Your dealbreakers on basses?

[Oomo]

Any of you have absolute dealbreakers on what you do/don't look for in a bass?

 

For me it's:

 

1) block inlays - for some reason I just can't stand them (dots are just about acceptable, but prefer side markings only)

 

2) neck dive - I've tried various things, but basses with neck dive just drive me crazy. I find myself constantly adjusting them, fiddling with straps, knocking over cups of tea when they dive unexpectedly, etc.

 

Most other things I'm willing to live with though...

[LeftyJ]

• Sharp, angular body edges (i.e. Rickenbacker, semi-hollowbodies, 1951 style P-basses, Sire V9 and up);
• Neck dive;
• Filter-based preamps (Wal, Alembic, ACG). I want my basses to have a neutral setting with a center click (or everything wide open on passive basses) that I can go back to at any time;
• Too many knobs in general. I'll just keep fidgeting with knobs but I'm never quite "done" when a bass has too many tonal options. I don't hate active basses at all, but just looking at an Alembic Series II or a Status Paramatrix makes me feel lost!

[Doctor J]

No forearm contours

Over 40mm nut width

Matching body and headstock paint with maple fretboards

Thumbrests and thumbrest screw holes

I love active basses but if it doesn't sound good with everything flat, it has to go

Relics, especially home made ones

[AndyTravis]

Matching colour headstock with a Maple board.

 

I won’t entertain it. 
 

[chris_b]

The deal breakers for me are, weight, string width at the bridge, pointy bits and bad tone. Everything else is a maybe.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

Balance - My tiny brain has enough to deal with whilst trying to remember what I'm supposed to be playing without having to deal with a neck I have to constantly support.

Certain bridges - The old Rickenbacker ones and the three point ones on certain Gibsons. Drive me nuts.

Balance again! - In respect of that occasionally I like to sit down and practice whilst at home. I've had some basses that just don't work like that. Warwick Reverso springs to mind.

Pick-up covers - The bridge one on a Fender I can tolerate, but the neck cover? Useless. Rickenbacker ones doubly so.

I looked at this the other day and two things really bothered me about it. Firstly the maple coloured headstock looks hideous with that fingerboard and finish. Secondly, the way the scratch plate is exactly not the same shape as the body on the lower horn. It just looks crap. It's a shame because I like the finish, the hardware colour and the fact the fretboard has no face markings.

 

[thodrik]

Gold hardware: just don't like it. 
Fanned frets: great concept, but not for me as I found it more difficult to play some parts (particularly chords) in the upper registers.

More than two pick ups: it just makes me think of those three pickup Les Pauls from the Frampton Comes Alive era.

Anything with 'Fender' detailed on the headstock which isn't actually a Fender.

24 fret necks with poor upper fret access beyond the fifteenth fret. 

 

 

Weight and neck dive isn't a deal breaker for me, which is good because I have wanted a five string Warwick Thumb for a while.

Edited April 7, 2022 by thodrik

[Cosmo Valdemar]

26 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

 

I love active basses but if it doesn't sound good with everything flat, it has to go

Why's that? 

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

4 minutes ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Why's that? 

That struck me as a little odd too. I don't think there is a single bass that I own that I play flat, active or passive.

[LeftyJ]

Perfectly reasonable argument to me. I hadn't thought of it, but it should be on my list too. Along with matching headstocks on necks with maple fingerboards. 

[neepheid]

My dealbreakers:

 

Nut width under 40mm and shallow profiles (I like a chonky neck)

Jazz basses (aesthetically yuck, sonically ditto (assuming passive 2x single coil), also see above re: necks)

No neck pickup (so no single pickup Stingrays, G&L 1500/Kiloton for instance) - I'd prefer neck pickup only if I'm honest but the presence of a bridge pickup I'll never use isn't a dealbreaker

No front markers (looks unfinished to me, dots at a minimum please, blocks yes please, crowns - yum!)

Short scale (sorry, feels like a toy to me - I have tried several)

 

Caveats in a caveat sauce with a side of caveats

[Happy Jack]

Weight, weight, and I say again weight.

 

I own a lot of basses, and I have owned at least another five basses for every one that I own now. I can cope very happily with any scale length, any (sensible) number of strings or string-spacing, any pickup configuration, any control knob switchery, any colour or finish, fretted or fretless, whatever.

 

The only thing I can't abide is a bass that never gets played, and IME the only basses that never get played are the boat anchors.

 

[Joe Nation]

Lots of stuff already mentioned:

Anything relic'd, especially if it's homemade, OTT or has had fire anywhere near it. If you want it to look old, you have to wait until it gets there on it's own!

Scratchplates that don't match the shape of the body (the Sandburg above is passable, at least it's a design choice and not just bad/lazy design, but it'd look 100% better if it followed the shape).

Pickup covers - what are they even for?!

6 strings or more - unless my fingers were to suddenly grow an extra inch or two.

Headless bridges with tuners that stick out an extra 6 inches at the butt, and/or really weird butt shapes to accommodate them.

[Paul S]

8 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Weight, weight, and I say again weight.

 

 

This is the biggie for me.  These days pretty much anything else I can compromise on if the pros outweigh the cons but if it is too heavy then game over.

[Lfalex v1.1]

Virtually nothing. 

Not a great fan of Maple 'boards, nor of Gold Hardware.

Neither are deal-breakers, though. 

 

Edit- I will walk away from poorly set-up instruments in shops if the retailer won't address the issue. 

I've walked away from a Burns Bison whose strings were all flat to the board at the right tension (!) and a Status Electro fretless that didn't have a 9v battery- shop said they didn't have a spare (!)

I just put the basses down and walked out.

That says more for the retailers than the instruments,  though

Edited April 7, 2022 by Lfalex v1.1

[jd56hawk]

Unfinished headstocks.

Absolutely ruins the look of a bass.

With a maple fretboard, no problem, but with rosewood,, ebony, etc?

Looks like crap.

Edited April 7, 2022 by jd56hawk

[Doctor J]

1 hour ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Why's that? 

For me, EQ should be the finishing touch to fine-tune a solid fundamental tone. From there you can gently caress to perfection to suit taste and circumstance. When you have to chase something decent to begin with, it limits what you can achieve with the instrument - and not just for active instruments either. 

[Machines]

Satin finishes. They seem to be fashionable in the last few years, but to me they look incomplete, as well as having terrible wear patterns very quickly. 

[Lozz196]

Is made by a company other than Fender (or Squier) if so very unlikely I’ll buy it.

[NancyJohnson]

OK, here goes:
i)  I'm really not a fan of the Jazz/Precision shape.  Or Fenders generally.
ii)  Sunburst finishes generally (especially sunbursts where the colour goes from black to yellow).
iii)  Maple fingerboards.
iv)  Hi-gloss finishes that look like furniture.
v)  Terrible headstock design (ie Cort, Sandberg, Chowny, G&L).
vi)  Anything with a single pickup (I'm just of the opinion that a twin pickup set up is way more versatile tonally).
vii)  'Does it come with a hardshell case?'  If the answer is 'no', then well, no.

 

There's probably more.

[RussFM]

Semi-acoustic, or generally anything with binding on the body. I like the look of some of them, but they're just uncomfortable to play.

[Man.about.Tyne]

Pickguards?  Nice bit of wood, there, sparkly finish or even classic three-tone sunburst.   Then cover it over with a big slab of manky plastic.  How are you going to fix that on?  Oh we’ll just screw it on ‘cause we’ve run out of nails!

 

Honestly, it’s like something out of the 50’s… oh wait!

 

[Dad3353]

15 minutes ago, RussFM said:

Semi-acoustic, or generally anything with binding on the body. I like the look of some of them, but they're just uncomfortable to play.

 

Funny how we're all different; I find 'em the most comfy, by far (and very, very light, in comparison, which helps ...)... 

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by Dad3353

[Woodinblack]

String count, and weight are probably the only fixed ones. Oh and string spacing, has to be less than 17.5 or so.

But beyond that, it depends very heavily on the bass. Lots of things I like or don't, but nothing I would say never on.

[BreadBin]

String spacing at the bridge - anything less than 18mm and I'm stuffed.

Nut width - anything less than 40mm and I get chronic pain across the back of my hand.

Other than that I'm easy.