Prejudices When Choosing A Bass

[Chienmortbb]

It bugs me that:

• any bass is not offered in Black.
• a headstock on a 4 string has a 3 + 1 machinehead pattern.
• someone says they can only use one brand or type of bass,

 

What are your prejudices?

Edited December 7, 2023 by Chienmortbb

[Jono Bolton]

Most headstocks on P or J copies don't look right. The only ones I've seen that I like are the Yamaha Pulser and the later version of the Ibanez Blazer. 

[Lozz196]

My prejudices are:

 

Basses that aren`t Fender (tho Squier acceptable)

 

I like many other basses but for some reason I feel disloyal if considering them. 

 

I`m also not keen on basses unless they`re black, white or sunburst.

[Lfalex v1.1]

I don't like Gibson 3-point bridges.

 

A single coil at the bridge is almost always drowned out by a neck humbucker unless there's a VVT arrangement to balance it out.

 

Signal level jumps when switching between series/parallel/single coil are unacceptable. Musicman got it right with the SR5 (H). Some manufacturers just don't seem to bother. 

 

I own an Epiphone Blackbird. That's how I know I don't like 3 point bridges. 

Edited December 7, 2023 by Lfalex v1.1
Transparency!

[TheGreek]

Unlike @Lozz196 I prefer a bass without an "f" on the headstock. 

[tauzero]

Far too few basses have a headless option (see complaints above about headstocks).

 

Far too few basses have a natural finish option. I don't want ugly, easily chipped paint.

 

Far too few active basses have a means of selecting passive, for those horrible moments when the battery goes flat (and for those dinosaurs who prefer passive). It's only happened once for me, but that's once too many, and that bass got a pull for passive volume control soon afterwards.

[Nice Guy Rich]

I could never buy a red bass.

 

I don't like active pickups.

 

I don't like 5 string basses.

[Bassassin]

Off the top of my head (and I will think of more):

 

Don't like single P pickups.

Don't like 2 pickups & 3-way selector - & hate it when there's only a single volume, so pickups can't be blended.

Don't like singlecuts.

Don't like neck-divey symmetrical doublecuts.

Don't like w@nky high-end custom basses when they're just some poxy fake-reliced Fender knockoff.

Don't like fat baseball-bat necks.

Don't like dreary please-don't-notice-me finishes.

 

To be continued...

[Supernaut]

Active basses. 
 

They sound inherently scooped. 
 

IMO

[meterman]

As long as it worked and didn’t have any strings missing I’d probably not be too fussy.

 

Never played any fan fretted instruments so can’t comment on them but otherwise, I’d buy anything if you’re paying 👍

[jd56hawk]

Nothing silly about it, I won't buy a bass with an unfinished headstock, unless it has a maple neck, and no one's ever given me a reason why I should.

Edited December 5, 2023 by jd56hawk

[Chienmortbb]

1 hour ago, TheGreek said:

Unlike @Lozz196 I prefer a bass without an "f" on the headstock. 

I had a Squire as my first bass and apart from that was like you until I got my Aerodyne. I think the painted headstock did it for me. However, the price of F is massive when you consider the ease of production. I paid about £600 including import and shipping costs. However I doubt I would pay that much for an F again. 

[gjones]

Basses that don't have a Musicman style of truss rod adjuster. It makes things so much easier to give your truss rod a tweak now and again when you don't have to loosen strings or remove necks.

 

Fender introduced that type of adjuster on their Elite range of basses but went back to the old style when they replaced them with the Ultra range.

[velvetkevorkian]

I'd quite like a few of the cheaper Ibanez models but I can't bring myself to even think about buying a seafoam green instrument.

[ezbass]

Hmm, I would have said anything with a 1.5” nut width, but since buying an HB Mustang-alike, which has the offending width (not as advertised at the time) and that’s actually OK, I have to refine that to 1.5” nut widths with bloom handle profile necks - i.e. ‘70s Fender Jazz style necks.

 

Anything over 4kg is most likely going to be ignored/avoided.

 

TBH, I’ll probably give anything a go in the flesh, as I might be surprised, but online not so much.

[JoeEvans]

I really don't like the idea of relic'd basses, in principle. But I do like battered old instruments. So I think I could only buy a bass that had been relic'd if it had been done well enough and lightly enough that I could kind of kid myself that it was natural ageing...

Also don't like five strings, pointy headstocks and classic Fender sunbursts.

[asingardenof]

In general I don't think I'm that bothered about a lot of things. I think I would draw the line at one of those sparkly Stingrays though, and relicing can go too far, but there's not a lot that would put me off trying any bass.

[Lozz196]

27 minutes ago, JoeEvans said:

I really don't like the idea of relic'd basses, in principle. But I do like battered old instruments. So I think I could only buy a bass that had been relic'd if it had been done well enough and lightly enough that I could kind of kid myself that it was natural ageing...

 

I’m similar but my Fender JMJ Mustang basses are pretty well done, if it wasn’t for the fact the wear on all three is pretty much identical it would def pass for genuine wear.

[Rexel Matador]

Branding on the body.

[Baloney Balderdash]

Fender, but especially Gibson and Rickenbacker, basses are heavily overpriced compared to what you get.

 

That is not a prejudice however, that's a fact!

 

There are way better instruments on the market that can be had for far lower prices.

 

By far what you predominantly pay for when buying a Fender, Gibson or Rickenbacker is qualifying yourself for the questionable honor of getting to do free advertising for overpriced inferior products. 

 

45 minutes ago, Rexel Matador said:

Branding on the body.

Branding anywhere, regardless of price.

 

Is to be covered up!

 

Unless we are talking an independent luthier or a master piece/piece of art. 

 

Edited December 5, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[BillyBass]

The opposite of @Lozz196 I won't spend good money on black, white or sunburst basses.

 

The 10 basses I own pretty much cover the colours of a rainbow and when I look for a new bass, I do consider whether the colour will ruin the look of the rainbow rack I have.  Nevertheless, yesterday, a pink Reverend Mercalli arrived at Merchant City Music in Glasgow and I was sorely tempted to pull the trigger, even though pink isn't in the rainbow.  I opted for the Periwinkle burst Reverend Triad instead.

 

My next bass will be a pink Mercalli.

Edited December 5, 2023 by BillyBass

[Rodders]

Don't like active basses, humbuckers/soapbars or a hi fi sound.

 

Any bass that is overly complicated, for reference I have disconnected the tone pot on my P bass because I don't use it.

[chris_b]

I don't have any prejudices but I have preferences.

 

If you're selling a quality 5 string FSO, under 8lbs, burst and tort and a rosewood fret board, then you'll have my attention.

[Baloney Balderdash]

On 05/12/2023 at 18:06, Rodders said:

Don't like active basses, humbuckers/soapbars or a hi fi sound.

 

Any bass that is overly complicated, for reference I have disconnected the tone pot on my P bass because I don't use it.

I see your disconnected tone pot, and raise with a P pickup wired directly to the output jack socket.

 

You should be aware though that just disconnecting the tone pot without using a different value volume pot or inserting a resistor of matching value to the tone pot to compensate is going to raise the resonance frequency of the pickup some, and thereby make the tone your pickup reproduces slightly brighter than it was with the tone pot.

 

Edited December 7, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[AndyTravis]

Maple fingerboards with body colour matching headstocks…

 

No idea why.

 

but a 70’s Gibson with a maple board and black headstock (ripper/RD) is fine.

 

no idea.

 

oh, and the early MTD kingstons - don’t mind them having the MHS/Maple combo.

 

really an odd “nah, won’t buy that” thing.