Prejudices When Choosing A Bass

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

I have just realised another, if I am allowed:

 

Elephant Ear or Clover Leaf machine heads. 

As an addendum, people calling machine heads, tuners. Tuning pegs possibly, but not tuners.

 

 

Exactly. A tuner is either a device showing the correct pitch for each note, or it’s an ocean fish.

[neepheid]

No Jazz basses, end of discussion.

 

Not a huge fan of maple boards, especially if they're so pale that they look like they were photoshopped onto the bass in real life.

 

Anything else, let's talk.

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, Chienmortbb said:

You would not like my Aerodyne then. Now I wonder whether I should put a preamp in.🤣

 

my bongo ticks all of those boxes, except the no pickguard.

[Stub Mandrel]

Over ornate or pointy bodies, so Jaydees and Alembics are out for me.

 

Not attracted to rics either for similar reasons.

 

 

 

Heavyweight bridges on traditional basses.

 

White bongos with black scrathplates.

 

PJ precisions (ok on other basses)

 

Basses that have non-p body shapes but are really just p copies.

Edited December 6, 2023 by Stub Mandrel

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, Chienmortbb said:

I have just realised another, if I am allowed:

 

Elephant Ear or Clover Leaf machine heads. 

As an addendum, people calling machine heads, tuners. Tuning pegs possibly, but not tuners.

 

 

 

What do you call the things on a violin then? They ain't machine heads as they gave no gears.

 

They are tuning pegs.

 

By extension mechanised tuning pegs can also be named tuners.

[tauzero]

33 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

What do you call the things on a violin then? They ain't machine heads as they gave no gears.

 

They are tuning pegs.

 

By extension mechanised tuning pegs can also be named tuners.

 

The ones on violin tailpieces are called fine tuners.

[snorkie635]

Bass played using a plectrum

 

Most instruments made outside USA or UK

 

Basses with stickers on them

 

 

Off to my darkened room again.

[Rich]

Having read through these, I've realised just how easy-going I am. My only real dislikes are a} thick clubby necks (because I have small hands and find them uncomfortable), b} pointy headstocks and c} buckeye burl. That's pretty much it.

Edited December 6, 2023 by Rich

[neepheid]

1 minute ago, Rich said:

Having read through these, I've realised just how easy-going I am. My only real dislikes are a} thick clubby necks (because I have small hands and find them uncomfortable), b} pointy headstocks and c} buckeye burl. That's pretty much it.

 

How odd, I like chunky necks AND have small hands.  Life would be boring if we were all the same, eh?

[Stub Mandrel]

35 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

The ones on violin tailpieces are called fine tuners.

 

Indeed.

 

And the things that are sold as stand alone tuners aren't tuners at all, they just tell you if your instrument is in tune or not.

Edited December 6, 2023 by Stub Mandrel

[neepheid]

Your bass playing isn't being improved by debating the correct use of the word "tuner"...

[tauzero]

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Indeed.

 

And the things that are sold as stand alone tuners aren't tuners at all, they just tell you if your instrument is in tune or not.

 

Although by that rationale, the only tuner in the entire equation is the person turning the bit of instrument that needs to be turned to tune the instrument, or "BOITNTBTTTTI" for short.

 

Ah yes, another of my prejudices - tuners/machine heads/BOITNTBTTTTI at the wrong end of the instrument. They should be by or associated into the bridge.

 

I don't like bolt-on necks with big heel blocks (eg FSO). And if there has to be a headstock (occasionally a necessary evil), it should be equipped with compact tuners/machine heads/BOITNTBTTTTI, not those sodding great things that Fender use that necessitate huge headstocks. And for five-strings, 4+1 is not good, 5+0 is definitely right out.

[Chienmortbb]

3 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

What do you call the things on a violin then? They ain't machine heads as they gave no gears.

 

They are tuning pegs.

 

By extension mechanised tuning pegs can also be named tuners.

You made my point for me. Mechanised tuning pegs is better than tuners. In the old days before electronic devices to check that stringed instruments were in tune, we called them machine heads. Why has this changed? Laziness? What would have this classic album be called if we all called them tuners, back in the day?

 

 

Tuners is hardly Rock n roll. 

[JellyKnees]

Anything in a garish colour. Horrible metal-style pointy things. The Venn diagram overlap for these is usually pretty large...

[jd56hawk]

3 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

What do you call the things on a violin then? They ain't machine heads as they gave no gears.

 

They are tuning pegs.

 

By extension mechanised tuning pegs can also be named tuners.

Exactly!

Nothing more needs to be said. 

[ezbass]

1 minute ago, jd56hawk said:

Nothing more needs to be said. 

I suspect that more will be said, however. This is the BC way (to paraphrase The Mandalorian).   

[jd56hawk]

Just now, ezbass said:

I suspect that more will be said, however. This is the BC way (to paraphrase The Mandalorian).   

Sure, that's a given.

No need to argue over should or will, I guess.

[jd56hawk]

2 hours ago, snorkie635 said:

Bass played using a plectrum

 

Most instruments made outside USA or UK

 

Basses with stickers on them

 

 

Off to my darkened room again.

This begs a few questions.

You won't buy a bass if someone played it with a pick?

How do you tell if a pick 𝘸𝘢𝘴 used?

[Jono Bolton]

22 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

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.

This is absolutely accurate 

[ead]

Not keen on green or blue basses for no particularly good reason; the honourable exception being seafoam green.

 

Some headstocks that are unnecessarily distinctive.

 

Jazz basses with the chrome bell plate but no scratchplate / pickguard.

Edited December 6, 2023 by ead

[Muzz]

Jazz basses (and copies thereof), rosewood boards (unless so dark it's basically ebony), thicker-than-Jazz necks. Anything with pickups in the wrong place (i.e. without at least one in the P-spot, or very close to it).

[TheLowDown]

-heavy and bulky FSO headstocks.

-heavy basses. 

-black side dots on light coloured background.

-basses that don't have a neck pickup.

There are probably other small niggles but they're the main ones.

Edited December 6, 2023 by TheLowDown

[Schnozzalee]

I don't like copies made in China

I don't like Fender

I don't like the Gibson 3 Point

I don't like Musicman Pickups

I don't like Poplar, Laurel, Nato etc

I don't like Short Scale

But I love yo Momma...and Carvin.

 

Edited December 6, 2023 by Schnozzalee

[snorkie635]

4 hours ago, jd56hawk said:

This begs a few questions.

You won't buy a bass if someone played it with a pick?

How do you tell if a pick 𝘸𝘢𝘴 used?

I can smell it. 😎

[bassbiscuits]

Not a fan of super fancy wood tops - I appreciate they are a work of art but I don’t like the look at all. 
 

I wish I liked Thunderbirds - cool on the eye but awfully uncomfortable for me to play.

 

And anything with more than five strings just isn’t for me.