Your dealbreakers on basses?

[Muzz]

More than 4 strings.

More than 9 1/2 lbs

More than 40mm nut.

Jazzes, including the plethora of Jazz copies.

 

Most other things fall into preferences (like maple boards; I have a couple of non-maple boards), and things I can live with/change, along the lines of covers (I can always take them off and bin them), bridges, pickups and EQ...

 

Other than that, I'm dead easy to please... 😀

[Man.about.Tyne]

29 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Odd, I would think anything coloured looks like a 70s kitchen.

I’m thinking pastel colours and definitely 60’s kitchens and vibrant bright red is every single tea, coffee and cookie jar from the 80’s

 

Suddenly natural wood finishes don’t seem so bad.

[Vanheusen77]

1 hour ago, NicoMcJ said:

 I don’t want a bass that lookslike a 70s kitchen.

I definitely disagree!

[Andy_L]

Off the top of my head and in no particular order:

 

1. More than four knobs (ideally no more than three)

2. More than four strings

3. Single cut-away

4. Wooden pick-up covers

5. Pointy bits

6. Fanned frets

7. LEDs

8. Headless 

9. Gold hardware

 

Oh, and fretless, because I'm not good enough a player for one of those

Edited April 8, 2022 by Andy_L

[Eldon Tyrell]

2 hours ago, Man.about.Tyne said:

I’m thinking pastel colours and definitely 60’s kitchens and vibrant bright red is every single tea, coffee and cookie jar from the 80’s

Thank you 🤩 This finally explains why I like bright red basses so much. One therapy session less to pay for 😉 

[NancyJohnson]

What's with the 40mm nut thing?  I didn't realise there were so many wussies here.

 

You never eaten an apple?  Have difficulty picking it up?  Sheesh.

[ezbass]

Gold hardware - er, didn’t I own a Ibanez 1605 with Midas like hardware? Yes.

38mm nut widths - er, isn’t one of my current, go to, short scales, 38mm? Yes.

Heavy basses - hmm, what about those 3 boat anchors I owned? Um… oh yeah.

Active circuits - yeah, yeah, I know. I’m starting to see a theme.

 

Seems like, although there are things that don’t normally float my water bound craft, they aren’t necessary out of bounds. And there was me thinking I’m a fussy fart.

 

[Wolverinebass]

Okay then, here we go.

 

Nuts slimmer than 42.5mm.

Necks which are massively thick from front to back.

Necks that have a massive taper in them.

Single cuts. 

3 point bridges.

Coil switching.

Bolt on necks with massive heels and little upper fret access.

Crap tone circuits. Specifically, Spector Tonepump being a classic example.

 

[TheLowDown]

Number 1 would have to be weight(must be lightweight) with balance a close second. I've come to much prefer closer string spacing now. 

 

Things like tone and appearance and woods used are largely secondary.

Edited April 8, 2022 by TheLowDown

[Wilco]

For me;-

1) Artificially reliced finishes - no, just bloody no…..

2) Solid colour bodies

3) Non matching headstock

4) The 3TSB / Rosewood fingerboard  / torte pickguard combination 

5) Spring spacing less than 18mm

6) Pointy designs

7) More than 5 strings

 

Think that’s about it. 🤔

 

Edited April 8, 2022 by Wilco

[jd56hawk]

14 hours ago, TrevorG said:

Agreed though I do have a natural finish P (rosewood fingerboard)which looks like it matches the headstock which is good too.

Sure, I'd definitely be happy with this one.

[Jonesy]

I haven't got too many deal breakers....

 

Baseball Bat necks. I can deal with the nut being up to 44mm just as long as the neck isn't too thick back to front.

 

Necks that taper to more than 54mm at the 12th. Only really noticed this one recently and it's my own fault for going down the dusty end.

 

Anything that looks like it was designed after the 60s. G&L or MM type basses are all good, but anything too pointy or modern looking is a pass for me.

 

Oh, and anything made by Yamaha. My brain just doesn't get on with the fact that they make calculators, motorbikes, turn tables, under water scooters etc. A company with that wide a range of products like that can't be good at making all of them. This would soon go out the window if they made an SG bass. That I'd be tempted by.

[Paul S]

7 minutes ago, Jonesy said:

Oh, and anything made by Yamaha. My brain just doesn't get on with the fact that they make calculators, motorbikes, turn tables, under water scooters etc. A company with that wide a range of products like that can't be good at making all of them. This would soon go out the window if they made an SG bass. That I'd be tempted by.

 

Like this one?  SB-35.  Selling this remains my biggest regret as I am unlikely to ever get another.

 

Edited April 9, 2022 by Paul S
got model number wrong!

[LukeFRC]

46 minutes ago, Jonesy said:

Oh, and anything made by Yamaha. My brain just doesn't get on with the fact that they make calculators, motorbikes, turn tables, under water scooters etc. A company with that wide a range of products like that can't be good at making all of them.

Good news for you…

Yamaha corp and Yamaha Motor Co Ltd are separate companies. 

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, LukeFRC said:

Good news for you…

Yamaha corp and Yamaha Motor Co Ltd are separate companies. 

 

And yamaha actually make proper instruments as well, not just things like guitars and basses

 

[BreadBin]

Yamaha Motor Co was split off from the main business in the 50s. Their logo is 3 tuning forks to signify their history of making musical instruments. There are definite areas where their manufacturing excellence in instruments has translated to quality motorcycles. 

[Jonesy]

2 hours ago, Paul S said:

 

Like this one?  SB-35.  Selling this remains my biggest regret as I am unlikely to ever get another.

 

 

Did you sell that in the last year or so? I remember seeing the sale thread, or maybe a thread in the eBay forum? And being very tempted by it. The horns don't look quite so pointy as the geetar SG, or is that just the pic?

 

 

2 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

Good news for you…

Yamaha corp and Yamaha Motor Co Ltd are separate companies. 

 

Same name, same logo. They'll have to work harder to fool my brain into buying one of their basses 😁

 

I know they're good instruments really (as is everything they make), it's just a thing my brain can't work out.

 

[Paul S]

42 minutes ago, Jonesy said:

 

Did you sell that in the last year or so? I remember seeing the sale thread, or maybe a thread in the eBay forum? And being very tempted by it. The horns don't look quite so pointy as the geetar SG, or is that just the pic?

 

 

I sold it four years ago and have been pestering the life out of the guy I sold it to fairly regularly ever since.  I imagine his next step will be a solicitor's letter   One came up for sale on eBay a couple of years ago but it was substantially heavier than my old one so I passed it by.  And those are the only two I have ever seen.  The proportions are much like the Yamaha SG guitars, rather than the Gibson EBs or SGs, which I prefer.  The tone was incredible.  Medium scale.... Argh! 🥴

[uncle psychosis]

Neck dive.

Sunburst. 

 

Thats about it. 

[Marvin]

Baseball bat neck.

Singlecut.

Wood pickup covers and/or controls.

Non-contoured bodies.

Gold hardware.

Exotic wood finishes.

 

[Jonesy]

9 hours ago, Paul S said:

 

I sold it four years ago and have been pestering the life out of the guy I sold it to fairly regularly ever since.  I imagine his next step will be a solicitor's letter   One came up for sale on eBay a couple of years ago but it was substantially heavier than my old one so I passed it by.  And those are the only two I have ever seen.  The proportions are much like the Yamaha SG guitars, rather than the Gibson EBs or SGs, which I prefer.  The tone was incredible.  Medium scale.... Argh! 🥴

 

 

Ah, it must've been that eBay thread I remember seeing. They're certainly nice basses and one I'd break my 'no Yammy' stance on. Maybe it's the pick guard shape, or lack of binding, but the horns on the SB-35 don't look quite as pointy as they are on their 6 string counterparts.

[Chris2112]

No bridge pickup. About the only bass I'd even entertain without one would be the Yamaha Attitude. When I'm playing I sometimes (and sometimes often) use the neck pickup but I always use the bridge pickup. 

 

Another one is 35" scale. I've played some nice 35" scale basses but none that wouldn't have been better as a 34". That was a critical feature in me buying a Spector NS-5CR. I love Spector basses but pretty much all of their modern five strings are 35" scale. The NS-5CR is 34" (I think it may actually be 34 and 1/4 inch in scale). Just feels better and sounds better to my ear. 

[Owno]

 

- Active basses. They just don’t do it for me (and yes - I have tried!). 
- Long scale (35”+) and fanned frets.
- Gold hardware.

- Exotic wood finishes.

- Black, white and sunburst colour.

- More knobs than three.

- More than four strings.

- Weight. Anything over 4kg is a no.

 

 

Edited April 19, 2022 by Owno

[stewblack]

On 07/04/2022 at 12:54, Oomo said:

neck dive - I've tried various things, but basses with neck dive just drive me crazy

This. Had to move on a couple of beautiful looking and sounding basses over the years because I just can't bear neck dive.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

I've given this a lot more thought than was probably necessary (or healthy), and there are only two things that are proper dealbreakers for me:

 

- Really thin necks, front to back. I used to own an old Rick 4001 and a Fender Geddy Lee, both had very thin necks which gave my hand cramp. 

 

- Silverburst

 

There are a lot of other things I dislike but they're generally easy to change.