Upgrading my Squier Vintage Modified 5 String Jazz Bass

[@rathoquarter]

If you would like to see how I made the bass tone in this video, check out the following video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lYnZeGhvr7CrjMk

[@NickHillMakesMusic]

Mat! Brother, I love this video. I have the four string version of this bass, and I’ve gotten so many miles out of it. I love the fact that affordable gear sounds so good, and you sold me on making a few upgrades to my current four string. Considering the five string version as well so you have me sold there as well. Cheers my friend and well done

[@rathoquarter]

Thank you for your kind, generous words, Nick. Its always hugely appreciated. Yeah, I've been thinking about doing an upgrade like this for ages and finally decided to just go for it: the bridge honestly kind of blew me away. I really didn't think it would make as much difference as it has, but as soon as pay day rolls around again I will be placing an order for a similar bridge for my 4 string P bass and a hipshot bridge for my cheapie 7 string.

[@SixxAxxiS]

@@rathoquarter I too have the 4 string version, and had already put in the same type of new Hipshot bridge, and it was so noticable how well it improved the intonation and my playing. I actually found this video after considering getting a 5 string version, and now I'm also considering getting the 4 string version of these pups, too! Has that Billy Gould (Faith No More) tone to it that I love.

[@rathoquarter]

@@SixxAxxiS they sound so good! Do it! It completely changed my attitude towards this guitar. I was on the verge of selling it but after investing the money and work in it, I’ll never part with it! Love the way it feels to play and the way it sounds. I have a cheap squier 4 string P bass too which sounds awesome as is, but I might like to dabble with the hardware a bit… faith no more, hell yes!

[@Bebopopotamus]

Wow, it's so much punchier. I love it. Even the choice of pick guard is perfect.

[@rathoquarter]

Thank you very much, friend! Yeah the whole instrument feels a lot more inspiring now for sure. And the upgrades aren't too expensive either. Thanks for checking out the video and for commenting. I appreciate it.

[@Daddy53751]

Cool! I took basically the same bass and went a bit buck wild. Changed out all the electronics, as it had the 4 knob setup which I hated. (Separate V&T for each PU and side Jack) and went 3 knob. Routed and installed a big Musicman bucker in the bridge position. Refretted it with stainless steel frets, and a stainless steel nut. (Huge amount of work there) After filling the old Jack hole, painted it with gold base, heavy gold flake, topped off with a voodoo violet purple candy, with a white pearl pick guard to make it pop, and viola!!! Old girl runs like a race car, and sexy to boot.🤘🏻

[@rathoquarter]

Jesus that sounds incredible. I thought my upgrade was ambitious but you’ve gone too a whole other level there.

[@Daddy53751]

@@rathoquarter I didn’t really have anything to lose, as the poor bass was ate up. I won’t lie though, The refret was drama (my first refret) and I must’ve painted that thing at least 5 times before I got one I liked!

[@JohnScottB]

Really great video - just picked up a new Squier CV 70's jazz bass and considering the exact same upgrades so it was helpful to hear the back and forth. Excellent production quality on the video as well!

[@rathoquarter]

Thanks so much, John!

[@ShawnHeath]

Nice work Matt! I honestly had no idea that the bridge would make that much of a difference. Thanks for sharing!

[@andresaries2850]

thank you for sharing that experience. I also have a thing for modifying Squier basses, all my basses are squiers, with gotoh or hipshot bridges, and Quarter Pounders!! 5 st and 4 st jazz basses, but the 4 strings PJ in jazz body mods, i love them, and i have enjoyed the process and of course the result!

[@The96th]

Damn I can really hear the difference, I love the extra depth in the sound

[@rathoquarter]

Yeah I'm so glad the sound difference came across in the video. What obviously can't be easily conveyed is how different it now feels to play. Really enjoy playing it now.

[@thebunn]

Holay WOW!!!! That sounds INCREDIBLE!!!!

[@rathoquarter]

Thanks Bunn! The ongoing support is super appreciated! I wish I was in the same time zone so I could join in on the live stream more often. I wonder how that socialist healthcare over your way compares with our own system? Perhaps I should consider emigrating!

[@lilmann1159]

Not gonna lie i listened to the playthrough portion of the video about 50 times. IT SOUNDS SO GOOD!

[@rathoquarter]

Thank you so much, friend! That is such a compliment! I appreciate it very much. When I frist wrote that part I really thought it was going to suck! But it turned out okay and now I get awesome comments like this! Cheers!

[@lilmann1159]

@@rathoquarter Np 🙏🏿 keep up the good work

[@WholeLottaBulldog]

Looks and sounds better afterwards imo. Btw prostate exams can be quite thrilling. I suppose it depends on who's giving it.

[@rathoquarter]

Hahaha! At least I know you watched through to the very last second of the video! As you say, it really depends entirely on who is responsible for conducting the examination... thank you so much for checking out the video! Hugely appreciated.

[@WholeLottaBulldog]

@@rathoquarter always mate

[@WholeLottaBulldog]

Beautiful music my friend. And the mix is lush af.

[@dannyshutes169]

Man you can really here the difference. You can really here that grit.sounds really nice.

[@rathoquarter]

Thanks Danny. Yeah those pickups do sound great!

[@Nera-Red-93]

Man.... Those pickups REALLY made that bass sound beautiful! I have GOT to get those for my 5 string Rogue bass!

[@rathoquarter]

Do it! You won’t regret it. I actually think the bridge was the big surprise for me on this upgrade.

[@Nera-Red-93]

@@rathoquarter Just installed those pickups on that bass and they made it sound like an active bass!

[@zachisebi]

Wow great video! I have a Sandberg that I thought about upgrading with Duncans. Your intro convinced me to do it! Thx.

[@rathoquarter]

Thanks for the comment!! Do it! I’m sure you won’t regret it

[@zachisebi]

@@rathoquarter You wouldn't happen to have a set lying around would you? ;-)

[@joannalewis5279]

I love the way it punches through

[@ishta]

Great work and sound. I got a Hipshot KIckass bridge and Ultralite tuners from a trade a while ago. The holes lined up. I put EMG JAX5 on mine. It is definitely easier to tune the B and E with the new bridge and tuners. I also do not get irritation on my right hand because I palm mute a lot and the stock height adjusters were in the way. I also have a white bass and the black hipshot hardware matched the black pickguard, so I ended up with a black and white theme. This my only 5 string bass from "Fender". I was pleasantly surprised even before the EMG. I had to route a battery hole and my friend got me some nice aluminum cover plate. I like wider string spacing so I increased mine a smidge. I think the spacing is 18.5mm stock not 19.

[@rathoquarter]

Yeah your mod sounds gorgeous! Especially the colour scheme. I need to add new tuners to mine too. I also have a squier 4 string P bass which I love that might be getting a similar treatment soon. Thanks for the comment, friend!

[@preciseaudioblog]

One advice I’d give to anyone who wants to buy an Squier bass/guitar is that the neck in both is slimmer than in MIM Fender... inho, a thicker neck gives more resonance... So if you’d do the same upgrade, I might recommend to do it on a MIM Fender.

[@rathoquarter]

Useful info. Thanks!

[@AdrHdz]

Bro, this is quality stuff. Thanks for putting it together! It must have been quite the project. Keep having fun man and I appreciate you bringing us along. One last thing. I have this bass, too! I’m inspired to mod it now. I’ll start by refinishing it most likely. It’s the natural finish version.

[@rathoquarter]

Thank you so much, friend! Yeah putting these videos together can be quite a lot of work but I do enjoy the process. I just wish I could generate them a little more quickly, but I have to work around my full time job (which pays for the musical gear and photography equipment to be fair, so I'm not complaining!) Really exciting that this has inspired you to mod your bass too! I strongly encourage this! I don't know if you have felt equally less enthusiastic about the bass initially but these mods have really breathed new life into the instrument for me. I spent a lot of time looking at far more expensive alternatives and thought about selling this Squier but now I feel like I have a really cool bass that has a little bit of a unique character to it. I have absolutely no intention of selling it now. Please let me know how you get on with your mods in the future. Thanks very much for the interest and the comment. Much appreciated!

[@rmccain99]

19 mm spacing is standard, 18mm is for faster plucking and picking, while 16 and 17 benefit pick users but is not for slap.

[@joannalewis5279]

You can slap on a 16.5 is just harder so more practice. I'm getting used to it

[@rathoquarter]

Super helpful to know, thanks. I definitely won’t be doing any slap in my music any time soon! 😂

[@christosfragias592]

Thank you for a very informative video. I have made identical upgrades to my Fender Player Series basses. And went further installing an ObsidianWire kit. They play and sound awesome. Keep ROCKING 🤘 🎸 🤘 🎸

[@rathoquarter]

You are most welcome, Sir! I need to check out that obsidian wire kit! So glad you are enjoying the upgrades!

[@matthewdean5807]

Thanks brother! I just got this same bass model and there aren't any good videos about upgrading the hardware on this bass model, so this is greatly appreciated. Also- Thanks for making me laugh at the end! You've passed your exam. ;) Your bass playing is fucking stellar. Keep em comin!

[@rathoquarter]

Only saw that I neglected to reply to this comment. Thank you very much for the kind words and super pleased that you found the video helpful. Also great to know that you watched to the very end! Thanks again

[@tripppepper2865]

BRAVO Great Work. The Bad Ass Bridge Really Helped 🎸🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶

[@thomasbarker642]

I totally agree with you dude I have a BC rich warlock bass which I didn’t really like much except for the feel of playing it so I upgraded the pickups to Emg x series also upgraded the tuners to hipshot ultra lights to help combat the neck dive and finally I installed an hipshot a style brass bass bridge this bass bow sounds killer

[@rathoquarter]

Apologies for the late reply, friend! For some reason I've not been getting notifications on these comments. Yeah modding affordable guitars can be super rewarding and you can end up with such a killer instrument. Thank you so much for checking out the vid and for commenting. It's appreciated!

[@hailjeong1]

gotta love that growl and punch coming from hipshot bridge and duncan pickups... I'd love to see you try with a p-bass as well

[@rathoquarter]

Cool! I have a Squier P bass that I absolutely love the sound of. I'm actually a bit nervous to mess with it too much because it sounds so cool to my ears. I'm almost definitely going to do the bridge upgrade to that one in the future, but not sure about the pickups. There are some amazing looking DiMarzio pickups that I would like to try in this guitar. It might have to be a project for early next year though as I've got so much on the go right now. Thanks for the comment!

[@1thess523]

I like the higher range of the stock pick ups but like you mentioned the new have a nice body of low end with a nice grit. I wonder if the brass saddles give it a darker sound as well 🤔. I just put a Classic Vibe style high mass bridge on the new Classic Vibe 70s P-Bass i just got in a trade because it has thr basic cheap thin bridge and it came to life even more after the I changed the tone pot's and adjusted the stock pick ups.

[@ChaziChaz89]

those Duncans gave life to that tone

[@jelomcleveltv4481]

Wow. I like that colour. Very nice tone also.

[@GearStuffandThings]

The QP pickups are fantastic. Great video!!

[@rathoquarter]

Yeah I love them! The whole thing has really been a new lease of life for this bass. One of my favourite instruments since I did the mods. Thanks for checking out the video!

[@michaelcreel6778]

Congrats on the upgrades! It sounds awesome! 👌

[@rathoquarter]

Thanks so much! Yeah I was on the brink of selling this bass actually but now I love it. Cheers for the comment and for checking out the video!

[@fredgonzalez6619]

Hell yea man! Thanks for uploading this good ass video!!!

[@1thess523]

I forgot to mention i do have a Classic Vibe 60's jazz with Duncan Quarter Pounders in it, it doesn't have the high end bright punch but it does habe some beef!

[@HimynameizStu]

dude i have a bit of foam stuffed under my strings the exact same way i also have the same bass just without the 5th string.... oh man i want that string

[@daniwest1370]

Great stuff! Btw where did you get that hat?

[@rathoquarter]

Thank you, Dani! The hat is from Patagonia clothing. I was going to try to link it in the description but I can't seem to find the exact same colour online. I think its called the P-6 Logo LoPro Trucker Hat.

[@preciseaudioblog]

If you have problems tuning the bass, is most likely because the tuning machines. I’ve got Hip Shot HB7’s. Cheers!

[@rathoquarter]

Hey. Yeah it’s my plan to replace those one day too, although it actually works really well now.

[@iamgribs]

what do you reckon made the biggest difference. pikcups or bridge

[@rathoquarter]

Pickups made the biggest difference to the tone, and bridge made the biggest difference to how it feels to play. But if I could only choose one thing to upgrade, I would probably start with the bridge. It made it feel like a higher end bass… that said, I do love how the pickups sound!

[@iamgribs]

I just did a bridge swap of my own and boy you are right it makes a difference, the stock one on my mim Jazz was pretty bleh. ​@@rathoquarter

[@samuelgarcia1714]

Mat bro, help me please! I have a squier jazz bass deluxe V, but my pickups are the same size in both bridge and neck, 3.73 long, .73 wide, do you maybe know if the Seymour Duncan SJ5-3s pickups fit my bass?

[@rathoquarter]

Honestly I have no idea I’m afraid.

[@northernbrother1258]

Did you need to shim the neck to accommodate the new bridge?

[@rathoquarter]

Nope.

[@tomasomiadhachain2411]

Would the hipshot bridge fit a Squier Affinity jazz bass V and did you have to shim the neck at all? :)

[@rathoquarter]

I didn’t have to shim the neck, no. Not sure but the hip shot web page is great for listing out the spec. I found it pretty clear and easy to follow.

[@andremarchetti9683]

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@christianjimenez4374]

Hey man, do you know if all these upgrades can be done to the classic vibe 70s model?

[@rathoquarter]

I'm honestly not sure, but I don't see why not.

[@scottcruickshank870]

What a difference, Wow! You may have convinced me to swap my jazz bass pickups. I am however very curious as to what "further processing" was done to sculpt that incredible full mix bass tone, it really sounds great.

[@rathoquarter]

Thank you so much, friend! Forgive my late reply I've not been getting notifications for some daft reason. If you are still curious, I did follow this video up with a video on making that bass tone where I literally walk through ever step of the process. Thanks so much for checking out the video and my apologies again for the late reply.

[@elkat_bori_pr7791]

The bridge version. Which one was it?

[@rathoquarter]

There is a link to the product in the description that will give you the info on that bridge. For this guitar you want the squier mount pattern. Happy modding!

[@elkat_bori_pr7791]

@@rathoquarter appreciate thanks a lot and keep videos coming.

[@vladimirtahov6370]

Why string space is 19mm? I think that must be 18mm on Squier VM Jazz bass V

[@rathoquarter]

No clue. It just is what it is.

[@rmccain99]

Is that bridge quick release?

[@rathoquarter]

How do you mean “quick release?” It doesn’t do anything particularly quick, but it’s definitely easier to work with than the default bridge.

[@rafaelantoniorodriguezmoct3774]

Is it 54" or 34" scale length?

[@rathoquarter]

34inch scale length

[@michaelabraham1699]

Can you send me a link for it pick guard

[@rathoquarter]

Tbh honest I think I bought it on Amazon years ago and can’t seem to find the original product. It was very cheap and cheerful and there are many near ideal products out there that will fit this guitar with ease

[@badassbassist]

I wanted to get this one however I got an offer on a cort b5 from guitarguitar which made both at the same price. The cort plays so much better than this one without the mods.....

[@rathoquarter]

Cort B5 is a nice looking bass. I have a cort acoustic and I love it.

[@yeahsick123]

Lower A string?

[@rathoquarter]

Yup. That bass is tuned to drop A. I mention early in the video that I intended for this bass to accompany my drop A tuned 7 string guitar. As a result I almost always have the lowest string tuned to A.

[@yeahsick123]

@@rathoquarter oh

[@David-pw6jl]

Hi man super ugread your bass guitar ... super sound difference. I have one question for you regarding the connection of these pickups. I also bought these pickups but I don't know if I connected them properly. These pickups have 3 wires. I connected the black together with uninsulated wire and connected to ground and the white wire I connected in the middle of the potentiometer. This is how I connected both pickups, is that right? Thank you for the answer ... It seems to me that the guitar has lost its highs ..

[@rathoquarter]

Sorry buddy I only just saw this comment now.. No idea how I didn't get notified. I'm not an expert at pickup wiring and cant remember exactly what I did to be honest. I think I tried to follow the wiring of the precise stock pickups. Let me check the footage from my video and I'll get back to you.

[@David-pw6jl]

@@rathoquarter thanks, I will be very happy for advice ..

[@iamgribs]

i can tell the pickups make a huge difference. more sting. nore upper register presence

[@rathoquarter]

They definitely seem more compressed and more even. I love this bass now. And I was pretty close to selling it.

[@johnmoulton1378]

It's almost 14lbs?!?

[@rathoquarter]

It’s been a while since I made this video so I can’t quite remember what I based that figure on. Looking online, the first figure I found was a bit lighter than that but I’m pretty sure I weighed mine at the time so I’m relatively certain my figure is accurate for my bass. It certainly is a heavy instrument! Thanks for watching!

[@missnieves7269]

I dont understand why ppl pick a bass Geez!!!!! Go play a guitar!!!!

[@rathoquarter]

I use a pick when I play bass because it sounds different to the fingerstyle approach. I find the tone I get when using a pick to be far preferable for the kind of music I enjoy and the kind of music I make. Furthermore most of the bass players I admire use a pick. If a song has passages that a calmer and more delicate, I will very often switch to fingerstyle if it sound appropriate to my ears. For what it's worth, I also do play guitar. Regularly.

[@electricmeatpuppet]

Track sounds great. Getting some nice Toska vibes off this one.

[@rathoquarter]

Thanks, Turbo! That is much appreciated!