I want a bass I love and can abuse and not feel bad about it, Like a bitch bass but it has to sound really good! Any suggestions of a bass I can abuse? I need a good bitch (bass) but she has to have a voice that's not irritating (sounds good)
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To clean or not to clean......
- Thread starter LowNloud1
- Start date
I only clean my bass when I change strings once every 3 to 4 months. Never my maple fretboatd, I play it every day 1 to 3 hrs.. but I don't like a shiny brand new looking bass , it looks like it doesn't get played. Kinda like a baseball player with a nice white uniform, looks like he hadn't played in the game
What, you don't want to save money and road-wear your own bass?
Depends on the bass and how often it's getting played, but generally:
I like to keep the back of the necks clean. I will clean some basses during string changes, the P/flats doesn't get string changes so I wiped down the body/hardware every so often but not the fretboard..it's a '75 w/ a maple board so it's all poly'd up and doesn't require any conditioning.
When I first buy a bass it gets completely disassembled, cleaned and polished with either a cleaner wax or various stages of compound. From then on I just use a good microfiber cloth and perhaps a dab of distilled water if needed.
Two things I try to be careful of are having somewhat clean hands and avoiding the "put away wet" issues. My leather straps are often soaked after a gig so I leave them out to dry rather than in the gig bag. If the bass is dripping wet I will try to take it out of the bag as well when I get home or back to the hotel.
I like to keep the back of the necks clean. I will clean some basses during string changes, the P/flats doesn't get string changes so I wiped down the body/hardware every so often but not the fretboard..it's a '75 w/ a maple board so it's all poly'd up and doesn't require any conditioning.
When I first buy a bass it gets completely disassembled, cleaned and polished with either a cleaner wax or various stages of compound. From then on I just use a good microfiber cloth and perhaps a dab of distilled water if needed.
Two things I try to be careful of are having somewhat clean hands and avoiding the "put away wet" issues. My leather straps are often soaked after a gig so I leave them out to dry rather than in the gig bag. If the bass is dripping wet I will try to take it out of the bag as well when I get home or back to the hotel.
You don't have to be obsessive to practice good common-sense maintenance. It's a valuable tool. Don't put it away just any old way.
I should probably rotate more. I try to, but I like my go to and don't enjoy playing the others as much.This, pretty much. Except for a couple of basses and a guitar that stay out all the time, all my instruments get rotated out for a month's playing, which works out to about once a year (which, for the banjo, is more than enough, AFAIC). Any thing that needs doing, gets done then.
After each use, and before going into their gigbag, my basses have to be cleaned. I can't sleep well if not.
Change strings? Huh? I've been buying a new bass everytime I needed new strings....
On a serious note I wipe the body/chrome parts down usually after each use, depending on how much I sweated. I don't worry about wiping down the chrome parts on my roadworn since, well you know... it's roadworn.
On a serious note I wipe the body/chrome parts down usually after each use, depending on how much I sweated. I don't worry about wiping down the chrome parts on my roadworn since, well you know... it's roadworn.
The problem with that is that it seems a lot of folks on TB buy a new, or used, bass with resale in mind before the instrument is even fully paid for! I am sure you, too, have read those posts that go something like this: "Hey guys, I just bought this "XXX" bass and am wondering how much I might get for it when I decide to sell it, say, next week?"It's a thing, an inanimate object. Clean it when possible, but don't be obsessive about it. You're going to die and leave it eventually, so don't beat yourself up over it.
I have, seriously, done that with a couple of 12 string guitars; I sold them rather than changing the strings on 'em.Change strings? Huh? I've been buying a new bass everytime I needed new strings....
The problem with that is that it seems a lot of folks on TB buy a new, or used, bass with resale in mind before the instrument is even fully paid for! I am sure you, too, have read those posts that go something like this: "Hey guys, I just bought this "XXX" bass and am wondering how much I might get for it when I decide to sell it, say, next week?"
Yep, but I don't think of those people as musicians. They seem to be hobbyists per se. IMO a musician buys an instrument to play it. Putting it in a glass case (unless it's historically valuable), or buying only to sell is tragic. Playing a wooden instrument opens up the sound... Didn't Jameson say "the dirt keeps the funk?"
But then again there are bass players and there are "bass owners." Bass owners outnumber players at least 40 to 1. Probably more these days...D.
Yep, but I don't think of those people as musicians. They seem to be hobbyists per se. IMO a musician buys an instrument to play it. Putting it in a glass case (unless it's historically valuable), or buying only to sell is tragic. Playing a wooden instrument opens up the sound... Didn't Jameson say "the dirt keeps the funk?"
D.
You have a good point about "bass owners" or collectors vs. players, but I play the hell outta all 3 of mine so whether I clean them or not they develop wear, dings and scratches pretty quick!!
I mostly try to keep the hardware, frets and pickups as clean as possible as nothing sucks worse than seeing green corrosion/mold forming on frets, bridge or the tuner, on my eagle bass I had to replace the original badass bridge because not only did it look like hell but the saddle screws were rusted in place...
I do it out of necessity
I wipe my strings regularly with a Nomad Tool, and I wax them once a week with Music Nomad One. I also wipe the tuning machine of finger prints. Four times a year I polish with Music Nomad Pro Strength formula and cover the fretboards with F1 Fretboard Oil. My Basses look brand new every single day.
I have a friend who NEVER cleaned his guitars or basses.
I cannot bring myself to touch them. they have a foul hand funk odor like nothin I have ever been around.
ALL of my pieces have some oil/feel, whatever you would call it.
But THAT .......is just NASHTY
Clean at least once in a while - fo sho !
I cannot bring myself to touch them. they have a foul hand funk odor like nothin I have ever been around.
ALL of my pieces have some oil/feel, whatever you would call it.
But THAT .......is just NASHTY
Clean at least once in a while - fo sho !
