repaired, it's had the plate on the front of the body replaced and the varnish chips off easily if you knock it by mistake. I've also had to do a lot of my own tinkering, raising the pick-ups, and lowering the strings closer to the fretboard. The volume and tone knobs are always falling off as well, I have actually lost the volume one now because it came off at a gig and I never found it again.

It's very reliable, I have hardly ever needed back-up, only time was when the lead contact died.

I've only ever gotten it repaired at my local guitar dealer which wasn't where I bought it, so I can't comment on this one.

The reason I'm reviewing this is because I was browsing this site looking at other basses, the reason being now that I've been playing for 3 years I'm looking to upgrade to something a bit more decent in a higher price range. As a starter bass it was good, and it wasn't pricey at all, I learnt to play on it and I suppose you get what you pay for. I wouldn't get another one of these, but I'd recommend it to beginners.

Made in 1983, s/n sq=====,Beautiful sunburst finish,wbw pickguard. It's a p bass.

This is one of the nicest sounding Precisions I've ever played.Beautiful growl and deep resonant bass sound. Wonderful mids and highs.

One of the nicest Precisions I've had in my hands. Plays and feels like a vintage P bass,come to think of it I guess it is. Very good quality construction,not even a shim in the neck.

Typical durability.

Haven't dealt with them.

I've been playing for 40 years.Most of that time I've had a 1975 Jazz bass. Always wanted a Precision,started looking around and researching and found out about these mij Squiers,about a week after I came across this bass and a Traynor amp going for a song.I could'nt be more pleased. The gent who owned this bass kept it in awesome shape and did'nt play a whole lot so this bass is almost like new.Like I say this bass sounds and plays as good as any Precision I've come across.

20 Frets, Made in China, Solid body.
Just one pickup, the classic split P-Bass you know and love.
One tone knob, one volume knob.
I actually haven't replaced anything and am reviewing it as purchased (new).
The set-up is, put kindly, simple. Very no-frills.
This is not the bass you buy for bells and whistles, but you would at least expect what's there to be high quality. It's impossible to eliminate fret-buzz and have a reasonable string height. The neck doesn't have "dead" spots, but some frets toward the middle of the neck are certainly "wounded."
Overall: certainly not good, but not unplayable if you take good care of it.

My experience with this instrument ranges from effectless, jazz/blues playing to effects-heavy prog/punk/hard rock.
I've played this through everything from little, crappy Crate and Peavey combos through a mid-range tube-preamp, SS amp Tubeworks (pre-Genz Benz). She was quiet on all settings. The only way to describe her sound is to tell you that she sounds like a p-bass. This instrument is a blank canvas, just with a bit of a duller sound than her legitimate sisters.
Overall, she sounds exactly as she should, but in a lower price bracket.

You will need to sit down and fix the action, but it feels okay after a bit of work.
My knobs and output constantly came loose. Not very impressed with the hardware.
Overall, this bass requires maintaining. Expect to spend extra time with this bass, but it's worth it.
Grading this one is tough. I give its maximum potential an eight, but its factory settings a four. I'm splitting the difference and giving it a six.

This thing needs constant adjustment and fixing. She's cheap and you will probably end up seeing that. For example, the ground wire is an uninsulated hunk of chicken wire and BROKE INSIDE OF MY BASS THROUGH NORMAL USE. I brought it to a friend to re-soldier it and it's been fine since then, but this is not a reliable bass. Have a back-up instrument and be ready to sink time and money into this puppy.

I didn't deal with Fender support. I got it fixed on my own through a friend.

This bass is an entry level model. This is a fantastic first bass and great to learn on. It is unforgiving and will teach anyone new to playing bass to handle their instrument's set-up, how to do their own tinkering work, and how to get a good sound out of a cheap instrument. This bass lands exactly where it should for the price range, but that's not saying much.
Overall, this bass is a lot of work, but a good way to get started if you're broke.

Fender Squier P-Bass Affinity series, made in Indonesia. Standard P-bass configuration. Maple neck with skunk stripe, rosewood fretboard. Light weight body probably basswood. The whole bass weighs about the same as my LP Studio guitar! Thick blue probably polyurethane finish. Single ply cream pickguard. Neck is a bit wider compared to a Jazz bass but it plays fine.

Standard config: 6.5 for sound. After upgrade(Seymour Duncan SPB-2 with 1 decent volume pot) and a new set of Rotosound Swingbass 045 a solid 8. MUCH better all around, more bass, more definition especially with the volume pot turned down. Ballsy P-bass sound that covers all the classic blues/rock ground. Good sustain. 1 pickup 1 volume seems limited but there's a lot you can do with the position of your right hand fingers and the pick.
The original electronics sound a bit woolly especially with the volume turned down. Small cheap pots.

I got it used. The neck was bowed so i had to use the trussrod. 1/4 turn a day keeps the bass doctor away! The bolt is made of brass so it seems, soft material so be careful out there with the Allen key. I got a decent action also thanks to Gary Willis' informative site. Highly recommended. I couldn't get it perfect though, there's still some rattle above the 12th fret.
The tuners have some play, i tried to fasten the bolts at the back but this didn't help. Tuning is not entirely rock solid but i can live with it.

I already wrote about the tuners, they're not rock solid. I had no trouble with the other hardware so far. Finish: it's a used bass, it's a bit scratched here and there but not all the way through the finish. I'm a guitar player, i don't know if i'll ever gig as a bass player but i wouldn't hesitate to take this P-bass to a gig.

Fender had a web site. Lots of helpful info online. Actually i should write about Seymour Duncan's manual provided with the SPB-2 pickup: even i could mount it on the P-bass!

I have 25+ years of guitar experience. I wanted a bass (again) to fool around with. In the past i've had a Peavy T-40(heavy MF!) and a Yamaha BB-1100S(great allround bass). After upgrades and a new set of Rotosound Swingbass 045's (VERY important) it sounds fine to me. Good old fashioned supportive bass playing in the classic blues/rock vein is a breeze with this P-bass. I took it to a rehearsal room, with the original electronics. An experienced bass player tried it and liked it. For the price you can't go wrong. With a bit of work and extra investment i took it from a good beginner's bass to a gig worthy instrument. Price paid was inclusive gigbag and strap!

Made in Korea 1990, " S " serial number, so made at the Samick plant.
Torino red finished PLYWOOD! body, high gloss maple neck, rosewood fretboard. Standard hardware.
Split P pickup, 1 vol, 1 tone.

It sounds like a P should. I fitted D`Addario chromes on it, the (original!) factory strings where eaten by rust. Now it sounds to my liking, and i must say that the feel of flatwound is so much better on the fingers...
When i play this bass, i play different then when i use my J, the instrument itself sorta "orders" me how to play it.
Despite it has a PLYWOOD body, this bass sounds very warm, and it punches right through the band, no adjustments on my amp, every control 12 o` clock, perfect!
It`s a bit noisy in front of a PC monitor, but on stage it is silent.
Because it has just one (very good!) sound, so not much diversity, i give this a...

I bought it second hand on internet, with a terrible bowed neck, with a hump in the middle, rusted strings, dirty all over.....

A total make-over saved the bass` life, i had to do a lot of work on the neck, but now it`s back in full force, and i am very happy with the result.

So because of this I can`t give an opinion

The bass is already 17 years old, so i would say it proved itself on reliability, even the original crappy pots work silently, and are never sprayed with contact cleaner!
The former users didn`t care for the instrument, when i looked at the state this bass was in...
After adjusting the neck it setted after a while, and now it stays ok.
The finish has some dings from normal use, and will stand surely another 17 years, the hardware will too.
I would trust every gig without a backup, solid as solid can be.

Never contacted, no opinion

I`ve been playing for over 25 years, had cheap to very pricey instruments. I totally dig this kind of cheap worn instruments, and to patch them up. My challenge is that no matter what price, when you adjust it properly, every bass can sound good, it`s mostly in your fingers.
I love the gloss finished neck, i hate all the modern "silky" necks, mostly they are poorly finished, and some spots aren`t finished at all!
This instrument has already a lot of playing miles, feels really broken in, and it doesn`t break the bank.

The Squier Modified P bass is one of 3 new basses with Duncan special pickups...
Here is what Fender says.....
"The most popular electric bass of all time! The Precision Bass is considered by many to be the rock ???n??? roll bass; truly a workhorse of an instrument. Squier???s great new Vintage Modified Precision Bass offers the stripped-down and straight-ahead tone heard on countless recordings since the dawn of rock.
Features include an Olympic White-finished agathis body, one-piece maple neck with 20-fret rosewood fingerboard, three-ply Black/White/Black pickguard, thunderous Duncan Designed??? split single-coil pickups, chrome hardware and machine heads, and four-saddle chrome bridge."
Price was $259.00

The sound from this bass was very very good the pickups are whisper
quiet.
I tried this through a Trace Elliot bass combo amp with one 15"/ a Berringer Ultrabass 3000 with a Peavey 1810 cab (18" black widow and 2 10" scorpions, also a Rogue practice amp and a personal headset practice amp.
It has the Fender P-bass mid punch but I was very impressed with the clean but full sound of the Duncan hum cancelling pickups.
I have been playing bass 30 years and have owned every type of Fender bass made, both USA and the "other" catagory Fenders (Squier and MIM's) this sounds about as good as anything Fender I have ever played or owned.
I play live and in the studio anything from Hank Williams Sr. to Aerosmith..
Works equally well live or recording again sounds SUPER in my opinion
(I am talking Apples to Apples here Fender basses), personal preference in other Mfgr. of basses is not the forum or focus for this review.

The neck and finish is where the bass fell FLAT on it's face!
It came from the music store set up unusually high, I really did not think too much of this because I ALWAYS set up my own basses and intonation myself, I prefer the action low fast and smooth, I carry another stage bass for Slapping/Funk & Popping styles set up differently.
This bass has the worst neck I have ever owned!!! the first 2 frets are low causing excessive buzz the next 3 are pretty high and 7 through 12 have a bad bow buzzing again...
the final frets were also high!!! I prefer to keep S's on Supermans chest not on my ax's neck, no adjustment of the truss rod could straighten this out.
I then removed the neck released most of the tention on the truss rod
got out the masking tape and my fret files and a straight edge,and reworked the frets.
4 frets at different points on the neck required dressing them down to about 1/2 or more of their normal height!! (this should be unheard of in this day and age of automated production)!!
After an afternoon of filing, re-crowning and polishing the neck was at least playable.
The bow in the 8th through 12th frets was still there but significantly better, there just was no way to make it perfect without totally removing the frets and planing the rosewood fretboard. Tuners have a little play but hold tune ok, Bridge is typical light and should be changed out for a bit more resonance but is ok..
Body finish is ok.. Olimpic White no blems in the finish and highly glossy, but you can see the lines in the wood where the 3 pieces of the body are put together when held in the light at an angle.( this should have been filled and sanded better)but something has to give at this price.(eventually I'm pulling the frets filling with wood and turning the stock neck into a Fretless)
I ordered a Mighty Mite Maple neck and am now finishing it with the 2 step high gloss Nitrocellous Laquer to show the classic amber look of vintage Fender necks (Guitar reranch.com)the bass is worth keeping for the sound and light weight comfort.
I also put on a 3 ply Tort-White-Black pickguard, Full dress kit with chrome Ash tray and pickup cover and thumb rest, also a custom set of knurled knobs with Mother of Pearl tops, (all above accys. available on EbAy)

Typical Fender and Duncan, bass should last for decades.

Usually Great caring people who have been helpfull to me when I needed them, I should have sent this bass back to them but then they would have had it for a month ot two.

I love the sound and playing comfort, A real Eye catcher with the mods.
I'd replace it if stolen.
I checked out the neck on one of the Mod 70's Jazz basses later in the same store I bought this from and found some of the same problems with that neck (but not NEARLY as bad).
On the other hand I have an Affinity Chrome Red Squire Jazz bass I keep at our practice site that has the BEST neck I have EVER played!! Too bad it is noisy and sounds like crap.

I would just check yours over closely before you buy, some music stores like the one I bought mine from only offer store credit on returns.. hence the file job..

Standard Precision bass features, with rosewood fingerboard and 3-ply b/w/b pickguard. No suprises whatsoever in this regard, except for the quality of the Duncan-designed pickup. It has every feature you would ever want, assuming you wanted a P-Bass in the first place.

I bought a set of Fender Stainless flatwounds with it, slapped them on, and it sounds great. Relatively bright with the tone up, warmer with it rolled down. I'm using it through a Fender Rumble 100, and while it may not have the most idiosyncratic or uniquely unusual sound, I bet I could make it work in 95% of the playing situations you could think of (maybe not slap funk, but certainly fingerstyle). Everything gets a little spicier when I send it through a Tech-21 progrannable pre-amp pedal, and it fattens up considerably through a vintage model or roars w/distortion as I like it.

The neck was well adjusted, the nut was cut well, the intonation was right on, but the action at the bridge was not set up up well. Of course, if I had to pick one thing to not have been done right from the factory, that would be it. And since I was putting on a new set of strings, I would have probably had to do that to my liking anyway. Of course, if I didn't have allen wrenches at home, it would have been a problem since nothing (and I mean literally nothing) came with the bass at all. The fretwork was ( and I don't use this word lightly) awesome. Sliding your hand up the neck is a smooth as a babys bottom, and it put Mexi-P basses in the store to shame. Also, the frets seem smaller, like vintage frets, and this suits me just fine. The pickups could use some foam (or springs) underneath them. I can't quite get them as close to the strings as I want. The hardware seems standard, but relatively heavy-duty.

I could be wrong, but I think this bass will last. The finish is well applied and glossy, the strap buttons seem solid, and the hardware does not seem cheap at all. I feel like it's dependable, and I would use it on a gig without a back-up (although I might keep another in the trunk of my care, so as not to tempt fate).

N/A

I've been playing over 20 years, have owned eveything from Music Man to Rickenbackers, various Fenders (although never a P-Bass), a Gibson, and a couple of Ibanez's. What was I searching for that I could never find? The sound of flatwound strings (yes, d'oh, I am aware of the irony). For the record, I presently own a custom J-Bass w/Ken Smith pups & Bartolini electronics, and a Danelectro Longhorn. This bass may not be made of the fanciest wood, or have the most modern electronics, but I can get what I want out of it. I love the white finish & the rosewood fingerboard, and my favorite feature is that this is the same type of bass used by Dee Dee Ramone & Sid Vicious as well as James Jamerson and Duck Dunn. In other words, as much as any bass can, it really does do it all. The price tag was the icing on the cake.

Precision replica, made in china.
Mine is red and it is the entry level one (affinity series).

Everything is basic, tuners, bridge are ok. I've been lucky, I have it since 2001 and playability is so fair that I decided to upgrade pickup with a vintage split coil from Kent Armstrong 65$ with real AlNiCo magnets for each poles.

Stock pickup sucks (1 beefy ceramic magnet at the back of each coils) but you get what you pay for.

As explained,I upgraded the pickup with something similar to a US Fender. It really worth the $65. I play with a Fender BXR200H with a BXR210 Cabinet. Nobody believes it is a beginner bass.

Setup was so-so out of the box. I had it adjusted and restringed (DR Hibeam) by a pro a couple of times. I have apparently been lucky to get one that can be tuned almost as low action as a US one. I have a Japanese Fender Geddy Lee Jazz-Bass that matches any US made Fender and my Squier is really close. The non laminated white pick guard looks a bit cheap, I applied black "mac-tack" on it and it now looks like the guy from Cold Play P-Bass.

I used it live, finish is still good, for the rest, even a 10 000 Alembic or wathever custom shop bass needs to be adjusted when restringed and a back up is essential, I've seen a bass string failure only once in my life but I still remember the face of the guy limited to play on 3 strings...

Never deal with them but they have no Email adress on the whole Fender Website!!!

I have been playing bass for around 22 years. But more seriously in the last 5 years. I play in one coverband (rock alternative 80-90?s and actual) and one original band (we recently record our first demo) we are gigging regularly.

As explained,I upgraded the pickup with something similar to a US Fender Which I recommend, It really worth the $65. I play with a Fender BXR200H with a BXR210 Cabinet. Nobody believes it is a beginner bass. I own a Japanese Fender Geddy Lee Jazz-Bass that matches any US made Fender and my Squier is really close as far as playability. The sound is different since it is a P-Bass. Played with a pick, I'm not sure if a real connaisseur would make a difference sound wise with a Fender Precision US.

I do not regret my decision to invest on a pickup and a Fender Hardcase. If it would be stolen, I would shop for a Sunburst Mike Dirnt Fender Precision, and since it is made in Mexico, I would analyse the sound of its Pickup and upgrade it if necessary.