Show me your worthless bass

[birminghambass]

I have an acoustic bass that was rescued from a dumpster. The electronics don't work, and there's significant damage on the back that's covered up with a large sticker. No clue what the brand is. It plays ok, I leave it in the "kid cave" where my kids watch TV or play videogames. It actually gets a lot of use there. It has literally zero monetary value. I couldn't get $25 for it at a pawn shop. Anybody else have a functioning "junk"bass? One that is worth less than a new set of strings? Let's see it!

 

[deesonic]

My beater. I've gigged it a few times. I got the body on ebay several years ago for dirt cheap. The neck is an old Canadian made LaSiDo from the 80s that I pulled off another junk bass. The rest of the parts came from who knows where. The G&L pickup is probably worth something at least. I put my own "Nomad" logo on the headstock. It's my name backwards, Damon.

 

[Fender_Bender]

I have an acoustic bass that was rescued from a dumpster. The electronics don't work, and there's significant damage on the back that's covered up with a large sticker. No clue what the brand is. It plays ok, I leave it in the "kid cave" where my kids watch TV or play videogames. It actually gets a lot of use there. It has literally zero monetary value. I couldn't get $25 for it at a pawn shop. Anybody else have a functioning "junk"bass? One that is worth less than a new set of strings? Let's see it!

View attachment 7524584

Looks like the label might say Samick under the marker.

 

[birminghambass]

Looks like the label might say Samick under the marker.

Well I had to investigate. It's a Sunlite. They only make acoustic guitars now, run about $200 new.

 

[EddiePlaysBass]

I had a fretless 5 string which was essentially a bass neck on a guitar body. Bought it off eBay decades ago. Gave it to my (ex) girlfriend's cousin after he told me he was saving up for a bass to record some original music. Kid plays a mean lead guitar, and I wasn't using the bass anyway.

 

[DanAdams]

I put a silly amount of care and customization into it...
But it will always be a $79 Glarry (shipping and terrible gigbag included)

Originally I had an Ibanez ATK pickup in it. That is why the route is too big.
It turns out the tri-coil ATK pickup really needs a preamp.

 

[Gervais Cote]

A long time ago, I bought a Samick p bass like the picture below for $ 80.00 CDN, gave it to my drummer back then, he sprayed it with a can of automotive metal flake silver paint and played it at home a few times.

He boiled the strings a couple times but everything is still original, the neck is perfectly straight and everything works fine. I think it was a Korean made in the 80's so we thought it would eventually fail but it doesn’t :

 

[Bassdoggydogg]

My beater. I've gigged it a few times. I got the body on ebay several years ago for dirt cheap. The neck is an old Canadian made LaSiDo from the 80s that I pulled off another junk bass. The rest of the parts came from who knows where. The G&L pickup is probably worth something at least. I put my own "Nomad" logo on the headstock. It's my name backwards, Damon.
View attachment 7524790View attachment 7524791

This is pretty similar to my beater (same pups, rosewood fretboard). Unfortunately, mine doesn't look anywhere near this cool (side note: DRI is awesome). I'm working with an old bacco' burst peavey milestone. Truss rod is damn near stripped so I might have to shim it. Hardware is original, and missing multiple screws lol. It's still functional and kinda fun to play though. Oh yeah one of the tuners doesn't match the others hahaha!

 

[joeLowB]

My beater. I've gigged it a few times. I got the body on ebay several years ago for dirt cheap. The neck is an old Canadian made LaSiDo from the 80s that I pulled off another junk bass. The rest of the parts came from who knows where. The G&L pickup is probably worth something at least. I put my own "Nomad" logo on the headstock. It's my name backwards, Damon.
View attachment 7524790View attachment 7524791

Love the "Nomad " story. Perfect logo for that bass! Creative and hilarious!
.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

My old Japanese Hofner clone that was gifted to me. These things used to be worthless
But people "collect" these things now.

 

[Ghastly]

My least favorite, but I wouldn't say worthless

 

[JIO]

If a bass was 'worthless' to me - I wouldn't own it. I have resurrected seemingly "worthless" basses, but in doing so they are now real players, so - far from worthless.

 

[joeLowB]

If a bass was 'worthless' to me - I wouldn't own it. I have resurrected seemingly "worthless" basses, but in doing so they are now real players, so far from worthless.

"From Russia With Love ", eh @JIO ?

Now, where is that Comrade Lenin sticker??

 

[2groggy]

Value is a matter of opinion. I built these. I probably have build threads about them here on TB. They are not worth a thing until someone makes an offer that I accept. That is a hint to PM me if you are interested.

Left to right:
- Mosrite shape Bass VI, DC Kunkle neck, Lace Aluma P90 replacement pickup
- Semi-hollow archtop starcaster 30" scale bass, birdseye maple top and bottom, Nordstrand 4 Big Blade pickups
- SG shaped Bass VI, walnut body (HEAVY)
- Hollow laminated archtop, 30" scale Bass VI

 

[JIO]

"From Russia With Love ", eh @JIO ?

Now, where is that Comrade Lenin sticker??

Not worthless. Even if I left it untouched it was still worth the historic uniqueness of it. But after sorting it out, it is a legit player and even more valuable as an iconic playable instrument.

 

[SharpCat]

Not worthless, but no way I would ever get anywhere near what I spent on it: my BB234. DiMarzio pickups, Hipshot bridge, custom Yamaha knobs I made myself, and got the neck PLEKed.

 

[rojo412]

Just made this as a challenge to myself. Started as a joke about a Bongo and about an hour later, this was making sound.

But I have another bass which really shouldn't have any true value... but it's oddly awesome:

Slapped together from a collection of random parts, the body is Vaccaro, the pickups are Reverend, neck is from a Lyon by Washburn, controls are volume blend tone with a series mode.
This was slapped together for my nephew who wanted to play. He wasn't into music though, so I got it back.
Sanded the neck to be comfy, but it was always a little wonky for straightness, so it sits as a "loaner."
Took the thing out for band on Thursday, on a whim... it was still 100% in tune. Neck was plenty straight. Sounds AWESOME.

Something to be said for that...

 

[used guitars]

View attachment 7525009

 

[birminghambass]

View attachment 7525004
Just made this as a challenge to myself. Started as a joke about a Bongo and about an hour later, this was making sound.

But I have another bass which really shouldn't have any true value... but it's oddly awesome:
View attachment 7525005
Slapped together from a collection of random parts, the body is Vaccaro, the pickups are Reverend, neck is from a Lyon by Washburn, controls are volume blend tone with a series mode.
This was slapped together for my nephew who wanted to play. He wasn't into music though, so I got it back.
Sanded the neck to be comfy, but it was always a little wonky for straightness, so it sits as a "loaner."
Took the thing out for band on Thursday, on a whim... it was still 100% in tune. Neck was plenty straight. Sounds AWESOME.

Something to be said for that...

Oh man, THIS is what I had in mind when I started this thread!

 

[Ricky Rioli]

In 2021, I ordered a G&L SB-1. It arrived in 2022. The action was pretty good, but the truss rod maxxed out. By summer 2023, the neck had bowed and the action was too high. I spent an absurd amount of money sending it back from UK to USA for a warranty return. In 2024, I got it back.

Because fate felt I was in need of some more character-building experiences, the trussrod on replacement neck that G&L fitted was also maxxed out, and the action was if anything worse. Experimenting showed that the trussrod could keep about 125 lb of string tension without the neck bowing, so 35-95 rounds worked for the bass, if not for me.

I'll save you the mental journey that took me from that point to now, but essentially I did what I needed to, to create a bass that was useful to me. It now has two noiseless J pickups, (one alnico, one ceramic blade) and is fitted with a lightweight set of Chromes flats downtuned to D Standard.

I felt the bass to be essentially unsellable before I started meddling with it, so who knows how much I'd have to pay someone to take it off my hands now. But it gets played a lot, because now it's perfect for a specific role. Thank goodness I chose well with the paint job! Nice piece of rosewood too.