wow thanks everyone!
it was great to hear all that @Lanny, thanks a lot man. I do like to customize things, and I really like the idea of latter upgrading the Affinity and learn more about that side of bass!
those are great tips @howard thanks a lot, I’ll be on the lookout for that feel!
can’t wait to start my bass journey 
I also have a Squier Affinity that apparently was a “hit.” I’m not sure what their “miss” looks like since mine was just fine. I also have a Fender American Performer to compare it to and that’s more than 1k price difference. If I run my fingers over the edges I can feel where they didn’t spend as much time polishing the fret edges, but nothing I feel when playing. If the temperature doesn’t change, the tuning stays put. The neck is straight and the frets are level. The pickups sound just fine. Having the Squier made the price of the American Performer seem a little silly. It’s mostly for color and finer finishing; maybe the components are theoretically better, but it’s honestly hard for me to tell.
I played it out of the box for a long time before starting the upgrades. I’ve changed the pickups, which now makes it significantly “better” (to the sound I like) sounding than the American Performer. I didn’t want to spend so much as the MIA and THEN start the upgrades. I’ve custom painted it without worrying about messing it up. I changed the tuners and the bridge, but not because the ones on it had any problem, just fun noodling and color modification. Now it’s the only bass I play.
What have people seen that sometimes make them a “miss”? A high fret? Multiple uneven frets?
This is a funny thing about Fender in general. With a few exceptions, almost any good aftermarket pickup will be an improvement over stock, even on the MIAs. So yeah, it’s not hard to make a Squier sound better than a stock Fender.
Fender pickups aren’t bad, but they are also not usually so great in my experience.
I think Fender stock pickups are engineered to sound good in almost every situation, and which they correspondingly don’t sound great in any situation. Or as I summarize it, they lack character. Or sound generic.
Fender Custom Shop/Pure Vintage pickups on the other hand are a horse of a different color.
Yeah. For both that I have owned, they were fine really but generally nothing special. Replacing them improved the instruments.
Yeah, installing DiMarzios in my mustang made it sing. Although, exception to the rule is the wide range split Humbuckers in the Rascal. They really went outside the box on that one.
Of my 9 Fender basses, I’ve only kept two stock pickups, Marcus Miller Jazz and custom shop ‘61 P, because part of the sound of both are the pickups that come stock.
Of my Squiers zero have original pickups.
Interestingly enough, every last non-Fender family bass I have has the stock pickups in it (less the super el cheapo Brownsville Bat bass and my testbed bass, both of which were bought to mod).
Yeah, some manufacturers make fantastic pickups and there is no reason to change them. Yamaha’s in-house ones are stellar. Ibanez often uses Aguilar or Nordstrand. Gretch arguably invented humbuckers before Gibson and even their single coils are good enough to pass off as humbuckers (as Fender did). Etc etc.
Totally true, yeah. I know it can seem strange and somewhat frustrating, but yeah. A Squier (even an Affinity) with a $100 pickup will often sound better than most Fender with the stock pickup.
Yes.
Well … in my experience, Fender Custom Shop pickups are sometimes good, even sometimes very good, but most of their pickups are still very generic. There are exceptions, but Fender pickups are very rarely my first choice. Actually I’ve never kept the stock pickups on any Fender instrument yet. The only Fender pickups that I still have are the excellent Custom Shop 51 Nocaster set (for Telecaster). I’ve sold all the other ones I’ve had.
I think the CS Custom ‘60s P pickup was pretty good for people looking for a “vintage” tone. Not for me, and not a real standout there either, but a worthy choice.
But yeah, Fender is always gonna be a Ford, not a Ferrari.
I find Fralin to be better IMO
Fender pickups do Fender tones very well, but other aftermarket pickups like Fralin can also do Fender tone very well and then some.
what brand would be the Ferrari of basses?
Well, certainly not the well known Lamborghini line of basses.
Trick question? Ferrari’s are flashy and stylish but not mechanically reliable.
Clearly Dingwall 
Well we know what’s the Merc of bass
The Warwicks.
Yeah, and Bongos are the Beemers
