Post by JAC on Apr 28, 2017 16:27:11 GMT
I thought I would write this review, or opinion as the case may be, on my Squier Jag as I just ordered a short scale version of the same bass. This way, I can then review the new arrival in comparison.
I have had the Squier VM Jaguar now for around 5 or 6 years. It was a gift from my "better half" and was only the 3rd bass I owned (many have been through the doors since!).
This version is what was known as the Vintage Modified Jaguar "Standard" model. It was only available for a short period of time (probably about a year or two tops).
As you can see in this photo, there were 4 models of the Vintage Modified Jaguar released, the "Standard" was only available in black, with a tort pickguard, rosewood neck with block inlays, and a matching black headstock.
The Vintage Modified "Special" has been available in a total of 4 colors and 2 pickup configurations, a P/J and a Humbucker. I cannot remember when each color was available (although I do know that all 4 were available together at some point), but they were Black, Sunburst, Red and Silver. All of them had black pickguards, rosewood boards with dotted inlays, and maple headstock.
The "Special" was actually cheaper in price than the "Standard" model, even though it has active electronics with a bass boost. I am not certain if the "Special" and "Standard" shared the same pickups, which were originally designed by Seymour Duncan for the Vintage Modified series, but somewhere along the line (after the "Standard" was discontinued), the Vintage Modified line switched over to Fender designed pickups.
I cannot really say much more about the "Special" as I have never owned one, and giving one a try in a store doesn't really give me anything to go by except for a very brief "not bad".
Before I move on to the "Standard", I will point out that there are a few other models of "Jaguar" basses out there. There is the "Special Short Scale", which I will talk about at another time as I have just ordered one. There was also a "Jaguar V" 5 string version version available at some point in time, but I cannot say anything about the quality or if it is still available as I haven't paid much attention to 5 strings and the Fender/Squier webpage is not a lot of use at the best of times.
Finally, there is also a Fender Jaguar Bass, which is available new but is a reissue of an older bass that Fender made. These are quite a bit more expensive and are easily identified by the extra switches.
So, on to the VM Jaguar "Standard", which is what I have at hand. As I said above, I have owned it for around 5 or 6 years, and during this time it has been one of my favourite basses to play. The reason I do not play it as much as I would like to is that full scale basses seem to cause me lot's of pain in my left wrist after extended playing sessions (I broke that wrist a few times, which may explain why).
The finish on the bass is good, obviously it is not a hand built / hand finished instrument, but for a mass production bass it is decent. On the back of the neck, just below the 12th fret, there is a spot where it seems to have a small "rise" in the thickness. You can't see it, and you can only really feel it if you know where to aim, but it is there. At first it was a little distracting, but with time, it actually helped me find certain positions on the neck. The frets, nut, etc. were fine.
Where the "Special" model opted for active electronics, with a 4 knob set up and a side routed jack, the "Standard" model goes for a slightly "old school" approach, with passive electronics and a Vol – Tone – Vol – Tone arrangement on stacked knobs, with the output jack on the control plate.
The tone pots, which are on the bottom of the stacked knobs, have indentations in them which means you are sort of limited to 8 or 10 defined positions. It's not a bad thing, as the steps are enough and in the correct places, but it was a little weird that they didn't just give you total control. The only reason I could think of for this was to stop the tone turning with the volume, but that happened on mine anyway because the top knobs were tightened down too far, making them turn the tone also. A small allen key solved this in 30 seconds. The bridge vol/tone pot was also a little bent, but this could easily have been done during shipping or when it was moved to the hard shell case it came in (purchased seperately by the wife).
The pickups themselves are labelled as "Duncan Designed". They were designed by Seymour Duncan, but made in China (or somewhere similar) by whateve company makes pickups for Fender. The sound of the P style pickup was great, plenty of fullness and really sounded like a decent P bass should, but as with most P/J setups, the Jazz style at the bridge was not up to the task of complimenting the P. I swapped these out for a set of Dimarzio DP126 which certainly helped when using both together. If I was only looking to get the P sound out of the bass, then I would have left the stock pickups in it. I currently have the stock pickups in an Ibanez Mikro bass, and the result is the same as in the Squier.
As far as playability goes, well, that is a very personal decision. The neck has the same Jazz neck profile as any other Fender or Squier J, with a 38mm (1.5") width at the nut. The action and set up was fine for what I was playing at the time, but since I moved over to short scale instruments, I have found a set up that I prefer and I haven't tried to set up the Jag in this way.
Overall, I would say that the Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar "Standard" was a very decent bass for the price, and it was one of the earlier VM models to be released. When the VM line was released, the raise in the level of quality by Squier impressed a lot of people and sold them a lot of instruments.
If anyone should have any specific questions I can be of help with, just let me know!