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A theoretical game....

#23
TheArchitect said:
You just got a ____________ bass. The one you have wanted for ages... In reality its not living up to the hype/expectations out of the box but its not returnable... Where are you going to start in your efforts to dial it in.....?

EDIT
Let me clarify. I am not talking about setup issues or build issues. It just doesn't sound as you had imagined. What are you changing? How far are you willing to go to get it there?
Click to expand...
Over time the lesson learned for me is, it doesn’t feel good in your hands, all the modifications aren’t going to help. My brand new 1969 Fender Precision, Ibanez Musician, and G&L 1000 didn’t feel any better after various modifications. Just my take.
 
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#25
Strings, pickup height adjustment, possibly replace pickups or add active preamp. Depends what’s not doing it for me. If the instrument is beautiful, I’ll hang it on my wall and get enjoyment of looking at it while I play my cheaper basses.

One of the most $$$ I paid for a bass is my Tune TS365 fretless - an absolutely beautiful looking instrument, with 36” scale, 36 frets (!), 5 string, fretless, mag pickup and piezo. I still haven’t figured out what to do with it. I do love staring at it. I never play it though. Quite the handful. Eventually I might sell it, but again, still get joy out of looking at it, and how novel it is.
 
#27
TheArchitect said:
It just doesn't sound as you had imagined. What are you changing? How far are you willing to go to get it there?
Click to expand...
IME, "sound" is the easiest thing to modify...different pickups/strings/preamp, anyone?!

feel is the most important aspect/quality for me. but i make parts basses, so if i don't like a neck, or i need better balance = swap parts until the ax is correct.

how far would i go? until it's right, or until i'd consider it a dog --- then i'd snag the good parts and go again.....
 
#29
The bass on in my profile pic is that way. Custom build spec'd by me. Everything was good, but the sound wasn't quite what I expected/wanted. So over the years ...

  • Initial Bart MM wasn't a good match to the J so it was replaced with two Js and a pickup ring. (Changed in the first couple months after talking with the builder at no cost to me)
  • Out went the Aggie OBP-3 in went the Pope Flexcore (A few years in)
  • Thought I wanted more articulate pickups, Bart Originals swapped for Bart Classic's. (A few more years)
  • I wanted more "Smithness" and less J so Kent Armstrong's went in (Just a few years ago)
  • Now I have a new bass with far more Smithness and I'm just deciding which Barts to go back to. (Perhaps this coming weekend.)
It's just a bass. Tweak it, tune it, change it, play it. I fired the drummers long ago, now I use software.
 
#30
If I loved everything else about the bass except for the sound - the feel, the balance, the look, the sustain, etc., and it exudes a vibe of 'this is a player, it just needs a couple tweaks', then I'd likely swap pickups and maybe electronics. If I only liked, not loved, the rest of the bass, it's not worth it to me to swap stuff out, I'd just sell it and move on.

A version of this happened to me, although I did have the return window so the bass went back. I loved it in the store, loved the neck but didn't gel with the ergonomics and the sound when I got home to play it for real. Couldn't justify modding a bass that cost as much as it did, realized it just wasn't for me so back it went. If there had been no return option, I may be gone the modding route, but likely would have sold it. Life's too short to not love the bass you're playing, there are so many options out there, why fight something?
 
#32
TheArchitect said:
You just got a ____________ bass. The one you have wanted for ages... In reality its not living up to the hype/expectations out of the box but its not returnable... Where are you going to start in your efforts to dial it in.....?

EDIT
Let me clarify. I am not talking about setup issues or build issues. It just doesn't sound as you had imagined. What are you changing? How far are you willing to go to get it there?
Click to expand...
As a matter that is not theoretical, I wouldn't be buying any bass that is NOT returnable. The closest I'd ever come to considering a purchase like that would be where I'd be present in-person for as many hours as it took to determine if I like the sound. And if it takes hours to figure out if I like the sound or will be happy with it, at a very certain point its clear, or would be, the instrument just isn't for me, and I've walked away from an "unreturnable" purchase.

I'm just not ever looking for an out-of-the-box "project bass" and I think that's exactly what you are describing. Spend carefully. Theoretical. Or not.
 
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#33
TheArchitect said:
You just got a ____________ bass. The one you have wanted for ages... In reality its not living up to the hype/expectations out of the box but its not returnable... Where are you going to start in your efforts to dial it in.....?

EDIT
Let me clarify. I am not talking about setup issues or build issues. It just doesn't sound as you had imagined. What are you changing? How far are you willing to go to get it there?
Click to expand...
This actually happened to me with one of my basses. I acquired my 2021 Fender American Pro II P Bass 4 years ago, but it wasn't living up to my tonal expectations. The return period expired 3 months after getting it from the music store. I tried several different types of strings (rounds, flats, tapes, and half rounds / semi flats) and nothing sounded right. Last month, I realized that it was the pickups that weren't doing it for me. So I replaced the stock V Mod IIs with a pair of EMG Geezer Butler pickups and everything changed for the better.
 
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#35
TheArchitect said:
You just got a ____________ bass. The one you have wanted for ages... In reality its not living up to the hype/expectations out of the box but its not returnable... Where are you going to start in your efforts to dial it in.....?

EDIT
Let me clarify. I am not talking about setup issues or build issues. It just doesn't sound as you had imagined. What are you changing? How far are you willing to go to get it there?
Click to expand...
Does “right out of the box” mean a short period of time. Like less that 3-4 hours of play to arrive at that conclusion?. I’m thinking most amps and speaker cabs have a lot to say about the tone of a new bass.

For example, I bought a Fender AM Pro JB V the summer of. 2024. I have. Mesa WD-800 that power a few different Eden cabs. Since then I’ve spent hundreds of hours with different EQ settings on the amp, tone settings on the bass across my three cabs as individual a well as when pairing them.

Why would I go through that much trouble? Mainly I want to know everything I can get out of an instrument that may be useful and not worry so much about what I can’t. And on that score once had a PB with one volume knob and one tone control and 30 years later I still hadn’t run through all the possibilities.. As for my JB, I still am a lot more comfortable my PBj I’ve had for the last 21 years, but there is a lot of other tones on the JB I can’t get out of the PBj I’ve found very useful.
 
#36
I'll assume it's set up, and everything is functioning satisfactorily.

I'd install my preferred strings, fine tune the set up should they change things, then play it every day for the next three months.

Then decide where you're at.

Basses reveal themselves to you over time. It's easy to see and hear a lot of what's new and different, but 90 days will give it time to tell you what it wants you to know, and this doesn't happen in the first day or two.

They are all different, and often it requires us to change our approach to really make them walk and talk.

Ultimately, this may turn in to a keeper, or it could be something you never warm up to.
But after all these years and over 2 dozen basses, few ever felt the same several months in as when they first came home.
 
#37
Your talking about an experience I’ve had many times in the past 40+ years of buying , flipping and selling instruments, As a matter of fact its more often than not this happens. You have an idea in your head as to what the bass should sound like, and then it’s hugely disappointing when you plug it in.

The even harder truth is, you’re not gonna fix it. Now, don’t get me wrong, you can upgrade an instrument that has the fundamental sound you want, but needs just a little tweak, ( electrics usually), but if the sound is just fundamentally poor, all the tweaking in the world ain’t gonna fix it. Roger Sadowsky has stated, and truthfully so, an electric bass is a first and foremost an acoustic instrument. If it doesn’t sound good acoustically, it’s not going to sound good electrically amplified. No matter what. I’ve lived that experience too many times. Lesson learned? Get rid of it. Fast. Even if it’s gorgeous, plays really well, etc. If the wood ain’t good, move it.Maybe somebody else will dig the sound. But a piece of crappy wood is the turd that will not shine. Ever.

Conversely, if the fundamental of good sound is there, meaning, Its sounds pretty darn good, but plays poorly, or needs a slight change in EQ, then by all means, Mod it. Fix it, set it up, restring it, all the things suggested. But if the acoustic sound is poor. There’s no fixing that.
 
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#38
TheArchitect said:
You just got a ____________ bass. The one you have wanted for ages... In reality its not living up to the hype/expectations out of the box but its not returnable... Where are you going to start in your efforts to dial it in.....?

EDIT
Let me clarify. I am not talking about setup issues or build issues. It just doesn't sound as you had imagined. What are you changing? How far are you willing to go to get it there?
Click to expand...

It’s happened to me a few times. The usual pattern is I start migrating towards my true love, which stays in a gig bag between shows and the “other” one hangs out on a nice stand in my office until I have to have something else. Then I sell it.

I have a ridiculously expensive grail bass and this scares me, because there’s a chance that if/when I sack up and get one, I won’t actually like it. I’ve been tempted to just ask if a kind TBer in my area who happens to have one would indulge me with a little audition in exchange for a six pack.
 
#39
As others have said, strings, pickups. Pickup height to begin with. My experience is that I'll probably want to swap the pickups. 😊
But I'm also gonna mess with the bridge, make sure it's tight to the body and responsive, maybe a swap to see what happens. Also make sure the neck pocket is all the way tight. Obviously, I'm not greatly concerned with resale, mostly, just want to make it WORK. 😉
 
#40
I only want a bass that works for me straight out of the box. So, depends on what's wrong. If it's fixed with a set up or a new set of strings I'll keep it, otherwise I'll probably sell it.
 

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