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Your basses, past and present, highest to lowest quality.

Highest to lowest:

- 97 Warwick Thumb Bolt on (sold)
- 98 Warwick Fortress One (sold)
- 1997 Fender MIJ JBass (The One which I will be buried with, unless one of my descendants takes up bass, currently strung with flats)
- Cort GB75 (sold, had it for a couple of weeks before a big move so I just sold it, sometimes wish I had stuck with it)
- 1997 Yamaha BBG4 (sold)
- Early 2000s Washburn T25
- Frankenbass made with a local hardwood body and an old Yamaha BB neck, 2xMM (sold)
- 2015 Squier VM Modified Jazz (sold)
- 2019 Ibanez SRMD200 (sold)
- Early 90s Yamaha RBX250 (sold)
- ? OLP MM2 (Had it, sold it, recovered it, currently sporting rounds as my "snarly" bass. It's not high quality, but sure sounds awesome)
- Early 90s Yamaha RBX250 (sold)
- Yamaha RBX170 (sold)
...
...
...
...
...
- My first bass, a P-bass body hacked from particle board, with a no-name neck screwed on and matte spray painted. What a piece of crap but man was I happy with it :-)
 
I've had a lot of basses over the years that were good. Only two that i would classify as bad. So bad that I never even took any pictures. One was a Dean with a twisted neck. It was gifted to me so I either sold it at a garage sale or gave it to the thrift shop. Can't remember.

The other was a Kramer import. I didn't pay much, and it wasn't worth much. That one I gifted to my daughters friend to learn on.
 
IME quality and what I like don't have to match.
I thought the Rosewood neck Stingray (tobacco burst) was the most well built instrument I'd ever seen. It was purty as shag. Supreme burst for the ages.
And yet I couldn't gel with it. It was fickle with my amps & pedals. Sounded like a wet blanket on my tone. Sold it.
My main bass right now is a Rick 4003. It's not the best example of a 4003, but the tone is killer., even tho it chaffs up my wrist something cruel.
I really like my Maton JB4's as well, which aren't exactly Rolls Royce level of build quality either.

I guess what I'm saying is;
After 20 years of playing in bands - the quality of the instrument doesn't actually matter that much. It all comes down to what you can do with it.
 
I'll start with what I deem as the worst to best.

Sterling SUB Ray4
Korean Squier P
Squier CV Jazz
Fender Mustang PJ
Fender CIJ Mustang
Music Man USA SUB
Fender Active Deluxe PJ
Fender Aerodyne
Fender Parts Precision
Fender MIM Standard P - Ocean Turquoise
Sterling Ray34
Fender Player P
Fender MIM Standard P - Olympic White
Epiphone Custom Ripper
Fender MIJ P
Music Man Stingray 4H
 
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I owned a lot of basses over the years. The ones that are closest to my heart are the ones that are both good in quality and not too expensive. As such, the relative price I paid is also a consideration. Therefore:

Best overall (high quality/durability, moderate price) - Lakland Skyline (55-64)
High quality, high price - Dingwall (Canadian made AB2 - 5)
Very good quality, moderate price (for a custom build) - Bluesman Vintage Slab P
Very good quality, moderate price - Fender USA (Tony Franklin Fretless, AVRI 57 P)
Good quality, medium price (for a custom build) - Cataldo Fenderbird
Good quality, medium price - Fender MIJ 51P reissue
Good quality, moderate price - MusicVox 12 string
Acceptable quality, medium price - Waterstone 12 string
Unacceptable quality, high price - Ric 4001

All were purchased new. I had the Lakland beat the Dingwall only because the Lakland was about 1/3 of the Dingwall's price. That said, the Dingwall was excellent, just also expensive. The Bluesman is just slightly below, but also harder to compare. There was nothing wrong with it in any way, and it was made just for me, but maybe because it had a relic finish, I rated it a little lower. Still, the Lakland Skyline is my go-to. Not expensive, extremely rugged and durable, has the 5 string profile that fits me best, sound always fits.

I put the Fenders together - the USA ones I had were a little nicer (more old school in terms of manufacturing and finishing processes), but they were also more money than the MIJ. The Cataldo was also great for what it was - kind of in this overall range.

The 12's were kind of equivalent. The MusicVox was nicer, but also more expensive.

Bringing up the rear - Ric - very expensive, and also very disappointing.
 
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I've had a lot of basses over the course of nearly 30 years, so I'll shorthand this. The worst by far was a 1990s Series 10 Hofner copy. Dreadful instrument. I'm fortunate enough to have acquired numerous high-quality instruments, including a NYC Sadowsky, a BFR StingRay, an Alembic Epic, a couple of pre-CBS Fenders, a Fender Custom Shop P-Bass, a Hofner 5000/1 and a Nash J-63. But one of my favorites is a stripped '79 P-Bass with replacement parts. It's far from the highest quality bass i own, but it works like a champ.
 
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Well here we go for fun

'83 USA Fender Jazz bass (first bass)
Charvel Fusion IV
Musicman SUB USA
57 AVRI Precision
Nash PB57
80's Fender Jazz special
MIM P Special
Warwick Corvette $$
G&L MJ5
Gibson Thunderbird
Squire CV jazz (Last bass and least expensive)

ones that have left me:

Yamaha fretless Early 90's
Samick
Fender jazz pro fretless
Fender pbass lyte

my best bass is still my '83 Fender jazz and the least expensive is my Squire, which for the cash is a really nice piece.
 
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I didn't get to take a photo of the Greg Bennett Mini Corsair before I sold it, but this is what it looks like (not my photo):


From worst to best, combining factors like overall design, ergonomics, tone options, and quality control:

Samick Greg Bennett Mini Corsair MCR-1 - Tiny little thing that's very convenient, but a bit too small/light for average-sized adult male. The bass would move too much when you play a little harder, and it also had neck-dive. For the price the quality's great, but just not a good match for me.

Ibanez Mikro - A bit bigger/heavier than the Mini Corsair, so it's a bit more comfortable to play. PJ pickups have more tonal options too. It also has neck-dive (though other people's don't), and I had to use a string to tie to the headstock to keep it balanced. Recently I had to open it up to rotate the tone knob module away from the shielding paint because it was getting shorted out. Not as many options for strings as I'd like.

Fender Mustang PJ - Love the tone, but the neck-dive was severe (and I can't stand the giant headstock that's unnecessarily long, which not only adds to the weight of the neck but also bumps into stuff).

Ibanez SR650 - Nice solid bass. J-pickup's a bit noisier than normal. A bit heavier than I'd like at 9 lbs (I prefer 8 lbs or less). I wish the P-pickup was slighter further away from the neck (I prefer at least the distance of about 4 fingers' width, so it's more comfortable to do multi-finger snaps during slapping). Nice balanced with no neck-dive.

NS Design Radius WAV - The EMG pickup tone is very neutral, and for some it's a bit too sterile, but most people buy it for that unique piezo tone that's not like typical piezo tones (it has a huge bottom and does not thin out). You're not going to get a traditional tone out of this bass, so I consider it a niche product. Some might not like the one-piece bridge that doesn't allow individual saddle adjustments. Mine's 8 lbs., so just on the verge for me. Good balance--no neck-dive.

Ibanez SRH500F - Very simple and straightforward semi-hollow fretless, and sounds even better with La Bella black nylon strings (though make sure you get the 760N and not the 750N, because lighter gauge has too much upper harmonic noise). It's basically a poor man's Rob Allen. Mine's 7.3 lbs., and the neck is the very thin/narrow SR4 profile so it's very fast, smooth, and comfortable to play. It's probably the most comfortable of all my basses.

Ibanez EHB1505 - Great design (but taken from various other companies' headless designs) and the parametric mid-frequency sweep is much more useful than just a fixed frequency (and I wish there were two parametric mid-frequency knobs). Weights 7.9 lbs. for mine (some people's are even lighter). Quality control for this batch has been pretty bad though (multiple people posted about problems with their EHB model, including me), but fortunately mine only required re-soldering to fix. I hate the locking jack though--I have no use for it. Excellent balance with absolutely no neck-dive at all. One of the most comfortable basses I have.

Music Man Bongo HH 5-string - Very solid bass with great workmanship. Huge tone. 4-band EQ is one of the most flexible on the market. Mine was 9.4 lbs. so it was a bit heavy, but no neck-dive. The neck pickup is a bit too close to the neck for my comfort.

Dingwall NG-2 5-string - Excellent workmanship and oozes quality. Amazingly articulate tone. Nice 4-position pickup selector for tone options. Darkglass 3-band EQ is musical with good choice of frequencies. Pickups are a bit far from the neck so I added a Zero-Mod thumb-rest. But in the end, the 3-inch scale difference was too much for comfort and I decided to swear off of multi-scale and stick to normal 34" scale. Mine weighs 9.2 lbs, but it doesn't feel that heavy as it's balanced extremely well.

NS Design CR5 Omni Bass - It has one of the better electric upright tones out there, along with Takamine TB10 and Marco Marcustico, but it's a lot more ergonomic than those two. The Boomerang strap system is ingenious and very useful, allowing you to play horizontally and vertically, and switching is instantaneous. It was designed also for bowing so it's very flexible and useful, not to mention it has both piezo and magnetic pickups, so you can use it as both EUB and normal fretless. Mine's 7.2 lbs.
 
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From worst to first....

Squier affinity p-bass (sold)
Squier acoustic bass
Lyon P-bass (sold)
Squier PJ (sold)
Wishbass scarab (sold)
Dean 5 string acoustic
Peavey import fury 6 (sold)
Peavey import millennium 5 (returned)
Greg Bennett Remington fretless
Epiphone less Paul 5-string (sold)
Epiphone less Paul standard bass (sold)
MTD Kingston
Squier bass vi
Samick open headstock 5 string (stolen)
Ibanez EDC705 (sold)
LTD vintage 204 (sold)
Fender starcaster semi-hollow
Ibanez SR706 (sold)
Peavey USA foundation S (sold)
Peavey T-40 (sold)
Peavey USA fury
Peavey USA fury (sold)
Dean Brian Bromberg signature 5-string (sold)
Ibanez SRFF805 (sold)
EBMM USA sub (sold)
Warwick Corvette German 5 (sold)
Fender American deluxe jazz (sold)
Ovation magnum 3
DP custom 4
DP custom 5
EBMM bongo 6 HH (sold)
EBMM Big Al 4 (sold)
EBMM Big Al 4 DD2
EBMM 25th anniversary 5 HSS

I think that's it....
 
~Yamaha bb1200 4 string (82 or so) sold
~Fender p 4 string (70s) beautifully reworked by? Sold
~Ibanez rb885 5 string (86) still have it
~Yamaha 5 string (late 80s, can't recall the model #) sold
~Bc rich 5 string (drawing a total blank on the model)
~Gibson grabber 4 string (78 or so) no longer have it. My soul mate.

How 'bout you?
I've only had three:
• 1965 Green Japanese Bass of unknown brand (piece of :poop:). Paid $40 for it and sold it for $40 in 1966.
• 1966 - a 1965 Fender Jazz Bass! Bought it used for $175 (New was $279.99 in '65)
• 1985 - Bought my current Jazz which is an MIA 1982 Olympic White Jazz with maple neck and all white accents. Can't disclose price because it was a special deal from the music store where I worked at the time. Owner let me have it for less than we gave the customer trading it in towards an Aria Pro II.

First one was a piece of junk Japanese bass that I bought in 1965 before I had an amp for it. Bought a Fender Bassman amp in 1966 and performed with it once. After that performance I was asked to come play bass for an "established" high school band (was 16-yrs. old). Did that and quickly replaced my Green Japanese bass with a 1-year old 1965 Fender Jazz in Sunburst. Played that throughout High School and some college and then toured with it across the West and Mid-western US in a night club group making outstanding $$. Played it on weekend gigs after I quit touring and then it was stolen in 1976.

Current bass I bought in 1985 after looking for almost 10-yrs. for a MIA Jazz that had the same neck profile as my '65 Jazz. I put it in my will to my oldest son, who also plays bass, guitar, keyboards, french horn, trumpet, and a rock with three holes in it! I let him perform with it once about 20-years ago and he asked if was ever going to sell it...answer was no.

Don't have a pic of my '65 Japanese bass, but here's a shot of my '65 Jazz when I was touring (think this is from '72). You can see my Standel amp behind the Guitarist, Steve.:

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And here's my "White Lady":
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Worst to first.

Ibanez GSR 200. First bass. Got it in 1999, sold it probably in 2003.
Fender MIM P Bass. Got this during my Steve Harris phase, probably 2001. Sold in 2004.
Fender MIM P Bass. Wife's bass that had flats on it, 2006 or so until 2018. Never played it much and gave it away to a student.
Fender MIM Fretless Jazz with all sorts of mods, 2004 to present. This has been my mostly one and only for 15 years. Bought it on a whim on my 17th birthday and quit playing everything else. I love this neck so much. It may get some further work in the future. It's too "mine" to ever get rid of it, and the quirks are my quirks at this point. It may get a set of Darkstars some day, or maybe I'll go the complete opposite direction and drop a preamp in it.
Conklin GT7, 2002-2006. Great instrument that I got after getting the extended range bug from John Turner. Sold it because I never played it after I got the fretless. Great bass. Loved the feel of the wenge and purpleheart neck.

I've got a 2017 Bacchus Woodline 5 string Jazz coming next week, and I anticipate that being the best build quality I've ever had, but time will tell.
 
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Highest quality:
Dingwall Afterburner I 6-string: the most precise construction I've ever encountered, with corresponding playability and responsiveness.
Steinberger XP-2: love the way they used Allen head bolts instead of the usual Phillips wood screws. (Alas I never did completely warm to the sound - or look.)
Warwick Streamer Stage 1 5-string: loads of flame maple with German-engineered components.
Lowest quality:
Hate to say it but most of the vintage Fenders I've had. '69 P-bass was pretty sloppy. '72 Telecaster neck the truss rod was splitting the wood. '76 J-bass was heavy and chunky with all kinds of dead spots. Musicmaster from that era: tough to set up with cheesy bridge & tuners. At least the '78 P neck has endured with me.
I could mention various cheapos and/or hack projects but at least with those you're getting what you pay for.
 
Could you do best and worst, maybe?
Ah.. that's easier! :)

best so far is this one:
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I haven't bought too many bad basses, but the one that sticks in my mind as particularly unlikeable was a Travis Bean TB2000 (looked just like the pic below). It weighed a TON, had an awkwardly fat neck profile, and - unlike several subsequent aluminum-neck-basses from Kramer, Vaccaro, and Hartke - the TB neck always felt cold, and went out of tune a lot. TB not my cuppa tea! :)

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Ah.. that's easier! :)

best so far is this one:
View attachment 3811052

I haven't bought too many bad basses, but the one that sticks in my mind as particularly unlikeable was a Travis Bean TB2000 (looked just like the pic below). It weighed a TON, had an awkwardly fat neck profile, and - unlike several subsequent aluminum-neck-basses from Kramer, Vaccaro, and Hartke - the TB neck always felt cold, and went out of tune a lot. TB not my cuppa tea! :)

View attachment 3811053
Wow, that Miller is stunning! I always liked composite basses, wanted a Modulus but settled for the Steinberger, which never goes out of tune...unlike the Bean! I've heard the cold neck complaint a lot but assumed they'd be stable. This thread is very enlightening.
 
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