Your Worst Bass

[Thundertips]

Charvel P style bass. Can't get decent tone.....looks cool though.
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Don't you hate it when a Bass plays good, looks good, but sounds like crap?
I've bought and sold a few of those. All of these ones in the pics were made in Korea. Plywood or Basswood for the bodies. I don't like the sound of Basswood on Basses. Seems like an ok wood for guitars. As for plywood you can just imagine what that sounds like! Forget it!

 

[MegaSwing]

If my worst bass ever knew I thought that way about it, it would kill me in my sleep.

 

[crabbybassman]

I guess my USA Fender P Bass sits on the top of my poo list for basses I own. I think the Classic 70s Squire P bass I have is far better. I'd use my Fender P Bass more if I owned a John boat. I keep it locked up just so I can say I have "the" bass but for me I can't stand it at all. Sure is purdy though.

 

[Scarysharkface]

What’s the worst bass you have in your collection, and why do you have/keep it? As always, pics are encouraged!

All of mine are wonderful in their unique ways, but probably the worst one is the Precision, just because it's got the fewest frets and tonal options of the bunch. I could easily live the rest of my life with that as an only instrument, as I could with any of them. It's also been the bass I take with me when I travel.

John

 

[Bassdirty]

View attachment 3796837
The only thing actually wrong with it is the weak stock pickups... and the blah white pickguard maybe. I would upgrade them but I just can't get comfortable with the runway of a neck. It's still around because it's my only 5er and I'm too cheap to spring for the bass I want to replace it with.

How come this picture has the talk bass "logo" in the bottom corner? Ive never seen that before. Others don't have it..

 

[JimB52]

1972 Hayman 40/40 with a frozen truss rod.
Worst one ever was this unknown make Japanese Pawn Shop Bass my first one. Just awful

 

[Bassdirty]

Ahhh, my first bass. An ibanez gio I bought new with the first paycheck I ever earned. Cover in stickers. Absolutely dripping in memories of my first band, first shows, I used to carry it around in a gig bag when I was 16 to play where I was headed. Used to play songs for my now wife (we we're usually partaking in the electric lettuce). That was 18 years ago. Wow. She still puts up with all this. Great thread. Memory flood I tell ya. In fact I stole that NOFX sticker off her binder in lunch when we first met back in 02
View attachment 3797059

Cool story..

1972 Hayman 40/40 with a frozen truss rod.
Worst one ever was this unknown make Japanese Pawn Shop Bass my first one. Just awful View attachment 3797700

I had a pair of pants similar to that of the smaller fella in that pic.
It was mid 70's, and prolly hand me downs from a decade before..

 

[ruju]

Hmmm. Good question. I have a bestickered Washburn XB-100 that can be really hit or miss from one gig to another. I keep it for the stickers, mostly. View attachment 3796419

Looks great!

 

[BassBrass]

My worst is a pretty good bass: Westone Spectrum (in red) PP pickups closer to the bridge for a bright sound, $70 ebay from Florida with a crappy neck paint removal job (original black is sticky in high humidity) rusted hardware (a Florida thing?) other than cosmetic issues, it's strap peg is badly placed on a too-short horn so it's never been a bass to play standing. Otherwise it is super punchy (flats on it) hottest passive pickups I own, and I can see why there is a Westone club. Great rock bass.

 

[walking Bass]

A very good bass, beautifully made and finished with fine tone. I bought it because I thought I needed a 5-string. Turns out I really don't. It's heavier than my other basses, so it gets the least use, but none of my basses are less than perfect.

Ken Smith - Burner 5 by Ted, on Flickr

 

[Ed455]

I don't have a "worst" at the moment. I own three instrument that are quite different and when I play each one, I love it. I DO go through phases when I only want to play one of them for awhile (currently My Lakland DJ5).

The worst I've owned in the past - Peavey Patriot (built circa mid-80's) easily the worst. Had an USA P-Bass that never clicked with me either but that's a taste issue, not the instrument.

 

[Ostie]

My worst bass was the first one I learned to play on. It was a POS Kingston with a laminated neck. But hey, it got me started. I actually got rid of it years ago.

 

[MoeTown1986]

My worst bass currently is my Epiphone Jack Casady Gold Top because it stopped working. I love the thing and due to the Covid crap, I cannot get it to my tech anytime soon.

 

[devnulljp]

I don't have a 'worst'
3 vintage P and 2 vintage J and a Shen upright is all I have, and I love them all

 

[kbakerde]

What’s the worst bass you have in your collection, and why do you have/keep it? As always, pics are encouraged!

Do you mean the worst bass you have now? Or have ever had?

 

[kbakerde]

I've owned many crappy basses. But I've cycled through so many, I don't keep any of my GOOD basses, let alone my bad ones. Currently I have a '07 Nash JB-63 and a German Warwick FNA.

I can think of 4 basses I thought were "bad" by some measure:
My first bass, black Yamaha. Late 80's, early 90's entry level, used, was like $100. It did the job, but wasn't great. Only one pickup was working and it took me 2 years to figure that out.

Traded it in towards bass #2, Dean Edge 4. The good, beautiful, easy to play, very light. Bad, $0 resale value, tone wasn't great.

Bad bass #3 was a Peavey Foundation Fretless I got. This thing had been abused in a previous life. It was poorly stripped of a black finish, and had a heavy and poorly applied poly clear coat on top. Also they didn't remove the pickups when doing the poly, so they were basically epoxied to the body itself. A bit of a disaster.

Bad bass #4, wasn't really too bad. I got a very cheap knock off Ash P body. I finished it myself, put a Mighty Mite neck on, Fender Original '62 and pickguard. What made it bad was the body dimensions weren't exact, so the pickguard had to be forced into position to be around the neck pocket, the pickups and still put the pots in the top route. That and the fairly cheap hardware made a good sounding great playing bad bass.

 

[dkelley]

Update: After playing bass last night when I couldn't sleep.... I can safely say that my worst bass is whatever bass I was playing last night - I don't even remember which one, but I couldn't even play a scale without fret buzz and uneven tone on each note.

It's GOTTA be the bass, right?

;-)

 

[Yellow Bang66]

I have a Dean Flying V bass with a humbucker in the MM pickup spot. Got it on impulse because I had store credit at Guitar Center from returning a pedal 7 or 8 years ago. It was $199 plus tax.

Its enormous and ergonomically terrible. The only way I could play it for more than 10 minutes without the strap pinching a nerve in my neck was to move the front strap button from the neck plate to the side of the neck at the 12th fret. There's no case or bag that fits it that doesn't cost more than it did new.

I still have it because I haven't found anyone willing to give me $50 for it after they try it.

Sorry,No pics until Unquarantined! I had to really think if I have a bass I dont like, since I love modding my basses, each one has a little something "cool" about it,but I do have one i've neglected, because its old & I just got tired of it. It was the 3rd bass I ever owned. My grandmother bought it for me after my Dad passed away,so I held on to it. it was my first "good" bass, the 1 I wasn't embarassed to play out! it is an old 1983-84 Beat up Ibanez Road star II. Nothing on it is standard, so its difficult to mod & upgrade.unfortunately, I've left it out on a stand, so it gets Reliced on display! IDK why I guess b/c its a tank & I dont mind it getting dinged, I even loan it out, A true Beater!

 

[MotorCityMinion]

My second bass when I was 16. B.C. Rich Warlock. Sounded great, but was the most uncomfortable playing bass ever. Balance was poopie, no arm contour made it awkward to play.

Ya beat me to to it. I had a mid 80's Warlock, custom order, Natural Qm with Rosewood veneer on the upside down, 4 in line head stock, dual humbuckers and 6,491 possible sound combinations with all those pots and switches. Looked nice but was definitely not ergonomic. I hated all the control options as well. I traded it for a Charvel p/j with EMG's and A Modulus Bassstar neck. Still have it today

 

[John Webb]

I guess my USA Fender P Bass sits on the top of my poo list for basses I own. I think the Classic 70s Squire P bass I have is far better. I'd use my Fender P Bass more if I owned a John boat. I keep it locked up just so I can say I have "the" bass but for me I can't stand it at all. Sure is purdy though.

Sad.....