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.
Most Disappointing purchase
- Thread starter Bill Murray
- Start date
Oh noooooo...
If it makes you feel any better, I did all of this to the last Modulus I owned... Refinished, had the neck planned, added stainless steel frets, put Nordstrands and an Audere preamp in... and after all that, it still wasn’t my go to bass..
Last edited:
Here's a tip from the great white north where bug hatches are cleaned up with snow shovels.... Mayflies!
Put some cooking oil on a rag and rub it onto the grill and hood of your vehicle. The oil won't hurt anything and will create a barrier, stopping the bugs from sticking.
Fishheadjoe
That's really unfortunate. Both my Status Precision-type replacement neck and the neck on my Status B-2 are so straight they'd make a laser beam feel self-conscious. Sounds like you ended up with something that simply shouldn't have passed quality control.
I just remembered one more, a really big one actually. Back in the late 1980s I was very interested in Anthony Jackson's work, and had read about his collaboration with Ken Smith. I decided I wanted a Ken Smith 6-string bass. At the time (1989) I was living in Maine; I made an appointment to discuss the new bass, and drove down to the city to meet. After the usual parking madness, by some miracle I got to the shop on time, but Ken wasn't there. I ended up waiting several hours; I was told that he was playing golf and had to finish up before coming back into town. You may imagine what I was thinking at the time.
Nevertheless I took a deep breath, suppressed my annoyance, ordered the bass, and waited breathlessly for it. When it came, I was, how does one say, underwhelmed. Nice enough neck and body shape. None of the strings lined up with the pickup pole pieces (I gather that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it looked low-rent to me, especially for a hand-made instrument). The finish was rudimentary: it was basic thin varnish over bubinga, with no grain-filling, it was shiny with myriad tiny grain grooves. It wasn't very attractive or professional-looking; a woodworker friend looked at it, shook his head, and said that it was an insult.
It sounded sort of OK, but not great, even with high-quality amplification and a lot of patient experimentation. I tried for several months to make it my go-to bass but never got it to work for me. I put it up for sale and was delighted to eventually find a buyer who liked it. I know this all may seem odd, since I gather many people have had a great time with Ken Smith instruments, but for me, every aspect of the experience was a disappointment.
(For reference, I have had excellent experiences with Fodera, pre-Gibson Tobias, and Fender basses.)
Nevertheless I took a deep breath, suppressed my annoyance, ordered the bass, and waited breathlessly for it. When it came, I was, how does one say, underwhelmed. Nice enough neck and body shape. None of the strings lined up with the pickup pole pieces (I gather that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it looked low-rent to me, especially for a hand-made instrument). The finish was rudimentary: it was basic thin varnish over bubinga, with no grain-filling, it was shiny with myriad tiny grain grooves. It wasn't very attractive or professional-looking; a woodworker friend looked at it, shook his head, and said that it was an insult.
It sounded sort of OK, but not great, even with high-quality amplification and a lot of patient experimentation. I tried for several months to make it my go-to bass but never got it to work for me. I put it up for sale and was delighted to eventually find a buyer who liked it. I know this all may seem odd, since I gather many people have had a great time with Ken Smith instruments, but for me, every aspect of the experience was a disappointment.
(For reference, I have had excellent experiences with Fodera, pre-Gibson Tobias, and Fender basses.)
Rickenbacker is notorious for "blame shifting", and basically always assumes it is "operator error", unless you can really, really, REALLY prove it it isn't. And even then it's with the greatest of reluctance they honour the warranty.
2x15 Acoustic folded horn cab w/2-EVs. Thought it would sound like thunder. In reality, it sounded like saran wrap over a bowl of farts. 10s or 12s only for me since then.
I wasn't intending any disrespect with my post. The Fake News quote was just me having a self laugh at how often it's used these days. Anyways, I understand the Rick issues and it was something I considered but I am a fan of Lemmy, Chris Squire, Entwistle and Geddy so of course I had to try one out (also the first Tool record had a Rick and it sounded great). I have one of the newer 2021 Rick's and the new bridge is nice but it does have a few odd things. Has some fret buzz, tuners are whimpy looking (two winds at most) and neck is chunky but I do like the push pull for vintage tone and overall look. It sure doesn't look like 2k tho. More like 1k at the most. Seen better Fenders.
I play in a Beatles cover band, I love their music. Stands to reason I'd need an Epiphone Casino so I could get all those Beatlesque tones. Bought a MIC Casino, good build quality, played great but the MIC P90s sounded like @ss so I sold it after a few years. A couple years go by and I decide I should have had an Elitist model, with the Gibson USA P90s. It was a beautiful guitar, played very nicely but I never got a sound I liked out of it so it got traded off. I'll never buy another Epi Casino. Still, I'd like to try a Gibson ES330 sometime, in case Epiphone just missed something with the formula.
For me, it's active basses. I've gone through several high-end models and have been dazzled at the possibilities until I find I can get all the sounds but the ones I want.
So I'm one of those all-Fender all-the-time moldy figs.
So I'm one of those all-Fender all-the-time moldy figs.
I owned an Epiphone Casino for one day. It not only wouldn't stay in tune. It wouldn't even get in tune. It sounded like a dying seal. Got my money back. I'd never go near another one. I find it astounding that Lennon/McCartney conquered the world with cheap, sh!t instruments. George didn't skimp.
I owned a Melody Maker for one day. I bought it at GC in Danvers, MA. It was a piece of crap and the space between the frets was so small that I couldn't make a B Major on the 7th fret. My fingers wouldn't fit in that space. And I'm not a big guy. Cheap kids/woman's guitar. Piece of crap. GC tried a sleaze ball move and tried to say that 'This has a vintage tag, and anything vintage is final sale.' It literally said that nowhere in the store. So I just put it on the counter and said 'Here you go, I'll call my credit card company and open a case for fraud. Then I'm suing.' They changed their tune real fast.
Well.. Epiphone wasn’t cheap back in these days.
I would not mock Gibson products as they do a good job for the Gibson sound. I sold my vintage '68 EB2dc for the same reason.
I just bought a new Fender Player P for 1/4 the selling price of the Gibson and I am happy for "the solid thump, Motown, etc.".
It's all a matter of the sound you want, IMHO. The proceeds of my Gibson sale also paid for my Fender R200 Combo and a lot of what is in my signature...I am happy!
I don't remember the exact model, but it was a Zon. Just beautiful, but the tone was anemic and sterile. The only bass I ever couldn't even get one sound out of that I liked.
Tough to tell, before my time. But even then they were cheaper than Gibson, Fender, or Gretsch.
Luckily, before I got on TB, the only Peaveys, Rics, Ken Smiths, and other non-Jazz-basses I found already had easily noticeable dilapidation in progress 
post-TB:
Warwick Corvette Standard.
Very much a street-legal exotic race car of basses in every possible way. I wish I had been warned.
I do regret getting rid of it. If/when I ever find myself having room for ten basses, I’d like to get another.
Uncomfortable outside the 90s strapped high up into the armpit position. Still rather uncomfortable like that.
Tons of gnarly gnashing growl that can’t be tamed by flats, eq, and vintage tubes into blending into a mix. Just an obnoxious sound.
Very fun in certain situations.
All of the things that make it unconventional sounding as a bass (bell bronze fretwire, Wenge board on a stiiiiff neck, locked up mass-ey bridge, that baked in eq) would probably be far more easily utilised as a 25.5” Tele-type guitar.
post-TB:
Warwick Corvette Standard.
Very much a street-legal exotic race car of basses in every possible way. I wish I had been warned.
I do regret getting rid of it. If/when I ever find myself having room for ten basses, I’d like to get another.
Uncomfortable outside the 90s strapped high up into the armpit position. Still rather uncomfortable like that.
Tons of gnarly gnashing growl that can’t be tamed by flats, eq, and vintage tubes into blending into a mix. Just an obnoxious sound.
Very fun in certain situations.
All of the things that make it unconventional sounding as a bass (bell bronze fretwire, Wenge board on a stiiiiff neck, locked up mass-ey bridge, that baked in eq) would probably be far more easily utilised as a 25.5” Tele-type guitar.
Not during the Beatles era. They cost as much as their Gibson siblings, at least the matching models. Once production was moved to Japan in 1970, it became a whole different brand. In all other respects, Casino = ES330, Rivoli = EB-2, Cortez = B-25 etc.
Harrison played a Casino as well...
A friend of mine has a 1960 Gibson ES330, really nice guitar to play, I got some good bluesy tones and jazz sounds out of it, I didn't play any Beatles on it though, I was playing mostly bebop and standards with the occasional blues tune. Only issue I found was it does feedback when the volume gets up there though.
