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Most consistently well-crafted and problem-free basses?

#64
I have owned three Stingray 5's and feel they are very well built and sound awesome . The reason I ended up investing in a different instrument eventually was the action on the neck and the weight of the 5 . The action was good but as is with many basses the action would get higher and higher as you went up towards the 12 th fret . You can only adjust your action so low without fret buzz and then as low as I could go the action was still high towards the 12th fret . This was on a 1500 $ bass hardly inexpensive . At this point the only option to fix that was to put some form of wedge in the neck pocket to adjust the angle of the neck to the plain of the body ( I think those words describe what needed to be done ) no thanks . Bye Bye Musicman , hello Zon , Modulus . Another bass I have tried with good low action was Roscoe . I believe he builds great stuff and it sounds incredible . Part of this is due to graphite stiffening rods in the neck . You get what you pay for . You want low action across your whole neck ? Good luck . Tweak your neck pocket or buy a better built bass . To me bass can be a difficult instrument to play due to the tension of the strings . Higher action makes it even more difficult . Let's face it , fretting a thick bass string is harder than fretting a guitar string . Start playing prog metal that is busy and requires a lot of intense playing and then get up there in age and your going to want a better playing instrument Wich is not a Mexican P bass . Unless you want severe arthritis or plan on taking up gardening instead of bass playing when you get older .
 
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#67
tbz said:
What kind of issues have you had?

Out of 5 Stingrays I had 0 problems, and I've never really heard of someone having an issue, so I'm honestly curious.
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I bought a new SR4 Neptune blue that went back because of the weak G string. I had a PDN bongo which need a ton of fretwork to make it playable. seen many EBMM bridges run out of saddle adjustment requiring shims. didn't like the G falling off the FB on the SR5's.
having said that, I have owned some nice ones too and I still believe I will find a nice SR4 that checks all the boxes for me.
 
#68
joebar said:
I bought a new SR4 Neptune blue that went back because of the weak G string. I had a PDN bongo which need a ton of fretwork to make it playable. seen many EBMM bridges run out of saddle adjustment requiring shims. didn't like the G falling off the FB on the SR5's.
having said that, I have owned some nice ones too and I still believe I will find a nice SR4 that checks all the boxes for me.
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Ah. There are several threads here on how to deal with the weak G string on Rays.

Was the Bongo new? If so...wow. That's the first I've ever heard of a factory EBMM instrument needing work of that nature.
 
#70
tbz said:
There are several threads here on how to deal with the weak G string on Rays
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I have researched it a lot; when I had the bass, I wasn't even aware of the phenomenon-I just knew something wasn't right. I thought I had a neck with dead spots...I found out after the fact about the issue.
too bad because that bass was so gorgeous-broke my heart to send it back,

I tried everything and it couldn't be helped in my case.
 
#72
joebar said:
I have researched it a lot; when I had the bass, I wasn't even aware of the phenomenon-I just knew something wasn't right. I thought I had a neck with dead spots...I found out after the fact about the issue.
too bad because that bass was so gorgeous-broke my heart to send it back,

I tried everything and it couldn't be helped in my case.
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You raised the poles under the G and that didn't fix it? Weird.
 
#73
A loose output jack or volume/tone pot can happen on any instrument from a $99 Squier to a $20000 Alembic. Those parts are threaded and held in place by a nut, any and all of them can work loose.

As a tech, I am actually pretty amazed that I don't see more Fender QC issues because of the sheer number of them out in the world. Their QC is actually very good. The best mass production instruments in my opinion come from PRS. Their quality is second to none.
 
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#77
el_Bajo_Verde said:
Still a newbie rocking my $99 Squier P-bass but further down the line I would like to invest in a higher-grade bass. I prefer consistency and would like something low-maintenance, reliable, and easy to fix. What brands/models tend to be the least problematic?

For example, every Epiphone I test has the same loose nut on the input jack and the same wobbly loose tone knob problem. Upon further research, most people with those basses have to fix those issues, sometimes right out of the box! And If I were to get a Jack Casady, I'd have to fish in the f-hole to do any repairs which sounds horrifying.

I want something that is the opposite of that. What basses are generally problem-free and easy to fix? I'm guessing a Fender P-bass?
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A Fender P bass is the correct answer. Simple to operate, maintain, and repair.
 

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