Deal breakers/deal makers

[trey le parc]

Thought it might be interesting to see what things about a bass are deal breakers, and deal makers when you are on the hunt for another bass.
Or maybe you have none.
Obviously price can be a factor, even for the ridiculously wealthy.

The biggest deal breaker for me is not liking the neck.
It doesn’t matter how great everything else is, if I don’t like the neck, I won’t like the guitar.
Fortunately I like most necks, and V necks are more a guitar thing than a bass thing, but one that is an automatic dealbreaker is a V neck of any sort.
I get why some love them, and that’s cool, so this isn’t about their existence, but they don’t work for how I play.

Deal makers?
Something I don’t have with a good neck that’s in decent condition and within my budget, I guess.
No definitive ones for me,

I absolutely cannot abide a bass that smells bad. I've had to part with some fine basses because they made my eyes water or made me cough.

 

[Wavy]

Must have 24 frets and be headless (double ball ends preferred, but I'm open.)

Pickups can be changed... pickup cavities can be filled and re-routed... cubic zirconia fret markers can be drilled and added... straps can be customized... finishes can be stripped.

 

[funkinbottom]

My deal breakers are...

pointy basses and/or headstocks
more than 5 strings
less than 5 strings
longer than 32" scale
shorter than 30" scale
Gibson
Rickenbacker

Deal makers are usually...
anything without the above attributes.

 

[OkayistBassist]

Deal makers:

- I’m a sucker for through-body bridges.
- I’m also a sucker for block inlays / binding.
- Matching headstock (this one is more of a bonus).

Deal breakers:

- No OHSC
- short scales
- pointy
- stock pickups / electronics not being included.

 

[Mosthigh]

- Comfortable neck with no blemishes or indents on the back that I can run my thumb over
- Colour
- Weight
- Original parts unless the mods are an upgrade to my liking

 

[DWBass]

Deal breaker: Weight! Chunky neck! Neck dive. Excessive knobs. Noisy electronics. Poor QC. Overpriced!

Deal maker: Lightweight. Thin neck profile (Lakland'ish is best). Quiet electronics. Excellent QC. Affordable.

 

[Passinwind]

Thought it might be interesting to see what things about a bass are deal breakers, and deal makers when you are on the hunt for another bass.
Or maybe you have none.
Obviously price can be a factor, even for the ridiculously wealthy.

The biggest deal breaker for me is not liking the neck.
It doesn’t matter how great everything else is, if I don’t like the neck, I won’t like the guitar.
Fortunately I like most necks, and V necks are more a guitar thing than a bass thing, but one that is an automatic dealbreaker is a V neck of any sort.
I get why some love them, and that’s cool, so this isn’t about their existence, but they don’t work for how I play.

Deal makers?
Something I don’t have with a good neck that’s in decent condition and within my budget, I guess.
No definitive ones for me,

Deal breakers:
Has frets - game over
The rest is just aesthetic dislike, never say never:
Lined fretless
FSO
Pickguard
Control plate and/or ashtray
Weight much over nine lbs.
Opaque paint
Top jack

Not too fussed about electronics, I mod everything anyway

Deal makers:
Free

 

[Bent77]

For me, it’s the neck. I have square palms and shorter fingers so I like a thinner neck front to back. The Ultra ii p bass back is the best Fender neck for me. My Ibanez SR neck is the best for my hands.

I never heard it explained that way, but thats whay i'm working with
On top of those short fingers being stubby

 

[Iridescentone]

I'll go for almost anything specs-wise that has an interesting musical sound, especially when it inspires me to play differently than my other basses do. Not real fussy about string spacing or neck shapes. It's all good, but an assymetric neck profile is a plus. Gear that doesn't need mods or upgrades is a def plus, too. Any scale length between 30" and 35" works for me.

Strat style output jacks are a turnoff, which automatically DQ's quite a few Ibanez basses that I might otherwise like to experience. Not crazy about hard cases, prefer good quality gig bags.

That's all I got.

 

[ajkula66]

Neck profile. If I'm not comfortable with it, that bass - or guitar - would never get played so it doesn't get purchased in the first place.

Six strings basses. I've never owned one but have tried many and no neck ever was to my liking.

Ergonomics. I've said goodbye to some spectacular-sounding basses whose ergonomics turned out to be a poor fit for silly old me.

Relic'd instruments. Not my thing whatsoever. Yes, there are some amazing "pre-worn" instruments out there, but I'll be happy to leave them to someone else.

I'm reasonably certain that I'd never buy a green stringed instrument of any kind, BUT maybe something somewhere along the way might get me to change my mind.

Deal makers ? IDK. Generally speaking, I tend to gravitate towards older and/or somewhat unusual stuff, but there are no clear rules on what fits the bill in that respect.

My $0.02 only...

 

[Deleted member 394181]

Blue, Pink, any Pastel colors. Guess im not secure enough in my manhood.

 

[Nuisance]

First thing I check on is the weight. When at a store, if I pick it up and it is heavy, I put it back immediately.

 

[gt96g]

Poor balance on a strap (to me, this matters more than weight)
5 strings 19mm spaced or wider (gotta be 18mm or less for me)
Anything fretless. (I admire people who can play them, but I have no use for them.)

 

[Kmrumedy]

Cons:
Any Fender shaped object priced over $3K.
19mm or higher string spacing on 5 string.
Ads for Pre-CBS Fenders that state... "All Original"... except for the pickups, pots, bridge, pick guard, frets, tuners, backing plate, refinished ... $15,000

Pros:
16.5mm-18mm string spacing
Radius ramp included
Mint condition
In-country purchase

 

[zontar]

Single cut body. Just doesn’t look right to me.

Bass must have horns, be strong like bull.

While a single cut isn’t a dealbreaker for me for a bass, i do tend to prefer double cut basses. Both of mine are.
Most of my guitars though? Single cut.

 

[zontar]

Weight and balance are the first things you can observe - just picking up a bass if it's heavy, it gets put back down immediately. Balance, same thing - I have no desire to ever own a neck diver again. Dead spots - bad ones, you can tell before you plug it in. If a bass passes those tests (few do)then I'll plug it in , tune it (dead spots can hide if the bass isn't in tune) and see how it reacts. Then, it's a matter if if I can get it to sound like the tone in my head, which rules out most of the basses that get that far. If you told me you'd buy me whatever I wanted (no budget limitations), and we headed into a GC, very good chance I'd still walk out with nothing. At Chicago Music Exchange, your wallet would be more likely to get dinged. still not 100 percent, though.

I have very particular tastes. I can build basses that I like, because I fully understand what I do and don't like, and I know how to tweak things so that I can iterate from the initial build to what I really want; anything off the rack at a music store has very little chance of being something I'd actually buy.

Short answer: I have a LOT of deal breakers.

When I first held my Ibanez SR500F, held not even played, just held, I knew I was buying it.

 

[zontar]

Cool to see a wide variety of answers.
Thanks to all who replied.

Makes things interesting to have peple with different gear.