Do you seek resistance with your basses?

#61
I have each of my basses set up a little differently.

My Precision (CS '59) is set with a reasonably high action because I love digging in and bouncing off the open strings. With some foam in the bridge cover, the tone is perfect for walking jazz lines and any style of blues.

My two Yamaha BB's (2000/3000) are set up with a medium-low action. Both have necks that are absolutely perfect and thus very easy to get around. The tone/playability of each is best with this set-up.

I approach my TRB6II a little differently. The sheer physicality of navigating such a huge neck requires a low action to facilitate flat fingering up and down the neck. Luckily the neck is so stiff the action can be set very low with no fret buzz. In short, this bass is a dream to play as long as correct technique is employed.

So it's horses for courses. The TRB would be unplayable with the action I use on the P bass. Likewise I could never get such a low action on the Precision without it causing problems.
 
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#62
BB and Billy got it right. I'm getting old. I don't have energy to throw around on things that shouldn't need it. I'm a big fan of play smarter.

If I'm sweating on a gig, I want it to be because the room is full, not because I'm working harder.
 
#67
Yeah.... now that you mention it. I have a P bass that is set up so nice that playing is just easier. But that one stays in the case a lot as the others seem to be the ones that require attention. Odd how that works.
 
#68
Low_NF said:
Obviously, no one likes basses with horrible playability, but is there such a thing as a bass that's "too playable"?

I have seen this culture with guitar players that prefer to "fight" with their guitar, whether it's from string gauges, neck shapes/radius, action height, etc and was wondering how common it is among bass players?
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It's strange... I have really small hands and short fingers, so naturally you would think I would prefer low action. I don't. I like to know that I'm actually fretting a note. I think the main reason however, is that I can't stand any fret buzz!
 
#69
I like some resistance, except for the part that it takes practice to keep the strength up in the hands. I use fender flats and with the strings a bit high, I get more articulation. I have a bass set up with very little resistance and rounds - essentially a 5 string guitar one octave down, and it makes on sound - it makes no difference how hard I pluck the strings - the tone stay the same.
 
#70
Low_NF said:
Obviously, no one likes basses with horrible playability, but is there such a thing as a bass that's "too playable"?

I have seen this culture with guitar players that prefer to "fight" with their guitar, whether it's from string gauges, neck shapes/radius, action height, etc and was wondering how common it is among bass players?
Click to expand...
Yep, I have one bass that is extraordinarily easy to play yet, I stay away from it for a number of reasons. One of which, if I play it consecutively for a few days or longer it spoils my mechanics and takes a day or so to clean up my playing on the others.
 
#71
legalbass said:
Answering this yes-or-no question -- "is there such a thing as a bass that's 'too playable'?" -- requires a definition of "playable" which the OP alludes to but does not supply, so this is a pretty flawed conversation to being with.

Assuming OP intends "playable" to mean, a bass guitar with minimal relief and low action (such as requires a relatively light plucking style) then yes such a bass guitar would not be optimally set up for someone who likes to really dig in. I think just about all of us would arrive at that conclusion.
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I'd have to put Alembic in that group - I had one and it has practically no resistance at all, with LG rounds..
 
#72
It doesn’t make sens to me to fight my instrument in order to get physical so it « fit » the visual of a specific music style.

I much much much prefer to have my instrument be the best I can afford with the best setup I can so I can play difficult stuff without wasting my stamina or hindering my abilities
 
#75
Low_NF said:
Obviously, no one likes basses with horrible playability, but is there such a thing as a bass that's "too playable"?

I have seen this culture with guitar players that prefer to "fight" with their guitar, whether it's from string gauges, neck shapes/radius, action height, etc and was wondering how common it is among bass players?
Click to expand...


I try to set up my basses after I'm fully warmed up and have been playing for a while so that when I first play that day they feel just a tiny bit stiff, that way they sound the best, and don't bottom out if I become rambunctious. I still like what I consider to be fairly low action but hate fret buzz and bottoming out. A bass that chokes sounds like crap to me.
 
#76
I mean, I play at least some stuff onna hard-to-play bass differently, and not necessarily worse.

And if I'm writing onnit (as I tend to do), I'm certainly writing differently as well, usually but not always with funkier or possibly more tonic-oriented lines.
 
#77
Great question. It’s something I’ve never really thought about.
I do like higher action than stock Fender specks. However I’m not big on thick (as some would call baseball bats) necks or anything 1.75” at the nut.
4 string player only.
So no fighting for me. Even on guitar I like a bit higher action. Probably because I’m really a bass player hiding behind the guitar, someone actually told this years ago. Don’t know if was a compliment or an insult.... but definitely true.
 
#78
Low_NF said:
Obviously, no one likes basses with horrible playability, but is there such a thing as a bass that's "too playable"?

I have seen this culture with guitar players that prefer to "fight" with their guitar, whether it's from string gauges, neck shapes/radius, action height, etc and was wondering how common it is among bass players?
Click to expand...

I don't think there's something that would be too playable, but I like basses that I can play in different ways and can dig into.
 
#79
Low_NF said:
Obviously, no one likes basses with horrible playability, but is there such a thing as a bass that's "too playable"?

I have seen this culture with guitar players that prefer to "fight" with their guitar, whether it's from string gauges, neck shapes/radius, action height, etc and was wondering how common it is among bass players?
Click to expand...

I take the path of least resistance
 
#80
No, I went through all that stuff on guitar. You might need a certain gauge to tune to a note and have the strings not be a floppy mess. But otherwise, whatever. My basses are strung with LaBella low tension flats. If there were another well balanced set of flats that I could tune to drop D on a short scale bass, I'd probably try them. But this whole "real men play X" BS is hilarious.
 
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