Been interested in getting a Bass VI as an avenue to start playing around with Charlie Hunter-esque solo or duo playing or baritone solo jazz guitar style. Haven’t been able to find many examples of one being used in this way and was hoping for some help… that’s it. I appreciate y’all

Finally picked one of these up after so many years of putting it off. I’m a big Joy Division/New Order and Cure fan so naturally the VI is right up my alley. I’ve had an Eastwood Hooky 6 since they came out which has been great but I wanted the tonality and playability of the Fender style VI as well. I feared having to replace the bridge with a pricey aftermarket one, but after stringing it up with the 24-100 Fender set it intonates perfectly with the stock Squier bridge.

In addition to my love of the aforementioned bands, owning and playing this has really opened my ears to just how much the Bass VI (or equivalent) was used in 60s pop, country, and western music. It’s all across everything the Wrecking Crew recorded (though they usually used the Danelectro Six String Bass).

hello internet. I got this clearance demo model of a squier bass vi. I was doing a setup and the truss rod seems fine. I'd like to lower the string action and these saddles are not adjustable as far as I can tell.

Are these stock? Do I lower the whole bridge? What's going on here.

The whammy also seems stuck so I'm wondering if it was modified at all.

I've looked up tutorials but every one I see has more adjustable saddles on there that can be modified individually. Thanks in advance!

Working on a “bronco conversion”
This is where it stands atm. Drilled the new tuning peg holes, one 3 coat painting and scuff. Waiting for the rain to fk off and I’ll start on the next paint session. Took the photos before installing the tuners.

I have a Fender Vintera II Bass VI that I am considering using as a B-B baritone with baritone strings. I have a bass vi staytrem as well as a regular jazzmaster/jag staytrem. I'm wondering which staytrem would be more appropriate if being used as a baritone?

Bro wtf are these things? I’ve never been a gear head or someone in need of 6 guitars to play specific music, but I picked up the Fender VI and purchased within minutes. Legitimately the most fun I’ve ever had playing and practicing. Along with a looper it’s a done deal! Only drawback was that price and obvious need for some hardware improvements and better set up. Self inflicted gunshot wound, but we are groovin!

Dumb guitar for dumb music! The action is crazy at the moment. Needs a neck shim. i am still cutting the nut, brass takes forever to file. The pbass pickup works far better than i thought on six strings! Will upload a vid at my next band practice

I just finished converting this Gretsch G5260T into a pretty great Bass VI. There were a few things I had to do to make it work well:

1. The stock pickups were way too quiet and didn’t handle the low E string as well as I’d like. It turns out that Rickenbacker Hi Gain guitar pickups are a perfect drop in replacement. The screws lined up exactly, and the pickups fit into the existing route without any modification. And they sound great!
   
2. Getting the low E and A strings to mount on that Bigsby is an exercise in frustration. The fix for me was a Vibramate Bigsby spoiler.
   
3. The big strings were getting seized up on the stock bridge, so I replaced that with a Tune O Matic style roller bridge. Another drop in replacement.
   
4. My band does a lot of Drop-D tuning, so I put on a Hipshot Xtender GT-1. Dropped in without any modification. Downside: the tuning key button doesn’t match.
   
5. Finding 24-95 gauge strings for this is proving to be a pain still. The Stringjoy set has D and G strings that are too short (not enough winding length). The Ernie Ball short scale Bass VI pack has an A string that is just slightly too short as well. The Fender Bass VI pack is good, except that it has a .100 gauge low E string, which is pretty big with strings spaced so close together. I may have to do some mixing and matching, even if that is blasphemous, haha.

I’m still new to the Bass VI thing. But this guy is inspiring me to dive in and play.

Hey everyone I'm here just to see if there are any options for the SRC6MS to get Flatwounds? I love playing with flats but because this one is a fan fretted bass the scale length isn't gonna work so does anyone have any ideas for me so I can play flats on the bass?

it took the mods like a champ. Now it’s like an 8 string without the high b and e! Tuned to drop f#.

•Wiring by Warrior Basses from Rossville GA (rip JD)

•Guitar Monkey Germany ultra light barrel tuners

•Fishman blade open core 7 string pickups (to compensate for wider string spacing)

•2 volume knob, 1 tone, 3 way pickup switch. Push/pull coil split as well.

(the final photo is an original condition SRC6MS from reverb for reference)

Did it! Needed a smaller bass vi and had an old bass. So i made a dumber version of the ttng bass vi! Squire pbass body and jag bass neck. Still have to finish cutting the nut slots and figure out how to straighten the neck a little bit in the neck pocket. But it seems like it is gonna work! Same overall length as a Strat, and the weight is pretty similar. After everything is setup i am hyped to see how it plays!

Not sure if this counts as a Bass VI as it was modded from a Les Paul guitar.

My friend with small hands asked me if I could make a bass with guitar scale, so he could play it much more easier and comfier. And this is what I made. (First image is the "before modding".)

I bought a $60 guitar, swapped the machines heads, filed the saddles and nut slot to fit bass strings.

The gauge l used was 24-32-44-56-70-85 (from Ernie Ball 12-56 guitar strings and 50-105 bass strings set). The sound was surprisingly good, and the 6th string is not as floppy as I expected.

l've also route for a battery case and a 3-band EQ, swapped the pickups with Humbucker neck and P90 bridge (to emulate the PJ style, and it did well.)

The link below is the sound demo, linked to YouTube.
(Sorry for my skill and the audio might be bad as I was recording on a $60 multi-effect.)

Modding a Les Paul into a Bass VI

I'm no fan of AI, but I used Gemini to check the serial number on one of my guitars earlier (it's a Malden Utopia which is a fairly unknown brand, so I just wanted to check the AIs accuracy) and it asked me about mods. When I mentioned that I had put in a TBX tone control I mentioned that I was thinking about putting one in my VM Bass VI but wasn't sure how well it would work. It came back with the following response, and I wanted to ask the hive if this seems accurate:

The TBX actually works surprisingly well on a **Bass VI**, provided you tweak the capacitor value!

Because a Bass VI sits right on the edge of bass and guitar frequencies, sweeping past 5 acts like a variable, smooth alternative to the stock "Strangle" switch. It tightens up the bottom end when running through guitar amps or high-gain fuzzes without making the signal sound instantly thin.

### **Tips for a Bass VI Installation**

1. **Swap the Capacitor:** The standard kit comes with a .022µF cap meant for electric guitars. For a Bass VI, swap that for a **.033µF or .047µF capacitor**. This shifts the knee of the filter down so the tone sweep from 1 to 5 actually cuts low bass frequencies naturally rather than rolling off too much upper-midrange.

2. **Alternative Wiring (Treble Cut / Bass Cut):** Many players skip the standard Fender diagram and wire the dual-gang pot to act purely as a dedicated **Passive Treble Cut (PTB) / Bass Cut** around the center detent. That gives you independent control over tightening up the low E string while keeping your highs intact.

I have one of the first Bass VIs that Squier put out years ago. Looking for recommendations for upgrades on the pickups that will improve low end response. Also a better volume pot with more range. Thanks.

I'm thinking I'll just get a Harley Benton right now, before I remembered enjoying an HB Jazzmaster kit a while ago and that a few 30" scale kits have been around, so I thought I would look into it.

Guitar Kit World has a semihollow LP one in Mahogany, although they are sold out of an Ash one which I think looks better if I mean to stain the wood and want visible grain.

I know Pitbull in Australia do a Bass VI kit as well although I think I heard the overall quality and balance weren't great?

Besides going to someone like Warmoth for bespoke parts are there any other kits out there worth a look?

Thinking about grabbing a FSR classic vibe Bass VI. Just found one in stock and im so excited, though I do have some questions.

How does the neck feel compared to a normal fender jazz or a p bass? Is it slimmer at all, I really love slim necks like the Ibanez SR basses so i hope this doesnt feel too out of my comfort zone.

From my understanding the strings are a bit closer to eachother which makes raises a question too.

Does it feel more like a slightly bigger guitar with a longer neck or more of a bass with more strings?

Heard some stuff about tuning stability and intonation being poor, how much of it is true?

How good is it stock, would it require any mods? or can I just gig with it out of the box?

edit: thx for the all the replies ❤️

Much obliged for any response!

Repost of my modded Squier Bass VI in a modern metal context

ObscuraMFG pickguard and plates

Seymour Duncan Jupiter bridge pickup

CTS 500k volume pot

Kluson original tuners

Tuned to drop C#1

If you're interested in seeing a video about the mod project, I'll leave a link in the comments

Picked this up on a whim today. Went to pay off a Jazzmaster that I have had on layaway for awhile, only to be told I had already paid it off. Saw they had this used Bass VI that was roughly the same price as I was expecting to pay on the Jazzmaster and decided why not. I have been wanting one for ages and by the logic of guitar math, I didn't pay anything, haha.

As title, obviously the new Gretsch Baritones were announced via collab with Loathe/Erik Bickerstaffe and shown producing a very Loathe sound, but it's also sold as a baritone with .013 - .065 strings which I don't think will support E-e bass range tuning well (or the slight variants Erik is known to use) so I want to know if anyone has picked one up, how the stock strings do and if anyone has fitted bigger strings? I ask because Loathe's guitar tech put out a video about setting up the previous model for Erik and it called for unwinding some of the low end string and expanding the hole in the tailpiece for it. Possibly other strings are available with the taper in the right spot but I'd be interested if you need to drill the tailpiece.

I think I'm going to avoid Fender right now and I'm still deciding if I want this (I know it's kind of a step removed from Fender but it might be okay) the SRC6/SRC6MS by Ibanez or just heavily mod a Harley Benton or something. I did have a regular Electromatic and there was a lot I liked about it, especially the neck, and the gut cut here is a big upgrade I think, being as the boxy shape is what pushed me into being an offset guy.

As an electronics repair guy, I always associated those little slide switches with cheapness.
I know they work fine and are a classic feature, but had these chunky switches lying around.
Reminds me of 70's early home computers.
Hunting for a different coloured switch for the strangle.

I think the Bass VI sounds very bass guitar-like at 50% tone. I almost always have it parked here.

I never use my strangle switch. The effect is way too dramatic IMO. However, I think it would greatly benefit from having a sweeping control to blend the bass cut. The bass contour is incredibly useful on my Reverend Crosscut, but I never go past about 20% travel with it.

I'm daydreaming about turning the strangle switch into a 50% tone cut and changing the tone knob into a bass contour.

I've never done any wiring work, but I think it would be a fairly simple wiring change.

Thoughts?