Fender Quality for Half the Price

To anyone considering this bass, grab one now! You won't reget it.

I don't know how Squier does it, but their Indonesia factory crafts some seriously fine instruments at killer price points.

Fit and finish are nearly perfect. The 3 pieces of maple on my body have great grain and are so closely matched and you can only make out the difference in certain lights.

The one piece maple neck has a beautiful grain to it as well and plays great. Fast, smooth and even up and down the neck. No sharp frets and the action was perfect right out of the box.

After passing my initial inspection I immediately slapped some D'addario Flatwound strings in it (for a true vintage sound) and intonated it. The tuners can take a bit of force to move but otherwise do a great job of keeping everything locked in tune.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Duncan-Designed pickups. I figured I'd want to change them out immediately but they do a great job of capturing that distinctive jazz bass tone and have good output and are quite versatile. You can go from funky slap to deep, woody bass with a few tweaks.

The only, very minor, complaint that I have is with the volume knobs. They are useless up until about 60% and then jump way up in volume. However, the Fender CIJ Jazz Bass does the same thing so I can't really hold that against the Squier. I plan on throwing some better pots in there anyways since it is an easy and cheap thing to fix.

Compared to my friend's Fender CIJ Jazz Bass (which I was using prior to this one arriving), this Squier holds its own against a bass twice the price. It's the kind of guitar that just makes you want to keep playing and playing so grab one at this steal of a price before Fender realizes they can change the name on the headstock and sell these for $600 a pop.

Awesome Bass!!!

I began playing bass only a few years ago and as soon as i played this bass at the store i knew it was the one i had to have. The TONE is very warm and funky. Very 70's!! It competes with much more expensive basses. The dual pick ups make for great flexibility in the sound of the instrument. And the natural wood finish is a knockout.

Budget Price, High Quality Tone!

You won't belive this but my friends love the sound of this bass more than the Marcus Miller Jazz Bass that I had at the time. Resently, I had the stock bridge replaced with a Leo Quan Bad Ass Bridge and it sounds even better!

A TRUE FUNK MACHINE

I JUST BOUGHT THIS BASS YESTERDAY 6-25-07 AND LET ME TELL U IT IS A TRUE FUNK-MACHINE SQUIER HAS TOTALLY OUT-DID THEIR SELFS ON THIS MODIFIED JAZZ BASS THE DUNCAN DESIGN PICK-UPS ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD I WOULD TOTALLY RECOMMEND THIS BASS FOR ANYONE ONE WANTING TO LEARN BASS ARE AS A SECOND BASS ITS IS WELL WORTH IT

This bass is the reason I began playing bass!

When i heard brothers johnson, earth wind and fire, and many others in the mid eighty's laying down those funk grooves, those guys were all playing natural color fender jazz basses. And now squire has gone a step futher with the duncan pickups. I own a squire percision five string and when I played this re-issue bass I knew I had to have it. Not just because it's vintage, but because it feels and sounds so good. Squier, you hit a home run with this bass.

Great quality

FMIC is really underselling themselves here. This bass, I think, surpasses most MIM J-basses. As you've read and could probably tell, thing machine does funk VERY well.

The pickups are, surprising for Squier, very well fitted, and work very well with the overall sound. This Bass really goes to accentuate the style of the player.

Of course, there are minor issues abound. Cosmetic, mostly. The pots could probably stand to be changed, and when rolling full treble on the bridge pup it can get harsh, but that's to be expected.

Who knows, maybe I just got a gem. Squier and turn out some turds and some diamonds alike. Play before you buy.

An Amazing Instrument for the Money

I've only had this bass for a couple of days, but I can already tell it's going to be one of my favorite instruments ever! The Duncan Design pickups have a great tone that I have never heard on a bass in this price range. The action was a bit high and required some minor adjustments, but other than that I have found no flaws with this instrument. It has a great sound, a smooth, fast neck, and it looks stunning! I owned a MIM Fender Jazz some years ago, and I can say for a fact that the Squier Vintage Modified Jazz Bass is a FAR superior instrument. Home run, Squier!

Fantastic sound for the price.

I played a few basses at the store, and this one stood out from the others quite a bit.

The independent tone knobs allow for quick transistion from a mellow, rolled-off, muted jazzy sound TO a crisp Geddy Lee Rickenbacker, twang with just a quick twist of the tone knob.

Excellent deal.

I never write the reviews! It must be good.

Buying a bass off a website is something I will never understand, but if your going to take a chance, go for it - I basses are like women, you need to take them for a ride before bringing them home.

A great deal!!!

This Vintage Modified Bass is what I was looking for is beautiful, very playable and amazing sounding for his price. I believes this is the best bass for under $300.00 that you can find. The natural looks remind me those Funky bass of the 70's, the Seymour Duncan pickups are nice sounding but not amazing. The maple wood give this bass a very versatile sounds, sounds like a Jazz Bass and have a little of the Rickenbacker sound too, because the woods. Good for any style. I think with a few changes like upgrading the pickups and the bridge to a Badass II and you have a fine looking and sounding instrument. I highly recommend as a starting bass or for someone that don't want to spend to much $$$. This is a great deal!

Well worth the money !!

I'm by no means a guitar snob or someone who can afford high end guitars,but I always considered Squire a starter or entry level brand,this bass has changed my mind.I have 4 other basses that I paid $400-$950 for so this bass is a helluva a deal to me.I've been playing bass for over 30 yrs & I play in a local country/rock band that does about 75 to 80 gigs a year so I buy my guitars to play not just to collect dust.I mainly play a Dean 5 string fretless but always take another bass as a spare or to change my sound on certain songs.I have stared to pick this bass up on a few more songs just because it's fun to play & the sound is great.
I always liked the 70's Jazz Bass,but the real deal is way too expensive & even the Fender re-issue is a little out of my price range,so this is a dream come true for me.
I don't regret buying this bass & would buy it again.
The Duncan Design pick ups are pretty hot for just being passive.I am able to coax a wide variety of sounds out of this bass,from the familiar Jazz Bass growl to a Precision tone to an almost Rickenbacker-like tone with a lot of treble & punch.It's all just finding the right combination of p/u volumes & tone control,but it's a very clean sounding bass,even with factory strings.I've read several reviews where people have changed them & gotten a better sound.Slap it,finger it or pick it,it's all good.
There are no special features,it's a straight forward bass guitar.It would have been nice to include a gig bag as another reviewer suggested,but at under $300,I can afford to buy a "real" case for it.
All materials & components are tight,solid & work flawlessly out of the box.I really like the maple neck & the body is very solid as well.It has the weight of a much more expensive instrument.I wish they had a 5 string version.
I found the string action to be a little high,but not unplayable.This may discourage a person if they are just learning on this bass,but it's something that can be adjusted.Do it yourself if you know what you doing or most guitar shops in my area will do a complete set-up for $30-$40.
This is a solid bass,the one I got was pretty much perfect,except one of the tuning keys is a little loose,but it doesn't cause it to go out of tune.Nice finish,very smooth,fret work is good,all knobs tight & smooth.The chrome parts are plated so after a few years of steady gigging they may start to look funky,but that's just a guess.(I plan to take it to most of my gigs,I always take 2 basses.)The binding on the neck is really nice so I wish the "block inlays" weren't just painted on,but hey for under 3 bills...and from the stage it looks like inlays.The quality control seems to be pretty good from the factory.Overall it's a very well made instrument for the money & would be a solid performer for any gigging musician.