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The Problem Child

mark beem

mark beem

Wait, how does this song start again??
Jul 20, 2001
11,871
5,712
57
Alabama, USA
greenstarreliefstation.bandcamp.com
#1
Do you have that one bass that's been nothing but a pain in the neck since you got it but for whatever reason, you just can't let it go?

Mine is (was) my Lakland Skyline 55-60.

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This bass gave me trouble out of the box mainly because of bad tone. I thought about selling it but something about it just wouldn't let me do it. Ultimately I installed a new neck in addition to gutting it and installing a set of EMG j5s.

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Now, this thing roars! Couldn't be happier with it! What's yours?
 
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#2
I have a Bronco bass that I did a whole lot of work to.

Put in a new pickup, new bridge and new tuners. And, it turns out the neck is twisted. (Intonation is off between frets 3 and 7!) I thought the intonation issues were to do with the set up, nut and the original two saddle bridge.

I've set it aside for now because I don't yet have enough nerve built up to attempt to straighten the neck with heat and clamps. It would have little to no re-sale value even it it worked, so I feel like I'm stuck with it.
 
#3
Fender jag for me

First the ground buzz, then i changed pickups to try to improve tone...... Nope (concluded i hate J bass pickups).....
The search for a drop in pre amp continues to this day......... As i want to keep all functionality (rollers, switches, active/passive, series/parallel), preferably with a sweepable mid.

I bought the bass within days of them being released and I've not been happy with it since.
 
#5
Yes, I've had several. Mainly because I'm very brand loyal once I settle with something, so some years ago I had a couple of beautiful Status Kingbasses - The 5-string in particular I loved, but due to the pickup placement and the massive sustain of the graphite neck, it couldn't be slapped, as the B string naturally resonated all on its own while playing the other strings. The only solution was a bolt on S2 5er which was much less lively!

I also had the classic low output G issue on a beautiful Stingray Piezo. I tried all the fixes bar actually changing the pickup. It had to go.

And the one that drove me insane was the Geddy Lee Jazz. I loved the super thin neck, but it would never sit stably for more than a week. Truss rod adjustments on a weekly basis become tiresome very quickly!
 
#6
I had a 1981 L2000e hog/ebony in a rare brown gloss finish that fell out of favor. The preamp always had a pronounced hiss when the treble boost was engaged and the neck was so thin that it became unstable and developed high and low spots that made it nearly impossible to get a setup on.
I eventually did a refin down to tung oil throughout and gutted the electronics. It became my test bed with all sorts of preamps, Barts, EMGs, John Easts and wound up with a set of EMG VJs in those giant gaping holes where the MFDs use to be.
At last I got her planed and refretted, returned it to stock electronics but never made peace with it. It ended up on consignment at a local music store. I think I got maybe $500 for it. That was at least 10 years ago.
For some reason I wish I still had it.
 
#7
I own a sweet pawn shop Hofner Icon (read: made in China) series Beatle Bass that makes wonderful sounds that no other bass I own can make...easy to play...neck feels right...but I can't trust it to stay in tune for more than 5 minutes at a time...can't trust it...can't play it...can't give up on it...are Spurzers the answer? I think I might nail this down for a hundred bucks! Your thoughts?
 
#8
Pretty much all of my basses are problem children at one point or another. The real problem is probably that I am the problem child, but regardless, I can't get them to sound right, or set up the way I want, or this, that or the other thing. I keep a ridiculously big inventory of instruments so that I always have a "good" one.

+1 to the EMG's. I used to look down my nose at them, but now I have a JAX set that I am looking for something to install them in. I had them in my 44-60 before I installed Thunderbuckers. The 'buckers are great, but I miss the JAX.
 
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#9
My American (passive) SUB is becoming a problem for me. I've had it since last September and I just can't get the tone I want/expected of it. It stays in tune and intonates well, but the tone is... Lacking, for lack of better terms. When I first got it, it was a huge let down when I first plugged it in, granted, the strings were toast and it needed a setup. A new set of strings and proper setup did make it sound better, but it was still lacking.

It feels and plays great, but it just isn't hitting that sweet Ray tone/growl I want. I'm hoping that installing an active preamp will fix this, but I'm afraid I won't be able to let it go if it doesn't, as it was my first EBMM bass I've own and I really love the way it feels and plays.

It may, however, fuel some P-Bass cravings I've been having lately, or even help fund a "real" Stingray.
 
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#10
Epiphone EB-0. Bought used at GC in like new condition for only $99 but have struggled with the setup since day one. Put on LaBella flats, worked on the frets some but no matter what I try I cannot get the action as low as I like without something buzzing. I suspect it is the 3 point bridge but I don't really want to change it given the cost of the bass.

I've come to accept that this is just the way this bass is. I like the way the bass feels and plays, but it only sounds so so (no definition mudbucker). That said, the bass sure is pretty with the retro nickel hardware and I doubt I'll ever sell it!
 
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#11
I have an ongoing love/hate relationship with my Tobias Growler. Love the size, shape, feel. The tone is never consistent, sometimes awesome, sometimes blah. Doesn't play nicely with all amps.
At the other side of the spectrum, my $50 Silvertone P-bass always sounds good, but I dislike the chunky neck.
Grrr & Grrr!
 
#12
I bought a Hagstrom HB-4 eleven days ago - story chronicled here: http://www.talkbass.com/threads/fretboards-and-cracks.1129131/

I've done more working on it than playing it so far, but I'm keeping it.
On getting it home, after cleaning, I discovered the fretboard was cracked.
Posted here and contacted the distributor, who gave me the go ahead to repair it.
First things first though - I had to file the fret ends so I wouldn't cut my hands on them - horribly sharp.

After dealing with the crack, I discovered that dropping the saddles completely still left me with a mile high action.
I decided to try a shim, rather than filing down the saddles or bridge.
It's complicated, but there are captive nuts held under the bridge base, that lock down the saddles after getting the intonation set.
They call it a full contact bridge, and pretty much everything has lock down set screws to hold adjustments once set.
Filing the bridge would crush the nuts - no joke - ha ha.

It was my first attempt at shimming, and I tried a full pocket one first that was way too high.
After several attempts with various thicknesses, (and a thread about it here), I settled on a partial shim.
Took it apart so many times that I broke a string - first one for me.

There's a bit of static, crackling type noise when switching between the pickups, but I think a shot of contact cleaner should clear that up.
I don't want to bad mouth the bass or the company. I may have just gotten a bad one.
I haven't heard other negative stuff about this model.
It doesn't inspire my confidence for made in China basses though.

I'm keeping it because it has several things I like about it - it feels pretty good to play now, I like the tones available from the 6 way switching,
I like the general shape and design, the hardware feels pretty solid, and I feel like it's more mine now.
Hopefully the problem child is rehabilitated.
 
#13
felis said:
I don't want to bad mouth the bass or the company. I may have just gotten a bad one.
I haven't heard other negative stuff about this model.
It doesn't inspire my confidence for made in China basses though.

I'm keeping it because it has several things I like about it - it feels pretty good to play now, I like the tones available from the 6 way switching,
I like the general shape and design, the hardware feels pretty solid, and I feel like it's more mine now.
Hopefully the problem child is rehabilitated.
Click to expand...

Your sample size of one is pretty small to draw any conclusions about anything. I find it interesting that you don't want to "badmouth the bass or company," when you "may have just gotten a bad one," and yet you will say something somewhat negative about the country of origin.

I support you hope that the problem child is rehabilitated. I will accept a lot, but I would not have kept that bass.
 
#18
holdfast said:
I have a Bronco bass that I did a whole lot of work to.

Put in a new pickup, new bridge and new tuners. And, it turns out the neck is twisted. (Intonation is off between frets 3 and 7!) I thought the intonation issues were to do with the set up, nut and the original two saddle bridge.

I've set it aside for now because I don't yet have enough nerve built up to attempt to straighten the neck with heat and clamps. It would have little to no re-sale value even it it worked, so I feel like I'm stuck with it.
Click to expand...
Sometimes you're better off getting a more expensive model bass that hasn't been abused, rather than a student model that you'll have to upgrade almost every part of. Sorry to hear about your predicament.
 
#19
I had two. One was a Lakland Skyline 44-64 that came with dead pickups. Sent it Lakland, it came back with...dead pickups. They paid to have my tech install another set of neo's, which a REALLY didn't like. I installed some 62RI's and it still sounded meh, so I sold it. The second was a Squier CV Jazz. Nothing could make it sound good. Pickups, strings, setup...nothing helped. I'm convinced it was just an all around dead sounding hunk of wood because all of the obvious fixes fell flat. It was just dull and lifeless and put me firmly in the "wood matters" camp.
 
#20
My first bass had every part replaced other than the body and pickguard and I still didn't like it. Turns out, the problem was my lack of joy with a P bass.

Many years later, I've come to terms with the P and understand it better. But I did learn that sometimes, you can change everything and still not be happy. So I've gotten quite good at letting things go for that reason. If it isn't jiving with me, it's gotta go! There's too many other basses out there to try and get for me to sit on something I never play.
 

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