Fender Bass VI

Rick 381

Rick 381

Boob Enthusiast
I have this overwelming urge to buy a Fender Bass VI. I don't know why I just do. I don't want one bad enough to pay the $6500 Gruhn's wanted for an original '67 but bad enough to pay Dave's the $349 they want for a current Squier model. I'm not interested in the Fender version as it lacks the switches and the chrome piece at the bottom of the pickguard.

Anybody know anything about the Bass VI? Do you play it like a bass or do you play it like a guitar? Do they get a decent bass sound or are they somewhere between a bass and a guitar?
 
I had a reissue Bass VI in the mid 90s. I played it like a bass with a pick. Chords sounded terrible on it. I guess you could go with lighter strings and a different tuning if you wanted to play it like a guitar. It sounded like a bass to me, but that was 20 years ago so who knows how good my memory is.
 
I almost bought one earlier this year, but now I might need it since I am going to be playing bass in a bar band

Actually thinking about this
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I have a Schecter Hellcat VI - same concept and strings as the Bass VI but with a tune-o-matic bridge and three mini-humbucker-like pickups.

I freakin' love it but it's not a bass or a guitar. I usually play it like I'm doing very basic guitar fingerpicking. The long scale makes some chords impractical. Anything too complex turns to mud. For example: root/third diads in the same octave don't always sound great in the low range.

The short scale and thinner strings don't let it deliver the same punch as a regular bass. I've used it as a substitute for a bass but it works best when there are only a few other instruments. It worked best when I was accompanying an acoustic guitar or piano with drums and nothing else. In that setting, I could cover the bass notes and add some guitar-like accents with the higher strings. In a full band, it's just not as punchy and satisfying.

The main thing I like is it's a riff-generating machine. Every time I mess with it, something comes out that would be cool for a tune.
 
I went to Guitar Center on Saturday while my mom took my kids shopping in the mall next to it. They had the Squier Bass VI there and I refused to pick it up. I didn't want to explain why a Bass VI came home with me while my mom was buying dresses for my daughters.
 
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Chad said:
I went to Guitar Center on Saturday while my mom took my kids shopping in the mall next to it. They had the Squier Bass VI there and I refused to pick it up. I didn't want to explain why a Bass VI came home with me while my mom was buying dresses for my daughters.
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