Fender Squier Sonic Series

#502
RicheyLather said:
Does anyone know best place to order a b/w/b laminated guard for my Bronco? OJ jokes timely, RIP ‘Juice…..
Click to expand...
earlpilanz on eBay makes custom pickguards for the Broncos.

I use one on my Bronco:

Modded close up 2.JPG
 
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#503
MadJack said:
earlpilanz on eBay makes custom pickguards for the Broncos.

I use one on my Bronco:

View attachment 5420376
Click to expand...

Absolutely love my earlpilanz pickguard. IMHO, worth every penny, and also one of the few sellers who have templates for almost everything, including our humble Squiers. If I ever need another, likely to buy from him again. Too beautiful, just awesome.

My Sonic Bronco is getting a new nut cut, and I shall have it ready by Thursday. Very excited! The stock nut is fine, and it was easy to play as-is, but for the sakes of it being "perfect," had a new installed. Super happy with my Bronco, to be honest.
 
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#504
RicheyLather said:
Does anyone know best place to order a b/w/b laminated guard for my Bronco? OJ jokes timely, RIP ‘Juice…..
Click to expand...
Precision Guitar in Arizona. If you send them the original PG they will make any color they have in stock. I’ve ordered 4 PG’s from there but the last two times the turn around was about 4 weeks compared to 1 week on the first two orders. Precision Guitar | Reverb
 
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#506
I'm a huge Squier fan; I probably have several dozen. I love them; I love fixing them and building partscasters with them as well.

When I first saw it, I bought one of the slime green Sonic Precisions from Fender.com. I had to have it. It was cheap, and I didn't expect too much as I am a realist.

But, it was the worst quality Squier I've ever bought new. That doesn't mean I don't like it.

The paint was great, but man did it have some flaws; some of which I have never experienced before - such as this string changing gauge in the middle of the fretboard:

20231117_220235.jpg



The nut doesn't really fit either:

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And, there is some strange hump in the fretboard edge:

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The factory strings DO sound good strangely, extra middy and loud, but they leave your fingers coated in some weird black residue after just a couple minutes:

20231118_004414.jpg



The nut for the A string was cut so low that it didn't make a note; you can see that in the pic above showing the fretboard hump.

One of the tuners was badly bent even though there was no shipping damage to the box at all.

20240416_145139.jpg



But, truthfully, even buzzing like crazy and with the bad string and bad nut and bad fretwork, the neck feels sooooo good and the body just sings and screams. Sounds GREAT. It's actually a joy to play. Weird! Cuz it IS pretty crappy.

I contacted Fender (the pics above have captions as they are the ones I sent to them) about getting a new tuner, some different strings, and a nut. But, they flat-out REFUSED.

What, whoa, wait a second here!

Instead, they sent me out a complete new bass, the two-tone sunburst maple version! Fender no longer has the green color, btw.

But, get this.......they told me to KEEP the green one too!

Woohoo!!!!

So, two basses for $175 wasn't a bad deal. At all!

Fender's customer service has been exceptional.
 
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#508
MARVIN MECKLER said:
I'm a huge Squier fan; I probably have several dozen. I love them; I love fixing them and building partscasters with them as well.

When I first saw it, I bought one of the slime green Sonic Precisions from Fender.com. I had to have it. It was cheap, and I didn't expect too much as I am a realist.

But, it was the worst quality Squier I've ever bought new. That doesn't mean I don't like it.

The paint was great, but man did it have some flaws; some of which I have never experienced before - such as this string changing gauge in the middle of the fretboard:

View attachment 5420411


The nut doesn't really fit either:

View attachment 5420422


And, there is some strange hump in the fretboard edge:

View attachment 5420424


The factory strings DO sound good strangely, extra middy and loud, but they leave your fingers coated in some weird black residue after just a couple minutes:

View attachment 5420445


The nut for the A string was cut so low that it didn't make a note; you can see that in the pic above showing the fretboard hump.

One of the tuners was badly bent even though there was no shipping damage to the box at all.

View attachment 5420437


But, truthfully, even buzzing like crazy and with the bad string and bad nut and bad fretwork, the neck feels sooooo good and the body just sings and screams. Sounds GREAT. It's actually a joy to play. Weird! Cuz it IS pretty crappy.

I contacted Fender (the pics above have captions as they are the ones I sent to them) about getting a new tuner, some different strings, and a nut. But, they flat-out REFUSED.

What, whoa, wait a second here!

Instead, they sent me out a complete new bass, the two-tone sunburst maple version! Fender no longer has the green color, btw.

But, get this.......they told me to KEEP the green one too!

Woohoo!!!!

So, two basses for $175 wasn't a bad deal. At all!

Fender's customer service has been exceptional.
Click to expand...

That was pretty bad QC in your case. Many of us have had a better "Sonic experience." :(

Some people love to hate on Big Bad Fender, but their support is great. "But my cheap bass guitar is a much better value than your Squier!" Is the customer service for your value brand the same? I understand they are not for everybody, but they are after all a good and trustworthy brand, in my opinion and experience.

Glad you got a free bass for your troubles! Plus the green one can be fixed. :thumbsup::bassist:
 
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#510
Lee Kirkham said:
I just picked up a Sonic myself and after adding a few spare parts lying around the house, she's out and gigging regularly. I love it!
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Squier calls that "California Blue" but it looks much much much more BLUE than the Aerodyne California Blue which is almost a baby blue.

img_8157-jpg.5421050

ae00-58231.jpg


Would you say the pics you posted are accurate to the real color of your bass?

I've seen pics of this Squier California Blue color vary more widely than any other color in recent memory.
 
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#514
MARVIN MECKLER said:
Squier calls that "California Blue" but it looks much much much more BLUE than the Aerodyne California Blue which is almost a baby blue.

yeah, I'd say my photo is pretty accurate to the "in person" color. Having the black pickguard gives it the illusion of being a deeper shade than with the white pickguard.

img_8157-jpg.5421050

ae00-58231.jpg


Would you say the pics you posted are accurate to the real color of your bass?

I've seen pics of this Squier California Blue color vary more widely than any other color in recent memory.
Click to expand...
 
#515
I picked up a Sonic Precicion recently which I posted in the Squiers owners thread. I picked up the 2 tone Sunburst. I like that the Sonic has a Jazz profile neck. QC wise, mine seemed really good. Plays really nice.

I changed the Pickguard to a Gold Alu one to mimic the '57 precision, which i think looks nice. With the alu plate it weight in total 8.2lbs.

Only thing I want to do is copper shield and do the correct grounding in the cavity and change the pots to better quality ones.

K2ipmk3h.jpg
 
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#517
The "Ultraviolet" Sonic Bronco has returned! Ultimate Orange and Purple Attack Edition. :p

These may be the last modifications, sounds excellent, plays like a dream even with those thick Ernie Ball Group 1 110 flats-"fast", even. The plastic nut was replaced and cut by the gentleman I trust the most with a plain old TUSQ I had mentioned in another thread. New knobs by a seller named Knob Head, who seemingly makes/customizes all of his/her sold knobs. I am *very* happy with these despite the darker purple. Love the final results, amazing and inspiring bass to play. (Some images are redundant, and only taken to make clear all the changes to anyone seeing it for the first time-my sincerest apologies to the many of you who have already seen it.)

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#518
Mine:

IMG-6804.jpg


I hit the jackpot with this Laurel lottery win; truth be told, the neck is top-notch, and it's essentially a Precision with a jazz neck, a 1.5-inch nut but on the wider side.

I swapped out the pickup, copper shield, Alpha pots, orange drop, cloth wire, vintage bridge, thumbrest, and a tortoise pickguard from Aliexpress (Fleor). I spray-painted the headstock, but it turned out quite pro.

Once all of my mods were done, I realized the nut was pretty poor quality and would likely break, so I grabbed a Tusq (graphite) one.

F16-F81-DE-1831-4-E7-B-9453-ABC265-E695-E5.jpg


Very easy to install, and it blends better with the overall instrument's aesthetic IMO.

For a ridiculous cost, It has become a lightweight professional bass that plays like butter. So please consider this model as nice platform for mods. Let's remember that a P with a jazz neck is only available in the Custom Shop or classic 80s models like the USA Special one.

Captura de Pantalla 2024-04-28 a las 18.49.08.png
 

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