It arrived with rusty strings and scratchy frets, so first job was afret polish, 11's and a good setup. Out of the box, not a bad little guitar, bridge pickup, not too bad, neck a bit muddy, so, what to do....
My first change was a complete rewire with 250k CTS solid shaft pots, .022 cap, Proper Jazz Bass knobs and a Duncan JB at the bridge and a Duncan Jazz at the neck, on the standard white scratchplate...it was OK, but didn't really grab me......
So I did a bit of head scratching and decided to Esquire it, sourced a custom scratchplate in blue Tort and installed the JB, I quite liked it but a one trick pony, so that idea didnt last long either, thing is, really, I like Single coils.....so another plan formed in the dormant organ.......
Lets go single coils, I have some in the parts box, so a trial run, standard white scratchplate, take the covers off the single coils, enlarge the pickup screw holes in the plate and the single coils fit well enough to try it...all assembled and .....thats more like it.
Of course that meant another custom Scratchplate.......
Playing the thing revealed a problem with standard bridge, the height adjustment screws were such a loose fit that string vibration caused the saddles to drop, I could have locked them with nail polish or threadlock, but that would be far too easy! Instead I removed the bridge plate, threw away the original saddles, redrilled the back of the bridge and installed three Tele brass saddles.......
So, here it is, finished as they ever are.....
Final spec is
Locking tuners (I had them so used them) the originals were actually ok)
Roller string trees
Sanded off the Squier logo and applied something more vintage and better quality, then relacquered, the original info is still on the back of the headstock, so as not to confuse someone in the future.
Nut job (Original nut)
Fret polish
Custom scratchplate CTS full size solid shaft 250k pots, Fender Jazz Bass Knobs, .022 cap original jack
Bare Knuckle Sinner with metal backplate at the bridge
Creamery (UK pickup winder) single coil size P90 at the neck
Original selector switch
Modded bridge to take three Tele brass saddles, intonation is surprisingly good
Shaller strap locks.
10's
Its a keeper!
(she/they)