Why don't all basses have...

[Bob Coldwell]

Inaccessible trussc rod is about the most ridiculous thing I can imagine on a bass. I don't think highly of the neck tilt adjustment screw either.

I don't see any big advantage of the truss rod wheel over the headstock end nut. But I have taken to leaving my truss rod covers off.

 

[definenredefine]

I don't see any big advantage of the truss rod wheel over the headstock end nut. But I have taken to leaving my truss rod covers off.

It's probably mostly preference, but I have found the wheel a little easier to fine tune. Also I don't bother with truss rod covers either.

 

[Fun Size Nick]

Inaccessible trussc rod is about the most ridiculous thing I can imagine on a bass.

It’s like I’m talkin’ to myself here

 

[58kites]

But truss rod wheel on neck heel are strong point for me, Charvel and SBMM did a great job here.

Curve on back of bass body are nice, but don't curve on Fender or any legendary shape bass guitar.

I think the MusicMan style wheel on the heel is great too, or the way Yamaha does it at the heel.
Fender owns Charvel since 2002 and makes the Charvel basses, and you like your Charvel bass with the wheel at the heel.
Would you want Fender to make the wheel at the heel on your Fender basses? ...or do you like the old (+) thing at the heel on your Fenders?

 

[blr2]

Easily accessible truss rod nut must be standard on all basses. Another great feature (sadly found only on Warwick basses) is "just-a-nut" type of nut. Makes it so much easier to adjust the action at the nut and is reversible, if overdone. I guess the patent for just-a nut has expired, so no reason for other companies not copy it.

 

[58kites]

The truss rod wheel is fine I guess. It's just a bit of an eyesore. I've been building with an allen key truss rod at the end of the fretboard, with a small channel for the wrench. Some of you might think that's an eyesore I suppose....

The typical Yamaha method like this works good.
The MusicMan (and others now) wheel works great.

 

[Deleted member 394181]

A huge majority of acoustic guitars (and acoustic bass guitars) have built-in tuners. Why don't solid body instruments have them?

People already complain about weight.

 

[blr2]

Solid body instruments with all sorts of useless gadgets built in have existed, and were never popular. A tuner has no place in a solid body instrument, IMO. Just remember these horrible self-tuning Gibsons from a decade ago...

 

[dabbler]

...

I don't see any big advantage of the truss rod wheel over the headstock end nut. But I have taken to leaving my truss rod covers off.

The wheel can be adjusted with any piece of metal that will fit in the holes, a regular truss nut requires a correctly sized hex wrench.

 

[Ric Vice]

I know there's a contingent of TBers who think that if Jamerson didn't have it in 1963 we shouldn't now, but for everyone else...

Good point, The story goes that Jamerson once wrote LaBella a letter asking if they could “weld” a broken string back together. So not everything he did was golden.

QUOTE="SunByrne, post: 29260526, member: 346750"]
• Low battery indicator. (Yamaha BB734a). If the battery is getting low, just tell me? I mean, crazy, right? Who'd want that? It's an LED that costs maybe a nickel if you buy one and probably a fraction of penny if you buy in bulk, so cost probably isn’t the big barrier. (Yes, I know not everyone likes active basses. But for those that have them, seems like a no brainer.
What are your top 3?
[/QUOTE]

I know it’s not exactly what you’re looking for but the Batt-o-meter from Keith Mc Millan solves this as long as you remember to put a battery in the Batt-o-meter.

 

[58kites]

Inaccessible truss rod is about the most ridiculous thing I can imagine on a bass.
I don't think highly of the neck tilt adjustment screw either.
I don't see any big advantage of the truss rod wheel over the headstock end nut. But I have taken to leaving my truss rod covers off.

The neck tilt idea did not work well for Fender or Peavey.
If the neck is built right and the pocket is routed correctly for that neck heel, there should be no need for a tilt system.
The truss rod wheel is based at the heel and I think the heel is better place for your truss rod to start, I believe you end up with a longer truss rod. There are truss rods that start at the headstock/nut area and don't go far enough down to the last frets.
Also, people tend to used hex keys that are not the correct size and make a mess inside the barrel nut at the headstock.
That can't happen with the wheel at the heel, no hex key required.

 

[definenredefine]

Would you want Fender to make the wheel at the heel on your Fender basses?

I would. I'm probably not gonna buy a new Fender anytime soon, but it's still a good idea.

 

[58kites]

I would. I'm probably not gonna buy a new Fender anytime soon, but it's still a good idea.

I agree.
I can't understand anybody wanting to have one the old way when there are a few much better ways that don't really interfere with the looks of a bass. But I don't really understand caring about a new bass being an exact replica of an old bass if that means a deliberately inferior mechanical system.

 

[Fun Size Nick]

I agree.
I can't understand anybody wanting to have one the old way when there are a few much better ways that don't really interfere with the looks of a bass. But I don't really understand caring about a new bass being an exact replica of an old bass if that means a deliberately inferior mechanical system.

Speaking for myself, it just doesn’t bother me much. I’m just as happy to adjust a vintage Fender as a modern Ibanez, and for both I can do it tuned to pitch with the neck on. It’s just not a factor that affects my decision on whether to buy a particular bass or not. I’m sure there are a lot of other people who feel this way.

 

[58kites]

Speaking for myself, it just doesn’t bother me much. I’m just as happy to adjust a vintage Fender as a modern Ibanez, and for both I can do it tuned to pitch with the neck on. It’s just not a factor that affects my decision on whether to buy a particular bass or not. I’m sure there are a lot of other people who feel this way.

Always had to do it tuned to pitch, didn't we?

 

[jdjk7]

For me, it would be slightly raised polepieces for the middle strings to account for fretboard radius. I simply cannot fathom why so many J-basses have flush poles, especially with 9.5" or 7.5" fretboard radii. With a flatter fretboard radius you can get decent balance with flush poles, and some pickups produce better balance than others, but I'm surprised raised center poles aren't more common.

I don't like raised pole pieces because, with my string action and pickup height preferences, I have a strong tendency to cause strings to hit pole pieces while playing, which makes a loud and potentially speaker-damaging sound. Best case for me is either flush/recessed pole pieces, or pickups without exposed pole pieces.

 

[jdjk7]

So every once in a while when I buy a new bass, it'll have a feature on it that seems so obviously like a great idea that it makes me wonder why all, or at least more, basses don't have it. I know cost is a big driver and I get that not everyone likes what I like, but some of them are just so nice to have. I know there's a contingent of TBers who think that if Jamerson didn't have it in 1963 we shouldn't now, but for everyone else...

The three that get me the most:

• Truss rod wheel at the base of the neck. (SBMM Ray34) So, wait, you mean I don't have to take screws off to remove a plate to shove an Allen wrench into a cavity that I can't see into very well? I can just turn a dial? Yes, please.

• Low battery indicator. (Yamaha BB734a). If the battery is getting low, just tell me? I mean, crazy, right? Who'd want that? It's an LED that costs maybe a nickel if you buy one and probably a fraction of penny if you buy in bulk, so cost probably isn’t the big barrier. (Yes, I know not everyone likes active basses. But for those that have them, seems like a no-brainer.)

• Curved body. (Spector Dimension NS5). I'm sure this is cost-prohibitive to manufacture, but wow do I love this. I'd played Spectors in stores that had it and it seemed OK but perhaps not a big deal. However, now that I have one and play it regularly, I've come to love it and wish all my basses had this. Admittedly, like a lot of middle-aged guys I do have a beer belly, but the other folks I've had try it out don't and they've liked it, too.

What are your top 3?

Two of my basses came stock with a weird feature that most people had never heard of... a volume/tone bypass. When the bypass is off, the passive volume and tone work as you would expect. When the bypass is on, it bypasses the volume and tone pots and switches the signal from the pickup selector straight to the output. This gives you similar benefits to no-load pots, but also allows you to switch it on and off without messing with your knob positions.

I use this feature so often that I actually had it added to one of my other basses as well.

 

[Prodigus Filius]

The higher-end Ibanez basses have truss rod access behind a sliding cover. No screws to fiddle with. I don't have strong opinions about whether the truss rod access should be at the head or heel, but I figure if it's going to be at the head they did a decent job of dealing with it. As far as adjustments go -- I haven't had a problem though I can see how others might. Mostly, if I have to adjust the truss rod often enough for the method to bother me I'd probably start thinking about swapping the bass out for one with a more stable neck.

Paradox of a low-battery indicator is it has to consume power to operate and shortens the battery life. That said, iirc Audere offered it as an option.

Shouldn't make building all that much more complicated, we're in the CNC era.

Again, Ibanez has done this from time to time. Their Ergodyne series had arched bodies for iirc all but the lowest-tier models. It's not a final-word kind of solution but the Ergodyne I have is very comfortable to play. I would also like to see other companies adding this feature. What a few companies and builders do -- which is more similar than you might expect to arching the body in terms of result -- is taper the body across the bout, so it's thinner up where you rest your arm and thickest at the control cavity.

Not just higher end Ibanez. The Mikro has the slide open cover as well.

I’d like more zero frets.
Illuminated side dots
Built in ashtray for putting cigarette butts in. Nah. Just kiddin’. Kicked the habit years ago

 

[mouthmw]

For me, it would be slightly raised polepieces for the middle strings to account for fretboard radius. I simply cannot fathom why so many J-basses have flush poles, especially with 9.5" or 7.5" fretboard radii. With a flatter fretboard radius you can get decent balance with flush poles, and some pickups produce better balance than others, but I'm surprised raised center poles aren't more common.

I hate staggered polepieces. They’re incredibly uncomfortable when digging in above the pickup, I always hit my fingers on the magnets. That’s the first thing I changed on all of my Stingrays - push the pole pieces so that they’re flush with the cover. Instantly better string to string balance and comfort when playing above the pickup.

Here’s a compromise for you - adjustable pole piece height like on MFD pickups. So if you want to raise them, you can, if you want them flush - you can do that too.

 

[brianrost]

• Truss rod wheel at the base of the neck.

Or up above the nut, as was used on guitars long before the P-bass was a twinkle in Leo’s eyes.

Curved body. (Spector Dimension NS5). I'm sure this is cost-prohibitive to manufacture, but wow do I love this.

Make sure you send Ned Steinberger a birthday card every year, he came up with the radiused body. His NS Design Radius basses, too (doh).