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Your most playable bass?

#61
My Pedulla ThunderBass ET-4 is my most playable.

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#62
nickbass79 said:
I don't think the question is about skill level, it's about personal preference opinions on bass playability.
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Indeed. And my answer is that 99% of basses are very similar and it doesn't really matter which one you end up playing, you are likely to be able to play the entire repertoire required of you on any bass.

Should save a lot of people a lot of time and money. :)
 
#63
I agree that the more I play (and presumably the better I get), the less the differences between instruments makes to me, except at the extremes. But I can still feel the difference, and a nice low action, buzz free set-up lets me play more relaxed, and I think, a tad better.
 
#65
kevteop said:
Indeed. And my answer is that 99% of basses are very similar and it doesn't really matter which one you end up playing, you are likely to be able to play the entire repertoire required of you on any bass.

Should save a lot of people a lot of time and money. :)
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So you could agree that when a person finds the bass that is personally their most playable and comfortable it would be the remaining 1%, regardless of price or brand.

I agree that the more you play, the easier playing any bass is. I played the same bass for over 20 years, but I found my 1%.
 
#66
nickbass79 said:
So you could agree that when a person finds the bass that is personally their most playable and comfortable would be the remaining 1%, regardless of price or brand.

I agree that the more you play, the easier playing any bass is. I played the same bass for over 20 years, but I found my 1%.
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I don't completely agree. I've been playing stringed instruments a lot longer than that and there are plenty of marginal instruments out there. And depending on what you play, some stuff will be nearly impossible on a bass with lousy playability. Sure, I can cover most of my books on most any instrument, but I don't want to, and that wasn't what the OP asked.
 
#69
My recent ASAT-Jazz build. Squier body, G&L ASAT Bass maple neck. I can't put the thing down. I actually made two, but the one with the rosewood neck needs some fret leveling, so it comes in close second.

My G & L SB-2 is also very very good. And so is my 1974 Precision. My 1974 Telecaster Bass too, very nice to play, and my 1978 Telecaster Bass comes in at its heels.

I had a 1982 G & L fretless refurbished to fretted form, it needs some string height adjustment to make it good. The fretless I now have is also an ESP (neck) - Squier (body) mongrel, and as fretless basses go for me, I can live with it very comfortably.

The common thing in all of these is a nice and round, chunky neck profile, as opposed to slim and thin (I sold my G & L L-1000 today because I could not bear the neck profile).
 
#72
nostatic said:
I don't completely agree. I've been playing stringed instruments a lot longer than that and there are plenty of marginal instruments out there. And depending on what you play, some stuff will be nearly impossible on a bass with lousy playability. Sure, I can cover most of my books on most any instrument, but I don't want to, and that wasn't what the OP asked.
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That's what I was saying.
 
#73
Most playable now is a P with a 1.625" nut. Used to be a 1.75" nut. Before that, a 1.875" nut. Looks like I'm losing left hand flexibility as I age. The thicker a neck is, the less playable. Rounds are more playable than flats. 3/4" string distance at the bridge is most playable (fingerstyle), as is the standard 34" scale.
 
#75
My Ibanez SR1405 is my best playing . I like the narrow neck and the neck is very stable , I always thought the SR basses wouldn't have that great a B string but this thing just kills even on the B .

My other bass is a Carvin B50 and it plays incredibly too and it is the one that I play most of the time anymore . It is quite a bit different than the Ibanez with a much wider neck and I love it too but I know if I pick up the Ibanez I can play about anything in my abilility easier than with the Carvin .

Both sound great but that isn't the point of this thread .
 
#79
slyb5 said:
Might sound funny BUT my most playable is not my main bass...really far form it.

My 2011 fender P bass with flats is actually the most playable bass I have. Extremely fast neck and the lowest action ever...

Pity it lacks of versatility so I am using my jazzes more.
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Sounds about right - I had a 2011 MIM P with flats and, aside from it feeling "too" light compared to my MIA deluxe jazz it was definitely more playable. But like you said it was not versatile enough to get the majority of my use. It was also a 4 string most of the music I play requires 5 string or downtuning to Eb to be most effective etc. I'll grab another P, but this time a 5 and MIA - I'm sure my jazz will go back to being jealous.
 
#80
kevteop said:
Nah I meant that most of the 1% is probably garbage, or weird and fairly useless instruments, or very specialist instruments that most players are unlikely to need, like 6-strings.
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Good thing I need and have the skill to handle 6 strings. And, it is the most playable, beautiful and comfortable 6 string I have ever played or seen.
 

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