Whats your preference traditional/ vintage style or modern/customs designed basses?

I like a lot of 'em. I've got the classic Jazz and an F Bass coming in. I also like single-cuts.

 

Eh, eh ...your preference is Sadowsky. It's the same for me ...

 

i prefer traditional Fender shaped bodies , although i can
appreciate some of the modern body designs ...

electronics ?
again i prefer passive , but i also own active basses ...

guess i just love basses that sound and look good .

 

I own a couple modern basses with neck-thru-body design and active pickups and they're good, but my main bass is a stock 1998 Fender Jazz. You can take a Jazz Bass to any musicial situation on earth and totally fit in, whereas you can't say that about these custom basses. I have played gigs where the active basses were completely wrong for the music so I'd switch to the Fender and all would be well. But I've never been in a situation where the Fender wasn't working out.

Studio bassists will quite often say, "If you want to do studio work but you can only own one bass, make it a Fender." I used to think they were high. After switching back to Fenders a few years ago, I see what they mean now.

But I have to add that my favorite basses are the ones played by good players. I couldn't give a crap what someone else uses as long as they're good.

 

My answer is...YES!

I love good ol' Fender Jazz and P bass looks...but lately I've been into more modern looking stuff. You can't get much more progressive than my new Dingwall. I'm really into vibrant color stuff right now...not necessarily bright, just rich.

I really don't like the look of 'melty basses' though...Specter and Warwick. And not much into extra pointy stuff.

 

A good mix is what I like. Take a look at my current bass It's got a fender jazz body shape, but it has an exotic top as well as active pickups and a 5 piece maple/purpleheart neck.

If i had to go one way or the other though, I would stick to the traditional side of things.

 

+1. Though I play mostly custom-built basses, they are essentially Fender designs. My main 5 is a Jazz design with a smaller body and Aero pups (passive). My take on the Fender concept.

 

My current bass is an American Deluxe Jazz but I'm going to be selling it to help pay for the two custom basses I have on order. I've definitely lost interest in the vintage look, as evidenced by the following:

Nordstrand NJ5 Deluxe with zebrawood top
Benavente Vortex 5 with goncalo alves top

Although I'm moving toward exotic looking basses, both these basses will be retaining elements of the vintage thing:
1. both are double cutaway vintage-inspired shapes
2. neither will have wooden pickup covers or wooden knobs. I feel that's the point at which it starts to look more like a piece of artwork than a musical instrument and I'd be afraid to take it anywhere.

I feel confident getting rid of the Fender because I don't see myself getting a gig where a vintage look would be absolutely necessary. One day, though, I'd like to have a custom built J-style bass in a 33" scale with active electronics, for those times when I might like to play something like that.

EDIT: Spec-wise, my Benavente is essentially going to be a custom 33" scale version of my Fender - alder/rosewood with a maple neck, etc.

 

I really like the look of jazz basses, and some modern exotic ones, as long as the body shape isn't pointy i generally like it.

passionatly hate the SG, les paul style basses.

P-basses are ok but not my favorite (even though i own one)

i think my ideal bass would be a jazz bass in pure white with a small maple neck, extra light strings and gold hardware,

'or'

a nice bit of kurrilian birch for a body with some kind of red-mahogany stain, a stained maple neck, passive p-bass special pick-ups (one split coil, 1 jazz bass) with a filter switch to change between them.
and a phaser pedal built into the body with a flick switch to turn it on and off with one round knob for amount of phase. 2-band EQ and a master volume. on a retro- looking white scratch plate. gold hardware.

maybe a little bit of gold intricate engraving on the body.

so really i kind of like fusions between the two. modern classical.

 

Modern....Give MTD, FBass, KL....anything without that chunky square heel. That being said, my favorite sounding bass is my $600 parts jazz.

 

It depends on what you consider modern. For example, Spalt Matrix basses could be considered modern but I think they look like a a piece of wood that was raped by a buzz saw.

On the other hand I love some of the ideas that have come out over past few years. For example steinberger necks, better aerodynamics and body shapes, use of exotic woods ... I could go on.

It is a matter of opinion but I have found that I like a foundation (eg. j bass, p bass) that has been improved upon to make it more functional.

By the way ... Good Thread!

 

I'm normally a vintage guy. Rics, and Js, and Ps, OH MY!

I wouldn't mind getting my hand on a Wal however. Those are considered "modern" right? I also do like Conklins. Ritters are pretty fugly in my opinion.

 

I love the Fender Precision and there's no doubt that I will ever own one (again) some day. But I also own a modern SingleCut bass. I doubt if Alembic fits in one of those two categories, after all they are around since the early seventies and I consider them to be timeless classics. So...

"guess i just love basses that sound and look good"

+1

 

I like the traditional/vintage look, sometime with a spin on it.

Electronics-wise, I like a blend. Passive p/ups with an active pre are nice.

I like a mix between the vintage and modern sound, more on the vintage side (70's J bass-ish).

 

I like both, depending on what I'm playing and who I'm playing with. Good thing I don't have to choose, huh?

Mike

 

Definitely modern.