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Toughest, most durable bass?

#24
Go for a heavy, bass with a fat neck. Make sure it doesn't have any bells and whistles like LEDs or active electronics. Pure, simple and sturdy. I think a late seventies Fender Precision Bass will be the last bass standing, probably played by cockroaches, after the final days of civilization...
 
#31
TRUE STORY:

I had a friend that had just finished a gig and was in the middle of unloading his gear from his really expensive SUV when two guys came out of the darkness wielding pistols. One guy jumps in the SUV, pulls forward, out comes the bass from the open tailgate, he stops, reverses (forgot the other guy), rolls over the bass, other guy gets in, pulls forward,rolls over bass AGAIN! My buddy checks the instrument the next morning...barely out of tune! He continued playing it for the next 18 months!

The bass? Warwick Rock Bass!!!

How's that for durability?!?!?
 
#32
Ural bass was rumored to break the stage if hit hard enough.
Click to expand...
Indeed, some of old Soviet guitar have and are made of strangest materials not known to modern 21st century mankind.

Otherwise, i'd say Steinbergs come close to unbreakable due to their shape (or lack of shape).
 
#35
Yet another vote here for the Peavey T-40. They are some seriously solid instruments. I hope it never comes to it, but I feel pretty confidently that if I'm ever forced to go all "keith richards" on a crazy person while I'm playing, I have an instrument that's up to the challenge :)

 
#38
P-bass. I've dropped mine down stairs, smashed it into amps and drums, filled it with beer, covered it in water. Its been rained on, stepped, on, and has had stuff thrown at it. I've fallen on it face first on more than one occasion. Its been carried around in a camping backpack with no case. Its been tossed into peoples trunks at all temperatures, and jostled around God knows how many times.

I've been abusing it for 11 years.

So far I've replaced the tone pot and in the input jack.
 
#39
NecroticImbecil said:
My Steinberger does look like it was used to pound railroad spikes, then dragged behind a bus for 3 world tours. I was amazed it still plays when I got it, but not only does it play, it plays well with very low (almost NO) action, and stays in tune for ages. I still wouldn't want to smash it onto something concrete though.
Click to expand...

As I wrote in this similarly-themed thread http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=145976

>>My favorite "Steinberger's are indestructible" story was from one of the magazine reviews that came out when the original 'berger was introduced...so circa 1980 or '81, I forget what magazine it was in...but anyway, the reviewer noticed that Steinberger's marketing literature proudly proclaimed that their instruments had "an elastic modulus of 45,000 lbs/sq.inch" (I may be forgetting the exact figure; perhaps 4.5 million lbs/sq.inch? Anyway...) Since most traditional instrument specifications don't include Elastic Modulus, the reviewer wanted to find out what that spec meant in real-world terms

So he proceeded to grab the bass by the end of the neck and whack the body against a cement floor as hard as he could, repeatedly.

The bass suffered no damage except for some minor scuffing of the finish.

The reviewer fractured his elbow.<<
 

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