Bass Guitars!

Dennis Lee · Post by **Dennis Lee** » 27 Feb 2012 6:30 pm

When I used to play bass in country bands, my guitar of choice was a 1973 Fender Jazz bass, maple neck and fretboard with sunburst body. Wish I had her back. Please tell me your favorite bass for country music fellow players. I need to find a guitar that I will like and keep for those occasions where I am asked to play bass. Thank you for all your input.

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 27 Feb 2012 6:37 pm

Upright.

Dave Hopping · Post by **Dave Hopping** » 27 Feb 2012 7:12 pm

Haven't done a lot of bass lately,but my two faves are an early G&L L1000 fretless and a '72 P-bass with an aftermarket fretless J-bass neck.I do have a '66 J-bass I like for recording,but haven't had a bass gig recently enough to have used it.

Dennis Lee · Post by **Dennis Lee** » 27 Feb 2012 8:31 pm

I appreciate your input, Dave. Thanks!

Dave Grafe · Post by **Dave Grafe** » 27 Feb 2012 11:24 pm

Nothing says "BASS" quite like a Fender Precision...

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 27 Feb 2012 11:54 pm

Dave H., I agree on those Fender Jazz fretless. Great bass tones. It takes a real bass player to play one though. You have to be precise but have the ability to phrase the note. Nice to see a serious bass player. I really appreciate you guys. When you play with a good talented bass player it can change the whole character of the band. On the other hand, a bad bass player can literally ruin an otherwise good band. Seen it done.

Johnny Cox · Post by **Johnny Cox** » 28 Feb 2012 12:36 am

Country music = Upright, Standup, Doghouse, Double Bass, Acoustic, Bass Fiddle....

Sandro Rocco · Post by **Sandro Rocco** » 28 Feb 2012 2:52 am

The only electric bass I use now for everything. Absolutely gorgeous '51 precision bass. I also use my upright for the stuff that calls for it.

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Dennis Lee · Post by **Dennis Lee** » 28 Feb 2012 6:57 am

This is way more input/feedback than I ever expected. I thank you all for your comments. I agree, an upright bass is dang cool and has a sound of its own, but not quite as portable. I will investigate all these ideas and offerings by my fellow steelers. You guys are all great! I knew I could count on you.

Sandro Rocco · Post by **Sandro Rocco** » 28 Feb 2012 1:35 pm

Dennis Lee wrote:This is way more input/feedback than I ever expected. I thank you all for your comments. I agree, an upright bass is dang cool and has a sound of its own, but not quite as portable. I will investigate all these ideas and offerings by my fellow steelers. You guys are all great! I knew I could count on you.

Look into some electric upright basses. There are some cheaper decent ones. You can sometimes find an NS design WAV (i think) used for under 900 bucks.

Mike Schwartzman · Post by **Mike Schwartzman** » 28 Feb 2012 1:43 pm

Our bass player uses an upright with gut strings...that's a wonderful tone. When I play bass it's always a Fender Precision Bass strung with flatwound strings...also a great tone for country.

Larry Baker · Post by **Larry Baker** » 28 Feb 2012 2:40 pm

I have one of the last Ovation Bass's that was built. Don't play much bass anymore, but I plan on keeping her. (charcoal) Larry

Ransom Beers · Post by **Ransom Beers** » 28 Feb 2012 4:57 pm

I caught a Bass one time & played it until I landed it.weighed 8 1/2 lbs.

Phil Ajjarapu · Post by **Phil Ajjarapu** » 29 Feb 2012 7:50 am

I use a 66 hofner viola bass with pyramid flat wounds. The new Hofner Contemporary series are relatively cheap (compared to the very expensive german ones), they sound great, and they're light and don't take up a lot of space if you don't mind a short scale axe.

Almost any bass will instantly sound more country appropriate with flatwounds.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 29 Feb 2012 8:36 am

I bought this one new in 1955:

Phil Ajjarapu · Post by **Phil Ajjarapu** » 29 Feb 2012 9:48 am

Erv, that's ridiculous. I hope you get a sweet fishing cabin on a nice piece of property whenever you sell that thing, or a rootbeer waterfall and a vanilla ice cream volcano, or something equally extravagant.

I was born too late. That bass is gorgeous. How's it sound?

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 29 Feb 2012 10:11 am

Phil,
It sounds great.
It is all original, I even have the hang tags that came with it and the original strings.
I have a set of flat wounds on it right now but the originals are in the tweed case.
I got this bass back in my youth when I was playing with a polka band.

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 29 Feb 2012 10:40 am

Nice one Erv

I love to play bass when I get the chance to do it. I'd like to update one of these days, probably a EB 5 string. Most of the guys around here play P's in the country bands.

Problem for me is, I like a short scale, slim neck and it's almost impossible to find one in a 5 string. Also strings are hard to find for 30".

I've noticed many country and blues players use a 4 string, but the next one I buy will be a 5.

I have an old hollow narrow neck Framus, occasionally get to play Guild SF hollow and one of my buds has an Aria....all of these are short scale and really comfortable for me and my short arms. I suppose "real" bass players would laugh at my preferences. I think my old Framus is strung with Brite Flats.

Dave Grafe · Post by **Dave Grafe** » 29 Feb 2012 11:07 am

Buncha nice instruments pictured here, but remember, it's how you play the BASS PART that matters much more than what you play it on....

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 29 Feb 2012 11:34 am

Well yeah, I think that goes without saying. It's still about what you like and what feels comfortable to you same as anything else.

Pete Ethridge · Post by **Pete Ethridge** » 1 Mar 2012 9:42 am

it really looks like a fender jazz it sounds good and been playing it for abut 25 years with no problems.

Rich Peterson · Post by **Rich Peterson** » 1 Mar 2012 10:11 am

Erv Niehaus wrote:Phil,
It sounds great.
It is all original, I even have the hang tags that came with it and the original strings.
I have a set of flat wounds on it right now but the originals are in the tweed case.
I got this bass back in my youth when I was playing with a polka band.

I did the polka band thing myself. With a slighly underpowered amp, I could make a Jazz Bass sound like a tuba. Jazz bass would be my choice, for the wide tonal range of two pickups.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 1 Mar 2012 10:29 am

Rich,
Yes, I would have sounded a lot better with a regular bass amp but I was a kid and just plugged it into the Fender amp I was using for my Stringmaster.

Storm Rosson · Post by **Storm Rosson** » 1 Mar 2012 10:57 am

1957 P bass, and a 68 ashe body P bass with a maple J bass style neck and Leo Quan bridge,the pickup was rewound by Bob Stuffelbeam. The original pup was too noisy in Caldwell's studio in Lubbock so Lloyd Maines took me out to Bob's to have it "stuffed by Bob" lol..sure sounded sweet after that...Stormy

Rich Peterson · Post by **Rich Peterson** » 1 Mar 2012 11:31 am

Erv, the best tuba imitation I got was a Super Reverb with very old tubes pushing a Dual Showman cabinet. Easy to make it grunt. The accordionist owned all the equipment. When we worked 4 peice, I plugged my guitar into the Super, but on trio gigs I switched between bass and guitar. I had a lot of fun and made a lot of money doing that.

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