Help Me with info on Lidl Czech made bass

[boricua4jc@mac.]

I just recently purchased an EH Roth German made bass from 1974 for $800. However, I just found another bass locally a week after purchasing the Roth. The new bass I found for sale is a Lidl Czech made bass, with a carved top with plywood sides and back. The owner is asking $700, however the headstock once broke off and was professionally repaired...and supposedly has been fine. My bass I currently own is all playwood construction. My question is this...would I do better if I purchased the czech made bass because it has a carved top? Would the carved top give me a warmer deeper tone? It was made in the 90's. Is Lidl a good brand that is well known and trusted? Is the repair on the head stock something that can't normally be trusted? Please, help me with any knowledge that you can lend in this matter. I have been playing my Roth bass, and kind of feeling like I am longing for more rich tone already...and I am wondering if this Lidl would give me more because of the carved top. But even at that, I don't know if the head repair would make the bass untouchable regardless of the sound...and I don't know if carved top would be safe to gig with because I live in Florida. Help!!! Thanks in advance.

[drurb]

Originally Posted by boricua4jc@mac.

I just recently purchased an EH Roth German made bass from 1974 for $800. However, I just found another bass locally a week after purchasing the Roth. The new bass I found for sale is a Lidl Czech made bass, with a carved top with plywood sides and back. The owner is asking $700, however the headstock once broke off and was professionally repaired...and supposedly has been fine. My bass I currently own is all playwood construction. My question is this...would I do better if I purchased the czech made bass because it has a carved top? Would the carved top give me a warmer deeper tone? It was made in the 90's. Is Lidl a good brand that is well known and trusted? Is the repair on the head stock something that can't normally be trusted? Please, help me with any knowledge that you can lend in this matter. I have been playing my Roth bass, and kind of feeling like I am longing for more rich tone already...and I am wondering if this Lidl would give me more because of the carved top. But even at that, I don't know if the head repair would make the bass untouchable regardless of the sound...and I don't know if carved top would be safe to gig with because I live in Florida. Help!!! Thanks in advance.

What's going on here? Just three days ago, you were asking about the Roth you just bought (see here).

Now you're already longing for a richer tone? I am not familiar with Lidl basses, so will leave that to others. That aside, I don't see how anyone here can evaluate a repair without seeing it.

I do have this friendly advice. Take a deep breath, decide on a budget, shop for a bass (preferably with a teacher), and buy the best bass you can for the money. That would avoid what has, apparently, happened to you. You bought a bass (the Roth) and now are not happy with it. Unless that Lidl is some great bargain of which I am unaware, you cannot expect to get a good hybrid for $700!

[5stringDNA]

A $700 Hybrid does sound suspicious- that scroll repair must either be questionable or just plain look bad for teh owner to be wanting such a low price. I would definately have a more experienced player or lutheir inspect the bass. I don't know a whole lot about scroll repairs, but I have seen good repairs done successfully. For a newer bass, I think it more standard practice to set a neck though. Maybe Ken or Ahnold can help out on this?

[Silversorcerer]

My first bass was a laminated top Lidl, probably their lowest model. It sounded like thud. A good solid audible thud, but still not much tone. The FB set-up was horrible but correctable. The hybrid should be better sounding. Lidl is a sturdy step up from a BSO. A hybrid is probably not bad, but then every bass that hasn't been checked out by a luthier is a question mark at best. These are similar to Strunals and made in the same town, but I don't think the Lidl name is still being sold.

I'm having a little problem with some of your questions. You say the Lidl is local, but you don't seem to have taken the Roth over to the same locale as the Lidl and A-B'd them. That would answer a lot of your questions better than any of us here can. Just because it is a carved top doesn't always mean better sound. Usually, but not always. I recently heard a very good sounding Hohner laminated bass that sounded to me like a good carved top. So compare the two yourself, since both basses are in the same town.

Scroll and pegbox repairs are tricky. That should be professionally evaluated by a repair person. It could be a disaster or of no consequence.

If the Lidl is locally available isn't it already in the Florida heat and humidity? I mean it was made in the 90's. If the heat and humidity were going to harm it, it seems that would have already happened. After having a fully carved bass and subjecting it to the daily weather surprise in Atlanta (where temperature has been known to change 30 degrees from morning to evening and humidity to fluctuate more in a day than some places in California do in a year), I'm beginning to think carved basses are more stable than they are often cracked up to be. Anyway, that shouldn't be a problem as long as you don't leave the bass in a hot automobile or sitting in the sun.

The price issue could just be that the seller hasn't checked out the value of the instrument. Be cautious but sometimes people think all things used have lost some of their new value. Regarding older second hand musical instruments this is rarely true, but I could see the seller thinking, "Well, I paid $1500 back in '92 and it's had some damage and repairs so I'll take $700." This kind of thinking can go all the way to sale sometimes without the seller ever checking to see what hybrid basses currently cost. Back in the 90's you could get used Kays for around $300- $400. So times change and maybe the seller is still thinking in that "It's an old, used, .... whatever." This type of thinking is quite common. I call it the used car price syndrome.

If you can get the two basses into the same room, I would say that would be a good first step in the right direction. Into the same room with a knowledgeable teacher, a giant step in the right direction.

[drurb]

Originally Posted by Silversorcerer

...I'm beginning to think carved basses are more stable than they are often cracked up to be.

Pun intended or no?