Folks,
As you know I recently bought a Squier Classic Vibe 60's and a Jazz V. I'm surprised how well the Jazz V holds tune; the playability is as good as my limited experience can tell; I'm very happy with it.
Now, the Classic Vibe... I'm also happy with it, but there was something about the bridge... I couldn't quite put a finger on it but I was having problems getting the D string properly intonated. Well, you know, for $240 you just can't complain. But, I sorta knew there was something quite not right. The bass looks identical to my instructor's Fender American Jazz. Everything seemed ok except that D string...
Today at class I noticed on my instructor's bass that the bridge was called "BadAss" (or something like this). And I noticed how the saddle design was different and ran on straight square rails, etc. I made a notice of that, and also that my instructors' notes were cleaner and fuller. We talked a little bit about this. In my mind I said, "it's gotta be a function of either technique, the bridge, the pups, the strings, or a combination of all that". But geez, the new Squiers are just Fenders assembled by my grandma in China as opposed to my grandma in California... 'cause other than the name on the headstock you just can't tell'em apart!
After class I went to another music store and asked for a BadAss II. I came home, took a deep breath and went to work. Since I had to take out all strings anyway in order to change the bridge, I put in a set of DR FatBeams I had stored. Then little by little, I set the action, the tuning and intonation... Right of the bat I noticed that I was able to set intonation perfectly for each string...
Then I plugged the bass into my amp and BAM! This is the sound I had been looking for and that my instructor enjoys on his bass!!! Strings are as close to the fretboard as possible w/o fret buzz. Notes are crisp and clear, lows are L-O-W-S and slapping (which I'm learning) is much easier than it was before.
Now, I don't know if it's truly the bridge or the strings but I know this: tuning and intonation are perfect now, there IS a noticeable increase in sustain, and the sound is vastly improved.
I had read things about the BadAss bridge not making a difference, but all I know is that with that bridge and FatBeams strings I now have a newer and completely different bass!
Now, I am a rookie musician and don't know much, but I am a trained photographer having done jobs professionally, so I know a little bit about photography. So I'd like to share this analogy: Getting a newer/better/more expensive bass and then not putting the best strings on it (regardless of cost) is like buying an expensive camera (digital or film) and then putting a cheap lens on front (or bad film in the case of traditional photography). You're just not going to get as good a performance as you can out of your instrument and by extension, out of you.
Just wanted to share this. Now I gotta go 'cause I gotta run down to the basement for practicing.
