Are cheap bass expectations too high?

[pcake]

my expectations for cheap basses aren't too high because i'm realistic. you can't get the amount of workmanship and higher quality parts for $1000 to $2000 less. you just can't. but you can still get a nice bass.

when buying a new, inexpensive bass, i expect that the frets may need a bit of work, and you can always replace the pickups if you want different/better tone. before i sold it, my squier jag ss had clear coat that was lifting, and cheaper basses may have tool marks on the sides of the neck or other things you're not likely to run into with pricier basses. the neck pockets may be sloppier so the neck doesn't fit quite as well, and the tuners aren't great. but tuners can be replaced, and if a bass feels and sounds good to me, everything else is secondary or tertiary to me.

but overall my cheap basses deliver what i'm looking for. in my case, that includes a smaller lower bout and lighter weight body. some sound good to me exactly as bought. my cheapest bass, my red bronco which i bought new with a discount for $129, actually sounds good to me, feels great, and is one of my main players. and i'd say my mezzo is well ahead of the curve, as the frets were all perfectly crowned, the neck is smooth and perfect and it sounds big and rich and bassy.

which leads me to one other thing often lacking with cheaper basses - quality control. so i have had to send one bass back due to an extremely wrong neck angle (a hofner shorty), and some have other easily dealt with issues. i've played some broncos and other cheap basses at stores that for one QC reason or another i passed on. but stores like GC, MF, sweetwater and especially sam ash are great with returns and exchanges, so getting a bass with an issue only means dropping it off at a local store or having UPS pick it up.

 

[nonohmic]

And are we applying standards of what we got for $1200 twenty years ago to what we're paying $1200 today. (Just picking a price point for an example. $1200 in 2000 is about $1800 today)

I think so, yes.

I just bought a TMB35. And it's going back. It needs a shim, has some glue residue etc. Could be a great bass but the spacing and scale aren't for me and I don't want to drop another bunch of money and time into finding out more.

 

[NortyFiner]

What do you think are "too high" expectations?

If I buy a new bass at ANY price point, I expect it to be put together properly. Neck straight and solid in the pocket, reasonably balanced, all the hardware tight and functional, fret ends don't cut my hand (had that happen more than once), and so forth. All the necessary things that make a bass reasonably playable.

If I'm buying anything in the four digit range, I expect it to be pretty much perfect.

That said, I'm not expecting the same level of precision and polish from (for example) a $300 Squier that I would from a $10K Fodera. I understand that low-end basses like Squiers are largely made by mass production, so they don't get the same level of individual attention and QA as more expensive, custom made instruments.

Where you buy the instrument also makes a big difference in the end quality. I don't expect the same level of care from GC, which moves hundreds of instruments a day and will sell you anything that isn't actively on fire, as I do from Sweetwater, who prides themselves on service and gives every instrument they sell its full due of attention.

I don't think my expectations are unreasonable in either direction.

If you want a cheap bass that's put together really well, look at Gretsch. My 2220 feels much better than $299. But I also got it from Sweetwater, which as I said, I think the detailed way Sweetwater treats their instruments before sale has something to do with that.

 

[zubrycky]

We were setting up a data center in Brazil and for every server we brought into country it was something like an 80 percent duty. We soon ditched the idea.

I'm not surprised with that. Too many taxes here.

Nowadays, believe it or not, here in Brazil, the price of a new set of strings is more expensive than the price that I paid a few years ago for a few instruments of my collection...

 

[NortyFiner]

my expectations for cheap basses aren't too high because i'm realistic. you can't get the amount of workmanship and higher quality parts for $1000 to $2000 less. you just can't. but you can still get a nice bass.

when buying a new, inexpensive bass, i expect that the frets may need a bit of work, and you can always replace the pickups if you want different/better tone. before i sold it, my squier jag ss had clear coat that was lifting, and cheaper basses may have tool marks on the sides of the neck or other things you're not likely to run into with pricier basses. the neck pockets may be sloppier so the neck doesn't fit quite as well, and the tuners aren't great. but tuners can be replaced, and if a bass feels and sounds good to me, everything else is secondary or tertiary to me.

but overall my cheap basses deliver what i'm looking for. in my case, that includes a smaller lower bout and lighter weight body. some sound good to me exactly as bought. my cheapest bass, my red bronco which i bought new with a discount for $129, actually sounds good to me, feels great, and is one of my main players. and i'd say my mezzo is well ahead of the curve, as the frets were all perfectly crowned, the neck is smooth and perfect and it sounds big and rich and bassy.

which leads me to one other thing often lacking with cheaper basses - quality control. so i have had to send one bass back due to an extremely wrong neck angle (a hofner shorty), and some have other easily dealt with issues. i've played some broncos and other cheap basses at stores that for one QC reason or another i passed on. but stores like GC, MF, sweetwater and especially sam ash are great with returns and exchanges, so getting a bass with an issue only means dropping it off at a local store or having UPS pick it up.

Exactly. This whole post hits on the single biggest difference between cheaper basses and more expensive ones: quality control at the production level. A cheap Squier off a Third World assembly line generally won't have the same level of individual polish as a Fender Custom Shop model. The production quality difference often gets made up by the end user, who gets the frets dressed, replaces cheap hardware and so forth.

 

[BergerHead]

A golden rule to me:
grab for cheapness got its price
buying cheap is buying twice ...

Of course beginners better pick cheaper instruments (specially during a spleen phase), but when coming in age, one choses quality levels that cheapos in general do not range in, and as in most of the cases: good gear comes to you, no need running after.

 

[jbhaugh]

I don’t know, I doubt I would’ve even seriously looked at a >$300 new bass 15 years ago, but there are a few on the market now that I think are good instruments. I just think it’s important to recognize that instruments at the low end of the spectrum likely will need setup and/or fretwork when calibrating expectations (though increasingly the frets on many inexpensive basses seem to be good from the factory).

 

[Plain Old Barry]

But $1000 will not buy you a brand new boutique bass like it could 40 years ago. "Standard" MIA basses these days all sell for more than $1000.

This is worth considering...

 

[pcake]

A golden rule to me:
grab for cheapness got its price
buying cheap is buying twice ...

not necessarily. you can always exchange a bass with issues.

most of the basses i get to mod aren't available at any price. for example, my husband just put in fender jazz pickups into one of my mikros. there is only one 28.6" scale jazz bass that i'm aware of, and i feel confident that it is unlikely to have that fender jazz sound i am looking for and may have other issues, while the mikro was already here and a known quantity. for $329 for the bass and pickups, plus $20ish for capacitors and mini pots, i have the exact bass i want - lightweight, sized like a mikro with that great '70s fender sound.

and cheap basses are great for people who want to experiment with mods.

for that matter, i love my bronco - i paid $129 new (i got a $20 discount), and i like how it feels, sounds and plays. true, not all broncos as good; my first one couldn't be intonated without replacing the bridge and didn't sound as good plus the neck had some tool marks i could feel, but this one is intonated just fine, neck feels good, sounds good. i'm quite happy with it. and many people who got the bronco while it was still listing at $149 drop in $11 to $25 pickups and are happy.

 

[SBassman]

I don’t know, I doubt I would’ve even seriously looked at a >$300 new bass 15 years ago, but there are a few on the market now that I think are good instruments. I just think it’s important to recognize that instruments at the low end of the spectrum likely will need setup and/or fretwork when calibrating expectations (though increasingly the frets on many inexpensive basses seem to be good from the factory).

That's why it is so important to know how to do the basics.

I have come across quite a few players in my journey that were uncomfortable doing something simple like - adjust intonation. Most of the time, low end basses need the Basics, not major surgery, meaning - truss rod, fret ends, string height, intonation. I'm not a handy person at all - as far as tearing my house apart - but even I do all of those comfortably because it is pretty simple.

 

[BadSanta1281]

Even if you buy an $89 no-name bass from eBay it's reasonable to expect it to be a playable instrument.

 

[bassbully]

The details and playability of low end priced basses blow me away. Where were you 30 yrs ago?

 

[moderatelyfunky]

...will sell you anything that isn't actively on fire...

 

[Maxdusty]

I think so, yes.

I just bought a TMB35. And it's going back. It needs a shim, has some glue residue etc. Could be a great bass but the spacing and scale aren't for me and I don't want to drop another bunch of money and time into finding out more.

I created a post two days ago about some quality issues on my TMB30 I received last week. While I'm not complaining about the bass as it ultimately does work for me and is imo a very good bass regardless of how inexpensive it is, it had quality issues that well, took me a little by surprise as to how they could have been missed during quality control. The most obvious being the jazz bass pickup that wasn't screwed on correctly and completely raised on one end pressed up against the strings. Some of the pickguard screws weren't put in all the way. Not big issues and thankfully none were of the type that I couldn't address and fix on my own.
Expecting to do a set up is part of buying any bass these days, I have absolutely no problem with that especially on a budget priced instrument. You may want to remove the neck and see what's going on in there, I noticed on my 4 string TMB30 that the neck wasn't quite straight creating string buzz when fretting on the first fret or two on any of the strings. The neck itself was straight, no raised frets from my inspection. What I did find was a pile of wood dust and splinters in the neck pocket that prevented the neck from being totally flush against the neck pocket. After brushing this off, the buzzing was eliminated, the bass now plays like a dream. Where did you find the glue residue? Was the bass made this year or an old stock?

 

[MultiScaleMale]

The details and playability of low end priced basses blow me away. Where were you 30 yrs ago?

Playing a Steinberger, I believe.

 

[DrMole]

Even if you buy an $89 no-name bass from eBay it's reasonable to expect it to be a playable instrument.

It may be an expectation but at $89 it is seldom met, never mind exceeded.

 

[Kipp Harrington]

I think this about the most you can say. I see hyperbolic terms like spectacular and fantastic get thrown around all the time in regards to cheap basses. Yes, they are much much better than in the 70s when I started playing, but not spectacular in terms of what is available today.

Agreed... however, they are quite spectacular/fantastic at their price point.

 

[Bassmike62]

Inexpensive basses are now, on average, higher quality than they've ever been before, especially in the sub-$1000 range.

This certainly applies to the Squier VM70s series. Bought the Jazz version 4 years ago and it is an amazing bass.

 

[M.R. Ogle]

And are we applying standards of what we got for $1200 twenty years ago to what we're paying $1200 today. (Just picking a price point for an example. $1200 in 2000 is about $1800 today)

Yes, we probably are.
And for the most part, (although that is not an equivalent high-end bass PRICE anymore) we are pleasantly surprised by the quality.

 

[bholder]

This certainly applies to the Squier VM70s series. Bought the Jazz version 4 years ago and it is an amazing bass.

From my perspective, I think the arrival of Sire into the market seems to have caused most of the other mfgers to "up their game" in the budget category. Or maybe it's just that everyone has equal access to CNC machines and other relevant tech advances. In any case, never been a better time to be in the market for an inexpensive bass.