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Pros:
- Incredibly Affordable
- Decent, funky sound
Cons:
- Alder Body
- String Noise
- Tuning Stability Issues
Not everything great needs to be complicated, as I have said many times already. Most things that are actually rather great come in simple shapes and packages. These unintimidating items end up being either the first step to greatness or the first step to falling in love with something. Which is why they are great – they are simple and in their simplicity are easy to get used to. This is why we are taking a look at the Squier by Fender Affinity Jazz Beginner Electric Bass guitar and seeing how this simplicity is great.
Body Quality
The design of the guitar does not stand out much in a crowd of bass guitars. This is not a bad thing, since you will have a whole lot of bass guitars in your life that look similar. What this guitar does provide in terms of design is simplicity and good looks. It takes classic bass guitar themes and packages them so the final product looks rather appealing. The result is a simplistic design with notes of the classical present in them. The color pattern is entirely up to you which is a great thing to have.
The body of the guitar is built out of alder. You won’t see too much of alder on the market nowadays, but the tonewood has some of its own rather well-known virtues. First and foremost are the tonal effects that the tonewood has on the guitar. Alder is known to have a well-rounded resonance all over the tonal range, though the mid-tones of the guitars with alder tend to be the most pronounced. The high tones would be in second place with the lowest tones being in third place in terms of resonating with the woods. The tonewood is known to be on the soft side, but the light weight of the body makes up for it.
The neck of the guitar is made out of the traditional choice of maple. This wood is known among guitar manufacturers and players as being the traditional choice of tonewood for guitar necks. It is sturdy and warp-resistant, promising a long and successful life to your instrument. The neck of the guitar is bolted onto the body of the guitar, which works well in the case of this instrument. The fretboard of the guitar made out of rosewood.
Hardware
The bass guitar comes with a fixed bridge system. This system is not unique to this bass guitar and provides the instrument with a nice level of string stability and some lovely action.
The nut of the guitar is made out of rather cheap synthetic material. It struggles to provide the guitar with a clean sound but does keep the harmony of the strings in a line.
The tuning machine of the guitar is made to look great on the bass guitar. The tuning stability of the instrument is nothing to be raving about, needing retuning every few days. This is pretty standard within this price level of guitars.
Electronics
The guitar comes with a two-pickup system. Located at the neck and the bridge of the guitar, the single coil pickups do a decent job of picking up a bright, funky sound that most bass players will love. The tones are highly nuanced and the flexibility of the pickups in terms of tone is lovely. Unfortunately, the pickups struggle to deal with the string noise present as a result of the cheap nut.
The guitar comes with a simple control system. A master volume knob and two individual tone knobs is all a player will get to play around with the sound.
Squier Affinity Jazz Sound
The guitar has a rather interesting sound. Bright and funky, the tones of this guitar are well suited for jazz, disco, rock and roll and even a little bit of metal, if you get a little too ambitious. The sound is nuanced, so that every tone you play will be fully picked up. The only problem with the sound you might have is the string noise seeping into the guitar’s voice. Though this is not debilitating and most beginners should be able to handle it without much issue.
Conclusion
This guitar was not made for professional musical performance, and yet the power it has is enough for most beginner players. This is a very adequate beginner bass for an incredibly low price. Recommended if this is what you are looking for.
Click here to view more from Best Bass Guitars for Beginners.
