I don’t think there’s such thing as a truly perfect bass. Nothing on Earth is perfect. But I absolutely do love my Aria though.
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Do You Own Your Perfect Bass?
- Thread starter Smallmouth_Bass
- Start date
Perfection does exist for me, but way outside my budget. Went to a little store in the mountains in Italy three decades ago. They had an Alembic (not sure which model) that fit like a glove. It was priced in Lira. There were a lot of "0s" in there.
I’m honestly not sure what my “perfect” bass would be. Maybe an Alembic clone of my Aria. Hah!
As close to perfect for me as it gets: ergos, scale length, string spacing, pickups/electronics. I had to go through a lot of basses to figure out what worked best!
My Acinonyx v1 is perfect, I wouldn't change anything.
I also ordered a Brooks, a sublime custom bass. I hope it will be perfect.
I also ordered a Brooks, a sublime custom bass. I hope it will be perfect.
I own 6 basses and obviously, one of these is the perfect one for me…………..although it’s one of my cheapest !
This is my Frankenstein p bass made of a Squier 1999 p bass body made of alder, a 2015 Fender MIM p bass maple neck, a set of Fender pure vintage 63 pickups and Fender nickel rounds.
It rumbles like hell when I play it hard, it sings when I play softly, lightweight, punches above its weight and never gets lost in the mix. Good for everything except soft jazz, really can’t ask for more.
It has real road worn marks (not fake ones) so I’m not afraid to bring it everywhere by opposition to my nicest ones…………that stay home or I use only for practice with friends.
This is my Frankenstein p bass made of a Squier 1999 p bass body made of alder, a 2015 Fender MIM p bass maple neck, a set of Fender pure vintage 63 pickups and Fender nickel rounds.
It rumbles like hell when I play it hard, it sings when I play softly, lightweight, punches above its weight and never gets lost in the mix. Good for everything except soft jazz, really can’t ask for more.
It has real road worn marks (not fake ones) so I’m not afraid to bring it everywhere by opposition to my nicest ones…………that stay home or I use only for practice with friends.
Not sure there is a perfect bass. But this one is as close as I'll ever get.
J Wilson
Supporting Member
For me, there never has and never will be such a thing. Even if I thought I had it at various times over these years, it wasn't six months or a year later.
i voted "yes" and i have several that i have to call "perfect."
, it's far from perfect," i'd probably conclude that you wouldn't know a perfect EB from a potato --- how can it not be 'in the eye (hands) of the beholder'? and besides, the things that make an ax "perfect" are bound to be different from one player to another, eh?
do my perfect axes have warts? = not in my book, not in my experience: i would change nothing about them. they have no shortcomings!
i've posted pics of my stuff all over this joint, especially the "perfect" ones. i'll post again if anyone needs to see the examples.
they are parts axes. it took me ~45 years to figure out how to get what i was meant to play all along --- although i might not have appreciated then what i have now...impossible to conjecture...
i had to order all the parts. i made the decision going in: get the best possible parts, don't be afraid to change them out if i was dissatisfied with any of them, and make no 'attitudinal' compromises to accommodate failed expectations.
i have a few that aren't "perfect" in the way the best ones are. they're still better than the ones i played my whole life up until my parts-bass journey. i don't know if i'll try to 'perfect' them or not --- they're so damn good!
i'm not sure i can think that way: most of my axes are either perfect or close to it, but that would be for me, right? if i handed you one of my "perfections" and you said, "this is bull-
, it's far from perfect," i'd probably conclude that you wouldn't know a perfect EB from a potato --- how can it not be 'in the eye (hands) of the beholder'? and besides, the things that make an ax "perfect" are bound to be different from one player to another, eh?do my perfect axes have warts? = not in my book, not in my experience: i would change nothing about them. they have no shortcomings!
i've posted pics of my stuff all over this joint, especially the "perfect" ones. i'll post again if anyone needs to see the examples.
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Over the years, perfection has proven to be a moving target for me. Right now, the only thing I'd change about my L2K and Sadowsky MM/J would be their colour/ finish. I love and am keeping both, but if I could snap my fingers and have them in different finishes, I'd do it.
My Rickenbacker 4005XC is my perfect bass. I stumbled into it by accident. It has no shortcomings, plays and sounds brilliantly, and works for everything, from the Sadies to Prokofiev.
It's a virtuoso instrument with no skill ceiling.
If G&L had taken either of their two opportunities to fit a functioning truss rod to my 7 lb Pharaoh Gold SB-1, I would be saying yes, but they didn't, so no.
Absolutely. My Epiphone Thunderbird classic pro. I've added a hipshot bridge, hipshot ultralight tuners, flattened the finish on the neck with scotch Brite, and got a custom pickguard/truss rod cover from Alperious Pickguards. I love thunderbirds, and of the three I own, I've had that one the longest. It's also been the bass I've owned longer than any other. Haven't found another bass that I like better.
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