Before Labor Day, I noticed the new issue of the Squier Paranormal Jazz Bass 54, which is an Asian built mashup between some aspects of the Fender '62 Jazz Bass and a '54 P Bass. My number one bass is a Dakota Red Fender AVRI Jazz Bass. I prefer vintage necks and fingerboards, and I enjoy the individual controls for both volume and tone on each pickup. When I saw the Paranormal 54, I loved the '51-'54 P-Bass pickguard shape, the maple fingerboard, and especially the '62-like stacked concentric pickup controls. The new black body with metal gold anodized pickguard looked great. I announced getting it on some great Labor Day sales in the new gear thread in the Whammy Bar.
When I received the bass, it had a couple of Squier QC issues. The A string had a touch of fret buzz when played open. The cable jack barely held the cable plug in, and only when the cable was wrapped around the strap. I thought of replacing the nut, but I found if the string were loosened slightly, and I pushed the string closer to the headstock between the nut and the tuner, I could get a clean pitch-correct A when the string was played open. A new, better jack fixed the cable dropping problem.
Another quick of the bass was the beautiful pickguard (in my personal opinion) clashed with the number of chrome bits. I do not care for a mix of gold and chrome (or gold and silver, or yellow gold and white gold, etc.). I replaced the pickguard screws, strap buttons, the control plate, the volume knobs, the round string tree, the football jack plate, the bridge, the tuners, and added the three-string tree... all in black.
Oh, I prefer flatwound strings, too.
I now have a backup bass both similar and different than my number one.
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