what is the worst bass you have ever played/heard?

[NOT]

The worst was a beat Skyline bass. A fellow classmate brought it to school and asked if I'd like to try it out. Just awful. The action had to be an inch high. The bridge and frets were extremely sharp and cut my hands up after 30 seconds of playing. He told me he bought the bass 4 years ago and still hadn't gotten around to changing the original strings. Flats by the way! Needless to say the bass sounded dead.

[bassbenj]

Originally Posted by TechnoDisciple

With out any doubt it was a Wish Bass. It was like it was made by a toddler in a wood shop class.

Come on! That is what gives Wishbasses their "charm"! (own two)

I've played some basses I really did not like. I don't know if that makes them bad or just they weren't compatible with me. A buddy I knew had a Hofner that was at that time the worst bass I ever played . Horrible tone, zero sustain, nasty slide switches all of it combined into one bass. ew.

Another I didn't like was the ashbory. In some ways it was really cute. Size was interesting, and tone wasn't bad, but those sticky strings! I knew at once I could never own that bass unless I played it with gloves on.

Which leaves my current "bad bass". It's one of those fretless chinese 6 string acoutics that there was a thread her about a while back. In some ways it's sort of nice. Has binding everywhere, but finish was wishbass quality. It's gonna take being rubbed down with steelwool and true oiled. And then they used an E string for the B string so the bridge etc is going to take some mods to straighten that mess out. And lastly the piezo pickup under the saddle is off to the side so it simply does not pickup the B string. Sweet.

I know for the folks who want stuff perfect out of the box this sounds like a nightmare, but really I get a kick out mods and learning about a 6 string ABG will be quite education I figure. So IF I get the kinks out of it, it ought to be quite the custom instrument. I've never seen another quite like it. MY Carvin AC50 is only 5 string.

So yeah, it's a mess but a mess can also be fun. And I look at it this way. It's one thing to rub on a new finish and do some minor mods and quite another to build an ABG from scratch. So in a way they just gave me this head start. And I really don't want a bunch of practice on doing body binding all over the place.

[Joey3313]

How was this thread never closed/deleted?

[bikeplate]

A few of us used to run an open mic. I would bring my backup rig and if a bassist showed up, he could use it w his bass. Once a kid came w a mm stingray SUB. Sounded so bad I thought my rig had blown up. Horrible.

[2meterbassman]

The worst bass I ever played or heard?

Sorry guys: Rickenbacker. All models.
Awful playability, awful sound, awful quality in some years and a not very stable "neck joint" by construction.

A lot of bass players changed the pickups to make it more sound like a bass.;-)

To me, Rickenbackers are cheap material, sold very expensive because of myth...

Greetz - I hear the rockets coming. With my helmet on I close the door of my bunker now...;-)

[VanillaThundah]

Has to be a MM Sub bass in DIRE need of a setup that I played a while back. When you pull something off the wall and it's just total buzz city, something has to be up. Might have been the setup and not the bass itself, but it was atrocious.

Not a big fan of schecter basses either =/

[Din Of Win]

I must have some abysmal luck... but the worst of me is a Fender MiM Jazzes.

I've owned 3, and all have been duds!

I all but gave up on jazz basses, period, until i (on a whim) bought my SX Shortscale Jaguar (J/J). I love that thing!


Sound-wise? Eh, i think all basses have their place... "bad sound" to me is more about bad amp EQ-ing for the given setting.

[zon6c-f]

1) 1960's Kay hollow body, short scale, single cut away, single pup; my first electric bass. Cost my parents $25; used. Essentially just an electric bass; flat wound metal strings, no tone to speak of. Took a great deal of strength/ effort to adjust tuners. When pup died; parents bought me a new 1971 Epi W/ 2 HB pups, which was all I needed until Epi pups died; I replaced it with my first Rick 4001. I gave the Kay away in late 1980's; still have the Epi..still "in a coma". Haven't touched it in decades..

2) 1998 Fender AB-1: Short scale, hollow body. Piezo pup/ Fishman electronics. Essentially a 4-string [ bass] guitar. Bought it for indoor practice or "acoustic" jamming. Tuners/ tunability awful. I have to constantly tune and re-tune, while it doesn't play in tune with itself. No issues with piezo or Fishman electronics. Stays in gig bag; gathering dust. I now have Line 6 Pod and Korg PBX-4B for indoor practice.

[Bob Gross]

Gibson EB0. All ultra low end and nothing else. No definition, just mud.

[2meterbassman]

Originally Posted by Bob Gross

Gibson EB0. All ultra low end and nothing else. No definition, just mud.

Hehehehe, I know what you mean.

A friend of mine, a professional musician in germany since the Mid-70s (famous in our country, Fender endorser) called me and told me "Hey man, I got an original EB0, I looked so loing for blablabla."

Next time I visited him, that bass was already cleaned, adjusted and had new strings.

I played it over a brandnew Fender Super Bassman wit a 8 x 10" cabinet - after checking the amp with a Fender Jazz Bass Custom Shop.

After playing the Gibson I was only one thing missing: the handle on the EB0 to throw it away. To throw it very far away...

[FatherBass]

The first bass I ever bought, a Kramer 700st plywood pos monster. LOTS of fret buzz, heavy, clunky. Don't even talk about "setup", I've been through the ringer with so called "guitar techs", that fiasco is worth a post all unto itself.

[lowendmafia]

I started playing a 76 grabber in an old band and loved it, so I decided to try to find another as a backup. The one I found was not so good, I think it was a 78 or so and it had been refinished. The neck was slow and felt like I was playing a tree trunk. Wouldn't you know, I popped the E string in the first 30 seconds of a show and had to play the backup until my buddy could get a new string on the bass. Played it for about 3 songs and it brutalized my left hand. I ended up icing my hand after the show (first and last time that has ever happened). Then, as luck would have it, both basses were stolen out of my car a few weeks later...

[Mr_Music90]

Yamaha RBXJM 1 and 2