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Does your bass play awful??

#61
I have found that issue with a lot of my friend's basses. Totally unplayable to me but they kick ass on them. Mostly high action and back bow issues. Old strings too. I offered one guy to adjust his bass for him and when I was done, he couldn't believe how good the bass felt afterwards but.....the action was too low for him and he had me bring the action back up some. I did straighten out his neck though.
 
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#62
wmhill said:
Like the title states - does yours? If so, why? I've recently played some other folks basses that are darn near unplayable to me. And these belong to experienced & competent players, not noobs. Tall action coupled with wide ball bat sized necks, made it hard to play even just a few songs on them, and even then i had to "dumb" down my playing just to get through the songs. I play all night on my basses and never get that kind of fatigue, and I don't setup my basses as low as they will go. These are 34" scale basses with regular gauged strings (45-100 rounds). There are no wrong answers, I'm just curious.
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You probably don't have as strong hands as they do. So to them it doesn't play awful, feels fine. Also you may play with too hard a touch and they don't.
 
#64
DWBass said:
I have found that issue with a lot of my friend's basses. Totally unplayable to me but they kick ass on them. Mostly high action and back bow issues. Old strings too. I offered one guy to adjust his bass for him and when I was done, he couldn't believe how good the bass felt afterwards but.....the action was too low for him and he had me bring the action back up some. I did straighten out his neck though.
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That happened to me when I was between basses and borrowed a friends jazz bass. He gave me permission to set it up to my preference, truss rod, relief and all. He called me in a panic after I gave it back to him because he really liked the setup but was so used to playing with really high action that he just couldn't deal with it and didn't know how to get it back. This is a guy who has been playing for 30 years and pays his bills by it and he never adjusted a saddle or truss rod in his life...and he only owns about a dozen basses! I knew all his axes were like this and was looking forward to his reaction to my own personal setup to see if he'd like it, but he just wanted it the way it was. No shame in that.
 
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#65
My bands lead guitar player and I are good friends. I play one of 2 basses live, a Fender Jazz, and a Fender P/J, (both have Jazz necks, (slightly different)) and I do my own setups. They feel almost the same to me, (same strings, same medium action, both are 34". The lead player is a good bass player, he loves my Jazz Bass, and even would love to own it, or one just like it, but finds my P/J awkward, and uncomfortable, ...go figure. (we both play floating thumb on the right hand too)
 
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#70
Bodeanly said:
The humidity in my house completely sucks in the winter. On a Monday, my basses could play like they just got back from a hundred dolla setup. On a Tuesday, I might want to smash them against the wall.
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Jeez... Where do you live?

I'm part-time in the upper Piedmont of NC, where there's wild swings in humidity, from 98% steamy to >25%, and part-time in coastal SC where there's not so much variability.

Bottom line is that I've thinned the electric-bass herd from a little over twenty to about ten, keeping only the ones that I could tweak to my personal preference of "consistently stable and just right".

If any instrument starts pissing me off, I sell it in a heartbeat. Guitar-Show buddies now pay me cash the moment I hand them over to them to add to their "inventory". Works for me.
 
#75
okcrum said:
If you like to dig in without getting growl, you set up the bass higher than you would when you slap or go for the growl.

DB players sometimes set up higher action to get a similar feel on EB.

One player's awful can be another player's sweet spot.
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So true. I have a co-worker who is also a bassist, both electric and DB. He really digs in on the electric, and his action is way higher than mine. I tend to play with a light touch and low action. He's tried a couple of my basses and frets out the strings more often than not. I find it difficult to use my technique on his basses, but I can play them. Different strokes.
 

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