NBD: Squier Affinity P project bass

bassguygt

bassguygt

Guest
Jul 26, 2016
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4,551
Florida
#1
Hi everyone,
Just received a used Squier Affinity P bass I bought super cheap from Guitar Center. GC did a fantastic job packaging it for shipping. This will be the foundation for a parts project I will complete over the coming months. I've never had a P bass before, and I'm excited to build it to my spec. It joins my SR400 and Music Man StingRay as the third member of my bass family.

My thoughts on the instrument:
The body has a nice paint job. The neck is about what I expected; some sharp fret ends but not too bad. The nut, however, is a JOKE. The A string slot is about twice as wide as the actual string, and the string can freely move left and right. There's also lots of little stringy plastic bits sticking out from all the nut slots that look like they came from filing the nut. I'm not sure if this was the condition it left the factory in, or if the previous owner tried to do some amateur nut filing.

I'm eventually going to replace everything on it except the red body and the pickguard. The cost was so low that buying this bass just for the body was much, much cheaper than going with Warmoth or the like. A Mighty Mite neck from CEG Hardtails is first on my list because as it stands now I'd consider the instrument unplayable due to the A string nut slot. Other plans include:
Fender Hi-Mass bridge
EMG PAX pickup & electronics
Paint pickguard metallic black (I have experience painting plastics and am confident it will work well)
Hipshot Ultralite USA tuners

Overall, I'm excited for the future of this instrument. :bassist::hyper:
 

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#2
I picked up a similar bass a few months ago, partly as a mod project and partly as a beater to not worry about. First thing to go on mine was the nut, because of poor workmanship and a crack on the D string slot. Also threw on a Wilkinson bridge and replaced the pots with 250kA, which made a huge difference. It's a serviceable instrument now, but at some point I'm thinking new neck, tuners and pickup.

Nice score and good luck with your mods.
 
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#3
You will find Affinitys get some love around here. They can be surprisingly good stand alone, or really shine with just a pickup upgrade if you get a good one.
 
#4
TDR1138 said:
I picked up a similar bass a few months ago, partly as a mod project and partly as a beater to not worry about. First thing to go on mine was the nut, because of poor workmanship and a crack on the D string slot. Also threw on a Wilkinson bridge and replaced the pots with 250kA, which made a huge difference. It's a serviceable instrument now, but at some point I'm thinking new neck, tuners and pickup.

Nice score and good luck with your mods.
Click to expand...
Did you slot the nut yourself? If not, where did you buy your pre slotted nut? If I could find a pre slotted nut that would fit the bass, I could maybe go that route instead of replacing the entire neck.
 
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#5
bassguygt said:
Did you slot the nut yourself? If not, where did you buy your pre slotted nut? If I could find a pre slotted nut that would fit the bass, I could maybe go that route instead of replacing the entire neck.
Click to expand...

I bought some preslotted nuts off eBay. Standard 1-5/8" precision width. They fit fine, except there was probably 1mm of overhang on either side that had to be filed down. I think the Squier neck is just a little under 1-5/8". But the slots had to be filed a bit, too. Either way, I had appropriate files, so the nuts only cost a few bucks. I bought a generic 3-pack, in case I messed up. Didn't see the point of bone or expensive materials. Hardest part was getting the factory nut out cleanly.
 
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