Worst bass you have owned and why?

[JTUK]

Don't even remember its name but my first ever bass was awful. After that I had a Musicmaster which wasn't great but it had the Fender name on it.
Once I got serious about it all and was picking up my first gigs I got a Fender Jazz dating from '75-76, That and the Ibanez Sting used to play were my worst basses. That is what makes me laugh about 70's Fenders...they certainly could put out a pile of poo back then so considering how good they are supposed to be..that is my worst bass, IMO.

The fact that people try and charge £1400 plus for one now..well, I don't know whether to laugh or cry

Edited September 14, 2010 by JTUK

[matski]

Westone Thunder I fretless: more dive than a Stuka and sounded abysmal.

[danny-79]

[quote name='matski' post='955833' date='Sep 14 2010, 11:03 AM']Westone Thunder I fretless: more dive than a Stuka and sounded abysmal.[/quote]

Was just reading through this thread trying to think of the name of the first bass that i picked up, i was 13yrs old an at school an there was this bass guitar in the store room, the only bass guitar to be had by the music department, there wasn't even an amp at the time to plug into, i used to sit there fiddling with it on dinner breaks (yeah was a geek at school that favored the music room over sports, years later still no change I'm I'm happy with my decision lol) but anyways used to try to get some volume out of this thing by butting the body of it up to a table to hear the notes vibrate through the table an thinking WOW! I'm onto something here
I did end up being able to take the bass home on weekends until it got broken by somebody at the school never to be seen agian.....
The point to my post (apart from the memory lane bit) was the name of the bass (an how it looked are now very clear in my head lo) was a ....
[b]A Westone Thunder II.[/b]
It was fretted (if you can call it that), weighed a tone (you try carrying it home, think Cartman from Southpark walking home with a double bass over his shoulder, maby the sports classes might of been useful to me back then ) But there you go, possibly the worst and first bass i ever had contact with, it was pretty unplayable set up wise an when i asked the music teacher on how to tune it was just told "[i]use the piano to tune it, EADG, middle C is first key left of the lock, if you have been listing in class you shouldn't have a problem [/i]???? (thinking back should of told her that the f*****g piano had a lock on the keys for a reason!!!!!! but hay" (good job my dad was my main source of inspiration to start playing lol, he had pitch pipes at home )
Aww fun stuff, not a thread hijack just thanks for the memory trip, could go on but wont
so yeah worst ever bass .... [b]A Westone Thunder II.[/b]
Best bass ever.... [b]A Westone Thunder II.[/b]

Edited September 14, 2010 by danny-79

[Lorne]

Yamaha Attitude LTD in blue

Put me off Yamaha for many years

[Grand Wazoo]

Columbus fretless jazz copy, bag'o'sh|te

One is soooo embarassed....

[tauzero]

Truly worst, an abysmal piece of crap - a Rosetti 7, a hollow-body thing with a green sunburst and a plastic scratchplate/pickup. Can't remember what happened to it, but I'd got rid of it before I ventured properly into bass playing.

Big disappointment - a Precision fretless, late 70s or early 80s. Body was a big heavy slab of ash that didn't seem to have had much shaping applied, neck wasn't too great (not twisted or anything, just more clunky than the one on the fretted P) - a big disappointment when compared to my tatty old fretted P, and also to the rather nice neck-through fretless, a Frontier, that I pxed for the Fender.

[MB1]

MB1.
..A Kay Precision Copy!..... "Be Afraid...Be Very Afraid! " .............................................."We Didnt Burn Him!"..

Edited September 16, 2010 by MB1

[theplumber]

Just bought a Westone Thunder 1A bass...moved the strap button to heel of neck.....cured neck dive....it sounds great!

[hillbilly deluxe]

Egmond 7 ? bass,
Tanglewood Precision copy that weighed at the most 5lb,
Ibanez Musician fretless.

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='Lorne' post='956213' date='Sep 14 2010, 04:44 PM']Yamaha Attitude LTD in blue

Put me off Yamaha for many years[/quote]

Blashphemy!

Quickly grab the Pope!

Haha sorry,

I'd murder for a Yammie Attitude in Blue, only 150 around! Beautiful, i love pretty much every yamaha bass ever made,

Hmmm never really thought about that, i have a thing for all yamaha necks, they seem to think my way!

Worst however? I once had for about a day an old Dean, it was horrible either that or the Epiphone Thunder bird

[Lorne]

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' post='958668' date='Sep 16 2010, 06:59 PM']Blashphemy!

Quickly grab the Pope!

Haha sorry,

I'd murder for a Yammie Attitude in Blue, only 150 around! Beautiful, i love pretty much every yamaha bass ever made,

Hmmm never really thought about that, i have a thing for all yamaha necks, they seem to think my way!

Worst however? I once had for about a day an old Dean, it was horrible either that or the Epiphone Thunder bird[/quote]


I wouldn't put too much faith in the 150 ever made statement

I bought my Attitude LTD NEW in 1992,it arrived all shiney etc etc,I did the thing the bass is reknowned for,bent the neck forward and POP,I had to take the bass apart and rebuild it,Yamaha had not tightened the neck to the aluminium block or the block to the body

It had "Made in Taiwan" stamped into the rear of the headstock,which pissed me off,as I thought I was buying the top of the range 4 string the Japanese guitar company made,you would have thought it was made in Japan at least

Anyway,After a month the front volume pot ceased working,servicol wouldn't cure it,so I phoned Yamaha for a new pot,their reply was "£15 plus VAT sir",wouldn't even budge when I told them the bass was 1 month old,I refused to buy it and took the original pot apart and rebuilt it

Not long afterwards the Hipshot arm wore out,phoned Yamaha again,"Hipshot's problem,not ours".Shame for them,but a friend of mine back then,was good friends with Dave Borisoff,owner of Hipshot,and gave me his Ranch address,so I sent a letter off to him.A week or so later I got a reply,full of expletives about Yamaha and a new arm,Aparently the Hipshots were made by Yamaha under licence and were using sub quality metal at the time,Mr Borisoff wasn't happy and told me he had had 7 complaints that week from Yamaha owners

I then saw a factory tour of a Yamaha factory,and there were several crates of LTD necks,hundreds of necks,so I Phoned Yamaha (I was in the trade) and asked "Just how limited is the Attitude?".Their reply was "Limited to how many we can sell".

After I had rebuilt the bass it was awsome,but Yamaha's Attitude sucked back then

Roll on 13 years,I finally broke down and bought a Yamaha John Myung,one of the control knobs was tarnished,so I decided to buy a new set.I phoned the spares department to be told £10:50 EACH,so I ordered 1,not 5.They asked for the bass's serial # etc etc.2 days later a knob appeared through the letterbox,a Black plastich knob with a gold insert with Volume written on it!!!!!,It was an Amp knob.Phoned them up,had to pay for the knob again,and send the old one back to get a refund for it (Don't recall if I got the refund).The new gold metal knob arrived and was NOT exactly the same shape as the originals

2 months ago I phoned Yamaha again to enquire which of their hardcases would fit a John Myung as I now have 2 of them.The guy didn't know,but promised to get someone who did,to phone me back the next day...........I'm still waiting

So it would seem,Yamaha's attitude still sucks

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='Lorne' post='958714' date='Sep 16 2010, 07:36 PM']I wouldn't put too much faith in the 150 ever made statement

I bought my Attitude LTD NEW in 1992,it arrived all shiney etc etc,I did the thing the bass is reknowned for,bent the neck forward and POP,I had to take the bass apart and rebuild it,Yamaha had not tightened the neck to the aluminium block or the block to the body

It had "Made in Taiwan" stamped into the rear of the headstock,which pissed me off,as I thought I was buying the top of the range 4 string the Japanese guitar company made,you would have thought it was made in Japan at least

Anyway,After a month the front volume pot ceased working,servicol wouldn't cure it,so I phoned Yamaha for a new pot,their reply was "£15 plus VAT sir",wouldn't even budge when I told them the bass was 1 month old,I refused to buy it and took the original pot apart and rebuilt it

Not long afterwards the Hipshot arm wore out,phoned Yamaha again,"Hipshot's problem,not ours".Shame for them,but a friend of mine back then,was good friends with Dave Borisoff,owner of Hipshot,and gave me his Ranch address,so I sent a letter off to him.A week or so later I got a reply,full of expletives about Yamaha and a new arm,Aparently the Hipshots were made by Yamaha under licence and were using sub quality metal at the time,Mr Borisoff wasn't happy and told me he had had 7 complaints that week from Yamaha owners

I then saw a factory tour of a Yamaha factory,and there were several crates of LTD necks,hundreds of necks,so I Phoned Yamaha (I was in the trade) and asked "Just how limited is the Attitude?".Their reply was "Limited to how many we can sell".

After I had rebuilt the bass it was awsome,but Yamaha's Attitude sucked back then

Roll on 13 years,I finally broke down and bought a Yamaha John Myung,one of the control knobs was tarnished,so I decided to buy a new set.I phoned the spares department to be told £10:50 EACH,so I ordered 1,not 5.They asked for the bass's serial # etc etc.2 days later a knob appeared through the letterbox,a Black plastich knob with a gold insert with Volume written on it!!!!!,It was an Amp knob.Phoned them up,had to pay for the knob again,and send the old one back to get a refund for it (Don't recall if I got the refund).The new gold metal knob arrived and was NOT exactly the same shape as the originals

2 months ago I phoned Yamaha again to enquire which of their hardcases would fit a John Myung as I now have 2 of them.The guy didn't know,but promised to get someone who did,to phone me back the next day...........I'm still waiting

So it would seem,Yamaha's attitude still sucks [/quote]

Do you have a JM1 or a JM2? I'd murder again for either!

My Attitude (new one though!) is flawless, its very very dear too me, i played one of the blue 'uns which was old and it seemed pretty could, though i guess alot of people bought them for who sheehan is and were over protective of them (like me and mine haha! Only 50 around i hope at least!)

I am hopefully saving for a JM2 and will get one soon enough, would be a dream come true! And will some day own a Turqouise JM1 too

Ahh to dream!
Damn GAS!

[JMBassist]

My worst bass was a Tobias Growler 5 (gibson era)

I'm saying "was" because I made some upgrades on electronics and now it sounds...well.....not so bad!

But the original setup has nothing to compare with the Tobias from Tobias himself.


Even my old Ibanez Roadstar is better than this one...

[Truckstop]

Well, when I finally save enough money for a Shuker Artist Pro, my JM1 may well be surplus to requirements!

Truckstop

[budget bassist]

Apart from my stagg and jay turser beginner basses (everybody knows they're crap), I don't think i've really owned a 'bad' bass as such, however the preamp on my fender reggie hamilton jazz was truly awful. The tobias toby pro 5 i had was pretty poor too, it had some potential, but the preamp was just rubbish and the pickups sounded so dull and lifeless.

Edited September 16, 2010 by budget bassist

[Lorne]

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' post='958751' date='Sep 16 2010, 08:01 PM']Do you have a JM1 or a JM2? I'd murder again for either!

My Attitude (new one though!) is flawless, its very very dear too me, i played one of the blue 'uns which was old and it seemed pretty could, though i guess alot of people bought them for who sheehan is and were over protective of them (like me and mine haha! Only 50 around i hope at least!)

I am hopefully saving for a JM2 and will get one soon enough, would be a dream come true! And will some day own a Turqouise JM1 too

Ahh to dream!
Damn GAS![/quote]


Once I had rebuilt the Attitude,it was bloody awesome,but I had fallen out of love with it by then,because of all the problems and Yamaha's lack of effort,I ended up swapping it to a guy for a full Trace Elliot stack

I'm not very interested in the JM2,I would buy one IF it was dirt cheap,I just think they didn't put enough effort into it after the superb JM1,they should have made the JM2 better than the JM1,but they didn't IMHO

Here are mine

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='Lorne' post='958820' date='Sep 16 2010, 09:14 PM']Once I had rebuilt the Attitude,it was bloody awesome,but I had fallen out of love with it by then,because of all the problems and Yamaha's lack of effort,I ended up swapping it to a guy for a full Trace Elliot stack

I'm not very interested in the JM2,I would buy one IF it was dirt cheap,I just think they didn't put enough effort into it after the superb JM1,they should have made the JM2 better than the JM1,but they didn't IMHO

Here are mine

[/quote]

Thats beautiful, truely gorgeous!

After messing around on the Attitude i don't really know if its worth the price tag =S its very well made, but the tuners aren't the best and the bridge is great but seems to blemish easily, which isn't a construction thingy really but still,

I've played a JM2 it was fantastic and i've been itching to play a JM1 for years! You wouldn't happen to live in Aberdeen would you? haha

[Lorne]

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' post='958884' date='Sep 16 2010, 10:12 PM']You wouldn't happen to live in Aberdeen would you? haha[/quote]


Couldn't be further away if I tried,I'm in Plymouth,Devon

[retroman]

Worst experience ever........Gibson Thunderbird IV

Ordered new, long wait for it to arrive, and the set up out the box was dreadful. Would have been more use as a bow and arrow. Easily found over 20 faults on the bass, including bits of wood missing out the fret board. The shop I bought it from did their best, But Gibson's aftersales service was shocking. The attitude I got was pretty much that I was lucky to have a new Gibson, and I also got the impression that they wanted me to keep running around after THEM

Suffice to say, that is the last time I buy/ order a new Gibson.

On the plus side, once the set up issues were resolved, it was lovely to play, and the tone was awesome.

Still have a real fetish for vintage Gibsons, and own 3, but it still winds me up if I think about it for too long.......

[Lorne]

/\ Ah,Gibson and Yamaha,went to the same school of customer relations then LOL

My Yamaha Attitude LTD cost a fortune £1200 (I consider that a fortune) in 1992,but they couldn't care less

[charic]

My Peavey Millenium BXP has to be my worst own. Was my first bass, cost me £170 at the time sounded good but the neck was too small for me. The only thing that makes me think it was bad? You couldn't tap on it at all, the notes choked all the time.

But then its being compared to my pbass and acg so odds were slim for it tbf.

[neepheid]

I suppose the worst bass I have owned is probably the Epiphone EB-3. Not that it was awful, and wasn't ugly, I've just learned what I like and it's not that! It's certainly the worst instrument a beginner could have picked (ergonomics are all to pot) and probably one of the reasons why the first 3 years of my bass playing time was spent looking at the damn thing instead of playing it (the main one being not realising how you really need to get out and play bass in a group to get the most out of it).

Of course, anything I haven't liked initially, I've modded to my tastes. Take the Epiphone Les Paul Standard bass - loved the looks (bought it mostly for looks to be honest), loved the neck, blah passive humbuckers. So I gutted it and put in EMG-HB pups and an EMG-BQC 3 band EQ. Fitted a selector switch (not the easiest job what with the carved top and all). Now it's great and I'm unlikely to get rid of it.

In my opinion if the neck isn't any good then you might as well bin it because everything else can be modded by all but the most ham-fisted/timid of people. I'm certainly no expert.

[budget bassist]

[quote name='neepheid' post='959338' date='Sep 17 2010, 12:23 PM']Of course, anything I haven't liked initially, I've modded to my tastes. Take the Epiphone Les Paul Standard bass - loved the looks (bought it mostly for looks to be honest), loved the neck, blah passive humbuckers. So I gutted it and put in EMG-HB pups and an EMG-BQC 3 band EQ. Fitted a selector switch (not the easiest job what with the carved top and all). Now it's great and I'm unlikely to get rid of it.[/quote]
Pics? I don't think I've seen it since you put new pickups in it, sounds pretty cool!

[neepheid]

[quote name='budget bassist' post='959419' date='Sep 17 2010, 01:38 PM']Pics? I don't think I've seen it since you put new pickups in it, sounds pretty cool![/quote]

I've updated the thread in bass porn accordingly:

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?s=&showtopic=40217&view=findpost&p=959463"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?s=&sho...st&p=959463[/url]

[retroman]

[quote name='Lorne' post='959249' date='Sep 17 2010, 11:10 AM']/\ Ah,Gibson and Yamaha,went to the same school of customer relations then LOL

My Yamaha Attitude LTD cost a fortune £1200 (I consider that a fortune) in 1992,but they couldn't care less [/quote]

Yeap, certainly looks like they did!

I really find it very disappointing that some of the major players can have an attitude towards their customers like that. If I spend £1k+ on a guitar I expect it to be really good quality, and if there is a problem, I expect good,prompt, and curtious after sales service. Unfortunately, there does seem to be an air of companies trading on past reputations.

I've been quite tempted over the last year or so to have a USA Jazz.. Really tempted by the new 2010 deluxe Jazz V, with the block markers, etc, but too nervous to sink that amount into something again from one of the major players that have had QC issues in the past. In all fairness, never owned a genuine USA Fender, so I am swayed a little by "here say" on that one.

What I find quite amazing is that some companies "cheap" brands are more consistent, better made and finished!