Do you have a perfect bass?

[joel406]

A perfect bass.

One you would never consider changing. One that came just right straight from the factory.

Out of the 5 Basses I own, 4 have had pickup changes. While all were successful and delivered what I wanted. One bass stood alone. Perfect in every way and will not be changed in any way.

The Basses that were changed were 3 Jazz Basses and one precision bass. The Jazz Basses because of the hum. And I’m happy to say that the hum is gone. But crazy good tone is there.

The Precision was also changed because of a clank sound that I traced to the pickups. Switching fixed this issue.

Now oddly enough my last Precision has identical pickups as the one that was upgraded. I’m fact it’s even the same model and year. So other than the finish both Basses were identical. Except for one thing. One has a maple fret board while the other has a rosewood. The maple fret board unit had the clank. Fortunately the pickup change as fixed this problem.

So.

Five Basses. Four upgraded. One stands alone. Perfect right out of the box.

Anybody else have a bass that you wouldn’t change a thing on?

 

[luciens]

All of em. I never modify a bass anymore; I only ever replace it with another one that does whatever I need better than the first one. There are a number of financial and PITA reasons to never mod an instrument, but won't go into that here.

Changing strings to a different type or gauge is the most significant way to change the tone of a bass and it's the cheapest and easiest thing to do.

I've been tempted once or twice to try a different bridge PU in my Jaco, but I've successfully resisted the urge to do that, knowing what I know about the atrocious bang/buck ratio of pickup swaps. But apart from that, I've not felt the urge with any of my basses for many years now.

L

 

[Hank Scorpio]

I don't yet, but I'm hoping I will by the end of the year.

Ordered a semi-custom; 30" scale, 4 string, offset alder body with arm & belly contours, 1.5" nut width, satin finish on the neck, maple board with rolled edges, Ultralite tuners and high mass bridge, P-MM pickup combo with passive electronics with a blend knob and series/parallel/singlecoil switching on the bridge humbucker, string tree covering the A string.

Everything I've learned, over many basses, gigs and recording sessions, over 20 odd years, have all lead me to believe that these set of specs will be perfect for me - both as far as playability and aesthetics go. Of course, I won't actually know until I get the bass in hand.

The sad thing is, if I love it, I could already spec out a similar bass with some minor tweaks to go along with it. GAS is a sickness.

 

[mmbongo]

I have 16 basses. Only two of them are so perfect that they never needed a single thing changed or altered. My Roscoe Century 5 string and my Kiesel Osiris 5 string.

I would also include my Fender American Performer Precision but I did change the bridge to a Hipshot, but that was really only for quick string change reasons.

 

[TrevorG]

Only ever modded one bass. An Overwater Explorer fretless that I wanted to play everything with so I put a Dimazio PU in at the neck. Now I have several basses to cover different jobs I regret it but it's still a great instrument. I added some shielding to my Fender P but that's all - never leaving me. My Jazz came out of the shipping box straight from the warehouse and was amazing from the off. Maybe I spent ten minutes setting it up but it didn't need any more than that. Both will still be here after my children have flown the coop and they don't plan to do that any time soon.

 

[Geri O]

I’ve always slightly modded most basses I’ve owned. Even my cherished Mike Lull M5V got my favorite combination of a John East preamp and Nord pickups because that combination works in any Jazz-style bass.

However, my recent Lull P5 bass has had no mods at all done to it. It’s perfect out of the box and remains so.

And every Music Man Stingray SR5 I’ve owned is perfect as it is. No need for mods at all.

Okay, I have to ‘fess up…every bass I have gets a Hipshot D Tuner installed on the B string.

So fergit all that I just wrote…

 

[UNICORN BASS]

In a word, no.

 

[kinopah]

I would say my Fodera PJ is "perfect" - at least perfect for me. I never have to tweak it, the action is super low but never buzzes unless I want it to for dynamic effect. Perfect round P tone, perfect J funk-growl, perfect ash/maple attack... I mean it has limitations as a passive PJ, by design. My Yin-Yang is prob a "better" bass by most metrics, but that PJ is just utterly consistent and I always put it down feeling surprised by how good it is.

 

[jd56hawk]

Perfect after putting on the proper strings.

Same thing, string change.

Slight cosmetic mods and strings.

I feel sorry for anyone who's still seeking perfection...I have to think many will never find it.

 

[dalkowski]

Dead stock, and since I discovered Chromes it's felt just like home.

 

[5andFretless]

What are the rules for a modification? My Tony Franklin has different strings and a Zero-Mod thumb rest. Otherwise it will always look like it did when I bought it.

 

[jd56hawk]

What are the rules for a modification? My Tony Franklin has different strings and a Zero-Mod thumb rest. Otherwise it will always look like it did when I bought it.

Same pickups, electronics, hardware, neck...it counts, if you feel it's perfect.

 

[bholder]

I own too many basses to count. Many of them in perfect or near-perfect condition. (Many more well-used.) Do I consider any of them a "perfect bass" with which I could forsake all others? Nope.

 

[2112]

I am lucky to have a few of what I would consider perfect basses. But none of them were straight from a factory... they were all parts builds.

 

[JimmyM]

The only ones I have that aren’t modded are the ones that are so imperfect that they end up being cool. And even those I change the strings.

 

[bigdaddybass12]

No,
own a Fender P bass, a little muddy for my taste
Owned a Fender Jazz, just not a big enough sound. Had a bottom line Ibanez show it up bad.
Own a Sterling Ray4 current model, hand picked a good one, a little too harsh, trying to calm it down
Own a LTD B205 Korean made, great sound, well made, string spacing a little too narrow for me.
Owned a Squier VM Jaguar, good sound for a Squier, got funny looks from gear snobs, lost a gig because of it.

 

[Killing Floor]

I have a MusicMan from 88 that I haven't ever altered from stock. OK, changed the strings who knows how many times. And the battery. Seriously, the foam mute pads on the bridge are still original. I can't even guess how many hours it's been played or how many gigs it has done as a main player. It's been a rock and if EBMM relaunches that model I will buy one.

 

[Blues Bass 2]

This one .

Put an Audere in it and later took it out . Works and sounds great without any change . I did shield it with copper foil and put a different pickguard on it but it's my favorite bass stock I've had . Terrific setup .

 

[JimmyM]

You know, I don't think I want a perfect bass. Music's imperfect by nature (or at least should be), and what some call imperfections I call "badassness."

 

[Dave W]

My Modulus Q5 is a disgustingly good bass.

Full disclosure, I did change the hardware color from gold to black with identical stuff, but it could have came from the factory with black as well.