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Basses that disappointed you...

dominus said:
I bought a Fender Jazz Bass because I thought every bass player needed to own a Fender, and I hated it. But I have friends that will only play Fenders. Go figure.

+1 Its all personal, sometimes its just right othertimes its not, plus everyone looks for a different sound that represents themselves, a jazz bass might not be what you are looking for but a music man with a single pickup might be that sound. To each his own, great point.
 
after several attempts... me2.

I ended up returning the GL SB-2 Tribute and got a Fender Highway One Precision, same color, same kind of neck. But fun playing straight from the box before even doing the basic setup and intonation. Sorry, can't say Highway One Precision are exactly basses that disappointed, quite the opposite.

Now in hindsight, this Precision has a somewhat more massive and organic neck, the body vibrates and the weight is just about right, not too light, not too heavy.
 
A couple of years ago I got bitten by the Guild M-85 II bug.
Being a short scale affecionado with a preference for Les Paul shaped basses it became unavoidable; I simply had to have one.

Every now and then one would pop up on the Ebay. But the price just went bezerk every time.

But then -after a few years- I finally scored one. It had a few serious battle scars. A complex neck break being the worst one. But I had it fixed by a good luthier and I could finally play a genuine Guild M-85 II.

Yeehaa...

But not really. I never got a kick out of it. It sounded tame and just did not work within the sound of my band. It lacked authority. No matter how I tweaked all the settings on the bass or amp.
It is not a bad bass at all. I guess it's perfect for a more poppy style of music. Or for country music.
But it's just not a rock bass (which I need for my band).


Last week I sold it to a nice gentleman from France, who seemed to be very happy with it. I made him promise he would not play just Sheryl Crow songs with the M-85II :smug:
 
Korean Lakland Skyline DJ4. I really wanted to like it, because I love the looks and concept of the downsized body. Then I played one. It just felt kind of cheap to me, particularly the neck, and it had incredibly thin sound, even plugged into a SVT/810 stack.
 
I had a Korean Spector that I never felt comfortable playing. I didn't like the pups & changed them out for active ones.......I still didn't dig it. So, I traded it away for one of my favorite basses....a CB 5 string. Later, I found a video online of me playing that Spector & the sound was recorded off the board. The f#^*king thing sounded like a million bucks! I couldn't believe how great it sounded. If I could find a lighter one (not Korean) I'd give it another try. The other bass that I hated was a 4 string custom headless Steinberger clone. I gave it to Flabba Holt who loves those things.
 
Miruzzi custom 6 string - I could barely lift it let alone play anything on it.
Epi thunderbird - no idea what it sounded like coz it neck dived so bad I didn't bother asking to plug it in.
Hofner beatle bass - I'm so sorry Sir Paul...
Jazz basses - sorry guys I just don't get it.
Acoustic bass guitars - no offence, but they all suck once you've played upright properly.

Now a quick reality check...
MIM P bass - I couldn't believe how lifeless it sounded after always wanting a "proper one". However, I still own it. It now has Dimarzios and I will never sell it. New pickups and a setup transformed it. Leaves J basses for dead.
EBMM SR5 - Bought it last year and I battled with it for the better part of 4 months before I got the hang of it. The pickup switch is counter intuitive, it weighs a ton and the strings are close to the edge of the neck... however, I love it now. It's a weapon.
Hohner Steinburger 5 copy - owned it for a while. Liked the sound, hated the strings. Too exy, too hard, gave it up... but I wish I hadn't now.

I guess I've learned a lot of instruments take time to get the better of.