Bass to the future...

[Grand Wazoo]

Describe what you'd like to see yourself playing in the next 10 years, also what sort of innovations, advantages you'd like to see featured in a bass 10 years from now? Not just gadgets, like onboard tuner and onboard effects, I mean real innovation in bass building, scale, frets, necks, pickups etcetera?

There are quite a few manufacturers who are members of this forum and perhaps by them reading this thread, ideas and suggestion can be made possible, so provide whatever sensible suggestion you might have and let's see which of these will materliaze in the future.

Oh and forget the EBMM gamechanger, that is just electronic fudge. Manufacturing and playbility innovations is what this is all about.

[BigRedX]

Most people will still be playing Fenders and moaning the new ones don't have the same vibe as those made before 2000...

[Truckstop]

I would like to see real DB tone from an electric bass. In my brain, I'm imaging a DB neck attached to a P bass sort of thing, with a DB bridge and tailpiece. So really, a DB that can be worn over your shoulder, but is essentially the same size as an electric.

Also, double neck basses, but instead of the traditional parallel necks model, I'm thinking one neck underneath the other. So, from the front it looks like a standard bass, but it's got one neck mounted behind the other. This way, you can have a double necked guitar without needing giant cases and without looking like a tool!

(copyrighted) Truckstop

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='Truckstop' post='1314024' date='Jul 23 2011, 06:07 PM']I would like to see real DB tone from an electric bass. In my brain, I'm imaging a DB neck attached to a P bass sort of thing, with a DB bridge and tailpiece. So really, a DB that can be worn over your shoulder, but is essentially the same size as an electric.

Also, double neck basses, but instead of the traditional parallel necks model, I'm thinking one neck underneath the other. So, from the front it looks like a standard bass, but it's got one neck mounted behind the other. This way, you can have a double necked guitar without needing giant cases and without looking like a tool!

(copyrighted) Truckstop[/quote]

Kind of like [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnIVkouFYhM&feature=channel_video_title"]this?[/url]

I think ERBs being more common with new designs (not just a normal bass with 10 strings!) like i have a few ideas though i'm keeping them to myself

Maybe new neck shapes, bass seem to get C and D and it ends there! I'd like a Boat/V shaped neck on bass,

Though i think things are alright as they are, plus people who have these bright ideas go start companies and we buy there stuff so no stopping people making their fortune

Fully adjustable nuts and bridges etc i think would like to be standard in 10 years though i don't really see it happening as it's not really neccesary and i guess falls in the nice gadget to have column

Edit: A new system for necks allowing necks to be changed easily or pickups to be just screwed down (ie no wiring and stuff) though thats all be looked at just never perfected

Edited July 23, 2011 by AttitudeCastle

[henry norton]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1314021' date='Jul 23 2011, 06:02 PM']Most people will still be playing Fenders and moaning the new ones don't have the same vibe as those made before 2000...[/quote]
HaHaHa!!!! Classic home truth!

If I have anything to do with it we'll see not only Fenders but shorter scale basses alongside them - players making use of different scales, constructions types and strings for different vibes in place of all these thru neck, double soapbar, active, laminated exotic wood 'superbasses'. I think the one bass fits all will make way for a more organic, character based approach. Oh, and solid finishes will become more dominant in place of exotic woods under thick, clear lacquer. I think it's got to the point where so many makers are trying to make one bass for all occasions there's bound to be a backlash.

Asides from that, Fender clones won't always have to be 34" scale with strictly utilitarian features - exotic woods and fancy electronics asides, there's still some development room left for the humble passive J, P Etc.

As for amps, well.............. and DB's, let me tell you..............

Not that I'm touting my business or anything

[chrismuzz]

I'd like to see the advantages of active electronics without the need for pesky batteries!

Also I'd be happy to see an increase in availability of extra long scale basses (35" or above)

[Batfastard]

I would like to see different pickups become mainstream, such as the Lightwave system. But also new designs of wound pickups. Another thing would be a better way to adjust pickup height.

[Blademan_98]

I would like to see basses that break down for travelling (planes etc) and are easily rebuilt - quickly.

But at a price I could afford!

[Prime_BASS]

General QC being of higher more thorough standard.
Setups that last longer, basses that dont have mood swings if you change something or the weather gets brisk.
Strings that never die!!!

Better quality hardware and electronics or cheaper basses, it can't honestly be too expensive to put on higher quality tuners of a squier, I've played some where in at tensions the tuner is loose and then stiff and juttering causer the gears font fit quiet right.

On active basses, somehow being powered by the amp head,

[stingrayPete1977]

Many of the things posted already either have or will be done and very few people bother with them so the P bass lives on. Prime bass's head driven preamp is already out there but at 99p for a 9v battery from home bargain I keep 2 in my leadbag at all times which is probably over 3 years life inc the working battery in the bass so would it be worth it? Maybe for those powering light up fretboards maybe but not pre amps IMO

Class D amps and lightweight cabs have been the biggest shake up since I started playing and could be the last before I finish maybe?

Edited July 24, 2011 by stingrayPete1977

[Doctor J]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1314021' date='Jul 23 2011, 06:02 PM']Most people will still be playing Fenders and moaning the new ones don't have the same vibe as those made before 2000...[/quote]
This gentleman wins!


I think Fender will finally have used up all the combinations of parts from the basses of the 50's to the 70's and will be re-issuing reissues, such as the soon to be legendary "'82 '62 P", having jumped the shark with the "54 77 classic", a 50's P with the single P pickup where a 70's J bridge pickup should be, but with the chrome cover still where the pickup used to be on the original. It will still sell like hot cakes, although many will lament the lack of a bound rosewood board with block inlays like the future 50's Porn Shop reissues. All in fashionable polyurethane, of course, whose time will come again.

[ThomBassmonkey]

I think there's already enough out there, as has been said people are still using a 60 year old design.

I'd like to see pickups designed that emulate other pickups, J shapes that sound like Ps, for example. They'd be popular amongst people that want a change without routing their basses, I don't think I'd have a use for them personally though.

[BigRedX]

Nearly everything suggested here already exists for the bass player that is adventurous enough to go looking for it.

Unfortunately they mainly occur in basses that are being made in small numbers by relatively unknown luthiers or manufacturers at prices above the cost of a standard MIA Fender. In order for these innovations to filter down to your average bass player they need INO two things:

1. Use by some high-profile musician who plays solid unflashy bass parts in a mainstream popular band.
2. A manufacturer who can figure out how to shave off at least 50% of the current production price without affecting the quality.

Until that happens they will remain the preserve of the more inquisitive players and those who are prepared to spend some time and effort for something different.

My prediction (which is entirely dependent on a manufacturer finding a way to substantially reduce the costs) will be the proliferation of basses using the Gus Guitars construction methods where a lightweight tonewood is wrapped in a man-made exoskeleton, to give the advantages of traditional tones combined with modern strength and stability.

Edited July 24, 2011 by BigRedX

[henry norton]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1314481' date='Jul 24 2011, 09:44 AM']2. A manufacturer who can figure out how to shave off at least 50% of the current production price without affecting the quality.[/quote]

It's called manufacturing in China

It's true that there hasn't been much real innovation since the early 80's but changes in predominant instruments are more to do with fashion than innovation anyway. The chances are the instruments everyone will be using in 10 years time will be whatever's cool rather than whatever's the most technologically advanced.

[BigRedX]

At the moment Chinese budget production is all about producing conventional wooden instruments using high-volume production off the shelf components. Most of the things that we have been discussing in this thread require specialist parts and different methods of production, and right now IMO reducing labour costs isn't the most pressing concern when trying to make these products cheaper.

[Fat Rich]

Depressingly I just don't think there's an appetite for innovation in the bass world, and probably even less so in the guitar world. Just plug in a Strat, a Les Paul, P bass, Jazz or Rik because almost all of the music recorded in the past 60 years was played on these, and Leo Fender got it right first time, right? And basses should only have four strings because the first Precision had four strings (except of course Fender made a five string bass and there have been five string upright basses for years.).

Attitudes didn't seem to be this way when I started playing 20 years ago. Players were interested in neck through designs, ERBs, composite materials, headless designs, the possibilities of midi, Transposing tremolo systems etc. but apart from some die hard fans none these design changes have caught on and affected the sales of traditional designs. To the point where some people with a bit of cash to spend on an instrument are prepared to pay big money for a Fender clone that is still basically a couple of bits of wood screwed together, fairly cheap material costs and almost no R&D costs as they're based on Leo's 50 year old designs.

Even worse there there a a surprising number of people on this forum who are prepared to slag off people who play something a bit different, I've been told that I'm: having a mid life crisis / have a mail order bride / Alan Partridge (and his jumpers!) / have manicured lawns / a slap monkey / compensating for lacking in the trouser department... just because I choose to play a Status bass. I know some of this abuse was meant in jest, but really? WTF? I didn't join Basschat to hear this kind of crap, it spoils an otherwise great forum.

Sorry, this has turned into a rant.

Getting back to designs, I think graphite necks, Novax fanned frets, Torsal Twist necks and Lightwave pickups, Kubicki's interesting neck construction and low D system, and Gus' construction are some of the greatest innovations in the bass world but I think it's unlikely to make it into the mainstream. I'd like to see an onboard preamp system like a simplified version of the Musicman Gamechanger that allows me to store some EQ settings and pickup combinations that are accessible at the flick of a switch.

But in the future most people will be playing a couple of planks of cheap wood with some vintage passive pickups.

Edited July 24, 2011 by Fat Rich

[BB3000S]

Pickups where the magnetic character (covering alnico, ceramic, neo, and more) of the pole pieces (made from alien metals) can be tweaked with a simple dial. Unless it qualifies as electronic fudge?

[Rayman]

I'd like to be playing dub reggae on a bog standard Fender Jazz.