As I’ve mentioned in other threads, I have recently acquired a new Fender Aerodyne Jazz bass.
The basses I already have include a Squier Affinity Series PJ, modded with DiMarzio pickups, high mass bridge, drop d tuner upgraded pots and La Bella flatwound strings. It plays nicely and sounds good.
However, there is no sound I can get from the Squier that I cannot get from the Aerodyne. The Squier has become redundant.
I suppose the logical thing to do would be to sell it, but it is an Affinity series and the amount I would get hardly justifies the hassle. Besides, where’s the fun in that?
Why not make it sound different? Perhaps I should have another go at round wound strings. Or tape wounds? BEAD tuning?
Suggestions are most welcome, even off the wall ones (especially off the wall ones).
How far are you willing to go? Conservative, BEAD is nice. Whacky, get a router, replace the Jazz pickup with an MM style, add a 3 way switch, and it will do a lot
If you don’t have any other basses I think it’s a good idea to keep it. A back up is never bad to have, especially one that you spent so much time customizing.
If it really does get little to no use and you are a minimalist (wish I could be more like that) you can always strip out the quality components, revert the affinity to its original form and sell the bass and the other parts seperately.
Keep it. You will never get the money you spent on the upgrades. Or you can put the original parts back on and save the good parts for your next bass (of which there will be many)
I’d say if it is not being used, definitely sell. Get the money back out of it to apply to something you will use. No use in keeping an anchor around. And just take any perceived loss as a lesson to buy used in the first place, so someone else takes that hit
But yeah consider stripping the upgrades out first, if you would reuse them. If not, use them as a value bump on the thing when you sell it. You’ll still lose money, but not as much as keeping around something that just collects dust.
That combination is intriguing. Not sure I’m up to attacking it with a router though, especially in an area where I can’t hide mistakes under the pick guard.
I actually have two other basses, a Sterling Ray 4 and a Gretsch Junior Jet. I’m not averse to owning multiple basses - far from it! It’s just that as presently set up the Squier sounds a lot like the Aerodyne.
I know that selling it is the rational thing to do, but nobody has ever accused me of being rational. Stripping the parts, listing it, packing it, shipping it - too much work for the money involved!
Right now I’m leaning toward BEAD, or maybe bright round wound strings and a modern sounding pickup. That can change in an instant.
Ah the dimella of the PJ…I had one too many and had the exact same issue as you, so…
Sold 1
Put rounds on 1 and made it an active bass, agressive, narly.
With those DiMarzios, put some SS rounds on it for a super bright end thing.
Or, go even brighter with Optima Gold rounds, those suckers ssssssssiiiiiiiiinnnnnngggggg.
@John_E Thanks for the suggestion and the video link. Strings might be a good way to start - minimal investment of time and money.
Over in the neverending flat vs round thread @PamPurrs is loving the nickel RB45’s. Coming from Pam that got my attention. How do those compare in sound and feel with the RS66LF’s?
I hadn’t considered that. Surprising, since I had a fretless back in the day, and intend to eventually get another one. I’d probably just replace the neck rather than removing the frets, filling the cracks, etc. Jaco style.
The 45s came today (yet another @PamPurrs inspired expenditure) and will go on the music man at some point this week. I’ve got a two day online work zoom training starting tomorrow which should provide me time to turn my camera off and get some serious things done! Can let you know post that.
Stripping the parts, listing it, packing it, shipping it - too much work for the money involved!
How do those compare in sound and feel with the RS66LF’s?