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Lovely bass but, nope, I just can't live with...


TrevorR
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Personal taste and aesthetics are a funny thing. I just wondered if there are any elements of bass design that folks just can't get past... Things that mar otherwise fabulous basses... For me there are three things.

The bridge on a Lakland. I have a chum who has the most lovely Lakland 5-string. Sounds amazing, plays like a dream but for some reasaon I just can't abide the look of the big oval back plate on the bridge. Same for all Lakland's models. I couldn't have one on my bass. Therefore, for me, gear options are cut down by one top maker just because it doesn't do it for me... Totally irrational, coz they are lovely basses.

Varnished fingerboards (and maple ones for that matter). Just never liked the feel of a varnished board or the look of maple over rosewood.

Modern single cuts. For some reason they almost all look wrong to my eye. I have a chum with an amazing Curbow single cut. Again plays great and sounds great but the look just puts me off. In fact I can only think of one single cut where I thought, cool looking bass - an Adamovitch played by the bassist in my nephew's band.

So what is it that, for no real good reason, puts you off a whole raft of bass designs?

Edited by TrevorR
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A big body (ooer) always puts me off. So jazz basses are almost completely out of the question for me. Anything with less than 24 frets I always find to look a little odd and I don't like the feel of any bass without 24+ frets. Something about the extra space between fretboard and bridge I can't stand.

Don't get me started on sunburst basses.

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Small bodies, single cuts, the top horn on a Corvette that looks like a nob, bog-seat Bongos, rosewood boards, shiny varnished necks, any of the forty seven million Jazz copies out there (no matter how much they cost), real Jazzes, Rickenbackers, anything other than 4s...

I could think of more, but I've depressed myself with my negativity too much already... :D

Oh wait, I've just remembered: anything artifically reliced...yeah, that... <_<

Edited by Muzz
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I don't think you can really single out any individual feature to be a deal breaker - you have to consider the bass as a whole.

A few years ago I would have been firmly against the idea of gold hardware, but since then I've owned three basses with it. They all look great and one of them is currently my main gigging instrument.

Having said that there are a couple of things that would make me think twice before parting with my money:

1. Non-angled headstocks. Back in the 40s and 50s if you were trying to save money on wood and construction they might have made sense, but now when even the crappiest of Chinese factories can make an excellent scarf joint that is stronger than the rest of the neck there is really no need to be continuing with this anachronism. I haven't owned a single guitar or bass with a non-angled headstock that didn't have tuning issues due to the amount of string length that had to be wrapped around the machine heads or retainers in the string path required to get a decent break-angle over the nut.

2. Angled pickups. When they are at extreme angles as on Mosrite guitars or the Strat bridge pickup then they are not too bad looking, but when it's just a slight angle, it looks as though the router template slipped. My OCD simply won't allow it. Also the two worst offenders, Ritter and Warwick aren't cheap so surely it wouldn't significantly add to price of the instrument to build the pickup in a slightly over-sized cover and have the angles of the coils hidden?

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Relic finishes for me - I just hate it. I have no trouble with a bass that is showing lots of actual use but I really don't get the idea of battering some new bass to make it look like it has been played. Also, most of the relic work I have seen is pretty dubious - way too much wear and rust etc.

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I had a 10th anniversary Attitude bass in black, the sound was amazing but I could not get on with the neck size for love nor money, and sadly it seems to be the way with every attitude I have ever tried, great basses, I just cant get on with how it actually makes my hand feel.

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Aside from some of those already mentioned (relic work, gold hardware, headlessness) - one thing I just can't get myself to like is "wooden" pickup covers.
It's also very rarely that I like a maple fingerboard... has to be just the right combination with the body.
Silly really...

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Single cuts aside, well, that and gold hardware...and coffee table top finishes, those things aside, I can't quite put my finger on why I don't like some basses.

G&L's, MM's and some of the Laklands all look big and clumsy and wrong in some way...says a man whose favourite bass is a Jazz copy :unsure: :o

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I agree and disagree with a lot of the previous posts but one that hasn't been mentioned that I just can't on with:
Fodera headstocks.

Particularly on a 4 string. They're just too big. It always reminds me of a big oar, to the extent that if somebody gave me a free one, I think I'd be looking to trade it for something that doesn't bother me in such an irrational way :D

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Thing I hate about gold hardware is it so quickly wears away and somehow silver metal glinting through worn gold is not a desirable relic finish.

Also hate basses that are simply converted guitars. Danelectro's 'coke bottle' Headstock is a case in point. They've simply not drilled the middle two tuner holes and the tuners themselves are puny guitar tuners. Same applies to semis with trapeze tailpieces and bridges in the middle of the body. No real thinking going on, just adaptation :angry:

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Can't stand:
Single cuts
Jazz body shape
Blank pickups - I like me them pole pieces too!
Anything with highly figured wood in it, bar flame or birdseye on a maple neck.
Through necks.
Actives, although not a necessarily visible thing.

So, Precisions it is, then!

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