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Losing my certainties

Camarillo

Camarillo

Jan 2, 2016
865
1,941
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Milano (Italy)
#1
8 years ago I switched from guitar to bass.
I started on a mexican Jazz Bass, due to the slim neck. 4 strings with unknown roundwounds. I was confident and willing to learn.
Then I started gassing and acquiring different instruments, always in the Jazz neck realm.
All instruments had a setup by a pro (now I'm learning to do it by myself) with a quite low action allowed by a soft plucking hand.
Playing blues at first, and soft rock and some pop, I experimented 5 strings (G&L and Yamaha), discovering that I don't like them so much (and I sold them all). But on 5 strings I discovered to like fat necks and nickel roundwounds.
So I bought a Precision, gradually leaving the Jazzes in their cases.
A beautiful Japanese with 41mm nut with a modern C profile, I guess. So bigger than the Jazz but not huge.
Overtime on that P I mounted flatwounds, obviously. I choose TI flats after several readings here on TB (you guys are so precious!), comparison videos on youtube and listening to Pino Palladino. I was scared by the high tension attributed to the Flatwounds with capital "F", Labellas, and I liked the tone and the tension of TI flats. I planned to mount them on every bass I own, but...
In these days, studying and playing mostly soul/motown stuff, exclusively the P an TI I feel the strings are clanking a little to much and I can "feel" I would be more comfortable with higher tension (LaBellas?), and maybe action as well. At the same time GAS is driving me through different Precisions, and I am seriously considering the only model I always avoided and never even wanted to try: a baseball bat classic 50.
Long story short, It seems I am able to settle, trying everything and its opposite.
Is it just me, or it's an "obligatory route" and peace of mind will eventually come?
 
#2
I think "peace of mind" will eventually come, but it will be peace in the understanding that your tastes and perceptions evolve. Certainty in the fact that nothing is certain. It's a good thing that you keep exploring. I don't think it indicates a problem with your mindset - it means you're engaged.
 
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#3
There's truth in the saying 'Ignorance is Bliss'.

Today, with so much information available on the internet, and especially here on TB, it's very hard to stay satisfied with what you have.

38 years ago, when I started playing, I had NO idea about most stuff...I had a battered old Precision copy, no idea what strings, or pickup, or neck size...didn't even know these were things that could be changed.
And yet, I played for over 10 years several nights a week, and nobody ever complained.
I was happy with what I had, and spent my time learning how to play rather than constantly changing gear in search of a 'perfect' bass.

I just know that if I had all the information and choice that's so easily available today, I'd have spent most of my time constantly seeking something better, rather than just learning to work with what I had.
 
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#5
I guess I'm a little different. I own several different types and brands of basses and I enjoy the diversity of different sized necks and different ergonomics from one to the next. In the mix are several 4's, a short scale, and two fivers each with quite different necks. I rotate through them regularly so I adjust one to the next pretty easily. Unless it's a real POS I can adjust to it and enjoy playing it. Different strokes I guess.
 
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#9
After 45 years and some 20 something basses I still enjoy playing different instruments with vastly different feels and setups. It's something in the evolution of your taste that makes you reach for the next thing, there are others that have played one bass for a lifetime and are happy.

Quite often I'm playing my Squier Jazz with EMG pickups and it sounds great. People ask me "if the Squier sounds great why buy expensive, boutique basses when the audience can't tell the difference"?

My answer is simple; if you are the only one that can tell the difference that's enough reason to play something else. As the performer we are also the listener and what we hear influences what and how we play. I often take my P Bass to blues gigs, it's got a baseball size neck and high action but it sounds great, for other gigs I may take my Alembic SC, short scale, low action, thin neck. I just take whatever instrument makes me feel good at any given time.
 
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#10
To the OP:
"...All instruments had a setup by a pro (now I'm learning to do it by myself) with a quite low action allowed by a soft plucking hand...."

Good for you. I think everyone should learn how to setup their own instruments.
 
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#11
It wouldn't be worth it if there was peace of mind. New challenges, roads and avenues are what makes playing the bass a worthy endeavor. When it comes to basses, I find that basses I once turned my back on, avoided or didn't consider right for me, became great instruments later on because the basses didn't change, but I did and can now appreciate the quality or nuances that perhaps I didn't before. Enjoy the uncertainty of the journey. :)
 
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