Best bass for self defense?

[Saxn]

+1, it will simply eat their souls and be done with them. The down side is that eventually you will have a soul-less horde of lackeys that will do your every bidding that you will need to provide for. Of course then, you could always lay waste to the countryside at that point.

That and you'd have free roadies too.

or

soul-less like:

 

[Vlad5]

Warwick Thumb would be my choice. Small but dense, mine is heavier than any 5-string I've played, also neck-through construction for sturdiness.

Absolutely agree.... And, no ***t, I actually practice strikes with my bass sometimes, just to see how I would handle a yahoo that jumped onstage to do me violence. Given the Thumb's wood density, it doubles as a shield too, probably stop a .38, and certainly a knife. The neck is nice and fat, so you could swing it like a bat from either the body (quick shot to the nuts, ribs or chin) or from the just below the headstock. Careful though, if you swing this bass like a halberd or something that heavy dense hardwood body could stove in the skull of a woolly mammoth. Be sure you really want to cripple someone before you send a Thumb swinging. Lastly, with the bass around your shoulders hung normally, you could grab the neck in both hands (don't even have to reposition your left hand), lift and jab a bloke in the face or sternum with the bottom of the bass's body for some seriously quick woody revenge.

To be clear though: I don't advocate violence, and dumb animals are dumb animals whether they are in fur or jump suits and as such don't have the social training to leave others the hell alone.... But, if its a choice between you getting beat down for nothing you did, or them getting a hard lesson in 'leave me the f alone', I say, swing away!

70's Fender Jazz bass, at the 2:05 mark. Preferably a 4-bolt neck.
And yeah, that's me in my youth. Lot mellower now.

That made me laugh out loud! A+ my friend. I may have to rethink my esthetic aversion towards those big Fender headstocks!

pasta4lnch: that shovel bass is AWESOME for this application... You could crack em in the head, bury em where you drop em, and make it to your gig with only a little retuning. It's like three tools in one!

P.S: again, though all the above is in grim fun.. I don't advocate violence as answer #1 for any situation, but also recognize that some animals simply can not be reasoned with.

In all seriousness, I recommend Aikido. Keeps you calm, trains you to be diplomatic, and ultimately makes you extremely difficult to harm, really. Gives you a choice too: You can either disarm a person (pin them to the ground without having to jump on them), or you can rip their arms out of their sockets. Your choice. Nice thing about Aikido, it trains you be very dangerous to attack, but not to (seriously) hurt people who choose to attack you. Civil responsibility is everyones business.

 

[1958Bassman]

I did in fact call the cops yesterday - I don't think they have the resources to do anything however. Again, random violence is a cultural legacy here, a way of life for a lot of people...your best bet is to not go outside in public, especially after dark, in areas where there are bars (pretty much *everywhere*), otherwise specialise in short distance sprinting, or know how to handle yourself in a fight. OR, go everywhere dressed in a tracksuit and with a confused and vaguely aggressive look on your face - i.e. blend right in.

If you want to defend yourself, look into Krav Maga. It's a really effective method, used by the Israeli military. I'm not violent, either, but I'm going to learn to defend myself better, soon. I hate that it has come to this but if people won't leave others alone, they need to learn a lesson.

Here's a video- watch the guy who has people coming at him and then, watch what happens to the guy in the white shirt.
krav maga street.flv - YouTube

 

[throbgod13]

one of these in your belt loop.. use the same motion as driving a nail.. stops attackers of various sizes, including short drunken irishmen in tracksuits..

 

[LongHairFreak]

This many posts and nobody's mentioned using a Warwick Katana?

 

[bassteban]

Apologies if this has been linked already: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/best-bass-whacking-someone-head-163401/

 

[arsie]

70's Fender Jazz bass, at the 2:05 mark. Preferably a 4-bolt neck.

And yeah, that's me in my youth. Lot mellower now.

I love the tone of your braining.

Do you think the Peck Attack is better with the curved Fender headstock, or something with a bit more of a beak like a Stingray or Peavey headstock.

Hmm, doing that with the Stingray will get my G string out of tune, so that is a no-no.

 

[bradjonesbass]

G&L L2500... I used mine to smack somebody hard enough to knock him out and it never even went out of tune...

 

[genericusername]

Yeah, I was considering getting a bass for that reason as well. I think any cheap bass, such as a p or j copy would do the trick.

P.S.: The police, known as Garda, here, are useless.

 

[4001]

70's Fender Jazz bass, at the 2:05 mark. Preferably a 4-bolt neck.

And yeah, that's me in my youth. Lot mellower now.

THAT was a classic!!

I just love the sounds of the headstock plunking his skull.

Then some dude says something like "That's un-cool"...

I disagree. TOTALLY COOL!!

I'd do the same my friend, well done!

 

[GBassNorth]

You could always use one of those clear acrylic ampeg type basses, very heavy and easy to wash off plus you get the added pleasure of being able to look through the bass at your attacker as his face splats against the other side. And he could honest say, "I didn't see it coming".

There's lot's of options on this thread
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/crazy-wacky-basses-747559/index2.html
my favorite choice on that thread is the 2 string bass owned by Stig Pedersen from the Danish rock band D-A-D (massive headstock tiny body) you could always claim you didn't mean to hurt him, all you did was give the attacker a little tap in the head with your headstock.

Good luck man, stay safe.

 

[kesslari]

Blackthorn walking stick. Pick one up for me while you're at it.

 

[paulygonemad]

Mahogany. Anything mahogany is sure to leave a mark. Aim for the knees.

 

[Byron92]

I think getting smacked by a Warwick would hurt...

 

[Josh Pelican]

I read page 1 and page 4. I didn't see Peavey T-40.

At your size, I'm sure swinging a T-40 at someone would be no problem. Chances are, it won't go out of tune OR break.

 

[cjmodulus]

Gene Simmons Axe with the edge sharpened.
/thread

 

[Semisweet]

70's Fender Jazz bass, at the 2:05 mark. Preferably a 4-bolt neck.

And yeah, that's me in my youth. Lot mellower now.

OMG, that is friggin' hysterical.

 

[tazthewonderdog]

hahahahahahahahahahahah. Bam!

 

[TolerancEJ]

Had a nice laugh at the OP's comment that the Japanese Fender Geddy Lee would endow him with powers as a ninja.

Why not bring a Warwick? One good swing would probably lay out 2-3 attackers. It'd definitely knock them out cold! (In all seriousness, a Warwick's probably not a good idea, it'd probably kill someone.)

 

[DaZombieWoof]

Just carry a spare Fender style neck. Frets can be crap and it can be bowed to hell. As it has only weapons value, you could pick it up cheap. If you want to be malicious, put on some sharpened tuning pegs. In Asian culture I understand there were some musical instruments that had a martial arts use, beyond incapacitating someone with really awful playing through a vomiting fit. Now if one could get a directional brown note generator, that would do the trick too.