Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
Welcome to TalkBass! Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Do You Own Your Perfect Bass?
- Thread starter Smallmouth_Bass
- Start date
I feel super lucky to have a few basses that about as close to perfect as they come.
My Dingwall Z3 5 string is right at the perfection threshold! Everything about the bass is top notch: sound, feel, fit and finish. I love the competition grade Crotch walnut top, the wenge accent layer and the dual density ash body. The neck unworldly, the carve and feel makes me hand think about the neck when I am not playing. I love Birdseye Maple FB and that my Z has that on its headstock instead of Walnut(mine may be the only Z to not have the headstock match the body).
The bass brings the thunder, the attack is so quick on the note. It has the sound I heard in my head for years.
When I first got it, I struggled a tiny bit with the 18mm spacing as I preferred 19mm but now it’s fast and feels like home.
I am considering changing the 4-way pickup selector to a 6-way (more perfection). I am thinking about passive/series switches but I am afraid that might put it into the too many options category.
Next on the just about perfect list is my Dingwall Super J(P) 4 string. When I got it, it was a pretty yellowing white Super J with a tort pg. I wanted a PJ and I got lucky enough to find one of the few Dingwall P pickups for the Js that had a route for the P too (pickup was actually made by Nordstrand).
I really like filter based preamps; I have had a Wal and an ACG/East EQ-01 in a Warwick Corvette. I wanted the crazy flexibility they provide in this bass. So, I got another ACG/East preamp for this Dingwall. I also had a vision for paint a new PG. Donow I have this beauty:
I really love my Veillette fretless. It’s a shortscale 5 (E>High C) with Tapewounds that is just so different from my other basses. It only has Piezos so I think about getting a Mag pickup added and maybe another/different filter-based preamp. I have had 2 other Fretless basses that were as close or closer to perfection than my Veillette but I am happy with this guy:
View attachment IMG_0164.webp
My Dingwall Z3 5 string is right at the perfection threshold! Everything about the bass is top notch: sound, feel, fit and finish. I love the competition grade Crotch walnut top, the wenge accent layer and the dual density ash body. The neck unworldly, the carve and feel makes me hand think about the neck when I am not playing. I love Birdseye Maple FB and that my Z has that on its headstock instead of Walnut(mine may be the only Z to not have the headstock match the body).
The bass brings the thunder, the attack is so quick on the note. It has the sound I heard in my head for years.
When I first got it, I struggled a tiny bit with the 18mm spacing as I preferred 19mm but now it’s fast and feels like home.
I am considering changing the 4-way pickup selector to a 6-way (more perfection). I am thinking about passive/series switches but I am afraid that might put it into the too many options category.
Next on the just about perfect list is my Dingwall Super J(P) 4 string. When I got it, it was a pretty yellowing white Super J with a tort pg. I wanted a PJ and I got lucky enough to find one of the few Dingwall P pickups for the Js that had a route for the P too (pickup was actually made by Nordstrand).
I really like filter based preamps; I have had a Wal and an ACG/East EQ-01 in a Warwick Corvette. I wanted the crazy flexibility they provide in this bass. So, I got another ACG/East preamp for this Dingwall. I also had a vision for paint a new PG. Donow I have this beauty:
I really love my Veillette fretless. It’s a shortscale 5 (E>High C) with Tapewounds that is just so different from my other basses. It only has Piezos so I think about getting a Mag pickup added and maybe another/different filter-based preamp. I have had 2 other Fretless basses that were as close or closer to perfection than my Veillette but I am happy with this guy:
View attachment IMG_0164.webp
I have in the past, but my tastes and desires evolve over time.
I used to have a Dean Rhapsody 12 string bass that was perfect for me for almost a decade.
Then I got carpal tunnel because of the way that I played it.
After a successful surgery I went back to liking 4 stringers again and eventually built a fan fretted Jaguar bass.
This also lasted over a decade as my main #1
Now I've rediscovered the 8 string bass going back to what I was missing from the 12 string. But shorter scale and narrower neck.
It's one of the newer Asian made Hagstoms. It is very close to perfect for me for where I want to be now.
I used to have a Dean Rhapsody 12 string bass that was perfect for me for almost a decade.
Then I got carpal tunnel because of the way that I played it.
After a successful surgery I went back to liking 4 stringers again and eventually built a fan fretted Jaguar bass.
This also lasted over a decade as my main #1
Now I've rediscovered the 8 string bass going back to what I was missing from the 12 string. But shorter scale and narrower neck.
It's one of the newer Asian made Hagstoms. It is very close to perfect for me for where I want to be now.
Maton JB4 reissue.
Absolute glorious bass.
I would not change anything on it but I do wish they made a 5 string version.
Absolute glorious bass.
I would not change anything on it but I do wish they made a 5 string version.
I love the sound of my mid '70s Fender PJ with a Badass bridge. It has a maple neck, natural finish, and a white pick guard (traded the tort one to a guitarist).
I know that feeling, although I have been fairly consistent with the sounds I prefer.
Nothing wrong with having multiple perfect basses too, even if they're not the same!
You won't know if it's perfect until you get it and actually play it! But judging from the other works of his I have seen, I am sure it will be nothing less than spectacular.
I love my Schecter Stiletto Stealth. The bass itself balances amazingly, is super light in weight, sounds amazing, and plays wonderfully (with the right strings). But it's not ideal for me yet.
I've already modded my Schecter Stiletto Stealth with Dunlop Straplocks and a Hipshot Xtender.
I would love to upgrade the bridge (it's a pain to intonate; I have to loosen the string and slide the saddle back and forth with my fingers to adjust it. I can't intonate the bass with it even remotely in tune), and upgrade the electronics to active EMGs (with ivory colored shells) and a 3-band preamp. (The stock Schecter pickups and 2 band preamp sound great, but having a 3-band onboard would allow me to adjust my live tone on the fly).
I've already modded my Schecter Stiletto Stealth with Dunlop Straplocks and a Hipshot Xtender.
I would love to upgrade the bridge (it's a pain to intonate; I have to loosen the string and slide the saddle back and forth with my fingers to adjust it. I can't intonate the bass with it even remotely in tune), and upgrade the electronics to active EMGs (with ivory colored shells) and a 3-band preamp. (The stock Schecter pickups and 2 band preamp sound great, but having a 3-band onboard would allow me to adjust my live tone on the fly).
If a Cliff Bordwell built to my preferred specs isn't my perfect bass then my GAS is incurable.
My Spector is perfect in every way (weight, features, sound).
For years my XL2 was my perfect bass. Then I started playing 6s.
Perfect? Absolutely no.
I am way to aware of details that others totally ignore. Weight, balance, tuner action, pickup balance. Every one of my 4 basses comes up short in some way.
BUT am I content with them.
Absolutely. I consider each of the all-but irreplaceable and therefore keepers. But not perfect.
I am way to aware of details that others totally ignore. Weight, balance, tuner action, pickup balance. Every one of my 4 basses comes up short in some way.
BUT am I content with them.
Absolutely. I consider each of the all-but irreplaceable and therefore keepers. But not perfect.
Yes I do. 2004 Am Std P with AVRI '63 pickups Hipshot clover tuners and black PG.
Mine happened by accident. It's an ESP/LTD BB1004 Bunny Brunel which I wasn't expecting to like as much as I did. I also own Stingray Specials, Spector and Fender Jazz basses, but the Bunny is easily my favorite.
My # 1 occupies the throne because it's the only bass I actually create music with. Wouldn't change a thing about the 4-stringed love of my life.
My # 2 is a perfect instrument BUT I've never really used it for composing purposes. Another one that can stay the same - apart from the fact it will need new frets sometime soon - as long as I live.
My # 2 is a perfect instrument BUT I've never really used it for composing purposes. Another one that can stay the same - apart from the fact it will need new frets sometime soon - as long as I live.
No, but very close. The Skyler Acord 5 is as close to perfect as I'm gonna get without shelling out $7k for a custom Woodstock Spector. I like it better than my Euros and even my USA bolt-ons.
It is all subjective, but I have a bass I feel is perfect in many ways for me.
I built it as an experiment but ended up loving it!
I can get a Jaco bridge tone with extra muscle if needed, the neck pup sounds incredibly like a P bass and the middle pup gives me a modern Stingray vibe. All humcancelling Aguilar pickups and a trick fish IPA preamp absolutely sound great. Light weight 7 lbs. And balances perfectly. No neck dive. 33 inch scale is so comfy.
I built it as an experiment but ended up loving it!
I can get a Jaco bridge tone with extra muscle if needed, the neck pup sounds incredibly like a P bass and the middle pup gives me a modern Stingray vibe. All humcancelling Aguilar pickups and a trick fish IPA preamp absolutely sound great. Light weight 7 lbs. And balances perfectly. No neck dive. 33 inch scale is so comfy.
Similar threads
