Question about the Affinity PJ bass

[GodPlayedBass]

Ill try to keep it short.

Ive seen a few reviews and articles that claim the Squier affinity PJ bass has an alder body. Every review before 2019 says it has an alder body, every one after 2019 says its a poplar body. Also the squier website says its a poplar body. BUT WAIT !

Also the new squier affinitys have a gold headstock logo, all the ones before 2019 have a black squier logo. Would this mean the prior ones are alder and they made a switch ? This would mean the gold logo affinitys are poplar and the black logo ones are alder. Thoughts?

The one i own has an ICS serial number, the S means special run says the squier website and wiki page. (The S does not mean squier, i have another squier bass that only says IC on the serial number) did lots of research.

 

[eastcoasteddie]

I have two Squier Affinity bodies used as “Frankenstein” bass builds (basically threw a bunch of mismatched parts together.

I have done some extra pickup routing in these bodies, and it is of my opinion that the Affinity bodies are not made of the tried and true American Alder we are all used to. The body wood, when cut into, is very bright yellow, and not light brown like Alder is. The wood, when cut into with a high-speed routing bit smells very much like pine...
I am willing to bet that the Affinity bodies are perhaps made from a very distant cousin of Alder that grows in SE Asia...or perhaps made from a wood not even related to Alder, but a conifer like Agathis...which has been used in some Vintage Modified basses of the mid 2000’s or so....and Fender just tells us what we’d like to hear. I highly doubt Fender would ship American Alder to Asia in order to build the cheapest instrument in their lineup.
I’ve done about 10 min of Googling and found reports that Agathis is the Asian sibling of Alder, but I haven’t found actual proof.

the IC and ICS prefix of the serial number signifies which factory it came from; Samick, Cort, or there might be a third one...

 

[Bassclef46]

It’s made of poplar

 

[GodPlayedBass]

It’s made of poplar

Official squier document from 2004. I have a 2004 affinity P bass and a 2017 Affinity PJ.
This says its an alder body, the 2020 catalog says poplar. All reviews before 2020 say alder. Seems they made a switch.

 

[Bassclef46]

So you answered your own question. But it’s still made of poplar