Have You Ever Been HUGELY Disappointed In A "Name" Brand?
 

I think your nuts. Don't get me wrong, I have been disappointed by every company out there at least once, but I think your insane to have never found a Stingray that feels good. I personally hate the look of them and the sound is not my favourite but once I played my first one I was sold. They are also extremely consistent in my experience, a brand I wouldn't fear buying sight unseen.

To each their own.

I love playing bass but have yet to have that experience.

I remember when I first starting playing I bought a nice Fender P bass. Didn't like how it sounded, didn't get the big deal.........until I played with my first band, then I figured it out.

The more basses you play, and especially the more you gig, you understand the strengths and weaknesses of each bass.

I guess what I'm saying is that I like a lot of basses now that I didn't at first.

I'm hugely disappointed by your choice of fonts! I didn't know the typewriter was making a comeback! :D

Seriously though, I would have to say Gibson. I love their guitars but I have never played a Gibson bass that I really liked.

I'm curious what you do like? Not liking Fender, G&L, Musicman or Gibson kind of limits your choices on mainstream style basses.

Sometimes instruments are setup poorly in the store, but can still be good instruments. I have played instruments that felt horrible, but knew they were great instruments. Most stores don't have the time and/or resources to keep all their instruments in top notch playing form, especially the bigger ones.

The most common problems I see with store instruments are:
1) Fret sprout (sharp ends of frets extending beyond the edges of the fretboard)
2) Really high action
3) Dead strings
4) Mucked up neck and/or body (usually accompanied by dead strings)

The good thing is that most of these can be easily corrected.

Just out of curiosity, what DO you play? You've listed basically every classic.

--Silvie

I guess that's kind of what I'm saying too. Just judging by first impressions isn't going to get you very far in terms of liking a bass.

The only bass I have that I don't like playing as much is an Ibanez SR1000. I just don't like those super skinny necks. But the sound is gorgeous, so I play it anyway.......its' not that bad really. My first bass plays really nice but the pickups are kind of cheap........but its great for crap outdoor gigs in the mud.

My experience is that this bass is good here, sucks there. Never had the perfect bass, never really had a lemon either.

All basses are kind of the same.... the more you're expecting, the more disappointed you'll be.

It therefore stands to reason that the 'Name' brands will be the most disappointing.

No.

But if I did, I would know that it's not "them"....it's "me".

Yup.... and whenever I bring it up the mob on Talkbass threatens to burn me at the stake.

Quoted and seconded for truth! I'm actually trying to get in with my tech to have a once over on the Silverburst Casady that I purchased. The neck on it feels slimmer (which I LOVE) than my Goldtop, for some reason, but ut has the dreaded "fret overhang". For factory fresh instruments, this is the most common "issue". This is because although the wood is in a different shape, it's still very much a living organism. Temperature and humidity shifts cause for a bit of curing and shrinking in the wood of the fingerboard, therefore, your fret overhang.
The best thing you can ever do for yourself and your instruments is either learn the art of fixing these issues, or invest in a great tech! I got lucky that I found a guy who is AMAZING at tech work out here in SoCal.

As Templar said, the problem isn't the basses, it's you.

I ght a 1994 FENDER PRECISION BASS, and I hate it. I only bought because it's hard to find an ATK300 where I live. Still, I hate my Precision.

I could have written these three, almost word for word.

As for Fender, I have owned two. My first was a MIM Jazz V that I really didn't like, and got rid of a long time ago. The other is a 70's Reissue P-bass I picked up last year. This bass is freakin' awesome. I strung it with Labella flats, and everytime I plunk one note on it, it sounds like the first note to about a billion classic riffs. For this reason, it has become my go-to bass for covers.

Never tried a G&L.

Totally love the tone of Warwick basses. Tried a Corvette $$ in a store briefly (whilst sat down) and I decided to purchase one online a few months later. When it arrived, I was surprise at how bad it's factory set up was and as well as that, it felt awful playing in standing position. I had it set up in a shop as best they could and it still didn't feel that great. I battled it out for a good 8 months or so and then decided to go back to using my Ibanez SRX350 as my primary bass and put the Warwick up for sale. In the end I part-ex'd it for a Lakland 44-02 (my baby!).

I still love Warwick's tone ....but i really dislike playing them. The neck felt like I was holding half a brick, the general posture I had to play the bass in a standing position was highly uncomfortable and I had to replace a few machine heads in the short time I had it . some budget basses have nicer playability in my opinion.

I bought a Dingwall Afterburner sight unseen (from a TBer) and was totally disappointed with it.

BUT.... Just because fanned frets weren't for me, doesn't mean the bass sucked. It just wasn't for me ergonomic wise.

+1 on the Gibby Thunderbird. Neck dives like crazy, but the super heavy tone is to die for in some situations.

NO??? really?

seriously,OP you got every right to speak for yourself.

comments like "the problem isn't the basses, it's you." are BS

I feel the same about Ricks,GL and Warwicks to name a few big names.

Fender and MusicMan are basses I really love and enjoy playing tho.

I was HUGELY dissapointed by a Defil. Really hugely, because everyone kept saying "it sucks" while I find it great. Does it count :P ?