what makes a bass "gig worthy"?

[Tactician]

OK. Well here in the UK we pay about 1 for 1 dollars to pounds. Even though the exchange rate is near to 2 to 1. So I bouight my sunburst MIM jazz for £470 = $846 at 1.9 $ to the £. Add a new bridge and string trees from Stew Mac, add tax to that - yes they knocked on my door and collected the tax from me! So that another $50. Add a pair of Seymour Duncan Classic Stacks for £140 and a thorough set up and fret dressing from my Luthier £40 = $342. That all comes to $1238.

There's all sorts of threads about this UK verses USA pricing, but you can see how the whole thing gets expensive. USA P's and J's are getting close to 1000 pounds (that's $1900) here now unless you look for them in the music supermarkets where they are £879 = $1670. I't not surprising that those who visit the USA often come back with instruments and even if they pay import tax, they're still a good deal. Where's all this profit margin going between the USA and the UK? For the same price as a standard USA bass I can get a basic UK custom made to my specs - what would you do?

 

[MobileHolmes]

I know this is somewhat subjective, but I see a lot of posts about basses being pretty good but "might not hold up" for gigging. Sometimes such comments are even made by owners after having otherwise praised the bass in question. What is so different about playing out versus jamming in the garage? Just the likelihood that something might go wrong?

The might not hold up for gigging thing is usually just some throw away line. I get the feeling that a lot of beginners are expecting their basses to blow up or something if they take them out of the house. Generally these people are the same ones who say "Brand X is crap because my jack shorted" or something. Yes, they get knocked around live, yes there is more liklihood of something going wrong, but frankly, the only thing I would really worry about would be cheap electronics giving you a hassle or something. The basses I have tried that I wouldn't call "gig worthy" were not gig worthy because they generally sucked overall and I wouldn't own them in the first place to play at home or out. I'm not being snobby here. One of my basses that gets played all the time is a no name MIJ P Copy. Served me well for 17 years, cost under 2bills with a case in 1990. I just don't really buy the notion that an otherwise quality bass is not up to gigging. I have the same criteria for an instrument I play at home or out.

There are some reasons, however, that a bass might be less desirable for a particular gig while still being good for other stuff, but to me, these don't really fall under the "might not hold up" heading

1. So heavy it hurts your back to play all night
2. Too valuable to expose to the bar environment
3. Wrong tone for genere/not enough tonal variations for gig
4. Tone doesn't cut well live (but might still record well)
5. Wrong image for gig (51 P at a metal gig, pink BC rich for jazz

 

[fullrangebass]

A bass with solid construction (stays in tune, nothing falls apart, neck does not warp, electronics not breaking up), good ergonomics and playability (no neck dive, f/b not too wide, well positioned neck for the player's style, well positioned controls), not too heavy and providing a decent to great sound (that sits well in the band) is my definition of a gig worthy bass.

 

[Bard2dbone]

I had a Guild Pilot with the fastest neck in existence, but it would 'wobble' with force exerted on it. If I lifted the neck upward while wearing the bass, it would pull out of tune until I quit lifting. It was a great bass to play while sitting down. I used it on a LOT of jingle gigs. But I wouldn't play it on a club gig.

Generally I'll go along with most of what has been posted:

Solid construction
Comfortable playing, both weight-wise and feel-wise
Good basic tone, preferably with variable options
Good shielding
Stable tuning

And it is pretty useful to have it be something you can replace if a drunk runs up on stage to 'help you sing' and knocks it over.* But that isn't carved in stone.


* It could have been worse. I replaced a broken tuner and got it set up by a luthier and it was back in service.