Buying a bass with Christmas money

[DropDaBass]

College student here just got early Christmas money looking to purchase a 4 or 5 string bass from the companies below

ESP ( NOT LTD )
FENDER ( NOT SQUIRE )
IBANEZ

There is a really nice ESP bass from Japan I am planning on getting which is going to cost around 4,500 USD

If anyone got a esp,fender or Ibanez BTB comment below for your prices.

[tastybasslines]

Not really sure what you're looking for here...

Why are you only interested in these 3 companies?

If you have $4500, I would get a custom build to your exact specs.

[mcglyph]

Yeah. Lot's of good stuff, look at some other options. Carvin in particular.

[hdracer]

$4500 I would not be looking at any of them other then a Custom Shop Fender Pino

If not a CS Fender I would look at Spector , Warwick, Sadowsky, MTD, or a bunch of other basses before a ESP or IBANEZ

[tjnkoo]

Shop used, man. You'll get everything for a better price, and often in new-condition. Fender is always good, although they're more hit and miss in my experience with the MIM models than the other brands. I still have 3 Fenders though, so my no means am I heavily knocking em, haha. ESP seems fine enough. A friend has a six string that is sweet, and I've played a sweet fretless of theirs. Ibanez is always good, especially in the SR500+ models. I have an Ibanez SR600 that used to be my main bass and it's quite a nice instrument.

[tjnkoo]

I imagine the OP meant $450?

[hdracer]

Originally Posted by tjnkoo

I imagine the OP meant $450?

$450 doesn't get you anything Fender, even used.
I think that's true for MIJ ESP too

[Epitaph04]

450 can definitely get you an MIM Fender.

[Metaldood19]

If you meant $4500, get a custom built bass to fit exactly what you need. That's more than enough to cover that

If you meant $450, you can get an Ibanez SR500 series used for around that price. They're great basses. Easily one of my favorite budget basses

[Lackey]

Alright, sorry don't mean to be nosy but I'm a bit confused. I'm assuming you meant 450, not 4500. Because unless your daily driver is an Aventador I dunno how you could swing that much for a bass while going to school, let alone have to get feedback on an internet site, hehe. Sorry. Anyways.

For 500 bucks a used Carvin or Yamaha would be a great bass, many dig BTBs, Fenders, and Peaveys too for easy finds. Look for MTD Kingstons and Brubaker Brutes as well, probably used too for the price range.

I honestly have never played an ESP nor known somebody that has, so can't help. Personally I would look elsewhere.

[Lackey]

Additionally, if you actually DO have 4500 bucks to spend, I honestly wouldn't unless you have zero loans and won't have any student loans by the time you graduate.

And again, if you have to ask what bass to pick for that amount of money I'm not sure you're at a juncture where such a high price item is the right idea regardless. No offense. Stick to 1200 and below and you can get a lot of great stuff, some new and much used.

[DropDaBass]

Not 450, I mean exactly 4,500$, four-thousand-five hundred.
http://www.espguitars.co.jp/original...t/halibut.html

That is the bass I plan on buying, the price itself is 6300$
but there is a shop that sells it for about 4,000. + Tax so it'll bring me to about 4,300.

The reason why I am posting on this site is because I want to see what is available used or not. I do not want MIM bass's or made in Korea or China, either made in America or made in Japan.

And no it isn't student loans. Both parents are lawyers and gave me 4k.

Anyway, Fender, Esp, Ibanez are my main loves. So if you know anyone or you yourself have one up for sale. Let me know.

Thx for all of your time.

[Lackey]

...for that much money you could buy almost any possible bass you could want new or used. Save for a few Foderas, Ritters, CTs, and their ilk..

But if you want the ESP, go for it. Have you actually played one or even seen one though? I see it has the "finger lamp to help smooth fingering", so that should be fun, but that's about all I can gather about it from the website. Probably be the only person stateside to have one, assuming you are stateside.

[jmclearnon]

Sorry but i don't understand why you want a particular brand, you should go play everything you can find and buy what is the BEST for you.

the best option imho is to go for a 1960-70's fender jazz bass, because they will actually hold their value + they are great to play

[northernmonkey]

You're considering dropping 4k on a bass, and youre not even sure what you want out of it?

Get yourself a '12 MIA Jazz, and stash the rest of the cash until you know exactly what youre after

[SoVeryTired]

With that much money I'd play a LOT of basses first and decide exactly what I want from a bass in terms of number of strings, scale length, neck width and profile, string spacing, pickups, onboard electronics, woods etc.

Then I'd look around and see who makes such a bass and, if no-one does, who could make me such a bass.

Chances are it'll be less than $4,500 for a fully custom-built instrument that meets all your wants and needs. I definitely wouldn't start with a manufacturer and just buy their most expensive model.

So, to sum up: go try loads of basses.

[Darren Low]

Go custom

[jellejanssen]

I would go for Fender Always good

[davidjackson]

Originally Posted by DropDaBass

Not 450, I mean exactly 4,500$, four-thousand-five hundred.
http://www.espguitars.co.jp/original...t/halibut.htmlAnd no it isn't student loans. Both parents are lawyers and gave me 4k.

This is meant to be serious advice rather than a flippant comment:

Buy an AmericanStandard Fender P or J and spend the rest on time with the best bass guitar tutor you can find.

Now that will be money well spent.

[3234718]

Originally Posted by mcglyph

Carvin in particular.

This