What are you most picky about?

[Gordon Mills]

Intonation.
I calibrate my bass every time I change my strings.
I want every note I hit to be in tune. I also like lighter guage strings and low action. Except on my 4 string Fender Precision, that is set up with old, heavier, flatwound, strings with foam under them, for when I'm playing Motown type stuff. I keep that one calibrated too, even though I don't change the strings on it.
I have not owned a black bass, since my 1973 Rickenbacker 4001 was stolen in 1982.

 

[Gene S]

I am a short woman with short arms, so I play 30-32" short scale only. I have several short scale basses, including a Hofner 500/1, but none quite "did it" for me for most of our songs, so we said "the heck with it" and built one. It is semi-hollow, slim width neck-thru with 23 frets on a rosewood fretboard, hipshot ultra light tuners, badass II bridge, passive J, curly maple neck-through. For the top wood wings we used book-matched burled birdseye maple that had natural "f" holes (which we stabilized and kept) with matching headstock and chambered sapelle mahogany body wings. The neck was sculpted to my "feel". We used Lace Aluma J's for pickups. We did not paint all that lovely wood - we used and oil finish and let the wood have its colors. This bass is balanced, plays perfectly to my taste and feel, and has absolutely zero neck dive. I use La Bella light flats, or the La Bella Beatle strings (flats). The action is low and easy, plays well way above the 12th fret, has perfect intonation, has no dead spots and has sustain forever if you want it. The only negative is its weight - just under 10 lbs. I compensate that with a wide strap, so no problem at all. This is my main bass. If I want something completely different, I use my really old Gibson EB-0, that has a similar feel, and the old mudbucker. Quite the contrast and nicely setup. Other than that, I let the amp and a few pedals give me differing voices. Will post photos if anyone likes.

 

[Giffro]

Thanks to @JimmyM for allowing me to post earlier in this thread about guitar cables under feet..he allowed the post even though the thread was relating more to the actual pickiness of basses themselves lol.
As far as I know nobody to this point in this thread has touched on the subject i'm about to open and hopefully not cop too much flack about. Other Fretless players please don't shoot me lol
I have played a Maton JB4 PRO Fretless bass on and off for many years along with my fretted basses.
In my opinion a fretless bass should be just that..NOT FRET LINED. If you are a competent enough bassist you should know where your fingers are placed on the fingerboard if you play fretless so why would you need the lines? It makes no sense to me to have a "lined" fretless bass unless possibly for a fretless beginner bass player. I'm talking about electric bass, not uprights which normally are unlined anyway.
My Maton does have single side dots to mark the 3rd,5th,7th,9th fret positions and a side double dot to mark the 12th. These do aid as a guide if needed, but I have never had any difficulty playing my bare fretless fingerboard and with enough practise you should be able to do it with eyes closed and still stay in pitch/tune etc with the song.
Maybe it is natural for someone like me to be able to pitch exactly on the fingerboard (after all I took to my first 5 string bass like a duck outta water lol) and not very natural for a lot of players hence the need for a lined fingerboard, but to my mind it negates the word fretless..it just doesn't seem natural. I mean if you can play a fretted bass with your eyes closed you should be able to do the same on a bare fingerboard. Maybe it just comes with experience..after all I have been gigging since I was 16 and i'm now 70..so lots of years to get to know a bass fingerboard without needing to look at it lol.
So I wouldn't own a lined fretless bass..it must be a bare fingerboard..a true unlined fretless, like my Maton below. That's what i'm picky about so please don't shoot the unlined fretless bass player lol

 

[The Hook 1988]

Although nothing is a deal-breaker on a bass that plays and sounds great, a few things I prefer:
Neck-thru construction, natural wood finishes, 24 frets, ebony fretboard, thin fast straight neck with very low action with light roundwound strings, , active electronics,2 pickups., option for string thru body.

 

[Solarmist]

Thin necks, lightweight sexy body, great fretwork, and aggressive pickups. I would have also said an active/passive w/ 3-band EQ, but I've found I can get a fantastic sound with Nordy Big Singles in passive mode.

 

[groove pump]

Weight on the lighter side. It use to not matter, but it does now. Getting older sucks.

Balance. I am not going to fight neck dive. Overall comfort is part of the deal for me.

Yes and yes...

Played a 10.5 lb. parts Jazz with a less than buoyant neck for a lot of years until I finally pulled the ripcord and stopped the madness. Now I consider my ceiling to be 9 lbs. or less with decent balance. It's also hilarious to me how much more inclined I am to actually move around on stage now when I'm not wearing a flippin' boat anchor.

Getting older can also bring some well-earned wisdom to the party

 

[TomB]

I am a short woman with short arms, so I play 30-32" short scale only. I have several short scale basses, including a Hofner 500/1, but none quite "did it" for me for most of our songs, so we said "the heck with it" and built one. It is semi-hollow, slim width neck-thru with 23 frets on a rosewood fretboard, hipshot ultra light tuners, badass II bridge, passive J, curly maple neck-through. For the top wood wings we used book-matched burled birdseye maple that had natural "f" holes (which we stabilized and kept) with matching headstock and chambered sapelle mahogany body wings. The neck was sculpted to my "feel". We used Lace Aluma J's for pickups. We did not paint all that lovely wood - we used and oil finish and let the wood have its colors. This bass is balanced, plays perfectly to my taste and feel, and has absolutely zero neck dive. I use La Bella light flats, or the La Bella Beatle strings (flats). The action is low and easy, plays well way above the 12th fret, has perfect intonation, has no dead spots and has sustain forever if you want it. The only negative is its weight - just under 10 lbs. I compensate that with a wide strap, so no problem at all. This is my main bass. If I want something completely different, I use my really old Gibson EB-0, that has a similar feel, and the old mudbucker. Quite the contrast and nicely setup. Other than that, I let the amp and a few pedals give me differing voices. Will post photos if anyone likes.

Please do!

 

[mdmarkle]

Here's my list:

---Super low action and light strings. I'd rather there be a slight fretbuzz than sacrifice higher action. So I get every bass I have as low as I possibly can, and never use anything heavier than 40-100 or 40-120 for 5 string, even when playing flats.

---Neck radius. Between 9.5" and 12" seems to be my comfort zone for a 4, though I just got a Yamaha 5'er with something like a 24" radius and it feels good. But any rounder than 9.5" and I can't bend strings without choking out or raising the action. And that ain't happenin'.

---Light weight. I wear the term "weight weenie" like a badge of honor and don't care if you he-men "Just go hit the gym" types like it or not. Wasn't always a weight weenie but a chronic should problem, due to a heavy-as-heck Jazz I used to own on a 2" seatbelt strap, put a stop to that. I've got a limit and I do my best to stick to it, and since I've got light basses that I love already, I see no need to buy any that are going to make my shoulder worse.

---Black. If it's not black, it must go back. I don't mind other colors interspersed with the black base color, but a bass has to have black as the base color for me to buy it these days since I scientifically proved that I look the best with a black bass. Any bass you might see in my little collection that's not black was grandfathered in before the testing.

And you?

Low action. I’ll take a little growl rather than raise it. I like 100s but they sound weak. So I go 105. Particular for Aguilar pickups and Trickfish Amps.

 

[bluesblaster]

I have played all manner of electric bass and amplification under the sun, so long as its in the ball park I make it work.

 

[Michael Stanley 2112]

I didn't read through all of the responses (for some reason I don't get notifications about threads until we're twenty pages in). Someone has a signature line that goes something like "I respond to thread titles; not threads". I may have to "borrow" that.

Anyway ...

If we're talking equipment ... I hate Hate HATE active electronics/pick-ups. Oh, I own a bass which I love which has active electronics, but I wish with all my heart and soul it didn't (unless I have to play some 80s metal. Then, I couldn't do without it).

I like lower action and 24 fret basses. I am frequently up and down the fretboard and I like smooth, easy action.

If we're talking things other than equipment (I saw someone mention "drummers"), I despise egotistical guitar players who think my only reason for existence is to massage their ego and fit right into their vanity project.

I once had a guitar player tell me he could "fill out the sound" on ANY Lynyrd Skynyrd song. Good luck. I don't think they ever recorded a song which had less than four guitar tracks.

 

[BruceG63]

I got to be able to see the grain of the wood.No solid colors.Translucent colors are ok.Clayton USA 1.00mm triangle picks.A good vintage powerfull tube amp[current amp is Mesa Bass 400+] as I like tone above everything else.Sound is more important to me than portability.No small combo class d amps that sound like a well executed fart.Balanced strings.A miked cabinet with a good mike over direct out and that's just a start

 

[Tiavarone]

I'm picky about not having sound guy/gal who want the bass run direct 'cause he'll make it sound great. I play in an original band. How do they know what it's supposed to sound like?

Also -low action.

 

[Aquilador]

• It must be short scale…
• Weigh around 8lbs or less…
• I’m not excited about white or black basses, I like a bit of colour…
• Intonation has to be absolutely spot on…
• I’m always fiddling with string height and string types, this is an obsession to try find that ‘sound’… (probably because I’m a short scaler).
• Guitar leads that tangle round my feet…

 

[Gary Stevens]

Here's my list:

---Super low action and light strings. I'd rather there be a slight fretbuzz than sacrifice higher action. So I get every bass I have as low as I possibly can, and never use anything heavier than 40-100 or 40-120 for 5 string, even when playing flats.

---Neck radius. Between 9.5" and 12" seems to be my comfort zone for a 4, though I just got a Yamaha 5'er with something like a 24" radius and it feels good. But any rounder than 9.5" and I can't bend strings without choking out or raising the action. And that ain't happenin'.

---Light weight. I wear the term "weight weenie" like a badge of honor and don't care if you he-men "Just go hit the gym" types like it or not. Wasn't always a weight weenie but a chronic should problem, due to a heavy-as-heck Jazz I used to own on a 2" seatbelt strap, put a stop to that. I've got a limit and I do my best to stick to it, and since I've got light basses that I love already, I see no need to buy any that are going to make my shoulder worse.

---Black. If it's not black, it must go back. I don't mind other colors interspersed with the black base color, but a bass has to have black as the base color for me to buy it these days since I scientifically proved that I look the best with a black bass. Any bass you might see in my little collection that's not black was grandfathered in before the testing.

And you?

My favorite bass weighs in at 5 pounds 9 1/2 ounces. It's a custom job with a chambered Florida Bald Cypress body wings and a maple thru-neck. Gotoh tuners and bridge, Chrome Flats and a Duncan single coil " tele bass" pickup.

 

[Ric Vice]

Personally,
It's the neck, sound, and the weight.

 

[dougjwray]

Every note has to be in tune and "speak" at the same volume. (The Fender G string dead spot is acceptable, though.)
That's really the essential one, for me.

Here are some preferences:
Passive.
34" scale.
Medium action... I don't want to kill myself with high action, but I don't like fret noise and I believe you lose dynamics and sustain with low action.
That's about it.

 

[WovenGraphite]

Totally personal and totally... fetish???

Head shape and tuner shape placements.

Bass overall look must be balanced, and for me the headshape kills it if it doesn't work with the rest of the bass and doesn't bring gel/merge with the rest of the body.

 

[Jeff Scott]

 

[Matt Dean]

What am I most picky about? My picks.

 

[JimmyM]

View attachment 4367793

Hahaha! I saw that thread. I thought it was a PS job at first.