Rent or Buy?

[musicaldan]

Greeting, my first post.
--My son is in Middle School and wants his own DB (the school has some, but he needs one at home for more practice time). What are people's opinion about renting versus buying (budget if about $1000 to purchase)?
--Additionally, I found a 1950 framus vintage hybrid online and was wondering if anyone knows about this DB.

Thanks
Dan

[dvmweb]

Depending on where you live and your proximity to a string music shop at least try before you buy. Renting might make sense if you believe your son's music career will be short lived. But, with your budget you could use up $1K pretty quickly in rental fees. You'll probably have to spend a bit more, say $1,800 to 2,500 to get a decent student bass.

Online, Upton has an excellent reputation and ships basses. So does Shar Music, however I don't know if they'll ship basses. There are a few others mentioned in the threads on this board.

Ask your son's teacher for recommendations, maybe local professionals (players and luthiers) too about where in your area to shop and about the Framus Bass.

There are several threads about this on TB. Do a search.

Good Luck'
Walt MI/USA

[longfinger]

How 'grown' is your son? How tall is he now?

[mkandolf]

Gollihurmusic.com is another good supplier of online basses. I love my new Gollihur classic model I bought from them. With setups and new strings, I'm in right around $2000. They sell basses made by Englehardt from the old Kay tooling. The quality of it impressed my local luthier.

[Jesse Rosenburg]

You might talk to your school as well. My school gave me a bass for home and one to play in orchestra. Doesn't hurt to ask.

[BigOldHarry]

Rent.

[G00D+~VIBES]

^+1

[Marcus Johnson]

Originally Posted by musicaldan

--My son is in Middle School and wants his own DB

Your answer is contained therein.

If your son is like most middle schoolers he'll change his mind about twenty times. Before the weekend.

Rent or borrow.

[Marcus Johnson]

Originally Posted by musicaldan

--My son is in Middle School and wants his own DB

Your answer is contained therein.

If your son is like most middle schoolers he'll change his mind about twenty times. Before the weekend.

Rent or borrow, unless you enjoy selling lightly used string instruments at yard sales.

[Paul Warburton]

+1 on the last repeated posts.

Seriously. So many posts and threads have been written on this very subject and the posters with the most experience usually agree that renting is the way to go, especially for younger players.
Rent $ is usually applied to a sale of the rental or another bass in the eventuality that everybody is on board with the idea. At least with most reputable dealers. IME.

[musicaldan]

Thank you for the inout.

[bassplayer'smom]

I know that my opinion is not shared by the other posters, but I would suggest that you explore all of your options and look at the numbers before making your decision. I was in the exact same place as you 3 months ago when my then not-yet-11 year old daughter needed to pick an instrument for middle school and she picked the double bass.

There were precious few half size basses to be found for rent in my area (San Diego), and rental charges would have been close to $1,000 for the academic year (granted, a portion of that money would have been credited towards the purchase of a bass at a later time, but I knew that I'd ultimately want the freedom of purchasing from wherever I wanted without feeling like I threw the rental $$ out the window).

After doing a bit of research and reading many posts on this site (thank you all!), I quickly learned that I did *not* want to buy a cheap Chinese bass (CCB, no?) from Ebay.

Long story short, I ended up finding a great deal on a very nice 1/2 sized bass on Craigslist for $1,200. It was being sold by a family whose son -- now a junior in high school -- had outgrown the bass that they had bought him when he was in middle school. I did my research and saw that the bass in question would have cost ca. 3 times what I paid (it's a fully carved Andreas Eastman (Chinese but well made) in pristine condition). I sent pictures of it to a luthier in L.A. and took it to Lemur in Orange County and had their luthiers check it out. All said it looked like a great deal - a nice and well set up bass.

Ultimately, I figured that for little more that I would have spent renting a bass, I was able to purchase one. Hopefully she will outgrow it rather than tire of it, but in either case, I'll either be able to resell it, trade it in or donate it if and when the time comes.

In the meantime, my daughter's lovin' it! I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

[drurb]

Originally Posted by musicaldan

Thank you for the inout.

Where do you live?

FWIW, I think bassplayer'smom's post provides some important balance in this discussion. Depending on how serious your son is, I wouldn't necessarily rent. I actually agree with everyone who has posted. You gotta weigh the factors.

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by musicaldan

Thank you for the inout.

Why do those words sound so familiar?

[Eric Hochberg]

Originally Posted by bassplayer'smom

I know that my opinion is not shared by the other posters, but I would suggest that you explore all of your options and look at the numbers before making your decision.

I think your decision makes perfect sense. You also might be a bit on the lucky side to have found your particular instrument and deal. Students have brought in to their lessons enough poorly set-up rental basses to make me feel that having a decent, easy playing instrument is really important, especially when the youngsters are just starting out. Owning might be the best way to accomplish that.

[padmavyuha]

Yup. I opted to find and buy a privately-sold 2nd hand instrument and spend a couple of £100 more because the instruments available locally for rent were horrible student models, and the ones for sale in the shops were the ex-rentals! Speaking as someone who has tried out a lot of instruments over the last (ugh) 4 decades, getting a halfway decent instrument means (a) a more pleasurable and satisfying learning experience, and (b) an easier sale come the time to move on - even if it's only for a few months, a good instrument is a good investment so long as you don't buy it new.

[LeslieD]

It sounds like this problem is solved...

The rent versus buy question is always difficult. I borrowed awful school instruments for 3 years before my parents bought me a bass (I started when I was 11 years old--and only ever played 3/4s size basses). The school bows were even worse than the basses, and my parents realized that pretty early on. They bought me a bow after I'd played for a year-and-a-half, and that alone kept me interested in the bass and greatly improved my playing. (I still have that bow today, and it's increased in value by more than 10 times--per a recent appraisal--though I probably just got lucky and bought a great bow). If I'd broken or mistreated the bow, I doubt my parents would have bought me a bass. I think it was sort of a test to see if they should spend the money on a bass, and if I'd still be interested in playing when I started high school. I still have that bass too.

Anyway, congratulations on finding a good second-hand instrument!

[drurb]

Originally Posted by LeslieD

It sounds like this problem is solved...

Well, we never heard back from the OP.

[Staccato]

Unless a young player is on-fire (passion) for playing DB, I'd be hesitant to buy an instrument for a first-year player. If the child was on-fire, I'd consider what kind of stickwithitness they had displayed during the last several years for any hobbies/interests. That said, this would be a good time to consider a purchase in the second/third year, and how other parents manage to resell instruments, if at-all.

An old client's family purchased an expensive violin for their daughter who began playing a student model at age 4 or so. After eight or more years of playing, they evaluated two fine examples for long-term use and investment potential. The cost of each was approx. $10,000 USD. The young violinist's tutor recommended choice A, and Mom preferred B and insisted IT was the one. The one they passed on-eventually shot up in value toward 100,000 dollars by the mid-90's. Mom's pick was worth closer to double their cost at that time. There's no moral here, just a wonder about those with more experience and their ability to occasionally impart wisdom, if we are willing to listen...

[LeslieD]

Originally Posted by drurb

Well, we never heard back from the OP.

Oops, you're right.