• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

how has your taste in basses changed?

pcake

pcake

Sep 20, 2011
10,169
31,501
Los Angeleez
#1
when i first started playing bass in 1994 and for years after, i played black PJ basses with rosewood fingerboards. then i changed... i started thinking a little variety couldn't hurt. i got a minty green (ibanez called it lime) mikro. i enjoyed it. the world didn't end.

now i have a red bronco (maple neck, fingerboard is part of the neck), a surf green mustang, a wood finish GSR100EX, a roadster orange mezzo (i always like that orange, but it didn't used to fit in with my dark color scheme). i also owned a sunburst traveler TB-4P that i sold.... apparently along with all my black basses. my semi-hollow ibanez SRH500 doesn't even come in black.

when i went to order my smallguitars.com bass, i went with daphne blue, and it was then that i realized both of my black basses, only bought to mod, aren't even with the basses i currently play. * gasp *

and the only bass i'm pondering now is a short scale EBMM stingray. not a PJ, not black.

i also moved from long scale to short scale, but that wasn't so much taste as injury. on the other hand, i love my short scales - i just hadn't given any a chance before that. sort of a machismo thing - can women have machismo?

so what - if anything - has changed when it comes to your bass taste / preferences?
 
  • Like
Reactions: gvbassman, jamro217, ThinCrappyTone and 15 others
#3
After my initial "anything but Fender" start, I determined a Fender was the best option after all, as long as it was a slab. There were many other basses/ brands that came & went over the years, including a short but determined [7] ASAT bass collection, but the slabs always remained and have been consistent part of my musical DNA.
dP_1024.jpg

thumb_thumb_P1280502_1024 copy_1024.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rafar, gozbass, Shawn Luckman and 38 others
#4
2saddleslab said:
After my initial "anything but Fender" start, I determined a Fender was the best option after all, as long as it was a slab. There were many other basses/ brands that came & went over the years, including a short but determined [7] ASAT bass collection, but the slabs always remained and have been consistent part of my musical DNA.
View attachment 3846497
View attachment 3846500
Click to expand...

years ago, i, too, felt that anything but fender was the way to go. turned out that when i gave them a chance, i love fenders and squiers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: gozbass, GeoffB, jamro217 and 12 others
#7
I started off with two acoustics - one a beautiful fretless I knew I would regret selling but I needed a pickup and frets and so traded it on an average fretted Cort Acoustic. I had a Yamaha BB next which didn't suit my hands but was black, a Fender Jazz that weighed 6.5 kg and was doing my back in - but was black. Now I have a natural finish Ibanez Soundgear which is easily the most comfortable bass I am yet to play - but is not black! I think I prefer painted basses but that consideration comes well after ergonomics and tones (which I like to sound ballpark Fender).
 
  • Like
Reactions: jamro217, alaskaleftybass and pcake
#9
pcake said:
so what - if anything - has changed when it comes to your bass taste / preferences?
Click to expand...
mostly old-age stuff: lighter weights, shorter reaches*, re-thinking of strap/ax 'hang'.

* still playing 34" scale, but i've used strap button extenders on a few, repositioned a bridge and changed out necks on another: all to bring that first position a little closer to a bum shoulder.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rafar, jamro217, jdh3000 and 11 others
#13
For design, Leo set the gold standard(s) IMO. Bury me with my Fender P! I still admire the EBMM Bongo, though, and think Rics are rad to look at. Sereks too. No pointies or curlicues, TYVM.

Passive all the way; the Bongo I owned was too much bass for me. Confirmation that I've always liked simple best.

I've definitely become a short-scale partisan, to the extent that any future bass purchases will likely be shorties (unless someday I find my original Guild B301A). Comfort, weight, fun.

That said, my experience with my Epi Allen Woody (coming soon to TB classifieds) taught me that ergonomics really, really matter to me. I need that contour in the back.

Finally, I'm less enamored of hot-rod colors than I once was (and I really was). I still want all four designer colors of the Squier MusicMaster Vista (3 to go! how bougie can you get?), but mainly b/c matching headstock. My next buy (when things get better) will be either the Sire U5 or a Fender P/J Mustang, either in some variant of "natural." Or if I somehow someday really hit it big, a Mustang with stripes, matching headstock, and lollypops.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: jamro217, EatS1stBassist, Killed_by_Death and 1 other person
#14
I went through a 10 or 15-year phase where I only wanted instruments that looked unique, were made with coffee table woods, and were different than anybody else's.

My taste has simplified. I'm happy to pay for utility and playability, but my interest in the visually exotic is mostly gone. High quality Fender-shaped instruments are fine.

With due respect to my friends and associates here who build wonderful fantastic high-end instruments. But even the basses I've ordered from them are generally simpler than their normal builds.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: jamro217, lomo, EatS1stBassist and 7 others
#17
When I started playing my first bass was a Mexican burgundy red fender Pbass. I was convinced that I needed something more boutique looking with a lot more knobs and bells and whistles.

I’ve come full circle back to the Fender Family . They just look , feel, and sound right to my eyes and ears.

I also fell in love with TI flats and passive tones. I only want rounds and active on my Elite Jazz V.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jamro217, HD007, FishDub and 2 others
#19
It really hasn't. I still love the same things I did years ago. However, one thing that happened was that I started to appreciate more things. I remember walking through a Mars Music store in the late 90's and looking at all the fancy German-made Warwicks handing there. I'd never even heard of them, and when I looked at the price tags, I laughed. Who in their right mind would own one of these things, I wondered? Fast forward about 12 years, and the answer is me. I finally played one, once I'd matured enough as a player and shed some bad technique, and was able to appreciate the quality. Early on, I was not a good enough player nor experienced enough to be able to feel or hear why something was considered to be better than something else. I say considered because it's always going to be subjective.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jamro217, comatosedragon and pcake

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back