Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
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.
list your basses' flaws
- Thread starter alexbib
- Start date
Gibson Zebrabird
-Headstock was nicked by a careless saxophonist....no biggy, really can't tell, but I still KNOW it's there....
-Neck is too F****N' skinny. Really. I love the bass, the shape, the tone, but the neck is So skinny when I have big hands, after about 30 minutes playing it I get hand cramps...
06/07 62 RI Pbass
-None, just slowly becoming "road worn", through natural causes.
-Headstock was nicked by a careless saxophonist....no biggy, really can't tell, but I still KNOW it's there....
-Neck is too F****N' skinny. Really. I love the bass, the shape, the tone, but the neck is So skinny when I have big hands, after about 30 minutes playing it I get hand cramps...
06/07 62 RI Pbass
-None, just slowly becoming "road worn", through natural causes.
I have brand new fender P delux, its a P/J and sound great, but somehow the E string always ends up way outa ajustment at the bridge so one half it way down and one is way up, not fun when I find out just befor a gig
Rickenbacker 4003
Neck's a little too thick
Neck pickup is way too soft compared to bridge
Shows every little imperfection easily
Gets dinged easy
Neck's a little too thick
Neck pickup is way too soft compared to bridge
Shows every little imperfection easily
Gets dinged easy
If a bass is set up correctly.
And electronics are working right.
Then there is no flaw.
Each bass is different (Has it's own tone, vibe, and playability)
They are crayons in a box.
And you need, or like, more than one for color.
There is no swiss army knife bass that does everything. (How boring)
If there was, there would be no talk bass?
Fill you box my brothers, and sister's.
Shecter Stiletto Custom-5
Sterile tone
Doesn't cut through the mix as well as I want it to.
Traben John Moyer Havok
Nothing really. Maybe a little more access to the high frets.
Sterile tone
Doesn't cut through the mix as well as I want it to.
Traben John Moyer Havok
Nothing really. Maybe a little more access to the high frets.
- Apr 11, 2008
- 35
- 0
- Disclosures
- Fat Tone Bass Pick Ups & MojoSonic speaker Cabinets
Thirty five years of playing, hearing, feeling, adjusting, dialing in, and being used to My 74 P, (which I purchased new), has no flaws! Me on the other hand...............
I love OLPs, but they're not without flaws, true.
G string popping out the nut: I have 2 OLP MM2. An earlier one and a newer one. The necks are different. On teh newer one, teh strings pass over the nut with a sharper angle. The older one... the strings were almost parallel. You had to wind up a lot of string to make it a bit lower. This meant the strings (especially the D, in my case) could rattle on the nut.
Solution: I bought a bar string retainer to push teh strings down above the nut, so that they come up at a sharper angle. Cheap and easy, and it works.
Scratchy pots... yeah, I changed mine. But you can extend ther life using some contact cleaner, again cheap.
Strap button loose... basswood is very soft. I had to jam by strap holes with extra wood (matchsticks) to make sure the screws are firm. Again easy to do...
Flaws in my basses:
Warwick Corvette $$: not exactly a flaw, but the neck is chunkier than I'd like, however it sounds great. A couple of polepieces appeared to lack grounding and can hum when touched, but it never happens during playing so i'm not doing anything about it.
OLP MM2, newer: crap pots, bad fret levelling, uninspiring pickup. I have dealt with all that and installed a Seymour Duncan SMB-4A pickup and an STC-3M3 preamp. beautiful. I play this bass all teh time. The bridge is slightly misaligned... should be about 2mm to teh left. One day i'll fix that.
OLP MM2, older: strings have little angle at the nut: rattling. Now fixed. Uninspiring pickup: fixed. Heavy body (on this one).
Tanglewood Warrior: horn too short, very bad balance. Great sound and everything but severe neck dive due to position of the strap button. Couldn't find an alternative location that worked well. Shame. Sold it because of that. The pickup (big MM humbucker) had non-grounded polepieces that hummed when touched. It required a creative mind to be able to fix that.
Vintage EJM96 Jazz bass: fantastic player, but electronics very very noisy. Noisy pickups. Fixed electronics through shielding, pickups were microphonic... sold the bass before I replaced pickups
Tanglewood Warrior III. Great bass. But neck a bit on the chunky side. Frets needed work, G string choking on some frets. Bridge 3mm out (I corrected that). Pretty fretboard overhang meant reduced space for popping strings. I sold that one too before I fixed everything.
Mid-60's Fender Jazz:
Ergonomically awkward due to the crude slab body, bulky neck heel and inadequate treble-bout cutaway.
Noisy as hell.
Hardware, construction, spray-painted finish and huge plastic front facade all looked and felt cheap. Large neck-pocket gaps.
A good five pounds overweight.
Inadequate range due to too few frets and only four strings.
Poorly balanced; severe neck-dive, both seated and standing.
Several glaring dead spots.
Terrible truss-rod access.
Cheap stringtree binding and clutter instead of a proper headstock angle and volute.
Sold it, and good-riddance.
G&L L-1000 (from the first year issued): Got a great deal from a friend who worked in a music store, so I figured what the heck; how bad can it be for almost half-price? Pretty bad:
Boat anchor heavy.
Lousy ergos and limited range and playability (similar to the Jazz comments above).
Generic tone, weak sustain and very limited tonal versatility.
Poor neck stability.
Hardware and construction looked and felt cheap, but at least it had a natural finish and lacked a cheesy plastic facade. Better F&F than the Jazz, but not by much.
Cheap stringtree binding and clutter instead of a proper headstock angle and volute.
Mediocre truss-rod access.
Sold it, and good-riddance.
Music Man Stingray V fretless:
Lousy ergos, but not quite as bad as the above.
Very little "muaaah" or tonal character; the notes never really sang like a good fretless should. Nondescript sounding.
The sustain was weak and inconsistent, and there were too many glaring dead spots.
Uncomfortably and needlessly overweight (like both of the above)
Hardware, construction and finish all looked and felt cheap, though marginally better than the above, except for the huge plastic facade, which was even more unsightly than the one on the Fender.
Cheap stringtree binding and clutter instead of a proper headstock angle and volute.
No 'C'-string.
Sold it, and good-riddance.
'92 neck-through fretless F-Bass five-string:
Passive single-coils hum a bit in a few settings, but not half as bad as the Jazz due to the dummy coil in the control cavity.
No 'C'-string.
Pre-Gibson Tobias Classic five-string:
A bit heavy at nine pounds, but excellent balance and ergos help to compensate for the weight.
Clear poly finish on the neck occasionally gums-up during long sweaty gigs.
No 'C'-string.
Jerzy Drozd fretless Legend VI:
Intonating the two-piece bridge is a bit cumbersome, as you have to loosen the strings to unlock and reposition the bridge saddles.
Ever so slightly neck-heavy when playing seated without a strap.
I'd prefer 17.5 mm string spacing over the current 18.5 mm, with a commensurate reduction in neck width, but no big deal.
Mediocre truss-rod access. The headstock cavity is well-executed and volute-reinforced, but not as convenient as the easy body-access of the MM, F-Bass or Tobias.
Ergonomically awkward due to the crude slab body, bulky neck heel and inadequate treble-bout cutaway.
Noisy as hell.
Hardware, construction, spray-painted finish and huge plastic front facade all looked and felt cheap. Large neck-pocket gaps.
A good five pounds overweight.
Inadequate range due to too few frets and only four strings.
Poorly balanced; severe neck-dive, both seated and standing.
Several glaring dead spots.
Terrible truss-rod access.
Cheap stringtree binding and clutter instead of a proper headstock angle and volute.
Sold it, and good-riddance.
G&L L-1000 (from the first year issued): Got a great deal from a friend who worked in a music store, so I figured what the heck; how bad can it be for almost half-price? Pretty bad:
Boat anchor heavy.
Lousy ergos and limited range and playability (similar to the Jazz comments above).
Generic tone, weak sustain and very limited tonal versatility.
Poor neck stability.
Hardware and construction looked and felt cheap, but at least it had a natural finish and lacked a cheesy plastic facade. Better F&F than the Jazz, but not by much.
Cheap stringtree binding and clutter instead of a proper headstock angle and volute.
Mediocre truss-rod access.
Sold it, and good-riddance.
Music Man Stingray V fretless:
Lousy ergos, but not quite as bad as the above.
Very little "muaaah" or tonal character; the notes never really sang like a good fretless should. Nondescript sounding.
The sustain was weak and inconsistent, and there were too many glaring dead spots.
Uncomfortably and needlessly overweight (like both of the above)
Hardware, construction and finish all looked and felt cheap, though marginally better than the above, except for the huge plastic facade, which was even more unsightly than the one on the Fender.
Cheap stringtree binding and clutter instead of a proper headstock angle and volute.
No 'C'-string.
Sold it, and good-riddance.
'92 neck-through fretless F-Bass five-string:
Passive single-coils hum a bit in a few settings, but not half as bad as the Jazz due to the dummy coil in the control cavity.
No 'C'-string.
Pre-Gibson Tobias Classic five-string:
A bit heavy at nine pounds, but excellent balance and ergos help to compensate for the weight.
Clear poly finish on the neck occasionally gums-up during long sweaty gigs.
No 'C'-string.
Jerzy Drozd fretless Legend VI:
Intonating the two-piece bridge is a bit cumbersome, as you have to loosen the strings to unlock and reposition the bridge saddles.
Ever so slightly neck-heavy when playing seated without a strap.
I'd prefer 17.5 mm string spacing over the current 18.5 mm, with a commensurate reduction in neck width, but no big deal.
Mediocre truss-rod access. The headstock cavity is well-executed and volute-reinforced, but not as convenient as the easy body-access of the MM, F-Bass or Tobias.
92 Carvin LB-75
No construction issues-fit and finish are awesome!
Typical complaint about the sound being relatively bland. Considering a new Aggie pre
Clement Custom No construction issues, but issues just the same:
The burled redwood top is relatively soft and picks up dents and dings very easily; the original Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder P pickup had noise issues and needed replacing-SD really stepped up for me on this one.
SX SPJ-62
Noisy, unshielded pickups, especially the true single coil J. Its so bad that I basically dont use that pickup at all. There is a shielding job coming in the future.
Schecter Riot 5string
No construction issues, I just dont care for the EMG-HZ humbuckers. Considering SGD Lutherie replacements.
EDIT-there is a fit/finish issue I forgot. The screws on the battery compartment cover were SO tight into the metal inserts that I practically stripped one trying to remove the cover.
No issues with my ESP LTD B404 and my 79 Peavey T-40. The ESP plays like a dream and the Peavey has a few cosmetic issues that you would expect on a 30 year old bass but constructionwise, its fine.
No construction issues-fit and finish are awesome!
Typical complaint about the sound being relatively bland. Considering a new Aggie pre
Clement Custom No construction issues, but issues just the same:
The burled redwood top is relatively soft and picks up dents and dings very easily; the original Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder P pickup had noise issues and needed replacing-SD really stepped up for me on this one.
SX SPJ-62
Noisy, unshielded pickups, especially the true single coil J. Its so bad that I basically dont use that pickup at all. There is a shielding job coming in the future.
Schecter Riot 5string
No construction issues, I just dont care for the EMG-HZ humbuckers. Considering SGD Lutherie replacements.
EDIT-there is a fit/finish issue I forgot. The screws on the battery compartment cover were SO tight into the metal inserts that I practically stripped one trying to remove the cover.
No issues with my ESP LTD B404 and my 79 Peavey T-40. The ESP plays like a dream and the Peavey has a few cosmetic issues that you would expect on a 30 year old bass but constructionwise, its fine.
Yamaha BBN5-II
Fingerboard too wide for upper-register playing
Almost no output on bridge pickup
Just sounds dead with flatwounds
B.C. Rich Warlock NJ 5
Nut really digs into my fingers playing first fret on the G string
A fair bit of fretbuzz from the factory
Neck is heavy as hell
Fingerboard too wide for upper-register playing
Almost no output on bridge pickup
Just sounds dead with flatwounds
B.C. Rich Warlock NJ 5
Nut really digs into my fingers playing first fret on the G string
A fair bit of fretbuzz from the factory
Neck is heavy as hell
I love my basses, but...
Warwick Thumb B.O. 5 String
-Neck heavy
-The B string is kind of floppy for my taste
-Gone through 2 inputs
Fender P-Bass MIM
-Fret work is a little rough
-Neck has a serious bow in it that I can't get rid of
Lakland 55-01
-Nothing yet
Warwick Thumb B.O. 5 String
-Neck heavy
-The B string is kind of floppy for my taste
-Gone through 2 inputs
Fender P-Bass MIM
-Fret work is a little rough
-Neck has a serious bow in it that I can't get rid of
Lakland 55-01
-Nothing yet
Cort B4
- contact problems with the battery for the pre-amp. I need to stick a piece of folded paper in the battery case to make the bass work
- contact problems with the battery for the pre-amp. I need to stick a piece of folded paper in the battery case to make the bass work
1. 2007 Carvin LB75AP Anniversary - kind of thin sounding, doesn't have the thickness of my MIA 08' Fender Jazz.
2. 2007 Squier FVM Fretless - the neck tends to need constant adjustment every month.
3. 2009 Carvin Icon IC5 - has a very sharp slap-pop tone. Can kind of be annoying.
4. 2008 MIA Fender Jazz Bass - bridge pup sounds very anemic.
2. 2007 Squier FVM Fretless - the neck tends to need constant adjustment every month.
3. 2009 Carvin Icon IC5 - has a very sharp slap-pop tone. Can kind of be annoying.
4. 2008 MIA Fender Jazz Bass - bridge pup sounds very anemic.
