Your Dream Bass?

[Baloney Balderdash]

So what is your dream bass, whether that be totally custom, or a model that is already in production?

 

If money wasn't an issue, what would it be?

 

 

Personally, I've given it a lot of thought, and here are the specs I dream of, on a custom made one:

 

A custom made 4 string, 28,6" scale, bass, with a slim modern C profile, bolt on, clear satin finish, 5 piece laminated Jatoba/black Ebony (just 2 relatively narrow layers of Ebony in between 3 wider layers of Jatoba) neck, with graphite rods enforcement and a double action truss rod, a tilted 2+2, gold plated tuning mechanisms, classic B.C Rich inspired, headstock, but overall slightly more narrow, and with the "devil horns" slightly shifted, so that the upper slightly larger "horn" is sitting a bit more forward than the slightly smaller and slightly retracted lower "horn", and a 24 medium jumbo stainless steel frets, 12" radius, figured Ebony, fretboard, with an ESP LTD F-204/F-1004 style inspired Mahogany body with a spalted maple top, in a transparent matte black burst finish, with a blood red solid circle figure with a black OM sign in the middle, placed approximately right above the bridge, and equipped with an EMG Geezer Butler reverse P pickup in the neck position, and in the bridge position a gold plated DiMarzio Relentless Middle reverse P pickup with a gold plated series/parallel switch, with an active stacked LPF/HPF tone filter control for each of the 2 pickups, and an active pickup blend control, equipped with knobs made of solid transparent red plexi glass encapsulated in hollow gold plated cylinders with a thin spiraling gold rib going upwards around them, gold plated steel mono rail bridge pieces, milled from solid brass, with a string spacing of 17,5mm (or perhaps instead even a wammy/tremolo bridge with 17,5mm string spacing), and an accordingly more narrow neck, with a 38mm wide graphite nut.

 

Equipped with Elixir Nanoweb guitar strings of the gauges .074 - .056 - .042 - 030, and tuned to tenor bass, A standard, tuning, as in the upper 4 strings of a 6 string bass tuned to regular B standard tuning.

 

Edited July 23 by Baloney Balderdash

[Pow_22]

Rickenbacker 4005, Original 58 p bass or and early 60's p in burst/tort/rosewood

[tauzero]

@Boodang's Sei Flamboyant headless fretless 5.

[Linus27]

My dream bass is one of these but with an unlined fretless Ebony board and Bartolini pickups. So basically a US Fender Jazz or Precision in Sherwood Green with an unlined Ebony fretless neck and Bartolini pickups. Thankfully all within reach and about £2k from the Fender Mod shop. I would just need to source the pickups and unlined fretless neck.

 

[Lozz196]

I’ve already got mine, Fender US Standard Precision 2015. Any other bass I play, no matter how great, it never feels as good as that one does.

Edited July 26 by Lozz196

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

My JMJ mustangs are pretty much my perfect bass; I have three of them, two blue and one black. I wasn't initially keen on the roadworn finish on the body but it has grown on me, however I might strip down one of the blue ones and get it refinished in nitro in a custom colour possibly with a light relic job. Not sure what colour to go for though, perhaps something unusual that makes it unique.

[jd56hawk]

Not all dreams come true, that's why I decided to keep it realistic.

Edited July 23 by jd56hawk

[BigRedX]

I already own two of my dream basses:

 

 

 

If I had the money I'd also get Simon at Gus to make me a pair of Bass VIs to this design with the Shergold Marathon 6-string bass neck width and scale length.

[Rich]

I'd go to Jon Shuker and I'd say "Hello Jon, here are some biscuits**, please make me this:"

Headless 5-string.

32" scale, through-neck.

Neck probably a maple/wenge/flamed maple sandwich like my current Shuker. Definitely a birdseye maple board and orange side LEDs.

Body shape and woods undecided***, but a chambered body for light weight.

Turner MC5X Multicoil pickups with 'English Voicing', as per funkle's 'Wal-ish'.

Lusithand Double NFP Special preamp, again as per @funkle's 'Wal-ish'. 

 

Basically I'd like a headless 32" Wal  

 

 

** there would also be money involved. Sadly Jon doesn't make basses in exchange for Hobnobs.

*** this would involve a trip into Jon's legendary Wood Store... if you know, you know  

Edited July 23 by Rich

[neepheid]

I don't really have one.  I like trying different things.  I've got a few "keepers" - as in the ones I would prioritise in a house fire...

 

G&L L-1000

Yamaha BB1200

Epiphone Jack Casady Signature (20th Anniversary)

 

But I'll keep trying things that look interesting to me, as and when I see them.

[Skybone]

My dream bass was always a 4001. Haven't owned one yet, but I do have a 4003, which is close enough in my book.

 

(EDIT): I suppose "the dream bass" would be a "rare" or transparent finished 4001 or 4003 with figured body wings. A blueburst would be cool too.

Edited July 23 by Skybone

[Bolo]

I have mine, the rest are bonus.

http://cellarguitars.com/index.php/cellar-v/

Edited July 23 by Bolo

[Paulhauser]

In the mid 2010s I had been long dreaming about a US Spector NS-5XL, using Specor Euro5s for a good ten years at that point. There was a particular one was put up for sale by its original owner in 2015 or so but was sold to someone else in Germany. 
The original owner is also a german gent and before the bass was sold to him the shop selling it had it featured in a german magazine, hence the great quality pics. Some of these were the locking picture on my phone for years already, so I was looking at it daily. I pretty much played Euro 5s exclusively both live and studio so I knew the design and the sound worked for me like nothing else and during the years a NS-5XL became my holy grail. After all the opportunity came as the second owner put it up for sale making me jumping in the car…I made a 2 days round trip to Germany and bought it in 2017. My main recording bass ever since, I use it a lot for practice, live not so much, only now and then as my other Spectors do the job just as fine but they are lighter. 
 

All in all it’s my dream bass and not only that but managed to remain my No.1 long after the honeymoon period was over (or rather, it is still going on 🥰 )

 

Edited July 23 by Paulhauser
typo fixed

[gafbass02]

Sei flamboyant headless 4. Sadly I’ll never justify spending that much on a bass. 

[WinterMute]

I now have a couple of basses I'd have considered "dream" basses, an ACG Krell 34" fretless and an early German-built Warwick Thumb NT5.

 

I played an 87 Thumb NT5 for decades, sold it after a period of inactivity and now have a replacement, it's the bass that suits me best of any bass I've played.

 

The Krell is a full custom-built spec and is a phenomenal bass as well as a minor work of art.

 

I'd love a Wal Mk2 5 string fretless, but I'm just not going to pay the asking price, and the ACG is just as good.

 

[spacecowboy]

My Ken Smith BSR5EG Black Tiger Elite is pretty much my dream bass, doesn’t really get much better than this. It is a joy.

 

Edited with photos now, as it was rude of me not to post them! 

 

 

Edited July 24 by spacecowboy

[dclaassen]

I’ve got 2 that are pretty close, but I’d add a Pedulla Pentabuzz and a 63 Jazz with a rosewood board. Also a NS Design EUB.

 

Maybe a really nice acoustic fretless?

[PaulThePlug]

Keeping it simple with an Ibby and a bit of wood work by our @Andyjr1515

[Baloney Balderdash]

On 23/07/2024 at 12:48, Baloney Balderdash said:

So what is your dream bass, whether that be totally custom, or a model that is already in production?

 

If money wasn't an issue, what would it be?

 

 

Personally, I've given it a lot of thought, and here are the specs I dream of, on a custom made one:

 

A custom made 4 string, 28,6" scale, bass, with a slim modern C profile, bolt on, clear satin finish, 5 piece laminated Jatoba/black Ebony (just 2 relatively narrow layers of Ebony in between 3 wider layers of Jatoba) neck, with graphite rods enforcement and a double action truss rod, a tilted 2+2, gold plated tuning mechanisms, classic B.C Rich inspired, headstock, but overall slightly more narrow, and with the "devil horns" slightly shifted, so that the upper slightly larger "horn" is sitting a bit more forward than the slightly smaller and slightly retracted lower "horn", and a 24 medium jumbo stainless steel frets, 12" radius, figured Ebony, fretboard, with an ESP LTD F-204/F-1004 style inspired Mahogany body with a spalted maple top, in a transparent matte black burst finish, with a blood red solid circle figure with a black OM sign in the middle, placed approximately right above the bridge, and equipped with an EMG Geezer Butler reverse P pickup in the neck position, and in the bridge position a gold plated DiMarzio Relentless Middle reverse P pickup with a gold plated series/parallel switch, with an active stacked LPF/HPF tone filter control for each of the 2 pickups, and an active pickup blend control, equipped with knobs made of solid transparent red plexi glass encapsulated in hollow gold plated cylinders with a thin spiraling gold rib going upwards around them, gold plated steel mono rail bridge pieces, milled from solid brass, with a string spacing of 17,5mm (or perhaps instead even a wammy/tremolo bridge with 17,5mm string spacing), and an accordingly more narrow neck, with a 38mm wide graphite nut.

 

Equipped with Elixir Nanoweb guitar strings of the gauges .074 - .056 - .042 - 030, and tuned to tenor bass, A standard, tuning, as in the upper 4 strings of a 6 string bass tuned to regular B standard tuning.

 

Speaking of Ibanez, and seeing everyone posting pictures...

 

This is the bass that sort of inspired my dream, even if considerable cheaper and considerably more modest and lowkey version of it, my lowly, but very much beloved, Ibanez GSRM20B Mikro Bass, that I named "Dud Bottomfeeder" (Though I suppose by now everyone would be sick of this bass popping up in just about any thread where it just remotely and be squeezed in on topic ) :

 

Edited July 26 by Baloney Balderdash

[SamIAm]

I'd love a Kiesel Vadar ...

 

Headless 5er in 30 inch scale.

 

Sadly at nearly two grand I have resigned myself to a DIY version, which I've done before

and I've got the bits ... I just need to find the energy (Sadly suffering from fatigue these past few months which has curtailed most non-work activities)

Sam x

 

[Guest]

My dreams aren't of anything remotely exotic, just of a P-bass with very precise attributes: ultralight tuners, 42-43mm nut, modern(ish) radius, maple fb, deep C profile, Dimarzio Model P pickup, black body, no pg, weighing about 7 lbs.

[Ed_S]

Just a 5 string black P-bass, no more than about 3.5kg in weight, 16.5mm string spacing, roasted maple neck with a plain ebony board, and big stainless frets with perfectly rounded ends.

[Shambo]

A lightweight Fender Pro II Jazz in black, with 70's style rosewood, blocks and binding... and extra points for S1 switch.

 

Doesn't seem like a wild ask to me but we're in custom shop territory and it wouldn't be my dream bass if it costs that much.

[chris_b]

My Sadowsky Jazz RV5G. With the anti-gravity option fitted.

[Marty Forrer]

I have my dream bass. After decades of having USA Fenders (including an L series Jazz), a Wal, a Pedulla, an MTD, a Peavey USA Cirrus and one or two others, I am now perfectly happy with my Bacchus 5 string active Jazz. It is perfect in every way, particularly since I installed US Hipshot Ultralite tuners. Although not light at 9 lbs it balances absolutely perfectly on the strap, so weight becomes irrelevant.