Squire by Fender Affinity P Bass

This is the Affinity P bass. Theses are apparantly made in 1 of 2 places, China and Indonesia. Mine was made in China in 2002 I believe.

It is Blue, I forget the factory designer name. It is a thick near perfect coating on an "alder" body. As an Affinity model the body is a fraction thinner, not sure why, to make lighter, foreign machining practices, or to save money (probably the case).

Cheap top loading Bridge.

This has a single direction truss standard hard rock maple 21 fret P bass neck. I have heard these are all made in North America and shipped to the Far East for assembly but I am not sure.

Mine has the best acoustic sound of any fender 4 string bass I've found so musical integrity doesn't seem to suffer.

This has a single direction truss standard hard rock maple 21 fret P bass neck. I have heard these are all made in North America and shipped to the Far East for assembly but I am not sure.

The neck joint is the standard 4 "bolt" 4 woodscrews in the neck into the pocket. It is tight and well assembled.

I recently broke the cheap single ply plastic pick guard when I bounced the cable jack off of my knee as a band mate handed the bass to me. I have replace it with an aluminum diamond deck pickguard from a company who had the Squire specific template. I figured any extra shielding couldn't hurt and it would be more durable.

The pots are okay, a little noisy but tolerable.
The pickup mounts to the body, and all the other electronics mount to the pick guard. It is all too easy to access when and if they need replaced.

I put on straplocks and had to buy bigger screws as the standard Squire screws a larger than the ones that came with the new straplocks, the squire screws were too short.

My machine heads are closed (some come with "stardard" open tuners. My E string is a little sloppy and tentative holding tune (we always tune to Eb). I will eventually replace them.

This base has tons of sustain, but I would like more attack and punch on the low end. I believe this mays a P bass characteristic. If you like a growly ominous presence, this is the bass for you, in a 3 piece rock band it is an awesome filler.

I thought about a badass or hi mass bridge of some kind. But with the acoustic performance this has, I wonder if it'd improve anything. Cheap stamped metal bridge, has no harmonics surprisingly.

The pots are okay, a little noisy but tolerable.
The pickup mounts to the body, and all the other electronics mount to the pick guard. It is all too easy to access when and if they need replaced.

Pickup height is critical for consistant volume from string to string, I had to adjust this as well.

Squire gets a bad rap for quality. So I will say if you don't want to tinker and improve it at all, its a good beginners bass. It is the Fender P bass design, which is ingeniously simple, with complete adjustability. I think the biggest knock is the setup, which is poor. Almost all Fret noise and tuning noise, and tonal inconsistancies can be eliminated with a good setup. Also keep in mind QA means 1 can be good and the next instrument may be junk. Always play the bass first.

I keep wanting to get another better bass and keep wondering why? All those bright shiney toys!!!!!!!!

This bass was 149.00 and came with a cardboard box.

This thing sounds great through my Fender Rumble 100. Only gets an 8 for my inexperience.

I replaced the factory pickup as it seemed a little muddy at the bottom (G down to open E) and I got a good deal on a Duncan Design pup. I think there was an improvement. Both of the split pups on this bass were quiet. I do not think the bridge is grounded as there is a slight amount of static until I touch the strings (with the old pickguard.

This base has tons of sustain, but I would like more attack and punch on the low end. I believe this may be a P bass characteristic. If you like a growly ominous presence, this is the bass for you, in a 3 piece rock band it is an awesome filler.

I thought about a badass or hi mass bridge of some kind. But with the acoustic performance this has, I wonder if it'd improve anything. Cheap stamped metal bridge, has no harmonics surprisingly.

There was fret buzz and a string height issue. The Fender "Gearhead" sight tells you how to set the relief with the truss rod. As well as intonation and of course the string height. All of these are variable to personal preference. I have no fret buzz now. It is a good looking bass but boring in stock form.

The neck and fretting seem fine.

I would use this without a backup as I have. If I was rich I wouldn't buy this bass. But now that I have made it mine it is as "good as it gets"and getting a replacement seems stupid . The real deal is I'd rather play music than play with the bass so you should buy the best you can afford tempered with how much you will actually play or lose if you don't.

Its a P bass, therefore its a tank. Dropped an amp on it. 1 tiny chip in the paint.

I've only been playing with the band for about 5 months, on and mostly off for the 4 years previous.

If stolen, I'd hunt the thief down convince him that I decide when I upgrade and club him with it. But I'd replace it with something already to my liking.

This bass delivers as advertised, and is surprisingly upgradable. I'd recommend it to any beginner