• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

What ticks you off? Example page 4

M

MD Stingray

Guest
Jan 17, 2008
1,144
1,836
#1
Example picture on page 4

I am the first to admit. I have a compulsive disorder.

I buy and sell a bass at least once a month. Have owned over a 100 now. Currently own 5.

It seems I just get bored/ticked off/frustrated with any bass I have ever owned within a couple of months.

Every time in the shop any bass I try seems like the best one ever, until I return home and after a month I start too think..:

It's too heavy
Too light
Too ugly
Neck too wide
Bored with the color
Fretbuzz
Not comfortable playing seated
Not comfortable playing standing
Too expensive for what it is
Too many sound options - except the right one
Dislike the brand
Bad electronics
Vintage crap
Humm
Unfinished dirty necks
Too exotic woods
Sharp frets
A dent in the back of the neck
neck-pocket too wide
Pick-guard not perfectly lined with control-plate
too many strings
Can't get intonation pitch -perfect
and last but not least - some just smell funny

- it has to go.

Of course It's me. I'm definitive not the player that can make any bass sound good.
From Squier to Fodera to Vintage Fenders - I've owned them all.

So, besides this topic, what ticks you off?

If you are wondering.. My wife and I are together 25 years.
I guess her standards for a husband are much lower than mine for bass guitars :)
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: EddiePlaysBass, Spidey2112, CereBassum and 15 others
#3
Trouztrouz said:
Perfection is the enemy of good.
Click to expand...
And good is the enemy of perfection. :D

What ticks me off is ticks:

IMAGE$6E672A036083A07E.gif

OFF OF ME, TICK! :mad:
 
  • Like
Reactions: lancimouspitt, Spidey2112, BassmanMetzger56 and 11 others
#6
I don't see a problem trying out a lot of different basses. There are so many factors involved and honestly you need to work out what you like best and narrow it down and eventually you will find basses you love. I've realized I'm not a 5 stringer so I got rid of mine. I've also realized I don't like 35" scale so my Millennium is probably going on the block. I need a light bass due to shoulder issues. I've narrowed down exactly what neck profile/nut width combination I love. I now have some basses I absolutely love and some of those I've had for many years and still feel that way.

As far as quality issues, I make sure that is taken care of up front. Build quality must be there at a level I know I will be happy with. I don't buy basses that I think I will need to mod or improve to like them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GManfromOz, mikewalker and MD Stingray
#8
The opposite happens to me lately. Last 2 basses I bought, I though I had made a mistake at first.
One of them was much more neck heavy than what I expected and the pickup location was different to what I was used, so at the beggining I was struggling to get the sounds I am used to with it.
The next one I tried befor buying, but I was decided to get it beforehand. The neck had too much relief, causing the action being too high. Also the feel of it was too different to what I was used. I bought it anyway, thinking I could fix the neck and adjust the action. I did and now I am really happy with it.
I know now that it takes some time, and some times also some adjustment and/or modification, to get used to a new instrument in order to achieve the best of it.
The more I play with them, the more satisfied I am.
I think I won't be buying any new instrument in a long time. These two deserve a lot of playing now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MD Stingray
#11
I’m pretty easy going apparently :). The only thing I’m ticked at right now is that my fretted 6 seems to be having some neck issues and has maybe used up all of its trussrod adjustability. Plays like crap in the middle frets, but I still gigged it last weekend.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MD Stingray
#17
The only drawback to your scenario is either; a person in your position is carefully noting down exactly what he/she likes/needs in a bass by process of elimination or doesn't. Finding out what you "don't know" about something is forward progress. It's a step up from "not knowing" that you like (for instance) narrower string spacing. Suggest you continue tabulating what works/doesn't work for you and use that *data* as leverage to make better decisions in the future. In other words, keep learning it's all good.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MD Stingray
#19
You should do what I do - build your own basses. That way, you can obsess over every piece of hardware, screw, etc. Yes, you'll never be completely happy with anything once you realize that you can change anything whenever you want, and you'll have a pile of parts you no longer use, but....it's a slightly less expensive hobby than flipping basses. Slightly. OK, very slightly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EddiePlaysBass, Conkal, Spidey2112 and 3 others

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back