Worst bass you have owned and why?

[Spoombung]

Other people always own the worst.

[Wil]

A late 70's Avon Grabber copy, with sliding pickup. Bought in a car boot sale for £20. I still feel robbed.

[Bassassin]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='908786' date='Jul 29 2010, 12:19 AM']One day Bassassin will post a wanted ad for some part of it and I'll sell it to him for a pittance.[/quote]
Gawd. I really am that tragic, aren't I? Although in my defence, I've passed up two of the guitar ones of these selling for buttons. I like to think I have some standards!

Speaking of which my worst bass was my first - a short-scale comedy attempt at a Jazz, wearing a Grant badge. It had a bridge so poorly aligned the G string was off the neck above the 12th, pickups that didn't pick a great deal up & an action so high you could stick your arm under the stings. It might've been Japanese & old but it really was an irredeemable piece of sh!t that I'd gleefully hack to splinters given the chance.

Or I hope I would. I Could probably give it a good setup & have it playing like a dream now. I bet I could... :ph34r:

Jon.

[sprocketflup]

Not had a bad one yet ( luckily) tho one day I fully intend to make my own, i imagine that one will qualify lol

Intresting how many Fenders are on this list, Ive never got on with them either

[Badass]

A no name EB3 copy was the worst Bass I even owned. Bought it when I was a wee lad, back in 1974 so I could be like Jack Bruce. It sounded terrible, with strings so high I could limbo under them...On the positive side, I ended up with strong fingers, and I realised it was Stanley, not Jack that I wanted to emulate back them.

:sigh: Oh how times change

[Kiwi]

[quote name='Marvin' post='908832' date='Jul 29 2010, 05:44 AM']My first bass a Westone Spectrum 11. Just awful in every respect, quality, tone, playability, I could go on and on. Early 90's cheap basses that come nowhere near the budget end basses today. I think Crazy Kiwi mentioned he had one and would probably support my view.[/quote]
Hell yes. Goddawful piece of crap. However I've now learned to avoid anything with a plywood body.

[derrenleepoole]

Not the worst bass ever, but most uninspiring was a 1996 anniversary edition of a Fender Precision Lyte. Beautiful to look at, well balanced and great weight - zero tone! I'd love the bass back just so I could do something about it!

[Adrenochrome]

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='908742' date='Jul 28 2010, 11:10 PM']Avon EB0 copy. Gave tin and firewood a bad name. Awful thing.

Probably worth £150 as a 'Lawsuit' now.[/quote]

He he, I've got one. I really like the neck and lightweight mahogany body. It was my cousin's that he played in a punk band back in the late 70s/80s. I think it'd make a decent sound if I put a real humbucker where the 'pretend' humbucker is!

[Adrenochrome]

I had various very cheap basses that were 'limited' in their capabilities including Tanglewood Rebel 5K, late 80s plywood Squier Jazz (nice neck though...), Tanglewood Warwick ripoff, Stagg BC Rich ripoff. Considering how little I paid for each of them, and often sold them on for the same, I think they were all reasonable value - ie stayed in tune and always worked!

[witterth]

[quote name='fatgoogle' post='908750' date='Jul 28 2010, 11:16 PM']A jack and danny 5 string bought about 2 years ago. Manky so i attempted to mod it which failed and then to my great luck managed to swap it for a epiphone les paul and a fender acoustic. Best deal ever i believe.[/quote]
You lucky geyt!! (BTW )
EDIT:
I forgot to mention a hohner stienberg (cicket bat special) copy, a 5 string
SOOOWEEE!!!
total pig.
bad , not bad as in "good" bass, in fact wish I had played cricket with it!
junk

Edited July 29, 2010 by witterth

[basshead56]

Haven´t really owned a bad one.
But my first proper bass (a yamaha rbx170-which I still have) was never set up. The intonation was fine, but the action was massively high!
Not knowing any better, that´s how I learned to play.
That´s really helped with building up my finger strength and db/eub playing though!
Still have the original strings on it and its still in the same state iit was when it left the factory, just dustier!

I did have an Epiphone EBO for a week, but couldn´t get on with it. It would never hold tuning and sounded very lightweight, so moved it on.

[Stacker]

The worst, without a doubt, was a Washburn 8-string bass, Explorer shape. It buzzed like a hornet's nest, was impossible to play and, beacause the octave strings were anchored/tuned at the rear, the G string kept popping it's windings. I kept it for about a week then took it back to the shop. Pure sh*t!

[Shambo]

Another vote for the Avon EB0 copy. I think the strings on my current bass are worth at least two of them.

[steviedee]

I has a Cort in the early 80s it was rubbish, it was full size so that was an upgrade, but it played sh*te and looked like a jobby....

[Pete Academy]

Warwick FNA Jazzman 5, Ibanez BTB 5, Musicman Bongo 5. Couldn't get on with them.

[farmer61]

Marlin Slammer.......jezz it was difficult to play. Needed muscles like Fatima Whitbread to fret a note!

Also my Takimine Acoustic bass. Body so thick you needed arm extensions or the ability to dislocate your shoulders to play it.

[cocco]

Epi T-bird was a mistake, as was the Warwick Streamer Stage 1 V, infact the only bass i have which isnt a disappointment out of the box is my grabber. I hated fenders until I modded a P and a J

[MoonBassAlpha]

Guild B301F, just a very bad dead spot on most of the neck, and I never felt the pickup position was right

[casapete]

[quote name='derrenleepoole' post='908997' date='Jul 29 2010, 10:52 AM']Not the worst bass ever, but most uninspiring was a 1996 anniversary edition of a Fender Precision Lyte. Beautiful to look at, well balanced and great weight - zero tone! I'd love the bass back just so I could do something about it![/quote]

I had one of those, same experience. Yet the Lyte I had before that was fantsatic-strange.

[BT!]

epiphone thunderbird

[jezzaboy]

An Epiphone EB3. Looked the business but sounded mince, had horrendus neck dive and cheap and nasty hardware. Sold it to a guy who wanted to be like Jack Bruce. He was on drugs for sure....(the guy not Jack!).

Jez

Edited July 29, 2010 by jezzaboy

[Musicman20]

Epiphone seem to get a lot of votes!

[blind pilot]

having no dough, but wanting to play bass again, I bought a Lindo Bass of e-bay, the overhang on the frets was just lethal, the neck was just the weirdest shape ever, was happy when I managed to P/X for my Dean, and i got £100.00 trade in value - ka-ching!

[willyf87]

My 98 red wine MIM was shocking, after buying when I was about 16 I found the neck was warped as hell and the nut snapped went back to fender for set up and fixes and was still warped and shabby!! I decided to buy a new neck and have it set up, then realised recently when I started playing it in my new band the pick ups were awful!! Nosiest pick ups ever, di marzio ultra jazzes fixed that. Then new scratchplate, hipshot de tuner, chrome plates thumbrest and varitone imported from the states wre fitted. Safe to say it's not fender anymore, but it sounds and feels wicked now!!

[LawrenceH]

Some of the basses on this list are ridiculous! And I'm pretty confident that none could beat an old 4-string P copy I had, I think it was a Rockwood? Flippin' dreadful, weighed a ton, played like a cow and had the tone of a pillow. Looked a pig's ear as well (though in the ugly stakes the Big Al will always be my number 1)