Squier Vintage Modified Fretless Jazz Bass review

Squier Vintage Modified Fretless Jazz Bass

While at Guitar Center to find a case for my custom Squier P-Bass, I found the beauty pictured at left. This is a Squier Vintage Modified Fretless Jazz Bass. It was apparently traded in by someone who apparently did not play it much because it was in absolute mint condition. The original owner had the thing set up beautifully with high quality flat wound strings. The best part was the price...Guitar Center was asking a mere $159!!!!



Needless to say, I snapped this thing up and brought it home with me. I had been wanting a fretless bass to emulate the sound of an upright 'doghouse bass' for some older style music my band currently plays at our live shows.  I was also intrigued by the possibility of working in some melodic fretless solos as I become more comfortable with playing bass.

I should clarify that I'm a lifelong guitar player. I've moonlighted on bass a few times in my musical career but stepping up to be a full time bassist meant a tremendous commitment. Now that I've been working in this role about 5 months, I can honestly say that I have found my feet as a bass player and beginning to develop my own style and approach to the instrument.

Back to the fretless. This thing is an incredible value! If you purchase it new, you can expect to pay a very reasonable street price of $299. The fit and finish compares favorably to a MIM Fender. If you get one new from the factory, it comes with round wound strings. Throw those away and install a decent quality set of flat wounds for the right sound and feel.

Once strung with flat wounds, the neck on this thing plays beautifully. You can get a very convincing upright sound by using the neck pickup only and rolling off the tone. For that punchy 'Jaco' tone use only the bridge pickup and roll the tone off just a bit. I'm getting a very useful tone out of having the bridge pickup volume all the way up, the neck pickup volume at around 80-90% and the tone rolled off just slightly. This thing responds beautifully to wide and narrow finger vibrato and it is great fun to 'slide' around the fingerboard for that 'mwah' tone you can only get from a fretless.

I did notice some eq adjustment around 2-4 khz really helps smooth the sound of this instrument. Because it is a passive bass, some attention to dynamics while playing and some judicious compression is useful for getting the best sound through the PA. The pickups are Duncan Designed and represent a phenomenal value for money also. The noise level is exactly what you'd expect from any other typical single-coil Fender-present but in no way excessive. This is an interesting contrast to my stock Squier Affinity P-Bass which was extremely noisy prior to some modifications. Perhaps the limited run models get a bit more attention? I don't know.

I picked this up right before a gig. I took it to the gig, tuned it up, plugged it into a SansAmp DI and Hi-Z'd out into a 300 watt Ashdown amp as a monitor.  I played several songs during the show on this bass-including "Stormy Monday Blues," and "Fool For Your Stockings." When I switched to guitar my second guitarist played it on "Red House" and "Gimme Three Steps" as well. He gave it high marks. The bass player for the next band up was on hand for our set and he complimented the sound of this bass as well. I had to play consciously to ensure that I fingered the notes accurately...two millimeters off one way or another is very noticeable. The fret markers make this process easy and painless.

I highly recommend this bass. For $300 new you simply can't beat it! I paid $159 for my gently used one set up with good quality flat wounds...so for me it was an even better bargain! If a fretless bass is on your wish list, this thing compares favorably with basses priced at $500-$600 easily. You won't find Jaco tone any cheaper!!!!