Squier Classic Vibe '60s Fretless Jazz Bass - 3-Tone Sunburst Reviews

This is a remarkably good instrument, quality far beyond its reasonable cost. Having owned several different fretless basses as a basis for comparison, I was very impressed with the set-up direct from the factory. It's also quite lightweight for a jazz bass-style instrument. I have since replaced the strings with flatwounds (which I feel gives it a more classic fretless sound) and made some minor truss rod and action adjustments using the allen wrenches provided with the instrument. I also replaced the pickups (not that there was anything wrong with the stock pickups) with Seymour Duncan classic stack pickups for jazz bass, because I perform in some venues where there are issues with (EMI) and Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) hum from the single coil pickups.

I've played bass for over 40 years. I've owned some pricey basses, but I don't think I've ever enjoyed an instrument as much as I'm enjoying this Squier. It's beautiful to look at, with its classic Fender vibe, but even more importantly, it plays like a dream. The neck is very comfortable from one end to the other. I've played fretless for years, so I didn't really think I needed the lines, but they do help a little when you need to glance at the neck, and they don't really deter from the beauty of the instrument. Tonally, this is a rather versatile instrument. If you give priority to the bridge pickup and play with your right hand near the bridge, you get that great "mid-rangey" sound that you might associate with Jeff Berlin or Jaco Pastorius. Favoring the neck pickup and plucking the strings up over the fingerboard produces a pretty good simulation of an upright bass. Playing around with the tone control, the balance of the pickups, and with hand placement, one can coax a plethora of sounds out of this thing. I've fitted my bass with D'Addario Half-Round strings, and I've found it to be an excellent match.

I've been a professional musician for 40 years. Two Degrees in music composition and performance. I've handled hundreds of instruments in my life. This fretless was perfectly set up right out of the box.

No frett buzz perfectly intonation. It is very sweet tone , yet punchy and with depth. I was going to swap pickups but I really like these. Wow.
This is no budget instrument. I've played the Fender Jaco replica bass. This bass is not 2000 less in quality. This squier would pass a blindfold test with a Fender any day .

No jibe. Excellent wonderful instrument. Very very happy.

After I ordered a Fender Rumble 100 amp, I said I need a fretless bass. So got Sweetwater to ship me a Squier Classic Vibe '60s Fretless Jazz Bass - 3-Tone Sunburst. It was shipped and arrived the next day!! The set-up was GREAT, the intonation was PREFECT!!! Plus, NO Fret Buzz (pun)!! Once again, my Sale Rep Michael Eads made sure it was PREFECT!!! Use to shop at the big Music stores in the DC area (Chucks, Veneman and Rolls) they can't/couldn't compete with the level of Sweetwater's service!!!

Bass came wrapped and packaged to withstand a catastrophe. Ideal packaging. And timely. Even with a huge winter storm, it was only delayed a day while everything else was in limbo. Couldn't be happier with the price, packaging or delivery. Sweetwater has another dedicated, satisfied customer that will keep coming back.

Performs great! Just a classic and it shows, nothing special, but nothing lacking, just solid and good! Especially good for the price.

I've been wanting one of these for a while. Finally ordered one.

Out of the box, plays and sounds great. I replaced the strings with flatwounds. I'll have to make some adjustments to the truss rod and string height because of the string change. Not a big deal, as Squier provides the Allen wrenches to do so.

Love Sweetwater's 55 point inspection, attention to detail and OUTSTANDING customer service. Overall an excellent purchase for the price. I'm going to gig with this bass proudly this upcoming weekend. I'll put this up against a Fender that's double the price.

Very impressed with this purchase and Sweetwater's attention to good setups from the moment you open the box. The playability is superb and a great value for price!

Very impressed with this purchase. Right out of the box ready to play with no adjustments necessary! Thank you Sweetwater!!

Truly high quality and great sound at a low price!

Instrument showed up perfectly playable. Sounds good, looks great. I'll rub some Sam Maloof poly/oil on the fretboard for a smooth finish. I highly recommend this instrument for an affordable entry into fretless bass.

It's hard to fault this Bass for the money. In fact, it plays & sounds as well as a Fender Jazz I had five years ago. The finish is what you'd expect from a more expensive instrument. If U can get past the name on the headstock you can get a fretted & a fretless of these great Basses for the money of one Fender! The Faux- aged/yellowed head stock is my favorite feature. It's also a hell of a lot of FUN!

I love this bass. Sweetwater's 55 point inspection before shipping is phenomenal. This purchase i did without assistance but on other items i have bought from Sweetwater, I've had great assistance in helping me choose the right item for my needs. Plus, they send CANDY!

I’ve always wanted a fretless but it never reached page one on my things to do list until now. I shouldn’t have waited so long. This is a sweet instrument. The only change I made was to install flatwounds since that’s what I’m used to. it did take a bit of getting used to playing on the fretlines instead of behind them, but once I adjusted my technique intonation was no problem. The controls adjust to a wide range of tonal possibilities, and the build quality does appear to surpass that of a $350.00 USD instrument.
I like the challenge of this instrument, and I’m finding the reward in the playability and the sound output.
A very nice piece.

For an entry level fretless it's nice, it does have that classic jazz bass tone, and should be easily upgradable, the fit and finish of mine was great, but the Indian Laurel fretboard chosen I believe for price/availability reasons, are there other fretlesses out there using this wood without a coating? It was warped; it was a demo, and the Roundwounds it came with had already left their impressions deep into the board, so I won't say they'll all be like that and most will probably want to get new pick ups. Do yourself a favor and watch "Low End Lobster" Review this bass on YouTube - Unbiased and Thorough review

Continued : I was Running a Bass Fly Rig V2, compressor and EQ, Pickups were noisy like an unplugged cable touching your finger when the amp is still on. Luckily Seymour Duncan, Aguilar and Bartolini offer many many different options for jazz p/us you can get for $150-$350 a set that would make it sound better. I will say the neck is not made for the Mwaaah sound, you can get it in some spots and you'll wear down the 12th-14th fret range on the G to get it. It is definitely not a cheap Jaco Clone. My experience was the strings rattled on the fretboard right out of the box, to the point I had to raise the action and add a 1/2 turn of relief to the truss rod, was never able to eliminate the high "fret" buzz 12-20, no matter what I tried. I used Nomad F-One to rejuvenate the severely dehydrated fretboard, and swapped to Ernie Ball Cobalt flats that were pretty good overall, just came damaged. I wanted to love it, but I ended up returning it. Having to do that much adjustment right off the bat along with having the saddles set with the low E way below ADG and not buzzing while ADG buzzed like crazy, every day I picked it up and it was buzzing again, had to put the action so high it was unplayable, set it to fender specs, buzz and raise from there. I have never had a Squier or fender Bass that didn't have its neck move like it was blowing in the wind. MIM Fender Jazz bass ended up being adjusted to the max with truss rod maxed out and still bowed (only done by local luthiers, years ago), just outside of warranty. (from Guitar Center). I don't think this bass is worth $450, your mileage will vary but personally I'm done with Fender and Squier. They are hard to get, but I recommend Sire Marcus Miller V5 Fretless Jass Bass (once again check out Low End Lobster), at a $600 price point, comes with a much better neck, and you're buying this bass for the neck. I personally went with an Ibanez SRH500F, it's a bizarre, but beautiful instrument and it has more mwaaah than you can shake a stick at, though it does not have any pick ups, just one sound, making it a one trick pony. I think Ibanez has the best offerings out there and at this Price Point there is a dual hum bucked SR300 something or other $479.99 that I would take over this. If you're looking to use it as a modding platform, maybe, but you're going to wish you had a different neck. I'm going to be looking at the Ibanez Portamento next.

Do yourself a favor and watch "Low End Lobster" Review this bass on YouTube - Unbiased and Thorough review

The c# and d notes on the g string are really dead. All of the other notes sustain just fine but when I go to play on the g string the aforementioned notes completely die and cease to sustain very quickly. I took this bass to my local music store and had it restrung with flatwounds and setup and the issue still persists.This has frustrated me a great deal because if it wasn't for this single extremely annoying issue I would rate this bass 10/10 in a heart beat.

I've always wanted to try out a fretless bass and because I've had pretty good luck with Squier stuff in the past I thought i'd give it a try. First time playing it I noticed it buzzed like crazy when playing certain notes. A close inspection of the neck revealed several of the "fret lines" had popped out and were protruding above the neck. Some just slightly but others were pretty noticeable. Using some ca glue I was able to get the worst offenders back in place but the marginal one wouldn't move back into place. Running my hand up and down the fretboard I've noticed the some others that were fine before are starting to pop a bit now. I'm really disappointed with this bass.I'm sure to get it playable will require taking the neck off and sanding the fretboard and hoping no more fret lines pop out. Side note, The nut was pretty sloppy especially on the G string and i had ordered a new Tusq nut to place it. Other than that the guitar was fine and looked and sounded good.
My recommendation here is this may not be the guitar to buy online and would be better to try it out before buying.