What's the worst bass you've ever owned or played?

[yanto]

Kasuga P copy. The body and neck were ok but the pickup was a cheap soapbar type which, one night at a gig, decided to pick up the local taxi radio conversations and beam them out to our audience. Oh how they laughed.B******ds

[GrammeFriday]

[TheGreek]

Either a Steinberger XZ or a Hohner Cricket Bat (fretless) - both equally sh1t and should only be used on an open fire!!

[Bradwell]

[quote name='Fionn' timestamp='1380816925' post='2231046']
The worst bass I've played was an Epiphone Thunderbird ... An absolute atrocity of an instrument.
[/quote]

Plus 1 for this, tried one in a music shop and it was set up alright but the neck dive was terrible, didn't like the feel of the neck either as the painted surface felt really slow - cheap paint is tacky and picks up grime. Body is a big heavy slab with poor ergonomics.

There's evidently reasons Kay aren't in the businees of making basses anymore, the epiphone thunderbird defies the very same reasoning.

[Geek99]

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1401615126' post='2465164']



Anyone going to tell me what 'ex-strings' are?
[/quote]
Ceased to be, expired, shuffled off this mortal coil, gone to meet their maker. ...
Dead.

[TheSiberian]

Kramer with an aluminium neck... After a half an hour of playing the neck got warmer, the aluminiun got some thermal expansion, the pitch went up and after each session my left hand was powdered gray and I had to clean the neck with a polish... Nightmare

[chriswareham]

Worst bass I owned was a Korean(?) made Aria with pointy headstock. Eventually snapped the neck, and as I dismantled the body for the hardware I discovered it was made from chipboard with a thick plasticky coating on it.

[chriswareham]

Worst bass I've played was a Marlin from a mail order catalogue. It was a loaner from a friend, weighed a ton, tree trunk neck, high action and rusty strings.

Edited September 1, 2014 by chriswareham

[inthedoghouse]

I can't remember what make it was, but in the early 70s I had a completely awful Jazz copy, my first bass. It looked really good but was awful to play and the fingerboard eventually came loose at a very inconvenient moment :-)

As someone else said, entry level instruments have come along so far these days and you can get a lot of guitar for not a lot of money.

[Twincam]

Hmmm worst bass in my view I've played/owned is probably the hofner violin bass there just horrible instruments, I like there sound, and how they look. but the build on any of them is suspect and they just are terrible in design, especially hating the close string spacing.

Then there's the epiphone eb0. Actually there decently made in general for the price, and they look great. But I could never get them setup how I like and they sound is very very one dimensional.

[TheGreek]

This one...by a long, long way...


[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Arrived today[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Looks impressive, huh?...Alembic look-alike, quilted maple finish, stripey wood neck.[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]The quilted finish is a sticker, the p/ups are the worst type of sh*te you have ever seen or heard, switches do nothing other than fill out the front. The nut holding on the jack socket fell off when I opened the box, the individual bridges are made of plastic and not adjustable, even if they were I wouldn't want to risk it as they'd probably fall apart under the pressure from a steel screwdriver. I reckon the most expensive part on it (not sure what part that might be) cost, say a £1.[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]The most expensive piece of firewood ever.[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Needless to say, I'm opening a case on ebay as soon as...[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I'll name and shame depending on the sellers response. [/font][/color]

[paul_5]

Mine has to be a dreadful Rickenbacker copy in the mid 90s. It was languishing in a friend's garage so I thought I'd give to a go; sounded horrible with really weak pickups and the neck was like a Robin Hood reject.

Closely followed by an [I]actual[/I] Rickenbacker.

[bassmayhem]

A bass exactly like this one:

Samick Valley Arts 6 string. Terrible balance, terrible tone, terrible spacing!
I took the neck, that was a really, really good neck, and threw the rest in the garbage recycling. With a friend's assistance I made a Jazz Bass body of 60 years old solid dried birch, equipped it with EMG DC45 and Hipshot bridge. It ended up being a very good bass. I sold it some years ago to a studio, where it was used a lot. It looked like this when rebuilt:

[oldbass]

Hard in a way to admit this but I played a black maple pre EB Stingray for years that was heavy and which I could never get a great tone out of. Was very happy to see the back of it.

[TheGreek]

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1509720960' post='3401197']
That's a very brief description on the listing. Did the seller provide anything further or did you bid on that description alone?
Braver man than I if you did.
[/quote]

I actually tried to send him my contact details (phone number) with several questions which resulted in eBay suspending my account for 7 days. It looked OK in the pics so risked it, knowing I had some protection with PP.

Fortunately he has responded to my message and agreed a full refund. Just waiting for the money to come through.

Edited November 3, 2017 by TheGreek

[Rich]

[quote name='bassmayhem' timestamp='1509722116' post='3401208']
I took the neck, that was a really, really good neck, and threw the rest in the garbage recycling. With a friend's assistance I made a Jazz Bass body of 60 years old solid dried birch, equipped it with EMG DC45 and Hipshot bridge. It ended up being a very good bass. I sold it some years ago to a studio, where it was used a lot. It looked like this when rebuilt:

[/quote]
Ooh yes. That, we like.

[pmjos]

Anything with buggered strings no matter how expensive it was...............except a 77 ray which sounds soooooooo Edwards

[DiMarco]

Worst "real" bass I have ever owned was an Alembic series 1. Absolutely tonally dead and boring instrument, sounded way too perfect and reminded me of synth bass sounds.
That experience made me hesitant to try any active basses for years and years until I found out about Warwicks and later on Zon basses, which ARE responsive.

[uk_lefty]

Brice six string. It was cheap... That's all it has going for it, I just got excited at the affordability of it. It had no character whatsoever and was heavier than lead. Just utterly pointless as an instrument.

[Linus27]

Status Shark. Simply horrid.

[leftyyorky]

Avon EB0 copy (flipped righty) it was my first bass at 16 years old, purchased from a catalogue. Didnt know much about them but looking back it was just a boomy pile of tat. 

Worst bass ever played- because of the cost and the endearing love some have for them, i would have to say the Hofner violin bass, looks cheap, feels cheap, sounds cheap, but certainly isnt cheap. Then again ive never understood all the adoration for Mr Mcartney's "tone" because to me he didnt have any from either the Hofner or the Rickenbacker. Maybe my hearing is not too good and I'm missing something.

One more thing to add, maybe I'm just lucky but I have a 2000 Rickenbacker 4003 lefty which is an absolute joy to play with a great neck and oodles of tone throughout the spectrum. I know we cant all like the same things and indeed it would be a very boring forum if we did, but I love my Rickenbacker ???

Ps I also love my £250 Squier VM Jazz which I would put up against a Fender anyday!?