NBD - The worst best bass

[HelpImaRock]

This is the worst best bass.

It's an absolute piece of garbage someone spent $300 on pickups and electronics and then sold for way too little. The local MGR set it up really well and I bought it. It is not an enjoyable bass to play. It sounds like a million bucks and the setup is good despite the feel not being pleasant. But not every decent playing pig with lipstick has songs in it. This one has STANK.

The riff I wrote has ended up on my main player, a Guild Starfire II. That's where it's gonna stay. But holy riff machine, Batman! This bass has IT.

What's yours?

 

[MrAB4003]

My Fender American Pro II P Bass is as close as I can get to your story. I replaced the pickups with EMG Geezer Butler pickups after 4 years of ownership. Its stock V Mod II pickups did not sound good no matter how much I adjusted them or what kind of strings I put on my bass. It took me 4 years to realize that it the pickups were not it. I didn't replace the pickups until recently thinking that my bass should sound perfect given how much it cost. But after-market and replacement pickups exist for a reason.

The difference is that my bass feels amazing to play and always has. The neck is what sold me initially.

 

[Bevan777]

There is something to be said about a bass that fights you a little bit. It forces you to be a little more deliberate with your note choices.

 

[Boneless]

It's gotta be this.

IMG_20201031_103000

• Boneless
• Nov 1, 2020
• hofner 500/2 club bass

My Höfner Ignition Club bass. I added in a third pickup in the middle, and I swapped the neck pickup for a twin blade Alnico affair from AliExpress (not pictured).

Of course, I end up using only the neck pickup the middle pickup doesn't blend well with the neck pickup (as is often the case with double humbuckers) and it's far too mid-forward on its own. I might spend far too much and drop one of those split coil TV Jones pickups in there, one day.

Anyway, it's reeeeeeally shoddy. The paint job looks and feels horrible, and in general the bass feels like it's going to collapse any moment now. And good luck having less than 2.5mm action at the 12th fret. And it has a dead spot at the 5th fret of the E string, so I'm always having to play that note on the open string if I want it to have any sort of sustain. BUT... it just sits in the mix (the right mix, of course) the way a bass should, with that wonderful midrange character that only hollowbody Höfners have, and you don't feel it at all on your shoulder because it weighs less than a cardboard box. And I can also play it with *heavy* distortion and use the (little) feedback creatively without actually it getting in the way. Honestly, strung with TI flats, it might be the bass I find most enjoyable to play (and I used to be a "bright roundwound" user).

One day I might drop the extravagant €2800 on a real deal German Club bass with Cavern pickup spacing (honestly, I don't get why more people don't choose this configuration). But for the time being, I'm more than well served by this.

 

[retslock]

This is my worst bass but it’s actually quite a good bass. I bought it as a back-up but I’ve since built two basses I like more. I’ve never liked the Ibanez SR series body shape so I modified the horns a bit. I like it - it plays really well and sounds good so I keep it but it gets less work than the others.

 

[nattiep]

It's gotta be this.

IMG_20201031_103000

• Boneless
• Nov 1, 2020
• hofner 500/2 club bass

My Höfner Ignition Club bass. I added in a third pickup in the middle, and I swapped the neck pickup for a twin blade Alnico affair from AliExpress (not pictured).

Of course, I end up using only the neck pickup the middle pickup doesn't blend well with the neck pickup (as is often the case with double humbuckers) and it's far too mid-forward on its own. I might spend far too much and drop one of those split coil TV Jones pickups in there, one day.

Anyway, it's reeeeeeally shoddy. The paint job looks and feels horrible, and in general the bass feels like it's going to collapse any moment now. And good luck having less than 2.5mm action at the 12th fret. And it has a dead spot at the 5th fret of the E string, so I'm always having to play that note on the open string if I want it to have any sort of sustain. BUT... it just sits in the mix (the right mix, of course) the way a bass should, with that wonderful midrange character that only hollowbody Höfners have, and you don't feel it at all on your shoulder because it weighs less than a cardboard box. And I can also play it with *heavy* distortion and use the (little) feedback creatively without actually it getting in the way. Honestly, strung with TI flats, it might be the bass I find most enjoyable to play (and I used to be a "bright roundwound" user).

One day I might drop the extravagant €2800 on a real deal German Club bass with Cavern pickup spacing (honestly, I don't get why more people don't choose this configuration). But for the time being, I'm more than well served by this.

I found I had the same style dead spot and what fixed it for me was putting a piece of foam between the tailpiece and body. totally ate the vibration from that and cleaned up the spot.

 

[Bass4ThePublic]

My MIM fender P weighs like 12 pounds but sounds amazing. In fact, it’s my most recorded bass.

 

[Clark W]

This is the worst best bass.

What's yours?

My Fender American Pro II P Bass is as close as I can get to your story. I replaced the pickups with EMG Geezer Butler pickups after 4 years of ownership. Its stock V Mod II pickups did not sound good no matter how much I adjusted them or what kind of strings I put on my bass. It took me 4 years to realize that it the pickups were not it. I didn't replace the pickups until recently thinking that my bass should sound perfect given how much it cost. But after-market and replacement pickups exist for a reason.

The difference is that my bass feels amazing to play and always has. The neck is what sold me initially.

What was my #1 until last weekend fit this category when I bought it new. A 2019 American Performer Precision PJ. The feel of the neck itself, fit and finish, all superb but the stock "shellacked" Yosemite pups and greasebucket tone circuit, a bunch of 60hz noisy crap that never should have seen the light of day much less been installed into any American Fender. Player Series basses sound better stock than this thing did.

But the feel and playability of the neck felt so good, that even with the setup being out of whack, I bought it anyway. 1st order of business was to do a proper setup on it and in the 5 years since then the truss rod has only had to be adjusted once.

The 2nd order of business which happened within a week of owning the bass, gut it...

New 4 ply white, black, white, black pearl pickguard from WD. A new VVT control set with no greasebucket tone circuit using CTS, Switchcraft, and Vitamin Q components, and Aguilar's AG 4PJ-HC hum cancelling PJ pup set. Now the sound matches how fantastic the rest of the bass is.

You wouldn't think an American Fender would need this done, and it shouldn't need to be done. But it absolutely needed to be done. It will be the one Fender that I'll keep until I can't play anymore.

 

[HelpImaRock]

What was my #1 until last weekend fit this category when I bought it new. A 2019 American Performer Precision PJ. The feel of the neck itself, fit and finish, all superb but the stock "shellacked" Yosemite pups and greasebucket tone circuit, a bunch of 60hz noisy crap that never should have seen the light of day much less been installed into any American Fender. Player Series basses sound better stock than this thing did.

But the feel and playability of the neck felt so good, that even with the setup being out of whack, I bought it anyway. 1st order of business was to do a proper setup on it and in the 5 years since then the truss rod has only had to be adjusted once.

The 2nd order of business which happened within a week of owning the bass, gut it...

New 4 ply white, black, white, black pearl pickguard from WD. A new VVT control set with no greasebucket tone circuit using CTS, Switchcraft, and Vitamin Q components, and Aguilar's AG 4PJ-HC hum cancelling PJ pup set. Now the sound matches how fantastic the rest of the bass is.

You wouldn't think an American Fender would need this done, and it shouldn't need to be done. But it absolutely needed to be done. It will be the one Fender that I'll keep until I can't play anymore.

View attachment 7331921 View attachment 7331922 View attachment 7331924

View attachment 7331925

I don't consider pickup changes something that should or shouldn't be done. All of my basses except for one have replacement pickups. I do have an instrument like yours where the feel was off the charts but the sound was lacking. It's my PRS Custom 24. Amazing guitar. The stock pickups weren't it for me.

With the 5, the neck feels like playing a 2x4. It's not a refined feel. But it is exactly what you would expect out of an entry level instrument which is what the Affinity series is all about. The tech at MGR put in a lot of work to make it play as well as it does.

 

[Jefenator]

I'm not very impressed with the feel or action of this neck.
But the visual vibe is super cool – I am SOLD on matte nitro – and the neck pickup in series actually sounds pretty good.

What else can I say? It's a freakin' Gibson!

 

[Riff Ranger]

For me, in one sense, this cheap Ibanez RG fills that role. I ordered it because I saw an incredible deal on what was already an inexpensive guitar, the aesthetics seemed fun (almost every “keeper” of mine is either black or a subdued, dark burst), and I wanted to see how I liked the RG series. As it turns out, I’m definitely a RG guy when it comes to electric guitars, and great riffs just fall out of this thing whenever I pick it up; I think I wrote an entire song the night I got it. I have since acquired three more including the baritone that has become my main player; I intend to make this one my standard tuning guitar, but the strings I put on it when I tuned it like a baritone still have a lot of life left in them, so I just enjoy it whenever I think to pick it up. But unlike the instrument that started this thread, I have no substantial complaints about the instrument. It would probably benefit from a better jack and better pots, but they do just fine. The stock pickups sound really good—I think Ibanez is the most underrated pickup builder—and this particular wiring scheme is only otherwise available from Ibanez on much higher end dual humbucker models. It plays beautifully.

In other senses, this bass might fit the bill.

I replaced the stock hardware with Gotoh, though I suspect the problems with the stock hardware resulted from abuse by previous owners rather than any actual defects or deficiencies. I like 21 frets on a four-string neck and this only has 20, which always bothers me (why, Fender, why?!). I replaced the stock DiMarzio Model P clone with a Lace Aluma P, which in hindsight might have been the right move after all, but at some point I decided to reinstall the stock pickup. Even with 1M pots, this instrument sounds dark and murky compared to the rest of my fleet; I might try yet another pickup, or adding a bridge pickup. It probably weighs twelve pounds, and the lack of forearm contour or bevel makes picking somewhat awkward. All that said, it looks cool as hell, I love the neck, and like the guitar above, great riffs just fall out of it when I remember to pick it up.

 

[SLO Surfer]

Squier Contemporary Active Jazz Bass I bought for $250 then dumped $700+ into with Nordstrand Big Splits and Nordstrand preamp plus all gold hardware and a pro fret level by the guys at National Resophonic. It sounds like a $2,000 instrument and the roasted maple neck is the best Squier neck I’ve ever felt…but it still feels/plays like a Squier.

 

[J Wilson]

Don't have any.

WHY would I buy, much less keep, a bass I don't like me or is a real pain in the ass to play?

Why would I do that?

 

[HelpImaRock]

Don't have any.

WHY would I buy, much less keep, a bass I don't like me or is a real pain in the ass to play?

Why would I do that?

It’s got riffs in it.

 

[prndltech]

It’s got riffs in it.

It has what riffs need

 

[MrAB4003]

It's gotta be this.

IMG_20201031_103000

• Boneless
• Nov 1, 2020
• hofner 500/2 club bass

My Höfner Ignition Club bass. I added in a third pickup in the middle, and I swapped the neck pickup for a twin blade Alnico affair from AliExpress (not pictured).

Of course, I end up using only the neck pickup the middle pickup doesn't blend well with the neck pickup (as is often the case with double humbuckers) and it's far too mid-forward on its own. I might spend far too much and drop one of those split coil TV Jones pickups in there, one day.

Anyway, it's reeeeeeally shoddy. The paint job looks and feels horrible, and in general the bass feels like it's going to collapse any moment now. And good luck having less than 2.5mm action at the 12th fret. And it has a dead spot at the 5th fret of the E string, so I'm always having to play that note on the open string if I want it to have any sort of sustain. BUT... it just sits in the mix (the right mix, of course) the way a bass should, with that wonderful midrange character that only hollowbody Höfners have, and you don't feel it at all on your shoulder because it weighs less than a cardboard box. And I can also play it with *heavy* distortion and use the (little) feedback creatively without actually it getting in the way. Honestly, strung with TI flats, it might be the bass I find most enjoyable to play (and I used to be a "bright roundwound" user).

One day I might drop the extravagant €2800 on a real deal German Club bass with Cavern pickup spacing (honestly, I don't get why more people don't choose this configuration). But for the time being, I'm more than well served by this.

I got a Chinese made Hofner Ignition 500/1 for the holidays in 2010. I was a huge Beatles fan at that time and Paul McCartney was my first real bass hero. Unfortunately, this Hofner was my first ever poor quality bass. I returned it and exchanged it for my first real amp (a V2 Fender Rumble 150).

The pickups and electronics were cheaply made and I was not used to the short scale. The bass was so light that it felt like a toy. I compared it to one of those First Act kids guitars from Toys R Us. And the ergonomics were awful compared to my former Squier Jazz Bass or any of the basses I have currently. I still feel the same way about Chinese made Hofners 15 years later.

 

[MrAB4003]

You wouldn't think an American Fender would need this done, and it shouldn't need to be done. But it absolutely needed to be done. It will be the one Fender that I'll keep until I can't play anymore.

This is exactly how I feel about my American Fender! I resisted getting new pickups for over 4 years thinking that an American Fender should be perfect out of the box. But then I realized that I'm dealing with a Fender in the 2020s. Lesson learned, but I probably won't be buying a Fender bass again.

 

[Clark W]

This is exactly how I feel about my American Fender! I resisted getting new pickups for over 4 years thinking that an American Fender should be perfect out of the box. But then I realized that I'm dealing with a Fender in the 2020s. Lesson learned, but I probably won't be buying a Fender bass again.

I don't see myself buying another Fender, heck even another bass at this point. The Am Performer PJ with the Aggie pups I'll keep. Might put a Hipshot Ultralight Extender on it. My Fender Kingman acoustic I'll keep.

That leaves me with two more Fenders, a Jazz V, and MIM Precision with a FCS 62 P pup & hipshot extender that I don't need. I did own 8 Fenders two weeks ago but sold 4 of them off.

The acoustic I practice on, and the Am Performer PJ can be the backup to a custom made Ferner that I had built and picked up last weekend. I don't see me buying any more basses. I already put 15 hours on it playing in 4 different groups the past/1st week of owning it.

+40

Ferner Fine Instruments Custom '68 - www.fernerguitars.com

• Clark W
• Aug 26, 2025
• 49

Build diary of a custom bass I ordered on Sept 29th, 2024
www.fernerguitars.com

 

[MrAB4003]

I don't see myself buying another Fender, heck even another bass at this point. The Am Performer PJ with the Aggie pups I'll keep. Might put a Hipshot Ultralight Extender on it. My Fender Kingman acoustic I'll keep.

That leaves me with two more Fenders, a Jazz V, and MIM Precision with a FCS 62 P pup & hipshot extender that I don't need.

The acoustic I practice on, and the Am Performer PJ can be the backup to a custom made Ferner that I had built and picked up last weekend.

+40

Ferner Fine Instruments Custom '68 - www.fernerguitars.com

• Clark W
• Aug 26, 2025
• 49

Build diary of a custom bass I ordered on Sept 29th, 2024
www.fernerguitars.com

I remember seeing your NBD thread from last week. I'm glad to hear that you're loving your custom Ferner! Seems to me like you should sell your redundant Fenders and enjoy the three basses that you're keeping.

 

[Clark W]

I remember seeing your NBD thread from last week. I'm glad to hear that you're loving your custom Ferner! Seems to me like you should sell your redundant Fenders and enjoy the three basses that you're keeping.

yep, keep the acoustic to practice and play around with, unplugged. Keep the PJ as a backup to the Ferner. Sell the Jazz V and MIM P