A Guide to Buying a Bass Guitar
Anchored bass guitars hold sound and add flavor to rhythms in all genres of music.
An experienced player can also contribute rich harmonies and surprising solos on electric bass guitars. Because it is used in almost every style of modern music, bass players can easily find a band to work with. Bass guitars are also relatively simple, easy to understand, and fun to learn. However, it is helpful to know a few basics of bass guitar when first choosing one.
Purpose and Budget
Bass guitars vary widely in quality and price, so before you buy, determine how much you want to spend.
For those just starting out who aren't sure about their ability and longevity in learning to play bass, there are plenty of good, affordable "starter" basses available. These guitars often have lower quality hardware and electronics, but they are usually very easy to play and will serve the new bass player well in the early stages of learning.
However, more professional or experienced players may want to invest in a bass guitar with richer wood tones, better electronics, and upgraded hardware. Higher quality bass guitars will sound better, feel better, and serve musicians longer.
Bass guitar construction and design - Parts and functions
It's important to have a clear understanding of the basic parts of a bass guitar before you buy. Understanding how to design and build a guitar and know the different parts will help you ask good questions and make informed decisions.
Neck
The neck of a bass guitar, like the neck of any guitar, includes the headstock, the fretboard, and the truss rod, which connects to the bass body.
Headstock
The headstock is the wide part at the top of the neck where the guitar ends at the tuning pegs. These tuning pegs—also known as buckles—adjust the tension of each string for changes in pitch. The strings are routed down the neck by means of a nut—a piece of hard plastic or knurled bone that is attached to the top of the neck, where the head meets the rest of the neck.
Keyboard (fretboard)
The keyboard is usually a thin piece of wood — usually rosewood, maple, or ebony. All are excellent woods but can vary in quality. The best frets are smooth, hard, and solid so they wear out slowly. Keyboards are often bent from side to side. This arch is called the radius, which refers to an imaginary circle that would be formed if the neck's arch were extended to form a circle. Some bass keyboards are nearly flat, while others can have a radius as short as 10 inches. The shorter the radius, the more curved the dome of the keyboard is. The keyboard is attached to the keys which are narrow metal bands. These keys divide the neck into semitone intervals and determine where to play each note along the length of the keyboard.
Some electric bass guitars have no frets, allowing smoother glissando effects but also requiring more skill on the bass player. They are usually not a good choice for beginners to play bass.
Some basses have a keyboard and neck that is a piece of wood rather than a separate layer of glue.
Truss rod (truss rod)
Inside the neck is a metal truss rod that prevents the neck from bending. Bass strings are thicker than regular guitar strings and create more tension on the neck. The truss adjustment allows the neck to be straightened if it is bent or twisted, and is also used when adjusting the string height for optimal playability.
Types of Bass Guitar Rods:
There are three types of bass guitar necks, whose names indicate how the neck attaches to the body of the guitar:
- Bolt-on (Need screw)
- Set neck (Need to attach)
- Thru-body neck (Need to pierce)
Most basses have a screw rod, which means it needs to be bolted to the body. The bolts must keep the rod stable and not allow it to move up or down. A solid, tight connection between the rod and the body is essential. It's also good to have more or less overlap of the boom and stem for more stability, better wire vibration transmission and enhanced durability.
Fender Player Jazz Bass features a screw neck structure
Some bass guitars have a neck mount, which means that the neck is attached to the body by means of a tenon or coupler rather than being bolted to the body. Fixed necks produce better reverb and sustain, but can be more difficult to tune.
The EB-4 Electric Bass features Gibson's traditional boom construction.
The cross-body neck is found on higher end bass guitars. This type of rod continues as a continuous piece throughout the body. Wings are attached to each of its sides to form the upper and lower parts of the body. With a through-body boom, there is no joint between the rod and the stem that can inhibit vibrations, resulting in better response and durability.
ESP LTD-5 5-string bass with cross-body neck
Bass guitar scale length:
The scale is the length between the nut (the notch between the neck and the head) and the bridge where the strings are anchored. The most common scale length is 34" (86cm)
With a 34" scale, the Fender Player Precision Bass is typical of most other standard size electric basses, of the same scale length.
There are a few short scale basses, such as the Fender Mustang, various Hofner Violin Bass models, or the Gibson EBO, around 30" (76cm).This is a good choice for players with small hands and can having trouble playing the standard size.
The Hofner Ignition Series Bass Violin has a shorter 30" scale and is based on the famous model by Paul McCartney.
The neck has a 35" (89cm) long scale. This longer scale gives you some extra frets and is most commonly used on five- and six-string bass guitars because it improves string tension and reduces string tension. minimizes softness in low strings.
The Schecter Stiletto Studio-5 5-String Bass has a longer-than-average 35" scale.
Electric Bass Guitar Body Types:
Solid body bass guitars are the most popular . In the finer guitars, these bodies are usually made of a solid piece of wood—alder, maple, ash, mahogany, or some other wood that transmits vibrations well. On cheaper basses, the body can be made using layers of plywood. There are even basses with plastic bodies.
Hollow Body Bass Guitars , as you might have guessed, have hollow bodies just like acoustic guitars but use the same magnetic pickup as solid body basses. They are used primarily by jazz and folk musicians, as well as for softer music and require a more acoustic-like timbre. A famous hollow body, the bass "Beatle" by Hofner, is an example of a hollow body used for rock music. Hollow-body bass guitars have the advantage of being lighter, but they are often more limited in the volume they can produce because they respond more readily than solid-body bass guitars at high volumes. There are also some semi-hollow basses that have a solid center block and a hollow outer half of the body. They are less responsive.
The Epiphone Jack Casady Signature Bass features a semi-hollow design that produces an acoustic bass guitar-like sound while resisting feedback.
Another type of hollow-body bass guitar is the EQ-mounted acoustic. This is an acoustic guitar and is usually equipped with a pickup that allows it to be amplified. Typically, the piezo pickup is located under the horse, while the built-in preamplifier allows for tonal adjustments when the bass guitar is amplified.
Horse Bass Guitar
The strings of a bass guitar end at the bridge, where their vibrations are transmitted to the body of the guitar creating the resonance and tone that the components pick up and amplify. The strings pass through grooves, called bridges, that can be moved up and down to adjust the action or forward and backward to adjust intonation. Better horseshoes are made of brass and are usually plated with chromium silver or nickel. A bridge with more mass and weight will usually fix the strings better and transmit more vibrations from the strings to the body.
Pickup: Single-Coil or Humbucker
A pickup is an electromagnetic device that picks up sound produced by the vibrating strings and body of a bass guitar, converting that sound into an electronic signal. Most bass guitars have two pickups to provide a larger tonal range. Pickups near the fretboard have a smooth, deep sound, while pickups closer to the bridge have a crisp, mid- to high-end tone.
The most common types of pickup are single-coil and humbucker, and most others are simply variations of either.
Single coil (single pickup) is the first and simplest type of pickup. Each pickup has only one coil and one magnet, which helps to produce a bright and focused sound. However, single-coil pickups can be noisy, which is why humbucking pickups were developed.
The DiMarzio DP148 Ultra Jazz Bass Bridge Pickup is a state-of-the-art single-coil design that eliminates noise while extending the traditional sound of Fender Jazz Bass.
Humbucking pickups are made in an effort to eliminate the hum or single-coil hum, but they also have a deeper, noisier sound. However, the humbucker sound can get muddy at higher volumes.
The DiMarzio DP1 DP120 Model One Bass Humbucker has a wide range of applications and can be used in woofer/tweeter setups for extremely high frequency control.
A popular variation is the split-coil (design found on the Fender Precision Bass). It is a single coil that functions like a humbucker. The two halves of the collector are separated and one side is polarized to the other. As a result, you'll get a sound that's more like a single-coil sound, but without the noise.
Pickup: Passive versus Active (Passive and Active)
The terms active and passive refer to the bass guitar's preamp circuit. The opening enhances the output of the pickup and provides tone shaping controls.
A passive preamp system operates without any power source and has fewer controls, typically a volume knob, a tone control knob, and a mix control knob if two pickups are available. One advantage of a passive bass guitar is that it doesn't rely on batteries that can run out in the middle of a gig. Another plus is simplicity. Passive electronics have a more traditional low-fi sound while some players prefer the hi-fi sound of active electronics.
Active bass guitars require a power source, usually powered by a built-in battery. The advantage of an active preamp system is more powerful output and more control over tone shaping. Active bass guitars typically have separate EQ controls divided into frequency ranges, such as low, mid, and high frequency gain/decline controls. They can also have switches that instantly reconfigure the EQ. Some have controls that allow you to quickly change the pickup's wiring from series to parallel for dramatic tonal changes. A coil push switch found on some bass guitars with Active electronics turns off a set of coils in the humbucking pickup to make it sound like a single coil.
How many strings should I start with on a bass guitar?
Four String Bass Guitar
Most bass guitars have four strings, and beginners should probably start with a four-string bass guitar. These bass guitars are perfectly suited to most musical styles, and the necks are smaller than those of five and six-string bass guitars, making them easier to handle and learn.
The Fender Player Jazz Bass 4-string is one of the most iconic electric basses ever; The original was developed in 1960 by Leo Fender.
Bass Guitar 5 and 6 Strings
Five-string bass guitars add a lower B string, giving the guitar a deeper range. The neck of the 5-string bass is necessarily wider than the 4-string, so it's a bit more difficult to play. The five-string bass is popular with a number of hard rock, metal, fusion and jazz bassists.
With an additional low B string, the 5-string G&L L-2500 Bass provides extended range.
The six-string bass has even more range due to the low B string and the high C string. Six strings require a wider neck, which can be difficult for many players. Although challenging, they are ideal for solo bassists as they expand the range and facilitate greater creativity.
Keyless Bass
Standard bass guitars have frets, with metal frets that divide the frets into semitone intervals. These frets make it easy to see each note played on the fretboard.
However, a fretless bass guitar has a smooth neck, similar to an upright bass guitar or violin. Hitting the right notes with the right intonation is challenging and not for beginners. Keyless bass players have always relied on memory and a well-trained ear. They chose the keyless bass guitar because of its smoother, warmer sound and ability to deliver the same glissando effects as a standalone acoustic bass guitar.
The Ibanez SRF705 Portamento 5-String Electric Bass without keys provides a powerful sound but is more difficult to play than a keyboard bass.
Types of wood for making bass guitar:
The type of wood used in the body of a bass guitar affects its tone and resonance. Beginners don't need to be too concerned about the type of wood that makes their bass guitar body. But if you're looking for a specific sound from a bass guitar, the body wood can be an important factor.
Alder wood
Alder is commonly used for bass guitar bodies. It produces a very balanced tone, with great clarity and a very full sound.
The body of the Fender American Professional Precision Bass produces superb clarity and durability.
Agathis
Agathis is a popular tree species because it is relatively inexpensive. It offers a fairly balanced tone with a slight emphasis on mid-lows that deliver a rich sound.
Ash
There are several types of Ash used on bass guitar bodies, with slight differences, but overall this wood produces a bright and full sound, similar to alder wood. Swamp ash is especially popular due to its beautiful grain.
The finish applied to the ash body of the G&L L-2000 Bass adds beauty to the wood's natural shape and tone.
Basswood
Often used on less expensive guitars, it is a softer wood that doesn't resonate as much as other woods. Some bass players claim that this produces a flat sound, while others feel the short bass guitar is ideal for fast and complex playing techniques.
Mahogany
Mahogany is a popular tone wood for bass guitars because it produces a soft, warm tone that accentuates mids and lows, and produces a longer sustain. However, it is a dense wood and will feel heavier on your shoulders than ash or agathis.
Maple
Maple is also a dense wood, so it produces a well-maintained sound like mahogany. However, Maple produces a bright, clear timbre that many musicians find valuable in the studio setting.
The NS Design CR5 Radius Fretless Bass features a maple body with a gorgeous top that combines with an innovative neck design and pickup system for stunning sound, playability and visuals.
Many other woods are used for bass guitars. High-end guitars can be made of rare species such as bubinga, wenge, koa or cocobolo.
So which Bass guitar is right for me?
Here are some guidelines (not rules) for first-time bass guitar buyers:
• Buy the best bass you can afford. A good bass guitar will make learning easier and you won't have to change guitars so quickly.
• Choose a keyboard with keys, unless you're up for the challenge of a keyboard without keys.
• Choose short scale bass if you are short in stature or have small hands.
• For simplicity, choose a 4-string guitar.
• Choose a bass guitar with simple controls so you can focus on your practice and not be distracted by the control options.
• Choose a bass with a color and shape that appeals to you. Its looks won't make it sound better, but an eye-catching bass guitar can push you to play more.
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