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If You hate Your bass - why ???


nilorius

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9 hours ago, MichaelDean said:

I had an Hohner Arbor series P bass, that I bought mainly because it looked cool in white/white/maple, and was sold to me as an '87, which makes it a birth year bass for me. The nut width was too much for a 4 string for my taste (44mm I reckon) and I don't think the pickup/wiring was great, plus it was weighty. AND the A string rattled, but due to the way the machine heads tapered, you couldn't get the windings lower without a lot of wraps. The Revelation PJ I have now sounds loads better and is more resonant. Held onto that Hohner for a lot longer than I should have, but at least I didn't lose money on it.

 

 

I had one of those for my first instrument, way back when I was 16 in 1995.  I saved up for ages to buy it, and I loved it.  I ended up hacking the guts out of it and covering it in paint and stickers.  I don't suppose it was that great, because even as plywood goes, I've seen better plywood!  Still loved it though.

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I have a bass that I hate, sure.

 

Why? …

 

Because it’s a Rickenbacker.

 

I’ve always hated Rickenbackers. Which makes it so unlikely and funny that I own one now … A 1976 4001 so, ironically, it’s valuable enough to pay for the bass of my dreams.
 

However … it’s a family heirloom that I would never sell. This was my uncle’s bass that he played prolifically since ‘77, til only last year when he passed away. It was me who inherited the bass from him.

 

First-World problems ‘n’ that, sure … but it looks like I’m stuck with this thing. Albeit in the most drole and light hearted way, it’s a daily challenge to me, such is both my historical prejudice and realtime frustration.

 

That said… having had it a couple of months now, and having played it a lot (despite how confrontational it is to my tastes). I’ll admit to finding a trace of affection for it by now. This is laced with an equal trace of guilt and shame however. It doesn’t quite leave me feeling dirty. Just a bit perplexed.

 

I’ll persevere though. I’ll make it my task to love this bass, one way or another.

 

It’s a funny old life.

 

 

Edited by Fionn
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My first 5 string was a Magna Series Aria Pro II MAB20/5, and I hate it!

 

It has a very narrow neck, which makes it really easy to play, and the jazz pickups are really nice and growly. It sounds lovely.

 

But it looks so boring! The shape is a slab, all hard angles, and the colour is a dirty looking pearlescent white. Just looking at it makes me cold, and black veins crawl across my soul.

 

I’d like to do something with it, though. I like really glossy, piano white basses. It doesn’t feel beyond me to sand it back and re-spray it, but it has a nasty, wood deep chip in a prominent place, which means I’d have to take all the paint down to the bare wood. Which would at least give me an opportunity to reshape it a bit, rounding over the edges. But my confidence that I could do a good job of it is not high.

 

I have thought about filling the chip and having at it with an airbrush, possibly do some kind of design on it. Maybe something American McGee’s Alice inspired?

 

I’ve thought about defretting it, too.

 

I doubt it’ll ever get to the top of my stuff to do pile, though, and I’d probably have to give someone money for them to take it off my hands…

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Having thought about this my first “proper” bass was a Yamaha BB1100s. I bought in 1987 for £450. I’d gone to the music shop to buy a Fender Precision but they didn’t have any. Typical me, rather than wait I had to buy a bass that day, and the shop recommended the Yammy. It was a very good bass, played superbly and I could coax many different sounds from it. But I never loved that bass. I lent it out to a good few people as well, something I’d never do with an instrument I loved. 

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Owned a 2009 Rickenbacker 4003 for a bit, and definitely had a love-hate relationship with it. I loved the looks, loved some of the tones, but hated the wonky ergonomics, the sharp bound body edges, the wide and flat neck (I'm talking the rear too, it was very square), the lack of places to anchor your thumb, and I could never get the low E string to sound as good as the other three. I loved it, but i didn't enjoy playing it. I sold it, not for the above reasons, but because I needed the money. No regrets though, and it's unlikely I'm ever buying one again.

 

Maybe a 4003s, which has a little more curve to the edges.

 

Probably not though. 

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Not my bass, but I once borrowed a 70s Ric to record with - sounded amazing through an Ampeg rig, but it was without a doubt the most uncomfortable instrument I’ve ever played - and that includes the trombone!

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I can't say I ever kept a bass I hated (cough-Ric-cough), but...

 

Gibson RD Artist--amazing tone and incredibly versatile tone set, but the weight almost destroyed my shoulder...oh, and it would pick up CB Radio traffic...

 

Yamaha NE2....great bass-really stupid, fiddly hard to use input jack...just silly IMO

 

Spector Spectracore....horrible cheap input jack...getting ready to put a good one in...

 

Any P bass---the neck

 

Any (actual) Jazz Bass---the constant single coil buzz.. 

 

G&L L2000 tribute...just a general feeling of discontent with the neck, the tone, and everything

 

Any bass that makes you take the back panel off to change the battery...

 

That's it, I think...

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I'm sure it's obvious why of late I've come to hate this bass:

 

Antoniotsai4.thumb.jpg.d94bfc717437855f21cdbd7239215f96.jpg

 

Yes, it's great to play, and sounds superb, but it's got a dragon on it. Nilo has shown me the error of my ways and now I know IT SHOULD BE A UNICORN!!

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