ThomBassmonkey Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 The singer in my band has a Squier J that he's de-fretted himself (and didn't fill the holes) and the neck is now basically U shaped (I think it could double as a bow in the hands of a decent archer). Add that to the fact that it's a 4 string that's been modified (badly) into a 5 string (drilled headstock for the extra machine head, badly cut uneven nut and a bridge that's been fitted wonky), it's pretty nasty. I've played quite a few that were terrible but they're usually in bad shops so I don't know if the bass is actually a dog or if it just needs a bit of TLC. The Warwick Thumb 5 BO I had was pretty bad when I bought it. The neck was so twisted I had to pick between half inch action under the E string or for it to feel playable to me, the G string would be almost resting on the frets unless I set up the bridge seriously wonky (and even then the action was far from consistent over a string). But that was fixed before I sold it on and turned it into possibly the best playing bass I've ever had.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gust0o Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 Epiphone Thunderbird. Bridge managed to pull itself out of the body under string tension. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 [quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1359586762' post='1957291'] Vox Clubman bass... maybe worth a couple of bob to Vox collectors now (if they're really that daft..?). [/quote] They're not worth much at all, so you're safe. That Continental on the other hand... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iconic Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Aria SB-R60....looked lush, dull as can be...nothing wrong with it but so disappointing. Worst one I played...OLP 4 string, really very bad, I can see why Ernie pulled the plug. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 [quote name='Musky' timestamp='1359590657' post='1957371']They're not worth much at all, so you're safe. [/quote] Oof..! [quote name='Musky' timestamp='1359590657' post='1957371']...That Continental on the other hand...[/quote] Long since gone, swapped for a Hohner electric piano, which went to my parents, then got 'parted out' when we couldn't tune it any more. Fond memories of tinkling the ivories, though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 sh*te soundwise or contstruction? Construction wise an Epiphone T bird I was setting up for a mate. Honestly don't think they could have used a softer metal on the metal parts and just a bit nasty. Even worse than the made of cardboard dan electro I had for a while. Most other things you can get playable can't you? Sound wise... dunno, nothing really awful. Some really really bland sounds though. the epiphone above being a prime example! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 My Columbus series 2 fretless jazz wasn't that great. Other than that, I guess I've been quite fortunate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 The college I used to work in had a dreadful P Bass copy. I think it was an 'oldfield' or something like that. Action so high you could play slide on it, rattling tuners and sounded like somebody had knitted the pickup. Like I say, dreadful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Westone Spectrum II. Everything about it was awful, pickups, pots, jack, neck, body, action....wait, the tuning gears were alright but I hated the pointy headstock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nibody Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Dean Metalman Flying V. Foul thing - Neck was like a barge and it sounded awful. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Tied with a Vox White Shadow - my first bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I've only owned one bass that I really hated. Squier VMJ Fretless. Nothing wrong with the bass if you were used to Fender designs, but 25 years of playing basses that owed little to the work of Leo Fender meant that I wasn't, and it was full of things that I simply couldn't get on with. The lumpy neck joint and the non-angled headstock were constant sources of frustration when it came to playing and trying to keep the thing in tune. It didn't balance nicely on the strap, I couldn't reach the G-string machine head easily, and no matter what I did, it always sounded thin and weedy compared with my other basses. Eventually sold it and bought a Pedulla Buzz which is what I should have got in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaydentaku Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I have been lucky enough to have never owned a sh*te bass. I have loaned an epiphone jazz, which I was going to buy, but it was truly horrid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilLordJuju Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 [quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1359586762' post='1957291'] Late '60's, bought from a s/hand music shop in Addlestone for £20, a Vox Clubman bass; very short scale, fragile build[/quote] Bargain price (today anyway). The vox clubman (see mine [url="http://www.vintageguitarandbass.com/vox/bass/Clubman.php"]here[/url]) isn't so bad. I even used it in the studio once. The rest of the session was done with a Les Paul recording bass, and I wanted an opposite to that, so I used it. Sounded great through an Ampeg B15 (but everything sounds great through a B15!) I'll agree they are poor compared to most modern basses, but they are useable. The neck isn't too thin, and despite no adjustable truss rod, you can still have a low action with light strings. The Vox bassmaster ([url="http://www.vintageguitarandbass.com/vox/bass/Bassmaster.php"]here[/url]) on the other hand has a mega-thin neck, and to me is unplayable. Most UK-built Vox guitars do seem to suffer from sharp fret edges, and position marker dots falling out. I think many bad basses are often just badly set up/looked after, rather than being inherently bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 [quote name='evilLordJuju' timestamp='1359630599' post='1957752'] Bargain price (today anyway)...[/quote] It didn't seem so cheap at the time; I bought it in the late '60's (yes, I'm old, I know... ). I was 18-ish, on apprentice wages (£6/week...), and completely clueless about basses (and, indeed, most other 'facts of life'... ). It served good stead in replacing the Burns Bison 6-string I'd been using for bass up till then, but I didn't regret switching to drums, nevertheless. Glad to hear you got it to work for you ([i]sounds of general applause, or, at least an applau or two[/i]...). Happy days... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Vader Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Always been a tinkerer, so never had a bass I couldn't get playing/sounding any good. Though I had a Yamaha BBsomething or other for 3 years, kept fiddling with the action, truss rod, everything, and never could get it to play or sound as nice as my trusty old Sunn Mustang... unexpected eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopper Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 My first bass in the early 80's was a Duke built by the (un)famous Kawai/ Teisco company. It took 15 years after that experience until I bought a bass again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu-khag Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I had a BC Rich on loan from a friend for 6 months when I first started learning. horrible thing. Looked exactly like the Fender Duff Mckagan models- (cream colour, black hardware but a pointy headstock). No idea what model it is. I had to practice really hard to play the thing which meant when I moved on to my mex jazz bass (which is still my number one) it was amazingly easy to play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-soar Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I've always set-up and modded most of my basses so they were generally ok. But I did try a Wal out at the Bass Cellar, what a massive dispointment that was, they just feel clumsy and wrong, IMHO. My cousins Ibanez Rick copy, the entire fingerboard fell off! But my Jaydee Mark King sounded and played great, until you got past the 5th fret, then the neck had so many dead spots. I was recording with it once and the rest of the band were in the control room and said that I had missed out some parts from the bass track, the bass was soloed back and the difference between the lower notes played below the 5th fret and above was shocking. I believe the truss rods were to blaime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregBass Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) Jeez - you lot don't know you're born. My first bass was an Egmond. I can't find any photos, but it was a forerunner to the Lucky 7. It had a neck like the handle of a cricket bat, held on to the body with two screws. As far as I know, no truss rod. A single pickup was screwed to the end of the neck, with the controls on a floating scratchplate held to the body by one clip. It had an in-line, non-adjustable bridge so there was no intonation adjustment. The bridge was also floating, so the intonation changed song to song. This bass is now in bits in my loft. I played gigs for a year with that before upgrading to an Epiphone ET-280. Edited January 31, 2013 by GregBass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhoNeedsYou Posted January 31, 2013 Author Share Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) I meant a bit of both! I've luckily escaped sh*t basses, tho mine aren't fantastic quality (cheap as chips) but they're not total sh*te either, even my first westone concorde was solid, set up nicely & pleasant to play. Tho I was really desperate for a white encore precision at the time (god knows why!?) , so so so glad the man from the shop & my bruv both talked me out of it! Edited January 31, 2013 by WhoNeedsYou Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevB Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Had the typical low end stuff when I was first teaching myself to play. An abused Columbus jazz with dodgy neck (shame as it was bound with nice MOP block inlays, sadly too wrped to be really taken seriously) though I later replaced everything apart from the body and turned it into a half decent instrument. Also early on had some red Hohner P type bass or other, that didn't last long either. In the more recent past (within last 15 years) the one that lasted shortest was the reissue Burns Bison. Bought on a whim to try something different, never got on with it. Doesn't make it a bad bass per se, it was just a bad bass[i] for me[/i] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donnyboy Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Looking back the worst was my first - don't recall it having a name[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]. It was short scale and sunburst , bent neck, high action, didn't stay in tune and sounded a bit like a farty trumpet, It's probably now an expensive and rare collectors item . I mean £5 was a lot of money in the late '70's!!! [/font] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjay69 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Mine was a bad news Precision that i saved up for a bought out of the shop window for £85, it didn't even have a name but looked Like this, which was all i cared about at the time. I can still feel the blisters from that (must be) 15mm action. I lent it to a drummer a while later who never gave it back ! you have been warned... i wonder what he did with it ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mep Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Mine was a Marlin. I think it might have been the Sidewinder. Felt awful & played awful. A cheap plank of wood that kept me going after my beloved P-bass copy was stolen and before I got my Charvel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbellishment Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 [quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1359588467' post='1957332'] BC Rich Mockingbird (budget range model) Weak pick-ups, uninspiring tone, terrible neck dive [/quote] +1, except mine was an Ironbird. Cost about £3/400 from Windows in Newcastle about 15 years ago. Passive P style pickups. The only description I have for the sound is "cheap and nasty"... also probably the worst ergonomics and balance on any instrument ever created. I didn't even think it was worthy of passing on to anybody else so I threw it in a skip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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