Fender Squier Affinity Series P-Bass

This is a Squier Affinity P-Bass, made in China in 2003 (I think). It has 20 frets, locking closed clover style tuners, rosewood fretboard with jumbo frets, mother of pearl dot fret markers, maple neck, tune-o-matic bridge, and four strings (duh). It's also got a standard P style pickup, passive electronics, one tone knob, one volume knob, and I got it in a metallic red finish with a white pickguard.

I play this bass through an SWR LA10 series amp with no effects. I play everything from the Beatles to Mudvayne, and this bass suits me just fine. It's sounds can range from dark and muddy to bright and snappy. It's extremely versatile, as it allows you switch styles of playing without switching settings, which is great for begginers like me. It does fine in alternate tunings, as well.

When I got this thing home, I took a few minutes to inspect it. The front pickup was a tad too high, but I fixed that easily. The action was also a little high, so my friend lowered for me. The volume pot was loose, so my friend fixed that, too. Other than that, the bass was set up perfectly.

I've never played live, but this bass feels extremely solid. It's only had to endure a few bangs and bumps around the house so far, and it seems to hold up pretty well. It stays in tune pretty much forever, unless I manage to bash the headstock into something (which I have done before). I don't have a strap, so I'm not sure how tough the strap buttons are yet. Judging by how sturdy this thing feels, I'm pretty sure I'd gig with it without a backup.

Never had to deal with them.

This is my first bass, and I can honestly say that I like the way it sounds, looks, and feels. I've only been playing for about three weeks, and I still haven't managed to break it. If it were lost or stolen, I'd probably save up for an Epiphone Thunderbird, because I've wanted one for quite awhile, and I love the way they sound. This bass is great for people like me because it looks professional, but it actually isn't. It's still a sweet bass, though.

Fender's obligatory P-Bass ripoff. Purchased as part of the ubquitous amp/cable/gigbag/bass package. 2001 Affinity PBass, pretty much standard Fender stats.
-Maple C shape neck, 9.5" radius, rosewood fingerboard
-34" scale, 20 frets
-standard cloverleaf tuners, chrome hardware
-4 saddle bridge, single ply white pickguard
-split coil pbass pickup one volum one tone
all fine for the first couple of months...more on that later.

i started out playing rock in the vein of early grunge and older stuff of that nature, but i've progressed to punk now. (think rancid) this bass works fine for finger style and picking, although slap and pop do not come across with any definition. the tone control appears mostly for decoration and/or producing a horrible buzzing sound with the slightest turn.

no range. horrible. pole pieces proceeded to rust out very quickly. basic pbass noise. i run it through a Boss ODB-3 overdrive and a Peavey TNT 115. i get a nice lemmy kind of bass distortion from this rig, but the bass does not like it. much buzzing and complaining.

everything arrived attached. that's about the best i can say. input jack came loose, and the string nut disintegrates as we speak. the neck warps incessantly and as such i have to hear the horrible buzzing of the ill adjusted frets every time i play. pole pieces are rusted out, as mentioned before. tuners bite ass. the strap button (top one, on the upper horn) disgorges my strap at the slightest movement and the entire thing is neck/head heavy.

this bass maintains its level of shittiness through everything. i've dropped it on the headstock, rammed it into cymbals and smacked an overzealous stage diver upside the head with it. nothing impacts it's spectacular level of incompetence. finish just chips, not really wearing away. neck warps easily, truss rod seems to just be there so Fender could make a pretense that this was a functional instrument. i have gigged without a backup, but only because none was available. this thing went progresively out of tune and fell out of its strap once or twice, but finished the show. never again will i visit this embarrassment on my band.

haven't dealt with them.

this bass is an insult. i should have just saved and gone for a standard fender jazz or precision. if it were stolen, i'd shake the individuals hand and then run before he could hand it back to me. i bought this thing out of poverty and economics, and now i am paying the price. burn in hell, Squier Affinity Precision Bass.

Same as any P-bass. Knobs fell off so mine is knobless. Mine's probably a 1999-2001. If you buy this bass, you're not expecting features like active pups, etc., so it's fine.

I think the body wood is some cheap particle board or plywood, so you're not gonna get a sweet tone. The pickups are weak. When you're playing anything below the low A of the open A string, it warbles and looses all smoothness if you pluck the string with any amount of attack. It's not terrible otherwise, just kind of small sounding. It's not bad plugged into a board or bass Pod, but anytime you crank it up in a real world situation, it's pretty lousy. I don't understand why so many people gave this axe 7's and 8's for sound. It's not disguisting, but definitely below average. I'm a traditionalist and a fender guy , but I've played ibanez or yamaha low end basses that cost maybe $25 more than this (when purchased new) that seemed far superior. I bought this one for $50 used so I can't complain.

Knobs fell off, pickups are poor, tuning pegs are low ratio or something, but once it's in tune it's not terrible. Low frets buzz a bit. The neck isn't bad, and it feels smooth and solid under your fingers.

I let it sit around for a couple months in the winter and the neck went all out of wack, nothing but buzz--but I adjusted the truss rod, raised the action, and it was fine.

It's fairly sturdy, just not that well made to begin with. For what it is it has pefectly adequate durability. I wouldn't play out with it as just seems kinda flimsy.

Never had to deal with them.

Bought this bass for $50 from and ad on craigslist, and for that price I'm more than satisfied. I'm a guitar player, and only use the bass when tracking demo songs, just to have something basic when I bring new ideas into band practice. I run it through a guitar pod, not a bass pod, into a USB audio device, and it sounds halfway decent. It's a good axe for a beginner, or someone like me, who's not gonna play out with it. I can noodle on it perfectly happily through a practice amp and it stays in tune. If I were a bass player, I'd probably think it was crap.

made in china, 2001, 20 frets, one pickup, etc.... The only thing I really like about is the pickup (one word, LOUD). I'll give it a few points for simplicity, too.

It's capable of a wide variety of tones (provided you have a wide variety of amps). With my peavey basic 112, it gets a more modern tone that's suited to nu-metal style. With the Bassman 100 at my school,it put out some huge low end, and actually sounded good. I still wouldn't use it for stage or studio.

The action and pickup were actually good on this bass, but that was all.
For my list of complaints, see "reliability and durability".

This bass is very poorly built. The knobs kept falling off, and the tone post is now completely gone. There's no way this thing could withstand live playing, and calling the strap buttons mediocre would be a complement. It's undependable, and I wouldn't play it live at all.

N/A - I can't be bothered to deal with customer service

I've been playing for about 4 years, and the only reason i ever bought this bass is because it was slighty cheaper than the ibanez GSR100. I really wouldn't care if it was stolen. The pickup puts out excellent volume, but this is not worth buying.

2002 Squier Affinity Series P - Bass Pak w/ Frontman 15B

Meh. They might as well have left the tone knob off, 'cause in turning it you'll go from crackly to muddy.

This bass has limited variety. Basically, you can have slap and rock sounds. If you're good, you can make it sound jazzy. Still, when played at full volume on my Fender 15B amp, it can get absolutely awesome and heavy waves of bassified goodness. But, on the other hand, a lot of that is probably due to my new DR strings.

On an unrelated note, GET DR STRINGS, DAMMIT!!!

It had some buzz at first, but when I got this, I had only started bass, so my then virgin fingers probably caused that. The neck is substantially fatter than a Soundgear, but it'll toughen you up so you'll kick ass on thinner necks.

The finish is dark blue, but it's not like you can expect sunburst or something on such a cheap bass.

The pickguard is starting to yellow, after 10 months.

This thing might as well be a chunk of tank armor.

Strap buttons blow, though.

Never did anything with this bass except make the action a tad higher and change the strings.

This is the only bass I own. My next bass will be the Warwick RockBass Corvette Classic. I play it with the included amp, but, by Christmas, it'll be running through a Hartke 4x10 cab and a Behringer head. God, it'll kick ass. I wish it was a Fender, that's about it.

If it were stolen or lost, I wouldn't get another one, because I could never find the money. I'm 14, so, yeah.

2003, 20 frets, 1 volume, 1 tone, chrome knobs, ibought the package so a squier 15 wat amp and a fender gig bag was included.

My style would be punk rock , and its suits it well. Compared to a real fender though it does not have very good sound. it gives off sort of a buzzing tone. I bought this as my first bass and i think it would suit beginners well.

the bass was fien when i bought it.

I am fine with the action but the bass itself does not hold up very well. the paint is easily chipped. The knobs are constantly loose and sometimes fall off. The input hole comes loose a lot and it cracked the pickguard. I would say it would withstand a gig if you used it when it was newer.

i havent dealt with them

i was a begginer wehn i bought it and it was fine then, but now i need something with a muc better sound that will last longer, i am thinking of buying a deluxe p bass special.

first of all, you dont buy a squier for its features. 21 frets, medium jumbo, solid top. has 1 volume, 1 tone control, acitve electronics, maple neck, rosewood fretboard, alder body, came with a gig bag, tone knobs are always coming loose, pickups could be better, and the hardware, especially the tuners, are definitely a compromised value. But hey for a first bass, it works.

well, at first it was great, but its a little to light for me, i play more of a rock/jazz style so its not thick enough of a sound, however it bought some dimarzo split p pickups and a boss overdrive and it sounds pretty good now

the setup well, kinda sucked when it came out. however i rewired it when i put on the pickups and it sounds great.

This bass, altough not a fender, could be played live with a good amp. durability on it seems good....so far. however, Ive had my problems with it and i think it would be really stupid to play this without a backup, cause it aint no fender.

never dealy with em and dont wanna have to

well, ive only been playin for 2 years, but still playing with this bass, however i am looking to buy either a yamaha or an eppiphone t bird cause od the thicker sound. i would probably never buy another p bass again, cause i hate the sound, but if its your style then go for it. however if this is your first puchase and no looking to play either a blink 182 style or a hard rock id consider looking at this ones brother, affinity jazz bass. and if you dont know what to do when getting your first bass feel free to e-mail me with your questions

READ THIS ONE, ITS THE BEST AND MOST INFORMATIVE my'n was made in '00 in asia somewhere, its just like every other one, but better. its got volume and tone controls, its got a very long neck and a big head like a sort of Ben Afleck and Pheobe from friends love child. ooo, what would J-Lo say about that. whats a humidifier?

a bad artist blames their tools. my tone doesn't work unless its turned up to full because i replaced the wire with a guitar string. but i assume thats my fault. if you put it through a great amp, it sounds great, if you put it through an awful amp, you can still make it sound great if you're good enough. its got quite a dull floobly sound.

its fine for playing, i just play it, i don't really care about details, (cos i'm so cool, and rock 'n' roll!)

its built like a british tank (the ones that American cowboys don't blow up). the volume and tone pots arn't very secure, one fell off and i can't find it. i'd gig without a back up, partly because i'm a skint student, and partly because i'm rock 'n' roll. man.

never delt with them. i fix it myself.

i've been playing about 3yrs, i own nothing else bass related (not even an amp boo-hoo, i run it through my kaoss pad and just put my megaexpensive headphones on) i love it, its my baby, i slept with it once, but it didn't wake me up in the middle of the night with its incessant crying, so i'm happy. i wish the body wasn't so big, maybe 5/6ths its current size. i (my good friend dave) cut off and sanded down most of the silly white scratch plate (a black one would cost #36! (thats approximately 1 billion American dollors)) so it just covers the knobs, i left the screws in and it looks soo much better than most other basses. i wish it had really expensive pick-ups, the current ones are all scratched up where i put delay on and rub the E over the little silver circles, it sounds like a thunder storm, but ruins the plastic casing. i'll look into that. if it was stolen i would have to save up to buy another one, same one. if i put delay on (the kaoss pad) and turn the tone down (its knackered remember) it sounds like a sort of droney synth monster. to create the same effect-replace the wire that connects the tone pot to the volume pot with an acoustic guitar string. its so cheap too.

Made in China, year 2000 model. Rosewood fingerboard, plus the usual features for a P-bass. No accessories (I should have asked for some Allen wrenches).

Bought it 2 years ago for playing at home, it's still in good condition. Stays in tune well, altough the tuners feel cheap. The bass itself feels very solid when playing, lots better than other beginner basses that I have tried over the years.

I have been playing bass for almost 20 years; currently I play mostly at home and once in a while at a local blues open mic (no time for a band, have to take care of the family).

Has a very good sound for the price, after installing a new set of strings. Some 60Hz hum, though, which is common in a lot of more expensive instruments too -- I will probably shield the control cavity one of these days, and clean the pots while I'm at it (they make some scratchy noises when I turn the tone knob).

The pickup is a very important component of the sound of any electric instrument, and in this case it has an OK sound. The famous P-bass "growl" is there, and it responds well to my different styles of playing. You can get a good range of sounds using the tone know, amp settings, and different finger attacks. The slap tone is surprisingly good, with a fresh set of strings. I personally use light gauge strings, which work better for my style of playing, and they give me a nice range of tonal possibilities on this bass.

The bass has a reasonable sound unplugged, and no noticeable dead spots. And beyond that, well, the sound is in the fingers, isn't it?

This bass feels very solid when playing, I like that. The finish is OK; I haven't detected any blemishes or anything on it. Neck satin finish feels good, frets are OK. (This is kind of hit and miss, I think; some more expensive instruments that I have tried at the guitar store had bad frets. Fretboards can shrink over time and the frets protrude; I'm not sure you can put all the blame on the manufacturer for this. But, as I said, this isn't a problem in this particular bass.)

The action at the guitar store was OK, at least I don't remember it being noticeably bad. After buying it I dissassembled it to fly it in a plane, and assembled it back at home, and had no problems. I adjusted the truss rod and bridge a several times, after changing strings and whatnot, and didn't have problems getting a reasonable action on it.

One of the knobs fell off once, but after screwing it back I haven't had any problems with it again.

This bass will certainly withstand live playing; it's built like a tank. The only problem I experimented when playing live with it was 60Hz hum from some fluorescent lamps. Needs shielding. I have had it for 2 years and it's in mint condition, it looks that with proper care it can last 20 years more. (Well, I store it under the bed and haven't bought a gig bag for it yet, which I don't think qualifies as "proper care", and the bass is still in one piece.)

Body finish seems like auto paint, and I think it is. Pretty thick. I don't know about the satin finish on the neck; time will tell.

Never dealt with Fender or Guitar Center after buying this bass.

This is a great bass for a beginner, or for a hobbyist that doesn't want to spend a fortune on a "boutique" bass. It sure beats the crappy bass I had when I started playing.

The hardware is cheap, of course, but: the tuners keep in tune, the pickup doesn't sound like crap, the knobs (after adjusting their screws) stay put, the bridge does the job, the electronics are adequate. This wasn't always the case with cheap instruments some years ago. Mass manufacturing

The construction seems pretty solid, and the acoustic tone of the beast is nice, so I think it wouldn't be a waste of time to change the electronics and pickup(s), if you would like to upgrade it. I will probably do it in the future, if I can manage to get some spare time and join a band, but for now it's not worth it.

This is a 2000 model, made in China, standard scale. It has a standard blue finish with white pickguard. Rosewood fretboard.

You can't get a good variety of sound as it only has a P pickup, and a shit one at that. When treble is turned up, there is an annoying hum from the pickups - standard p - bass sound, except crapper. No, it's not that bad for the money

The bass came with a decent setup, but i had to lower the strings as they were quite high for my liking. Tuning pegs were loose and the bass kept ging out of tune. The tuner for the G string was especially floppy. It was quite alarming. The jack scoket was loose and cracked the pickguard around it. I had to replace the bolt with a large washer to make it more stable. Knobs very loose. Shit.

Will this bass withstand live playing. No. It feels like it is made out of balsa, the neck makes a very hollow sound when you tap it. I haven't used it live, and i won't. I have a proper fender which i use. It is a deluxe P - bass special. I have done a review of that too. If i did use it i would have a backup ready and waiting.

N/A

I own another Fender which whups the shit out of this. If this was stolen i wouldn't really care. I'm flogging it to a small child for #100. There isn't really anything that i love about this bass. For suggested answers this is asking me 'anything that you wish it had'? Well come to mention it, i wish it had good tone. 'anything else you'd like to share'? Sure, this bass is a heap of crap