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What's the worst bass you've ever owned or played?


Marc S
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Hi all,

Apologies if anyone has posted this sort of thing before,
I did a search and couldn't find anything too similar..
This was prompted by seeing this post, which is really mainly about the design / style of a bass
But I wanted to know what really awful basses are / were out there
mainly concentrating on matters other than the "look" of an instrument...
[url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/218700-could-this-be-the-worst-bass/page__p__2230880__hl__worst%20bass__fromsearch__1#entry2230880"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/218700-could-this-be-the-worst-bass/page__p__2230880__hl__worst%20bass__fromsearch__1#entry2230880[/url]

I started playing in the early 80's - with a break of over 20 years,
and resumed playing again several years back....
wish I'd never stopped now, but there we go

When I first started playing, I bought a 2nd hand 3/4 scale bass
which had a Kay logo on the trussrod cover
That's "Kay" the catalogue people at that time

Anyhow, it looked a bit like a sort of Rick shape
but had a bolt-on neck, which was twisted slightly

I didn't really know what I was buying at the time
so I wasn't aware of the twist
It was cheap, and it was all I could afford at the time

The effect of the twist was that you could tune the bass,
but at the last 2 frets the strings (particularly the E and A)
were out of tune.
As soon as I played anything else at least half decent,
I could tell just how awful this bass was

The sound, when played through an amp was just awful too
The pickups must have been rubbish
It didn't put me off playing however
I was just determined to get something better

There were a lot of cheapish guitars around at the time
and I wonder just how many of them have survived,
how many were good, bad, or indifferent

Shortly after this bass, I had a Shaftesbury
and that was a rather nice guitar I now wish I'd had the money to keep
It was a whole different kettle of fish
built in Japan, and at the time, Japanese built guitars were considered not very good
However, I've since seen & played several instruments which disprove that

Back to my 1st bass
A pal of mine (an ex-drummer) recently bought one for his daughter
I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it!
Haven't seen one in ages
I gave it a quick whirl, and it really is just firewood :o
I advised him to get her something better

BTW. He didn't, and she has given up

Anyone else remember these Kay basses?
Or anyone else with memories of terrible guitars?

A lead player old pal of mine shudders at the thought of his first "Jedson"

Cheers

Marc

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[quote name='Pinball' timestamp='1380814169' post='2230983']
I played a 5 sting USA Fender, can't remember the model but it was truly awful, i like fenders normally but this was an exception, the B string was the worst I'd come across on any bass.

some sort of set up would have helped.
[/quote]
Odd arent they, sort of 4 string with a B string vibe about them?

[b]worst ever [/b]Kay SG bass that I learnt on (belonged to a friends dad)
[b]next joint worst [/b]every Rickenbacker I have tried or even gigged with.

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[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1380814559' post='2230995']

Odd arent they, sort of 4 string with a B string vibe about them?

[b]worst ever [/b]Kay SG bass that I learnt on (belonged to a friends dad)
[b]next joint worst [/b]every Rickenbacker I have tried or even gigged with.
[/quote]
My first bass was one of those Kay SG 's & it too was pants.

Edited by artisan
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Once I got into serious territory... and past the baby stuff. worst was a 70's Fender Jazz as I didn't really know any different, but I thougt it was what
I wanted. Followed by an Ibanez MC940 'Sting' bass or whatever if was called..
It was made pretty well, I guess,..but totally bland, bland, BLAND.

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On second thoughts ... A friend of mine once owned a Burns Vista Sonic. THAT was the worst bass I've played, even worse than the Epiphone. A total pig of an instrument. I'm astonished that folk spend 4-figure sums of money on those. Not only do they feel, and sound bad ... they look terrible too. Right down there with Rickenbackers.

Yuk!

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[quote name='Spike Vincent' timestamp='1380818626' post='2231072']
[attachment=145276:KAY.JPG]

Kay K1. The English language does not contain words with sufficient venom to describe how bad it was.
[/quote]
Oh dear it looks like a few of cut our teeth on these, no wonder I went all out active musicman as its probably as far away from it as possible :D

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[quote name='Spike Vincent' timestamp='1380818626' post='2231072']
[attachment=145276:KAY.JPG]

Kay K1. The English language does not contain words with sufficient venom to describe how bad it was.
[/quote]
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh............................................................................................
THE NIGHTTMARE RETURNS TO HAUNT MY DREAMS
Sob............................................................................................................................................................

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[quote name='Marc S' timestamp='1380811369' post='2230931']
When I first started playing, I bought a 2nd hand 3/4 scale bass
which had a Kay logo on the trussrod cover
That's "Kay" the catalogue people at that time

Anyhow, it looked a bit like a sort of Rick shape
but had a bolt-on neck, which was twisted slightly

I didn't really know what I was buying at the time
so I wasn't aware of the twist
It was cheap, and it was all I could afford at the time
[/quote]

Was it one of these? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/vintage-Kay-short-scale-bass-guitar-/151131905156?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item233029dc84

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[quote name='artisan' timestamp='1380820693' post='2231129']
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh............................................................................................
THE NIGHTTMARE RETURNS TO HAUNT MY DREAMS
Sob............................................................................................................................................................
[/quote]

Mine is still in my parents loft. I suspect it will stay there.

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[quote name='Grand Wazoo' timestamp='1380818077' post='2231065']
The worst bass I ever had [size=3][b](mostly down to me being a cheapskate at the time)[/b][/size] was a Columbus fretless Jazz copy. Aboslute gawd awful sh|te. But it took me enormous pleasure taking it to bonfire night and watch it burn.
[/quote]

My second bass aquired was a Columbus Precision, which with hindsight was awful,(strings kept popping out of the nut) but it was so much better than the Kay K1 it was a revelation.

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