the worst experiment you've ever done

[dreadheadbass]

there comes a time every once in a while where a bass player gets bored with having a good rigg, a good bass and a killer tone every once in a while a bass player will try something "new" usually this is either a change in strings for a week which ends with the bassist going back to his old strings, quite often its a new bass which is either discarded to a corner after a week or used as the primary axe from there on

however on some rare occasions bassists decide to experiment with all sorts of mad ideas in hope of inventing a new sound or putting a previous theory to the test.... or just fiddling about with things thinking they can make them "even better"

so.... whats the worst experiment you've done??

i think mine was probably putting flats on the G and D strings while sticking rounds on the A and D thinking it would sound cool instead i got string noise coupled with dead sounding high notes and an uneven volume sound accross the strings

[Chebass88]

Mine was defretting a Spector Q5 during a period of unemployment. I used a screwdriver & a pair of pliers, destroying the wood. I filled the slots with mahogany strips from the hobby store, and finished it off with a Dremel tool. A perfectly good way to ruin what was a great bass. $125 for a replacement neck later, ordered abotu 1 week after defretting... That bass never sounded the same again.

ian

[Barkless Dog]

Plugging in the wrong power adaptor into an expensive effect- you could smell the chip melting and see the smoke coming out of it.

[MaskedJackal]

Drawing all over my Squire P-Bass. Then trying to spray the pickguard white again and having the white spray mix with the black Sharpie, producing a disgusting mottled grey.

[rrohde]

Mine was to completely strip the paint of my very first bass, a Hohner Steinberger copy, and defretting it as well.... I just hated the outcome and never really knew why the heck I did that.

[DougD]

Defretting my Ibanez Sr400 I shoulda just let it be and selling my SR406

[Kindofblue]

Im in the process of defretting my Fender MIM Jazz. Hopfully I wont regret it :P

[Higgie]

Originally Posted by dreadheadbass

i think mine was probably putting flats on the G and D strings while sticking rounds on the A and D thinking it would sound cool instead i got string noise coupled with dead sounding high notes and an uneven volume sound accross the strings

LOL. If anything, should have been the other way round! Flats on the E and A for the thump, and then the higher strings with the zing!!

[D.A.R.K.]

poorly defretting a gibson grabber that i got for free.
hey, it was 1986 and those were everywhere...

[LeftHandedFrog]

I did strip the paint of my MIM jazz and it looks terrible , not the nice natural finish i expected hehe. Then took the frets out not that well.... Filled the holes with a light wood color wood paste so u can see all the damage. After a lot of sanding it sounds and play fantastic but it looks like **** !
Good luck to u kindofblue! Number one rule , get proper tools , everything u ll need and do thngs slowly... That s what i learned

[topcat2069]

Buying a Zeta Prism Bass, using Round Wounds on it to play country... and then getting rid of it when it didn't sound right for the gig.......

[robmill3r]

wrecked a kustom 200 head by trying to connect my rig and every other piece of amplification and speaker (home stereos included) together in an elaborate daisy chain.

I was SOOOOO LOUD for, like, 3 minutes > big *POP* > bad smell > the end.

[varunkapahi]

Originally Posted by robmill3r

wrecked a kustom 200 head by trying to connect my rig and every other piece of amplification and speaker (home stereos included) together in an elaborate daisy chain.

I was SOOOOO LOUD for, like, 3 minutes > big *POP* > bad smell > the end.

amazing!
this sounds like a crazy but βΘИΞКЯŲŜĦÏИĞ® idea....... i hope i dont really go ahead and end up setup a similar "elaborate daisy chain"

[xixo]

paint my first bass with spray paint (It was a Peavey T-40)

[Bassgrinder77]

When I was a teenager jammin at a friends garage I decided to try out this strange old tube amp looking thing. I hooked up my (home-made) cabs to what I thought were speaker terminals and HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!
.... smoke wafting from cab grillcloth ...
My homemade cabs were smoking toast.
My best guess is those terminals were AC line.

Originally Posted by dreadheadbass

there comes a time every once in a while where a bass player gets bored with having a good rigg, a good bass and a killer tone every once in a while a bass player will try something "new" usually this is either a change in strings for a week which ends with the bassist going back to his old strings, quite often its a new bass which is either discarded to a corner after a week or used as the primary axe from there on

however on some rare occasions bassists decide to experiment with all sorts of mad ideas in hope of inventing a new sound or putting a previous theory to the test.... or just fiddling about with things thinking they can make them "even better"

so.... whats the worst experiment you've done??

i think mine was probably putting flats on the G and D strings while sticking rounds on the A and D thinking it would sound cool instead i got string noise coupled with dead sounding high notes and an uneven volume sound accross the strings

[JTE]

Buying a bass because I liked the neck. I changed the bridge and PUPs within a week. I kept trying different strings. I changed the guts several times. I put an ebony fingerboard on it (the first thing that really made any difference). Then I had a new body made and it finally started sounding like a good bass.

Lesson- play the exact bass I'm buying (because there ain't another "one just like it"), and only buy stuff that sounds good to me.

jte

[Stempelloos]

My first amplifier was a homemade box with a 12'' speaker and tweeter.
Nothing great, it was used for synthesizer and bass until the guitarist plugged in his preamp- & distortion pedals and blew up the speaker. I made it another amp with a set of old HiFi speakers and the remnants.
The guitarist was over at my place for a jam, he plugged his pre-amp pedal and my Flanger between a Strat-copy and the amp and gave it feedback. It roared and roared harder until a flash like lightning bursted from the speakers to the pickups.
The fuses of the house were blown through and the amp stood there smoking.
It was a sound like nothing we'd ever heard before...

[Joe Kyle]

Originally Posted by Stempelloos

My first amplifier was a homemade box with a 12'' speaker and tweeter.
Nothing great, it was used for synthesizer and bass until the guitarist plugged in his preamp- & distortion pedals and blew up the speaker. I made it another amp with a set of old HiFi speakers and the remnants.
The guitarist was over at my place for a jam, he plugged his pre-amp pedal and my Flanger between a Strat-copy and the amp and gave it feedback. It roared and roared harder until a flash like lightning bursted from the speakers to the pickups.
The fuses of the house were blown through and the amp stood there smoking.
It was a sound like nothing we'd ever heard before...

probably followed by an, oh ****! and being thankful you didnt get plugged into anythign that wasnt grounded.


My biggest regret is selling an early Euro spector lx-4 because teh wiring was shot and buying an 08 fender strat. Experimenting with a second guitar when im mainly a bass player= bad idea.

[Joe Kyle]

Originally Posted by Stempelloos

My first amplifier was a homemade box with a 12'' speaker and tweeter.
Nothing great, it was used for synthesizer and bass until the guitarist plugged in his preamp- & distortion pedals and blew up the speaker. I made it another amp with a set of old HiFi speakers and the remnants.
The guitarist was over at my place for a jam, he plugged his pre-amp pedal and my Flanger between a Strat-copy and the amp and gave it feedback. It roared and roared harder until a flash like lightning bursted from the speakers to the pickups.
The fuses of the house were blown through and the amp stood there smoking.
It was a sound like nothing we'd ever heard before...

probably followed by an, oh ****! and being thankful you didnt get plugged into anythign that wasnt grounded.


My biggest regret is selling an early Euro spector lx-4 because teh wiring was shot and buying an 08 fender strat. Experimenting with a second guitar when im mainly a bass player= bad idea.

[Roy Smith]

When I was a young pup, I got a japanese copy of the Hofner "Beatle Bass". The problem was it had no weight to it at all, and therefore no sustain. I thought "I'll fix that".

So I took all of the guts out of the bass (it was hollow of course), got a can of that clear poly stuff they use to make trophies, sealed up the holes for the output jack and strap buttons and filled the body with this acrylic stuff. In a fit of inspiration, I added about 3 lbs of buckshot to the mix "to really get that good sustain".

A couple of days later I put the bass all back together and it sure sustained great - but it weighed about 15 lbs! You needed a 3" strap to even play it for 10 minutes. I traded it away a few months later and then forgot about it (this would have been in the mid 70's).

Fast forward to about 1993 when I walk into a local music store and there, looking at me from the "Bargain Bin" was the 15 LB Beatle Bass, on sale for $150. Some mistakes never die!

Roy Smith