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The one that got away and the one best shut of...


interpol52
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Hi everyone

On holiday in France and can't sleep. Just been 'counting basses', it's like counting sheep but with basses that have been and gone over the years! So by the wonders of free hotel wifi I thought I would start something with you all. Two simple questions.

1. Which bass do you wish you had kept hold of?
2. Which bass turned out to be a stinker?

My answers

1. R*ck*nb*ck*r 4001 - a 1975 beauty, sounded like nothing else before or since, sold it when money was tight. Bad move.
2. Musicman Stingray - it had the weak G string problem, it drove me nuts.

I wish I still had all the basses I have ever owned!

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I had a very early Squier Jazz Bass and the neck was superb.....but i sold it when i was skint and i've regretted it ever since.....oh well

My first bass was a Marlin Sidewinder.....weighed about three hundred weight.....

Edited by Number6
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Only sold my first two basses, The first one sucked for me (P bass named Flasher). A mate enjoyed it for years after a proper setup.
Second bass was a Ibanez soundgear 500, served me well untill I switched to 5 strings.

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[quote name='interpol52' timestamp='1406498346' post='2511997']
Hi everyone

On holiday in France and can't sleep. Just been 'counting basses', it's like counting sheep but with basses that have been and gone over the years! So by the wonders of free hotel wifi I thought I would start something with you all. Two simple questions.

1. Which bass do you wish you had kept hold of?
2. Which bass turned out to be a stinker?

My answers

1. R*ck*nb*ck*r 4001 - a 1975 beauty, sounded like nothing else before or since, sold it when money was tight. Bad move.
2. Musicman Stingray - it had the weak G string problem, it drove me nuts.

I wish I still had all the basses I have ever owned!
[/quote]

As I read the title two basses came to mind but the other way round to yours :)

Sold both a '78 4001 and an '86 Stingray a few years ago (in the same week actually).
The Ric was a dog and I've never looked back, but the Stingray was quite special (no weak G at all).
I was mad to let that one go. It was very roadworn and the others I've played new in shops have always felt a bit sterile by comparison.

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I had a squier P as my first bass that was such a horrible plank it still makes me shudder me to think about it.... Glad I got rid of that.

I have sold some wonderful instruments, but ultimatly I've kept the ones that really work for me, so I've no marketplace regret really :)

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I had a Sting signature bass which I wish I'd never sold on. Wonderful instrument and looked incredible!

Worst piece of crap I ever owned was a Guild Starfire (I think it was called). Utter dogshit. Horrible body shape, made of polystyrene, horrid microphonic pickups, almost painful to wear on a strap and sold on for a tenner the next day.

Truckstop

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Even though I've been through dozens of basses over the years, I don't really have one I wish I hadn't sold, unless we can count purely financial motives, in which case the 4001 Jetglo I sold for £200 in the mid-80s or the early 70s Precision I sold for even less are a bit eye-watering nowadays...

Ignoring real cheapies, the worst £-for-£ was the brand new Rick 4003W I bought and returned recently, tho it was nowhere as dull as the 78 Jazz, which was a 11lb 12oz boat anchor that played and sounded, for want of a better word, [i]brown[/i].

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I traded a really nice early Overwater original shape in Purpleburst for a pair of EMG jazz pickups. I was young and even stupider than I am now.

Selling my first bass, Coumbus Jazz, was a very good move.

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1. That would have to be the Jaydee '87 Supernatural that I traded with another BC member. Great bass but for some reason I couldn't seem to get on with it so swapped it out for, erm, I can't remember now. I'd like the chance to give it another go sometime but I happen to know the current owner is very pleased with it thankyouverymuch and very unlikely to let it go any time soon. :unsure:

2. I had the bright idea of buying a cooking bass for students to use, and bought a Vintage P from a musical colleague (though not a bass player, as will become obvious) for £125. Quite possibly the worst bass guitar I've seen in my entire life (and as an ex-tutor I've seen a few :o ). The last time I lent it out was to a promising young lad of about 15 or 16. Shortly after that I had the back problem that caused my retirement. I didn't even bother to ask for it back - that's how much I missed it! :lol:

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hhmmm,

regret sellling - I had a really lovely USA J natural/maple in the late nineties that I got new, around the time they started rolling the fingerboard edges, it smelled and sounded lovely, I didn't keep it long as I couldn't get on with the feel of it, stupid thing was if I'd known to get a good set-up on it it would have probably been a keeper :( ah the folly of youth :dash1: If i could have it back now I would!!

glad to be shut of - none really, they've all been interesting waypoints on the journey towards working out what kinds of sound I like to make or what sounds I need to make for a particular project...I've had some cheap basses but they all fit a particular bill at the time...I have discovered a few things though...
I'm not keen on Rickenbackers, they're just not my bag baby,
I don't really like the sound of G&L, I've had a couple and I love love the feel and build quality of them but there's something grating in the top end that I loathe though, I could get one and change all the electrics Isuppose...hhmmm that sounds like a goooood idea :gas:
I don't like status very much, the 'sound of graphite' doesn't do it for me,

...other stuff I've had, I'd probably have again if it suited what I needed at the time.

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I do miss my Epiphone Les Paul (Not So) Standard bass. EMG-HB pickups, EMG-BQC preamp, selector switch added. Even managed to squeeze the battery into the existing cavity. Black, with cream binding. Raised eyebrows and smiles wherever it went. I have a Gibson Les Paul Double Cut which kinda fills the small body/huge long neck void, but man that was a good sounding/feeling/looking bass.

While there are many basses in my past that I don't miss in the slightest, I don't think any of them were awful. They were just not what I was looking for/what I thought they were or didn't get along with them because of me or simply saw something I liked better and had to raise funds.

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My first bass - Fender Musicmaster ( I still have the owners manual for it and always check the serial number against any white ones I see ) sold when skint at college age 17.
My old faithful JV Squier Jazz sold to a fellow Basschatter about 23 years ago, he still has it ( and has more of an emotional claim to it after all these years) but I still miss it and badger him about it when I get the chance!

Edited by ash
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The one I don't miss at all is my de-fretted Avon jazz copy - crappy electronics and a twist in the neck, donated it to my local jam night.

Of the ones I've moved on, I miss my Lakland Duck Dunn a bit, but tbh it wasn't the right bass for me; same as my MIM Jazz, sold that one to the blole who runs the aforementioned jam night, so still get to play that from time to time.

I wouldn't mind having my Ibanez K5 back, part exed it against an EBS cab. With a pickup and pre-amp upgrade it would be a really good bass.

However if I could have one back it would be my Mayones custom be4 Exotic - lovely modern, hi-fi sounding bass which I recorded my old band's album with. However, moving it on was the right decision and if I had it back it would be for sentimental reasons and probably wouldn't get a lot of use.

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Life goes on without it but I suppose I was quite nostalgic for my Fender Precision Blue Flower 55 bass. That or the 51 P bass but I have them covered by my 2 Squiers I play these days.

In terms of disappointment, I was a big Epiphone user for a while and the Flying V was a real let down with weak sounding pickups.

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My previously and publicly lamented Westone Thunder 3 fretted as mentioned in my thread "The one that got away". Pain eased recently by obtaining its fretless counterpart.

I had a Washburn Bantam once. Sounded thinner than Kate Moss run over by a steam roller. Could not get a good sound out of it. Sold at a loss, smiled as it left. Smiling now at the fact I STILL don't own it.

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I regret selling an mid 70's Epiphone ET280 shortscale. Strung with LaBella flats, it had a deep, old school tone that would have been great doing old motown and soul covers. I bought to play reggae and dub, but by the time I got round to doing that, I was no longer in that band...

The one I'm happy to be rid of is a natural OLP 4 strings. One dimensional, and the combination of pickup position and my plucking technique meant that I spent more than one gig trying to stop my finger from blistering first, and bleeding later. Gave it as a trade in for the peavey bxp, which I still keep at my parent's home in Italy, and use to do the occasional gig/jam.

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Don't really regret selling asny basses. Though not a stinker the one I shouldn't have bought was a reissue Burns Bison, holds the record for my shortest ownership but got back virtually what I paid for it so no harm done. If I'd ever seen one in a shop to try in advance I wouldn't have got it.

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Should have kept my Jaydee MK11 and the MM Ray which I sold to Sshorepunk - didn't realise how much better it was than the newer ones. At least with the Jaydee it went to somebody who appreciates it.

No regrets whatsoever about selling my Hohner Cricket Bat back in the 80s - good only for use on an open fireplace, weedy sound, garbage EMG "Select" pickups - bought only because I saw a picture of Sly & Robbie with one (Mr Shakespeare obviously had the Steinberger). Never been impressed with any Fender I've ever owned hence why I shy away from them now.

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[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1406568472' post='2512559']
Should have kept my Jaydee MK11 and the MM Ray which I sold to Sshorepunk - didn't realise how much better it was than the newer ones. At least with the Jaydee it went to somebody who appreciates it.

No regrets whatsoever about selling my Hohner Cricket Bat back in the 80s - good only for use on an open fireplace, weedy sound, garbage EMG "Select" pickups - bought only because I saw a picture of Sly & Robbie with one (Mr Shakespeare obviously had the Steinberger). Never been impressed with any Fender I've ever owned hence why I shy away from them now.
[/quote] Not just me that doesn't like Fenders I see..

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1) The Squier vintage modified Jazz I had was a decent bass despite needing the frets levelling from new. Too bad it weighed 10 stone.
2) Epiphone Thunderbird. Heavy, dull sound, awkward shape, atrocious neck dive, impossible action. But they just look so f***ing cool!

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