Basses You've Owned and Hated

[BrunoBass]

On 26/12/2018 at 10:17, LeftyJ said:

Same here. I bought a new lefty 4003 at Guitar Guitar in 2009 and it just wasn't for me. Worst ergonomics of all the basses I've owned. Wide, square neck with a totally flat back, uncomfortable angular body, that bridge pickup surround with nowhere to comfortably anchor my thumb. And that bridge design with a loose, wobbly bridge that just rests on two small screws on the tailpiece and would rock back and forth when tuning, rendering any attempt at properly adjusting the intonation useless. 

I really wanted to like that bass. It was a thing of beauty, and I had lusted after one for years. I sold it at a profit to buy a new car and haven't missed it one bit. 

Like most Rick players I’d lusted after a 4003 since childhood. I was very happy with it when I finally got one. I didn’t experience the same ergonomic issues many other do. My attitude was to accept it for what it is and embrace it’s quirkiness. 

I gigged it for a while but gradually came to the conclusion it just didn’t sound right for me, it didn’t have the ‘woomth’ that I need, so I sold it on. 

No regrets; I’m glad I owned it and I’m also glad that I finally got owning a Rick out of my system. 

[bassfan]

Fender MiM 62 P reissue (1992 ish). It was in sunburst and I just don’t bond with Ps. 

[donkelley]

Wow, where do I start?

~~~~~~~~

Yamaha John Myung model (purple and all)...

really wanted this, really hoped it would be amazing.  love 6 strings, love the color and general look, love dream theater.

This one was --- defective imho.  the action couldn't get nearly low enough, we're talking really high, without a shim that was 2.5 mm thick at the very end of the neck pocket!  I did that and it was ok, but with a shim that thick it never played the same after, I didn't make a proper angled shim out of wood or anything, before I decided it wasn't for me.

Tone was - meh.  no presence at all.  no life to it.  very dead sound, yet acoustically teh strings were nice and bright and new sounding.  just the electronics, and/or wood.

Couldn't unload it fast enough.... should have been the best 6 I'd played up to that point, but no.  LTD cheap model was waaay better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cort headless precision bass from the 80s. ..

Headless with licensed high quality steinberger (heavy, good metal) hardware.  terrible weight distribution, boring tone, half circle p bass neck LoL.  blechy red and white burst from hell . EWE.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ibanez BTB 6

- I did try to love it, but in the end only just... respected it. so well made, so beautiful, so nice to play, but I didn't like 35" scale (Still don't), and it was lacking in life.  so little tone variation with touch.  most ibanez basses are very sensitive to touch, but not that one.  Played a low end btb5 later on that was full of life, so I know it can exist.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

USA fender Jazz, 1990s

pretty bad tone with new strings, setup was high and needed a shim but I didn't bother.  This was clearly a bad bass in many ways, yet it looked pristine.  I think it was a lemon that nobody ever wanted to play, and I found out personally why they didn't.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Epi Thunderbird (low end bolt on model)

Pretty good actually, better than expected.  I liked the tone, very gibson.  but just too awkward and heavy for me.  Much better than folks say they are, but the cheap bridge metal - it was bending AS I WAS ADJUSTING IT.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

speaking of cheap bridge metal.... Hagstrom 8 string bass, the chinese reissue.

should have been great.

- no depth to the tone at all, very middy (way way too much for practical use as a bass, octave strings were way louder than fundamentals, needed an active bass boost like crazy)

- terrible bridge metal - flexible while adjusting, could easily have been broken off

- noisy pots when turned, noisy switch when switched.... just so cheaply put together, but the wood and acoustic tone were great.  played ok too for an 8.  But I've played much better 8s than this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8 string NON OCTAVE bass, generic chinese brand of some kind

sure, it was cheap, used.  huge neck, couldn't reach low B and F strings in normal fingering, had to wrap hand around it.  terrible fretwork, some notes didn't work right or played the higher notes.  I filed frets like crazy to make ti playable, but even then action was awful, neck through but couldnt' get low enough.

nice double truss rods though, half way decent active preamp tone, and picks didn't soudn awful actually.  but I'm only 5'7" so away this giant went.

[Defo]

13 hours ago, donkelley said:

Wow, where do I start?

~~~~~~~~

Yamaha John Myung model (purple and all)...

really wanted this, really hoped it would be amazing.  love 6 strings, love the color and general look, love dream theater.

This one was --- defective imho.  the action couldn't get nearly low enough, we're talking really high, without a shim that was 2.5 mm thick at the very end of the neck pocket!  I did that and it was ok, but with a shim that thick it never played the same after, I didn't make a proper angled shim out of wood or anything, before I decided it wasn't for me.

Tone was - meh.  no presence at all.  no life to it.  very dead sound, yet acoustically teh strings were nice and bright and new sounding.  just the electronics, and/or wood.

Couldn't unload it fast enough.... should have been the best 6 I'd played up to that point, but no.  LTD cheap model was waaay better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cort headless precision bass from the 80s. ..

Headless with licensed high quality steinberger (heavy, good metal) hardware.  terrible weight distribution, boring tone, half circle p bass neck LoL.  blechy red and white burst from hell . EWE.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ibanez BTB 6

- I did try to love it, but in the end only just... respected it. so well made, so beautiful, so nice to play, but I didn't like 35" scale (Still don't), and it was lacking in life.  so little tone variation with touch.  most ibanez basses are very sensitive to touch, but not that one.  Played a low end btb5 later on that was full of life, so I know it can exist.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

USA fender Jazz, 1990s

pretty bad tone with new strings, setup was high and needed a shim but I didn't bother.  This was clearly a bad bass in many ways, yet it looked pristine.  I think it was a lemon that nobody ever wanted to play, and I found out personally why they didn't.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Epi Thunderbird (low end bolt on model)

Pretty good actually, better than expected.  I liked the tone, very gibson.  but just too awkward and heavy for me.  Much better than folks say they are, but the cheap bridge metal - it was bending AS I WAS ADJUSTING IT.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

speaking of cheap bridge metal.... Hagstrom 8 string bass, the chinese reissue.

should have been great.

- no depth to the tone at all, very middy (way way too much for practical use as a bass, octave strings were way louder than fundamentals, needed an active bass boost like crazy)

- terrible bridge metal - flexible while adjusting, could easily have been broken off

- noisy pots when turned, noisy switch when switched.... just so cheaply put together, but the wood and acoustic tone were great.  played ok too for an 8.  But I've played much better 8s than this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8 string NON OCTAVE bass, generic chinese brand of some kind

sure, it was cheap, used.  huge neck, couldn't reach low B and F strings in normal fingering, had to wrap hand around it.  terrible fretwork, some notes didn't work right or played the higher notes.  I filed frets like crazy to make ti playable, but even then action was awful, neck through but couldnt' get low enough.

nice double truss rods though, half way decent active preamp tone, and picks didn't soudn awful actually.  but I'm only 5'7" so away this giant went.

Blimey, someone's hard to please!!  

[CamdenRob]

There have been a few I’ve had a love hate relationship with... 

Warwick Thumb NT 6 sounded absolutely awesome but unplayable neck dive... even a massive neoprene strap couldn’t hold it.