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What do you hate about your favorite bass?

#81
Out of my two basses, I can speak for each one:

1971 P bass clone - it's phenomenal to play pink floyd but just about everything else doesn't sound great because of the RS77 strings I have on it--I won't take them off because I paid for a 300 dollar fret leveling job so that it'll play optimally with those strings.

2006 MIM Fretless J bass - between the tuners and bridge (mostly the E saddle) it goes out of tune way too fast... and regardless of which neck I have on it (standard fretless or a MIM P bass neck that I throw on for kicks when I want a J sound with frets), I can never seem to get rid of the fret buzz from the 7th fret onward--including changing the action (to anything but super high) or adjusting the rod... my next move is to sell this bass because frankly, I don't like it.

Next move will be to buying a Geddy Lee bass with goals to replace the pickups, who knows what issues it'll have?
 
#82
Precisions have the pickup reversed, the D/G half is supposed to be nearer to the neck so you get more warmth and booty out of the higher notes.

And my absurdly good sounding Ibanez GSR 190 pj (comes in the starterspack :cool: and has the P pickup in the "right way :bassist:) just looks totally bland and boring with it's black finish and no pg.
 
#83
my biggest gripe about my favorite bass? i don't own it anymore. 85 performer in tobacco burst.

biggest complaint about current bass? it's wrecked. well, it still plays killer, acoustically. but i just put the pups back in it and tried to rewire it, and made with the epic fail. and i'm bored with fretless ... so i need to refret it.

not much sense in paying $300+ for a full refret on a bass i bought in 93 for $300 ... it's just the killer foundation 4 neck, coupled with the meaty growl you can get out of the super ferrite pups ... it speaks volumes about how good the performer was, that it could make my foundation my project piece ...
 
#84
it always just money for me... there really isn't anything wrong i can think of about my favorite basses, mainly cause i've either never tried one or only tried them once. but they are always incredibly costly.

i have 4 favorite basses. these are my issues with them.
wals: incredibly rare/costly
music man stingrays: costly
gibson thunderbird: costly, limited tonal range
rickenbacker 4001/4003: costly, didn't punch nearly as well as i thought.
 
#86
TimWilson said:
Just like even the most amazing Baywatch babe has gotta have grungy toenails or something, your favorite bass probably has one single feature that just barely keeps it from being the perfect bass.

Whenever I hear the sound of my treasured MM~SR~HH4 or ~HH5 basses, I sigh with great relief that my search for 'the tone' is over. They sound amazing, record like monsters, and feel like a part of me. And they're both drop-dead gorgeous...

...except for that %#$@%$ one single dorky-ass tuning key hanging alone under the headstock. Did Leo Fender use the CBS money to get super drunk? What possible logic could have led him down this kooky path? It's the only flaw on my otherwise perfect basses.

What're yers?
Click to expand...

Honestly? The only flaw is my playing skill....no joke. I fixed what I thought was the only flaw, I hate the knurled chrome knobs on my Jazz so they went to the plastic jazz bass knobs.
 
#87
Archangel_Bass said:
haha liked lol. theres something about all of my basses that bugs me. my warwick vette nt bubinga, badass tone, but it looks like the upper horn is a wang. my yammy trb 6pII again great tone great look but the finish is so perfect im afraid to gig with it in the seedier places. the one that really has no flaw imo is my ibanez srx 695DX beatuiful everything and relatively cheap. not that anything mentioned before is a flaw but sometimes i wonder......
Click to expand...

That upper horn was actually modeled after a mold of Hans-Peter Wilfer's wang...just so ya know.
 
#88
If I hated anything about my favorite bass, I guess it wouldn't be my favorite, would it? If I hated something about it, I'd either change it or replace it. For instance, I didn't like the VVT controls on my new F Bass. Guess what? It's in the shop right now get modified to VBT. I didn't like the ding on the edge of one of my Sadowskys. It's in the shop right now being repaired.

No sir, I am a man who knows what I like. Basses that have features I don't like are not basses for the man who knows what I like.
 
#94
My Lakland Skyline 44-02 , wished it at first was a little heavier!!! Yup. I know that light weight basses are more comfortable. I always liked a heavy bass. Listening to how it sits in the band mix , the light weight isn't an issue anymore.

I still believe the your tone comes not only from your fingers , but the body of the instrument as well.
 
#96
Munjibunga said:
If I hated anything about my favorite bass, I guess it wouldn't be my favorite, would it? If I hated something about it, I'd either change it or replace it. For instance, I didn't like the VVT controls on my new F Bass. Guess what? It's in the shop right now get modified to VBT. I didn't like the ding on the edge of one of my Sadowskys. It's in the shop right now being repaired.

No sir, I am a man who knows what I like. Basses that have features I don't like are not basses for the man who knows what I like.
Click to expand...

This post impressed me...
Again I have to agree with you Munji...
 
#97
The only thing I hate about my Sadowsky P-bass is that it is far too spendy for me to have another five. :p

But seriously, the only thing I hate about it is that it doesn't cover my mistakes.
:hiding:

All kidding aside, it isn't perfect. It plays wonderfully, but I really wish Sadowsky offered an asymmetric neck profile option - my left hand is slightly but distinctly more comfortable on those.
 

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