Yeah great build quality. Never bonded at all with it. Not even for a second.
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Yeah great build quality. Never bonded at all with it. Not even for a second.
I've never really owned a horrible bass, but there were two that I wasn't happy with and didn't keep very long.
My first bass, at age 14, was a brand new Fender Musicmaster. Not a bad instrument, in retrospect, but the Musicmaster has its own distinctive tone and if that's not what you're looking for, you won't be happy with it.
More recently, just a few years ago, I bought an Epi EB-0. Like the Musicmaster, it had one sound, but that sound was nothing but heavy and dull. It also wasn't very well made; there were bits of black filler alongside a few of the frets due to sloppy slot cutting, and the fret ends were sharp. Because of the bolt-on neck, there was a big block of wood that got in the way when I wanted to play high up the neck. I returned it and bought a Gibson SG Standard bass, which was much more expensive but also far superior in every way. (Fortunately, GC was clearing out the SG basses at the time; I got the last one I've ever seen in that store, and they knocked an extra $100 off the clearance price for me.)
My first bass, at age 14, was a brand new Fender Musicmaster. Not a bad instrument, in retrospect, but the Musicmaster has its own distinctive tone and if that's not what you're looking for, you won't be happy with it.
More recently, just a few years ago, I bought an Epi EB-0. Like the Musicmaster, it had one sound, but that sound was nothing but heavy and dull. It also wasn't very well made; there were bits of black filler alongside a few of the frets due to sloppy slot cutting, and the fret ends were sharp. Because of the bolt-on neck, there was a big block of wood that got in the way when I wanted to play high up the neck. I returned it and bought a Gibson SG Standard bass, which was much more expensive but also far superior in every way. (Fortunately, GC was clearing out the SG basses at the time; I got the last one I've ever seen in that store, and they knocked an extra $100 off the clearance price for me.)
Before I read your post, I had always thought it was just because it was a PJ-perhaps the PJ was not for me
Maybe I should give a PJ another shot!
smeet
Gold Supporting Member
I love that so much. mwDOINK FTW!
Mine was an 80's MIA Fender Jazz V. Very pretty chunk of ash crap. Crappy crappy preamp. Crappy crappy B string. Brittle sound. Heavy as heck. A half-inch thick layer of Polyurethane slathered all over it. The killer - I got it NEW with insurance money from the Alembic Spoiler that was stolen out of my parents' house. My guitarist convinced me to get that Fender. It's been almost 40 years and I'm still mad. I should pay him a surprise visit and punch him in the nose.
First borrowed bass I played was a Lyon P copy. P in this case stood for Piece Of Crap, made on a Friday afternoon right before quitting time when there was a shortage of wire, solder and flux at the factory. Wasn't even a spare inch of slack in the entire wiring harness.
And the miniscule dabs of solder looked small on the tiny dime sized pots.
Every single time I tried to play it I had to fix something. Honed my soldering skills with my dad's ginormous pistol grip soldering iron with a chisel tip about a half inch wide, using rosin core flux solder that was 3 or 4 times thicker than the wire I was soldering. Don't know the wattage but the house lights dimed when plugged in.
Eventually I had so much solder layered on top of old crappy solder I needed to splice in extra wire. Tried to use some Romex leftover from partially finishing our basement. Turns out the resistance was too high and the bass' output went to nothing.
Took that out (except for the ground) and spliced in some leftover phone wiring from when they upgraded the phones at my dad's office. Sound level came right back.
Eventually it all fell apart. PG screws had been taken out and put back in so many times the soft light wood body holes stripped out. When the guy who'd bought it new took it to the shop to trade it in it took both of us to carry it in. PG and wiring in a baggie, bass with loose strings in the other.
Not the actual bass, but like this one. Same fugly thick black band on the burst covering the veneer glue line.
Guy traded it on a used Yamaha Motion Bass, no idea how much he got for it.
And the miniscule dabs of solder looked small on the tiny dime sized pots.
Every single time I tried to play it I had to fix something. Honed my soldering skills with my dad's ginormous pistol grip soldering iron with a chisel tip about a half inch wide, using rosin core flux solder that was 3 or 4 times thicker than the wire I was soldering. Don't know the wattage but the house lights dimed when plugged in.
Eventually I had so much solder layered on top of old crappy solder I needed to splice in extra wire. Tried to use some Romex leftover from partially finishing our basement. Turns out the resistance was too high and the bass' output went to nothing.
Took that out (except for the ground) and spliced in some leftover phone wiring from when they upgraded the phones at my dad's office. Sound level came right back.
Eventually it all fell apart. PG screws had been taken out and put back in so many times the soft light wood body holes stripped out. When the guy who'd bought it new took it to the shop to trade it in it took both of us to carry it in. PG and wiring in a baggie, bass with loose strings in the other.
Not the actual bass, but like this one. Same fugly thick black band on the burst covering the veneer glue line.
Guy traded it on a used Yamaha Motion Bass, no idea how much he got for it.
Mine was a ‘93 G&L L2000. Noisy electronics, generic boring sound, and a neck with a monster ski jump. It was bland and required a crappy action to play. It kind of put me off to L2000s altogether.
However, I’ve since played a JB2 and an L1000 and loved them. Especially the L1K.
However, I’ve since played a JB2 and an L1000 and loved them. Especially the L1K.
EdBo
In Memoriam
I have 4 instruments with the P/J setup and playing the styles of music I love I don't have any use for the bridge pickups in them. I un-wire the bridge pickups. YEMV.
Mine was a 5 string made at a local guitar boutique. It had no sustain, and zero definition tone wise. Just a big pile of plllleeeehhhhth...
bassbully
Endorsed by The PHALEX CORN BASS..mmm...corn!
Ah hot dang! I forgot about that beast. I had one for maybe 3 hours. Went to GC and tried it out. I tastefully turned down low in the store. They were blowing them out and I thought cool this baby has punch. Nope...no sir!
I didn’t like that sucker one second when plugged in my rig at home with a decent level of volume. That suckers pup and preamp were untamable and as hi- if as Heck. Took it back right away to get it off my card.
I've had a Carvin six string bass and a Carvin 5 string bass that were immediate disappointments.
A friend of mine let me borrow a carvin LB model I think it was. Real nice looking bass. Had a Natural stained wood grain look. But alas It was a swing and a miss. Not junk just was light and thin and felt like you’d break it if you really got going on it.
Definitely not a low-quality bass, but this one was just so far from what I'm accustomed to playing I simply couldn't bond with it. It really is a hot-rodded J bass with two extra strings. I'm not a J fan, I don't particularly care for bolt-on basses (don't get excited, it's a personal preference) and I certainly can't hang with the narrow spacing at the nut. I missed having 24 frets and still don't understand the mandolin fret wire. Even the strap locks are different from the rest of my basses. I bought it on a whim sight unseen and sold it a couple years later for what I paid for it.
Tobias Growler. I bought a used one from Bass NW when they were open. It was supposed to be my first really good bass. Well when it arrived, a lot of the frets were just dead. They gave me the run around about returning it, so I opted to have it fixed. A fret level was done, but the neck was like rubber and wouldn't stay in place. In the end, and I don't know HOW, but the store I took it to to get it fixed gave me $700 for it, and I paid $750. I think the store didn't know what they had and thought they'd sell it for a lot more.
All these years later and while I didn't have any issues with the tone or the ergonomics of it, but I still have a bad taste in my mouth about that bass.
Second behind it is the first Dean Jeff Berlin signature. No matter what I did, no matter how it was set up, I could not for the life of me play the bass without an extreme amount of buzz all over the neck, even if the strings were a mile off the fretboard. I remember the strings had zero break at the nut because the headstock was cut flush with the neck. There was no angle at all and no string tree. I ended up selling it for parts.
All these years later and while I didn't have any issues with the tone or the ergonomics of it, but I still have a bad taste in my mouth about that bass.
Second behind it is the first Dean Jeff Berlin signature. No matter what I did, no matter how it was set up, I could not for the life of me play the bass without an extreme amount of buzz all over the neck, even if the strings were a mile off the fretboard. I remember the strings had zero break at the nut because the headstock was cut flush with the neck. There was no angle at all and no string tree. I ended up selling it for parts.
No pics, no idea the brand. An off brand Japanese 4-string fretless. The salesman was Greg Howard, Stick virtuoso, and he made it sound ok. It was horrible, the pup was too narrow for the string spacing, so the E and G were anemic. It was only about $100, but I wasted another $50 putting a better pickup in it to try and get the string volume balanced. That effort failed miserably. I ended up lending it to a buddy who was, unfortunately, a crack head. Never saw it again.
Don't get me wrong. The Carvin basses I had were well built, looked great but I wasn't thrilled about the pickups and active electronics. I never could get the sound I was looking for.
Ok a few posts just reminded me about Carvin. I had a P4 built and I had an LB75 that I bought from their in-stock inventory. The LB75 was my first Carvin, but when I got it, while it looked beautiful, the neck was bowed so badly that my tech just looked at it and told me to return it. The electronics were noisy and the pots were stiff and scratchy. About 15 years later I decided to wash the sour taste out of my mouth and try again and ordered a PB4. First, the piece of ash they used was extremely mismatched and looked horrible. Second, the neck edges were not rounded over at all. It felt like I was playing a 2x4. And third, and again, the electronics were noisy. The jack was obviously faulty, and the pots were scratchy...and this was a new build that I had ordered.
I promptly returned both of them and after the PB4, I will never order another Carvin again as long as I live.
So actually considering that I'm bitter about them and can honestly say I think Carvin's basses, based on the two I had in my hands, suck, this should be at the top of my list instead of my previous post.
I promptly returned both of them and after the PB4, I will never order another Carvin again as long as I live.
So actually considering that I'm bitter about them and can honestly say I think Carvin's basses, based on the two I had in my hands, suck, this should be at the top of my list instead of my previous post.
I’ve never looked at any of my basses as a waste, thankfully, save for one.
It was a washtub bass I tried to build long ago. Back then, $40 was a lot of money to me. In short, I wish I had just used the washtub to bath my dog.
It was a washtub bass I tried to build long ago. Back then, $40 was a lot of money to me. In short, I wish I had just used the washtub to bath my dog.
No disrespect intended, but the newer late model Sterling SUB ray4 (2016) was a problem for me: the pre amp was very bright and powerful. The electronics was not the best of design or quality. The bridge was thin and the hardware was of low quality. I played it for 3 days and never touched it again. Nevertheless, it inspired me to try out a few Stingrays and the Ray 34. And now I only play the Ray34.
Everyone has different tastes and standards. What don't work for me may work for others. That's the way I see it.
Everyone has different tastes and standards. What don't work for me may work for others. That's the way I see it.
That's it! I'm gonna make a bass outta pallet wood!
I've already built a few out of reclaimed barn siding - turned out really nice ("River-Of-Life" style) and so as soon as it warms up in Montana, then it's onward and upward!
Thanks for the idea.