Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI. First thoughts.

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Bradley-Jazz
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Re: Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI. First thoughts.

Post by Bradley-Jazz » Fri Dec 27, 2019 7:11 am

String update - I’ve put a set of Labella 767-6N nickel plated round wounds on mine. The 6th string is 095 rather than 084.

It’s a huge improvement - better (deeper, more bassy) tone on the lower strings, much tauter, but not harder to play, and can dig in much more before it rattles. The strings were expensive, but seem to be well worth it. No further upgrades planned at present....
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Re: Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI. First thoughts.

Post by Monty1 » Sat Dec 28, 2019 12:45 pm

On the basis I can't order the bridge until Monday I've spent some time tweaking it in standard form to see where it ends up.

I've had a play with the bridge PU height and I'm now getting a much brighter tone that goes into overdrive easier. It's made chords played on the E less muddy but D,G,B and E are where the really cool chords live.

I've put a little more curve on the neck (about 1/8 turn on the rod) and that's cured most of the slap from the floppy E but has added to the action height. It's OK, but higher than I'd like. I tend to play a lowish action on guitar so it may be down to me foolishly trying to emulate a guitar setup on a bass that's the problem and the action is good. It's about 6/64th on low E at 12th fret and about 5/64ths on the treble E. This was more successful than raising the bridge by the same amount.

The bridge rattles on the G string, can't seem to resolve that and not sure if it's the spring, inter saddle slap or something else. It's very noticeable acoustically and is very slightly noticeable through the amp but you could live with it unless you're recording, you would get jolly annoyed if it ended up on the final mix. A neck shim may increase the load on the bridge enough to stop it rattling.

I've finally managed to get the protective film off the trem and underneath are 2 small but noticeable scratches that are quite deep, the film was undamaged so they added it after the damage was done at the factory. I'm not bothered (if it was a Gibson they'd charge an extra $100 for 'relicing' it) but QA is not top notch. Also found a slight scratch on the PU switch plate, not a problem for me but does point to QA being an issue on the bright parts.

Opened up the string slots in the nut a tiny bit and added a little more preload to the trem spring, tuning is getting stable. The more I use it the more stable it gets. The bass E is still a bit errant but the rest are generally behaving.

Trem arm is now fairly sloppy and falls out occasionally, there was probably a slight burr adding to the fit. I'll replace it with a Staytrem.

The tone of the Cure's Disintegration is easily reachable, all PU's on, bass strangle on, loads of delay, chorus and reverb through a cleanish channel to get that chimey tone. Just got to remember to play an octave higher than on a guitar :fp: I can also get a twangy Morricone tone through the bridge PU that's in the general area of New Order. A bassier E would help so La Bella's are on the horizon, currently tempted to go stainless round wound as I could happily go a tadge brighter through my amp. It's very tempting just to use it for the few songs that I know use a VI but it has more to offer.

I'm still very pleased, I'd anticipated buying bits from Staytrem and probably some La Bella's so I've not suddenly found myself with an unexpected cost to get it where I want it to be.
I like shiny new guitars but I'm intending to send them back to get them factory reliced in 30 years time

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Re: Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI. First thoughts.

Post by Drewbertca » Sat Dec 28, 2019 1:13 pm

Bradley-Jazz wrote:
Fri Dec 27, 2019 7:11 am
String update - I’ve put a set of Labella 767-6N nickel plated round wounds on mine. The 6th string is 095 rather than 084.

It’s a huge improvement - better (deeper, more bassy) tone on the lower strings, much tauter, but not harder to play, and can dig in much more before it rattles. The strings were expensive, but seem to be well worth it. No further upgrades planned at present....
Labella also has custom string sets. You get basically the same thickness - give or take .02 - you lose the silk wraps but save a metric $#!+ ton of cash.....

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CV Bass VI Bridge

Post by Monty1 » Sun Jan 05, 2020 3:49 am

The Staytrem bridge has arrived and is fitted. Despite the grooves being correctly sized it sits marginally higher than the standard item and is bottomed out completely, I'd like it to go lower so a neck shim is absolutely essential. Action is now higher than I'd like but it intonates with no problem and the rattles and buzzes are significantly reduced. A degree of shim should help resolve the little that remains.

Here are a few pictures of the standard CV VI bridge, there's not much stuff online so hopefully someone might find this useful. On first look I thought the grooves were all the same, but they're not. Funky V shaped groove sizing and the heights are strange, I actually went back once I saw the images on my PC screen to make sure the saddles were seated correctly just in case they had lifted themselves off the base slightly, they hadn't. The heights are how it plays.

Image

Image

Image
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Re: CV Bass VI Bridge

Post by kgbAttack » Sun Jan 05, 2020 7:41 am

Monty1 wrote:
Sun Jan 05, 2020 3:49 am
The Staytrem bridge has arrived and is fitted. Despite the grooves being correctly sized it sits marginally higher than the standard item and is bottomed out completely, I'd like it to go lower so a neck shim is absolutely essential. Action is now higher than I'd like but it intonates with no problem and the rattles and buzzes are significantly reduced. A degree of shim should help resolve the little that remains.
That's interesting, I didn't have that issue. However, I deliberately put it higher as I wanted slightly higher tension and break angle on my strings. Would you mind taking a photo to see the action and how high the bridge currently sits? Just for my own curiosity.

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Re: Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI. First thoughts.

Post by Monty1 » Sun Jan 05, 2020 9:34 am

Here you go, sorry not a great picture so hard to see the gap.

I've wound the adjuster screw about 1/2 a turn to lift it off the guard so assuming it's a 1mm(ish) pitch thread that's going to be about 0.5mm clearance give or take a bit. String measures a tiny bit under 5/64th clearance (yes, I love mixing imperial with metric, it confuses the crap out of anyone younger than 30 in the UK) on treble E at 12th fret with an almost straight fretboard, I've taken out most of the bow. If I allow some of the bow back in I get less string buzz on the bass E but the action height increases and the bridge can't go low enough. Until I shim it I'm probably in a compromise. A fair bit of clearance on the bass side but that's running at just over 6/64ths.

With the standard bridge I could get about 1/64th lower on the treble side, no issue with buzz. It's OK, but a shim will make it better plus put a little more break angle on it.

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Re: Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI. First thoughts.

Post by kgbAttack » Sun Jan 05, 2020 11:45 pm

Ok great, thanks! Wow your neck pocket must be much deeper than mine then. Anyway I do like how angled is the neck with a 1deg shim - I'm sure it will work for you too :)

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Re: Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI. First thoughts.

Post by Monty1 » Tue Jan 07, 2020 12:09 pm

Next stage!

I've now fitted a 1degree Stewmac shim and found a small bit of sandpaper in the pocket which is now in the bin. There was quite a bit of loose sawdust in the joint as well.

The bridge is about 3.5mm clear of the deck on the treble E side and a bit more on the bass side. I've put a little of the curve back in the neck (it's still straighter than how it arrived) and am running 4/64ths on the bass and 3 and a little bit 64ths on the treble. Bass E does rattle if I'm enthusiastic, not horrendously but I'll probably take it up to 5/64ths if it gets annoying. It's fairly OK at that height and I'm light with the pick so I may get away with it. I've noticed if it goes flat it starts to rattle like buggery so the string tension is only just enough to keep them off the frets.

The itsy bitsy tiny bit of bridge rattle is now 100% gone but you need to keep an eye on the back of the bridge, the increased break angle means you can easily get contact with the strings if it's even slightly rocked forwards. It makes one hell of a noise.

I used a Stewmac uncut bass blank but a pre-cut guitar one would do the job without any cutting down, the pocket is exactly the width of the guitar shim and the screw holes are in the right place but it doesn't go fully to the back of the pocket, it needs another cm. Unless you're obsessed with contact area I'd be happy with the guitar shim as it covers the area which carries all of the pressure from the screws and plate. I suspect the pre-cut bass shim will probably not align with the screw holes as well as needing to be cut down so not going to be much use on a VI. I reckon 0.5 degree would do the job perfectly, I'm likely going to have to raise the PUP's but I also ordered a 0.5 so will give that a try as well at some point. The bridge looks better lower anyway. If I was doing this again a 0.5 degree pre-cut guitar shim would be my first step with a 0.25 degree to hand just in case I needed a tiny bit more. I was bottomed out pre-shim with a higher than ideal action but I need less than half of what 1 degree has given me back.

Fretboard drank another load of lemon oil, it hasn't become any darker but is starting to get a nice soft sheen on it. It's a million times better looking than the Squier website images. Still not sure why theirs is so light, maybe I got lucky. Although it's quite dark the colour is a little colder than rosewood which is a warmer brown.

I'll play it for a while before deciding if I need la Bella's, but even if I don't need them I'll probably yield to temptation....
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Re: Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI. First thoughts.

Post by Bradley-Jazz » Tue Jan 07, 2020 12:47 pm

Nice update.

I was happy to shim mine with business card and I think I struck lucky with the set up. I’m very happy with the action now.

However, and not to cause you trouble and expense, but my experience is that you *need* the LaBellas - they really did sort the flappy/rattly low E issue for me and gave me some wiggle room to dig in more when I want. By the way, same as you, if the tuning was flat with the stock strings, the rattles were much worse.

Sorry!! ;)
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Re: Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI. First thoughts.

Post by Monty1 » Tue Jan 07, 2020 1:18 pm

Bradley-Jazz wrote:
Tue Jan 07, 2020 12:47 pm
Nice update.

I was happy to shim mine with business card and I think I struck lucky with the set up. I’m very happy with the action now.

However, and not to cause you trouble and expense, but my experience is that you *need* the LaBellas - they really did sort the flappy/rattly low E issue for me and gave me some wiggle room to dig in more when I want. By the way, same as you, if the tuning was flat with the stock strings, the rattles were much worse.

Sorry!! ;)
Yeah, I know. I'm just in denial!.

TBH it's going to happen but this dream that the floppy E is OK gives me some time to think about which ones to get. Kind of interested in the flats but rounds are more my tone. At the moment the stainless rounds are very slightly more appealing than the nickels, I could go brighter and they may last a little longer, but tomorrow that'll change. Thankfully I don't have acid hands and strings last me ages.

Thanks for destroying the dream :D
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Re: Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI. First thoughts.

Post by Zork » Wed Jan 08, 2020 6:09 am

After the last rehearsal with my VI I decided to switch from flats to rounds. The new band develops in a much heavier direction than expected and I want to stick to the VI as my main instrument. My setup is now the VI going thru a small pedalboard (fuzz, envelope filter, tremolo, vibrato, tuner & reverb) in the overdrive channel of my Laney guitarhead with a 6x10" bass cab. The sound is glorious but the flats are not the right choice anymore for what we play. I'd like to have the more dynamic and aggressive tone of rounds, especially with the germanium fuzz face I use.

So we all know the choices are not so many: Ernie Balls are too short and D'Addarios and Fenders too thin. La Bella is good, but very expensive and then there's Kalium strings. They offer loads of sets with different gauges and are relatively cheap but the shipping costs to outside the US are just plain crazy and in worst case I have to pay import taxes on top of it.

But there's hope! Newtone Strings in the UK offers a set that's almost too good to be true. It goes from .024 to .100 gauges, costs 18£ and they only charge 3£ for worldwide shipping. The bad news: it's currently out of stock and on back order. It seems to tick all the boxes, though, and I thought I'd share.

Other than that: the bridge on my VM VI annoys the hell out of me. Any experiences with this one: https://reverb.com/item/17287519-steel- ... -vi-chrome
It's pretty much the CV bridge with more common sized saddles, isn't it?

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Re: Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI. First thoughts.

Post by Monty1 » Sun Jan 12, 2020 2:17 pm

Good spot on the strings.
Zork wrote:
Wed Jan 08, 2020 6:09 am
Other than that: the bridge on my VM VI annoys the hell out of me. Any experiences with this one: https://reverb.com/item/17287519-steel- ... -vi-chrome
It's pretty much the CV bridge with more common sized saddles, isn't it?
Yes, it looks like a better made version of the CV stock bridge, the grooves are the same size and it looks like it follows the radius better than mine did. But looking at the fender website the stock Squier CV VI bridge looks pretty good as well, which it isn't.

Can you see what's wrong with this bridge? :D

https://shop.fender.com/en-GB/electric- ... 83300.html
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Re: Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI. First thoughts.

Post by Zork » Mon Jan 13, 2020 3:45 am

I ordered two sets of the Axion strings yesterday. Will report when they arrive in about two weeks.

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Re: Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI. First thoughts.

Post by dinosaurkale-> » Mon Jan 13, 2020 4:25 am

i had a similar issue with the Staytrem making the action very high...i guess shim is the easiest / best thing to counter that then...?

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Re: Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI. First thoughts.

Post by Zork » Thu Jan 16, 2020 11:09 am

Zork wrote:
Mon Jan 13, 2020 3:45 am
I ordered two sets of the Axion strings yesterday. Will report when they arrive in about two weeks.
They got already shipped today. :w00t:

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