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@InstantEctobass
What do you use for fretboard oil? Could be the lighting contrast, but that rosewood looks very nice - darker than most.
What do you use for fretboard oil? Could be the lighting contrast, but that rosewood looks very nice - darker than most.
Honestly this rosewood fingerboard used to be way lighter in 2018 :
Then in 2021 I did something crazy and sprayer lacquer on the rosewood to make it "like a Rickenbacker fingerboard":
The result was nice but later on I sold that Rick (copy) pickup and the associated body and pickguard and kept the neck to put on another body (Squier White Blonde) but I wasn't happy about the lacquer on this assembly:
I spent hours sanding it and sanding with frets was really hard. I did something crazy: I took a wet sponge and sanded with it like a fool. At some point, the rosewood get very very light (I don't have photos, but I think the wood didn't like the water) and then I started dry sanding again using steel whool #000. And boom. It went very dark, darker that it was in 2018:
(sorry for hairy legs). And in case you're worried about the water in the wood, this neck is stable and nothing bad happened to the frets or anything. For a neck that never passed the quality control at the Grand Reward plant, it's a beautiful neck:
Yes, this is the same neck.
(and yes, I do use Dunlop 65 "lemon" petrol on it!)Attachments
Hello Group. A few months ago I put together an all Fender Parts bass with P body, J neck and a 1.5" neck. I also was looking for the lowest weight P body b/c I have a bad lower back. When it was all said and done it was still too heavy at 8.6 lbs for my bad lower back.
Then the Squier Sonic P's came out and I got the beautiful California Blue b/c I found one that weighed 7.5 lbs and a 1.5" neck that feels good in my hand. The only thing I didn't like is the sound I'm getting from the pickup/vol/tone. The sound of the pickup reminds me of Motown style. Which is not a bad sound but not the punk rock sound I am going for. I usually like to run all my bass guitars with the vol/tone at 100 but when I do it with this bass it doesn't sound as good as all my other bass guitars. I had to back off on the tone to about 75 and I really had to heavily change the Eq on my SansAmp BDDI compared to my other bass guitars just to get a somewhat satisfying tone. So I will probably end up changing the pup.
However, since I have a Badass II bridge, Stew Mac Golden Age P pickups and Starr Guitar Systems wiring harness laying around I will install those in later to hear what kind of difference that makes. What I like about the wiring harness is that it comes with a Bourns 250K pots and push/pull pot in the tone position. In the down position, you bypass the tone control completely and get the straight/pure sound from the pickup, volume, & amp. Pull up on the Push/Pull pot to the up position and this activates the standard tone control with an Orange Drop .047 Capacitor. I'll post more photos once I've done the upgrades.
Then the Squier Sonic P's came out and I got the beautiful California Blue b/c I found one that weighed 7.5 lbs and a 1.5" neck that feels good in my hand. The only thing I didn't like is the sound I'm getting from the pickup/vol/tone. The sound of the pickup reminds me of Motown style. Which is not a bad sound but not the punk rock sound I am going for. I usually like to run all my bass guitars with the vol/tone at 100 but when I do it with this bass it doesn't sound as good as all my other bass guitars. I had to back off on the tone to about 75 and I really had to heavily change the Eq on my SansAmp BDDI compared to my other bass guitars just to get a somewhat satisfying tone. So I will probably end up changing the pup.
However, since I have a Badass II bridge, Stew Mac Golden Age P pickups and Starr Guitar Systems wiring harness laying around I will install those in later to hear what kind of difference that makes. What I like about the wiring harness is that it comes with a Bourns 250K pots and push/pull pot in the tone position. In the down position, you bypass the tone control completely and get the straight/pure sound from the pickup, volume, & amp. Pull up on the Push/Pull pot to the up position and this activates the standard tone control with an Orange Drop .047 Capacitor. I'll post more photos once I've done the upgrades.
Thanks for the tip I never thought about that. For me though, I like the shape and look of the P and the 1.5” nut width b/c I have a hand injury and for some reason The 1.5” of my Sterling by Music Man stingray short scale and Squier jazz bass are pain free in my hand. Maybe it has something to do with the radius too but never looked into that.
What's the source for this? Has anyone done a 'Glen Fricker tonewood'-style comparison?
Not doubting, just curious.
a ceramic magnet Squier Sonic P bass pickup is absolutely never going to sound like an appropriate Alnico 5 magnet Fender P pickup. That’s a real difference. Bridges and necks and everything else besides pickups may or may not make an appreciable difference. Pickups make an obvious difference.
Sorry I know this was a question for someone else but if we’re talking about Squier Sonic basses with Indian Laurel fingerboards:
I have a Squier Affinity J 5 bass with the Indian Laurel fb, it looked pretty dry and ugly and lemon oil helped a good bit, but needs updating from time to time. Mineral oil from the grocery store or drug store worked a lot better, is considerably thicker as an oil, but boy did it help and last longer than the lemon oil.
So that's why I don't like the sound of my Sonic P, it totally doesn't sound anything like my Fender P with Alnico 5.
The QC is probably all over the place. My Sonic Precision has most of the cavity painted black but if you zoom in on the second photo it's spotty.
Looks great. Where did you get the pickguard and what kind was it? Did it drop right in?
I use the shielding paint on my guitars and basses. I find it does work well, but it take more than one coat to effectively block any RF noise. On something like that, I would use a stiff bristle brush and knock off any loose chips and then put two to three coats of paint, an hour + apart. A hair dryer or heat gun, on low moving constantly, help dry it more thoroughly.
Self adhesive aluminium foil does the trick for me.
Ok just received my purple Bronco - not setup well like my Sonic P. Its made in Indonesia but no skunk stripe (as shown on Squier website photos), the fret ends are sharp, a few high frets, missing 1 pickguard screw, 1 bridge screw at an angle and wont set flat, the strings are 40-95 not the advertised 45-105 and have silver ball ends not the colored ones and are actual SS strings based on the taper. There are some small pieces of silver wire stuck to the bottom of the pickup, easily removed, the ground wire that screws into the control cavity was not screwed in all the way but the weight is nice at 7.5 pounds and the pickup sounds great and is quiet. Fender offered me 10% back or free shipping and return with expedited new one. My guess is the next one wont be much different but I can fix the items on this one, not sure the skunk stripe matters and the good weight and nice sounding pickup with no hum is a plus.
That sucks, my Tahitian Coral was Crafted In Indonesia but does have a stripe and aside from being weirdly dirty, fit and finish was very nice, especially the frets. I guess its a crap shoot which seems to be typical of all brands.