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Post subject: Beginner Bass
Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 1:27 pm
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I'm getting very interested in playing bass. What would be a good beginner bass?

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Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:25 am
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ilovefender! wrote:
I'm getting very interested in playing bass. What would be a good beginner bass?


Most so-called “beginner” basses really aren't good enough for a beginner! If a pro can’t play them how can you expect a beginner to play one?

There is no shortage of cheap knockoff basses that are hard to play, sound dreadful, have terrible intonation and won't stay in tune or hold a decent setup. This can be very discouraging to a new player to say the least.

Lots of people expect that basses are supposed to be hard to play, when the actual truth is that they should be easy to play!

The Fender Standard Precision Bass is a very good instrument without any of the aforementioned shortcomings. If you can't afford the most basic of Fender basses, then look to the Squier Classic Vibe and Vintage Modified series basses as they are, by all accounts, better than they should be for the price. Despite their lower prices the VM's and CV basses are being gigged by some semi-professional and even totally professional players. Are Squier’s VM and CV basses as good as a real Fender? On paper no, but some people actually prefer them. I’ve had yet to hear anyone say they hate their new Squier VM or CV bass or say that it was overpriced.

A couple of “beginner bass” notes to keep in mind.
1. It should be simple. A whole bunch of controls and pickups and switches are nothing but a distraction when the player should be concentrating on learning the fretboard and technique. The Precision Bass design with one volume control and one tone control is about as simple as it gets. Get a four sting bass to start out with, then if you want to go to a more expensive five string later you can.
2. A PASSIVE bass (no battery required) keeps things simpler. When just starting out, an active bass is totally unnecessary to accomplish anything that needs to be learned. Most professionals play passive basses! While many pros do play active basses, the vast majority are playing passive instruments. (I have both but play mostly passive myself.)
3. A good electronic tuner is essential so a beginner can play along with their favorite songs in standard tuning.
4. A professional setup at the local guitar shop will make almost any bass play much better. If you wind up buying a used bass or buying one online you’ll have to pay for a setup over and above the cost of the instrument. Most reputable local dealers will do a setup on all instruments they sell before it goes out the door. (This is not true at some of the Mega-stores though so ask.)

5. While you didn’t ask about amps, a decent amp to practice with is just as important as having a decent instrument. There is no way around the fact that a good quality instrument plugged into a junky amp will sound junky. If the player can’t really hear the instrument, or if it sounds like a bee buzzing in a washtub they’ll lose interest fast. Features to look for are: At least a 10 inch speaker and at least 30 watts. More watts and a larger speaker are better because the amp will fill the need for longer. Also nice features for a practice amp include an input for CD or IPOD and an output for headphones for private practice without disturbing others. (Sealed ear type headphones that wrap around the ears are best and not the “Walkman” foam ear-cushion type because the Walkman type will not produce bass frequencies as well.) A practice amp should be light and compact but yet loud enough to be heard and it should sound balanced throughout the scale of the instrument. There are lots of 5, 10 and 15 watt practice amps out there, but most of them sound absolutely awful. For some reason most 30 watt bass amps sound far more than twice as good as a 15 watt amp. Most of the amps that come with the “Bass Packs” bass/amp combo deals are absolute garbage, so buy the bass and the amp separately. Stick to major brand amps. While all of the small amps are made in Asia now, the name brand amps are still, in most cases, a cut above the brands nobody ever heard of.

The better the instrument and amp you buy upfront the longer it will fill your needs. Also, if it doesn’t pan out that you are the next Jaco or Sting, you can sell a Fender or Squier bass fast without losing your shirt. Other brands sell not so fast and at not so close to the original purchase price. The same is true for name brand amps as the top names in bass amplification resell way faster and at less of a loss than an off brand amp.


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Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:06 pm
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All the advice from Brother Dave was sound. I have a Fender Precision and a Squier VM Modified Jazz Bass, both are great basses, I also have a Squier MB 5 which I wouldn't recommend. Play a whole bunch of instruments in your price range before you decide.

Lots of guys here have and love their Squier Precisions, personally I would say a Precision is the best way to start.

Good luck.


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Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 8:44 pm
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brotherdave wrote:
ilovefender! wrote:
I'm getting very interested in playing bass. What would be a good beginner bass?


Most so-called “beginner” basses really aren't good enough for a beginner! If a pro can’t play them how can you expect a beginner to play one?

There is no shortage of cheap knockoff basses that are hard to play, sound dreadful, have terrible intonation and won't stay in tune or hold a decent setup. This can be very discouraging to a new player to say the least.

Lots of people expect that basses are supposed to be hard to play, when the actual truth is that they should be easy to play!

The Fender Standard Precision Bass is a very good instrument without any of the aforementioned shortcomings. If you can't afford the most basic of Fender basses, then look to the Squier Classic Vibe and Vintage Modified series basses as they are, by all accounts, better than they should be for the price. Despite their lower prices the VM's and CV basses are being gigged by some semi-professional and even totally professional players. Are Squier’s VM and CV basses as good as a real Fender? On paper no, but some people actually prefer them. I’ve had yet to hear anyone say they hate their new Squier VM or CV bass or say that it was overpriced.

A couple of “beginner bass” notes to keep in mind.
1. It should be simple. A whole bunch of controls and pickups and switches are nothing but a distraction when the player should be concentrating on learning the fretboard and technique. The Precision Bass design with one volume control and one tone control is about as simple as it gets. Get a four sting bass to start out with, then if you want to go to a more expensive five string later you can.
2. A PASSIVE bass (no battery required) keeps things simpler. When just starting out, an active bass is totally unnecessary to accomplish anything that needs to be learned. Most professionals play passive basses! While many pros do play active basses, the vast majority are playing passive instruments. (I have both but play mostly passive myself.)
3. A good electronic tuner is essential so a beginner can play along with their favorite songs in standard tuning.
4. A professional setup at the local guitar shop will make almost any bass play much better. If you wind up buying a used bass or buying one online you’ll have to pay for a setup over and above the cost of the instrument. Most reputable local dealers will do a setup on all instruments they sell before it goes out the door. (This is not true at some of the Mega-stores though so ask.)

5. While you didn’t ask about amps, a decent amp to practice with is just as important as having a decent instrument. There is no way around the fact that a good quality instrument plugged into a junky amp will sound junky. If the player can’t really hear the instrument, or if it sounds like a bee buzzing in a washtub they’ll lose interest fast. Features to look for are: At least a 10 inch speaker and at least 30 watts. More watts and a larger speaker are better because the amp will fill the need for longer. Also nice features for a practice amp include an input for CD or IPOD and an output for headphones for private practice without disturbing others. (Sealed ear type headphones that wrap around the ears are best and not the “Walkman” foam ear-cushion type because the Walkman type will not produce bass frequencies as well.) A practice amp should be light and compact but yet loud enough to be heard and it should sound balanced throughout the scale of the instrument. There are lots of 5, 10 and 15 watt practice amps out there, but most of them sound absolutely awful. For some reason most 30 watt bass amps sound far more than twice as good as a 15 watt amp. Most of the amps that come with the “Bass Packs” bass/amp combo deals are absolute garbage, so buy the bass and the amp separately. Stick to major brand amps. While all of the small amps are made in Asia now, the name brand amps are still, in most cases, a cut above the brands nobody ever heard of.

The better the instrument and amp you buy upfront the longer it will fill your needs. Also, if it doesn’t pan out that you are the next Jaco or Sting, you can sell a Fender or Squier bass fast without losing your shirt. Other brands sell not so fast and at not so close to the original purchase price. The same is true for name brand amps as the top names in bass amplification resell way faster and at less of a loss than an off brand amp.


I agree 100%. I started off on a cheap knockoff bass (It was a cheap Jay Turser, I know your 51 turser is your baby Brother Dave, but most of them are very low quality).

Starting off on a really low end bass made learning much harder than it could have been. You don't need anything fancy, but bottom of the line is not the best place to go.

The only good thing about learning on a horrible instrument is when I got a nice one it was that much better! :D
:lol: :lol:


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Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 3:37 am
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Speaking of Squier's CV, they're near the price of a fender standards.. so well like for the alder wood.. I'm glad I chose a fender.. the CV's are like $50 difference, and considering the bass.. bleah..

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Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 7:27 am
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eyecandy wrote:
Speaking of Squier's CV, they're near the price of a fender standards.. so well like for the alder wood.. I'm glad I chose a fender.. the CV's are like $50 difference, and considering the bass.. bleah..


Not anymore. Fender MIM standards are 600, and CVs are 350.


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Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:09 am
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I see.. maybe the prices weren't updated at the local shop here.. but aww i got a jazz at the cost of $400.. lucky i guess..

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Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 12:47 pm
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as usual, so true of what BrotherDave had written...especially the amp part, we give advice to the new guys, but always forget about the amp. good job BrotherDave!!

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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 12:43 am
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anubis16 wrote:
.... I started off on a cheap knockoff bass (It was a cheap Jay Turser, I know your 51 turser is your baby Brother Dave, but most of them are very low quality).


Well you are talking about Blondine there, which is my gigging JTB-401 and more of a '54 knockoff than a '51 actually. That is my favorite gigging bass ever. You can talk bad about my wife or my girlfriend, but you best not talk bad about Blondine or there will be blood!

Blondine truly was the best $212 (tax included) that I ever spent in my life. Blondine is truly a 1 in a million and I know that they are not all this good. The stars aligned just right for some reason and I just got lucky on that one. I did about a twelve hour electronics overhaul on her and frankly I couldn't ask for more from a gigging bass. I had to do some routing and grinding and all kinds of mods to make standard parts fit, even to make standard issue solid shaft CTS pots work took some mods. Nice slab neck though. It is light and resonant and intonates perfectly. When I have something very complicated to play, Blondine is the bass I want.

I had called Mullis Music in Concord NC about five years ago and asked if they had a 401 and they said no, and then two days later they called me and said they just had one come in, so I went over to look at it and they had not taken it out of the shipping box yet. I took it out of the box and removed the packing wrap, played it through a SWR and JUST KNEW I had to have it in about 30 seconds. After I said, "I'll take it," the store manager came over and literally took it away from me and played it briefly and then said, "OH _ _ _ _!"

So yeah I got lucky. It must be a one or two piece basswood body at most and the neck is flawless up and down. It is light as a feather and truly is a fluke. I think the strap weighs more than the bass. I've owned a lot of basses, but Blondine is the ONLY one with a name. Blondine was my first NON-Fender bass ever.

I do NOT recommend blindly buying any off brand bass but this one was just special out of the box. So while all the other JT's are awful and while I've bought other JT's looking for the same magic it just hasn't happened.

The same is true in Fender instruments. You can't tell what it can do till you play it. So PLAY before you buy. Play a hundred or a thousand. ONE will eventually say, "I AM THE ONE." That is the one you will have to take home. That is the one YOU will name. No two are alike, some are better than others and a precious few are totally AMAZING.

I have four basses that cost many times over what Blondine cost, but I'd sell any of them in a heartbeat at under the original purchase price. Blondine on the other hand is not for sale. My son knows that when I die that Blondine is the one to keep. Until I die I will guard her with my life and then my son the six string player will probably trade her for an overdrive pedal.


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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 1:05 pm
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That is one nice thing about my turser: it is light as a feather. Must be under 5 lbs, probably even lighter than that. I wonder what the heck the body is made out of.

And as much as I hate the darn thing, I love it too. It was my first bass, and I'm a nostalgic person.

I think it's cool you found a great bass out of the blue like that, and if you love it, it really doesn't matter what brand written on the headstock.


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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 8:53 pm
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Hey, brother dave, I've been looking everywhere and I can't seem to find information on the body woods used on Jay Turser instruments.

I'm fairly sure the same type of wood is used on your model as the one I have. You said it was basswood, but I'm fairly sure you couldn't get a basswood body to be that light. Also, about 2 years ago I bonked the body against a coffee table. On a regular ol guitar, the impact would have left a little mark, nothing big. This one made a 1/4" gash in the side. The wood essentially compressed like balsa wood (obviously it's not balsa wood, or it would weigh half what it does!). The wood seems to have a grain to it, which doesn't necessarily mean it's not some sort of composite material. I just don't think it's basswood.


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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 9:44 pm
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anubis16 wrote:
I think it's cool you found a great bass out of the blue like that, and if you love it, it really doesn't matter what brand written on the headstock.


Blondine actually was my first non-Fender bass ever. It truly is a remarkable instrument. I've let other people play it and they think it was custom made. One guy offered me $3,000 for it. Funny, but I've never gotten so attached to a bass before as all the rest are all ALWAYS for sale.

The bodies on most Turser basses are basswood. I don't know for sure about yours. I do know it was pretty easy to expand the control cavity on mine with a Dremel tool so it would accept CTS pots in place of the mini-pots. Definitely basswoood. Great resonance and light as air.

If it wasn't for the custom dyed five-inch suede lined Italia strap I have on Blondine the neckdive would be hard to handle. You really need a good strap with a poorly balanced bass. I think the strap, strings and vintage capacitor I use cost more than the bass did. I'm pretty sure the cap alone was $50, strap $110 and strings $50.

I plan to try a Lindy Fralin Split-Coil pickup in it. I'm going to ask Santa Claus for one. This bass out of the box was one wicked, wicked bass. Now I know they are not all like this one and I truly know that for sure. Again, I JUST GOT LUCKY. If I could only have ONE bass for the rest of my life, sorry but it would be this cheap piece of Chinese sweatshop junk. Nobody could love it like I do I guess. Just one of those things that is inexplicable.

Wife number 1 was a real Sax Fifth Avenue model. The real deal. Yeah she looked slick and HOT...but she wasn't really "THE ONE" for me. I recently found "THE ONE" and if she walked out on the catwalk you could hear the gasps all the way to Milan because she is an unconventional beauty, but she is the woman I love. People are different. Basses are different. No two people and no two basses are alike. Viva la difference!

There is SOMEONE for everyone, and there is a bass for every bassist. The trick is finding the two. It ain't easy. And you can't do it blindly buying basses on eBay or ordering them online from Musicians Friend. You have to actually visit the shops and play them. Playing them is the ONLY WAY TO KNOW. Would you order a lover online? I doubt it.

One day I hope everyone gets to be as lucky in both regards as I am now. Keep looking. Just like your TRUE LOVE, your "THE ONE" bass is out there somewhere waiting on you to find it.


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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 9:51 pm
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I'm pretty sure they are basswood. We are pretty much out of options unless it is some sort of exotic lightweight material beamed down from the UFO's. Basswood is really light and easily formed, which makes my Dremel slice easily through the control and pickup cavities. Basswood is about the least dense of tonewoods. I've worked with agathis and it is way more dense.


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