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Bass for 14 year old son.
- Thread starter ThudThudThud
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SX hands down. Depending on which series you get you're looking at $149 (median price). And if you wanted to get totally nuts, upgrade the pups. There's no real discernible difference between SX and the Squier series. Now I'm totally prepared for the "hair splitting" to begin with that statement and I'm totally prepared for it. I'll also add that any difference that one might point between those two brands will be so minute and insignificant that it will mean a "hill of beans" to a 14 year old beginner and most certainly won't warrant the price difference.
And where these cats are coming from suggesting a $600 MIM Fender for a 14yr old beginner, I have NO idea. Sure, Ok, I'll give you that's a very good bass, not a thing wrong with it, but really? You think it's wise to invest $600 into something for a child that very well could lose interest in it in the next 20 minutes? Yeah, and I read the part about the dad maybe gaining a new bass if the kid did lose interest. I think the dad should maybe put his interest in this on the back burner and just focus on getting the kid a very good bass at an incredibly reasonable price.
And where these cats are coming from suggesting a $600 MIM Fender for a 14yr old beginner, I have NO idea. Sure, Ok, I'll give you that's a very good bass, not a thing wrong with it, but really? You think it's wise to invest $600 into something for a child that very well could lose interest in it in the next 20 minutes? Yeah, and I read the part about the dad maybe gaining a new bass if the kid did lose interest. I think the dad should maybe put his interest in this on the back burner and just focus on getting the kid a very good bass at an incredibly reasonable price.
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"I certainly wouldn't buy anything new!" he tells you...coming from the guy who bought a 13yr old a $600 bass.
Why wouldn't you just get an SX? They're more than half that price and at the very least the same exact quality. You're paying for Marcus Miller's name on the headstock. That's it.Sire V7 for $399
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Hahaha...that's funny. An SX may be less expensive, but NOWHERE near the quality of a SIRE. Once the kid gets good after about a year, he'll be looking to upgrade that SX. On the other hand that SIRE will last him a lifetime. Quality.
"Nowhere near the quality" just isn't true. And any difference you're able to point out, which I haven't heard anything along those lines yet, certainly won't warrant a $250 difference in price. "Once the kid gets good in a year", I mean, what's "good"? I've been playing for 10 years and I still don't think I'm "good". And how do you know what this kid will be looking to upgrade? You don't. Again, this is just your opinion on an affordable bass, and it's just that. It's just your opinion and it's not founded on any real fact. If you want to trade back and forth the specs on an SX vs. Sire, I can do it all day. With facts. But my point still stands, you won't find any difference between those two basses that will warrant the $250 price difference.
A) Don't overplay/overthink my implied selfishness on this one. I want him to play. I want him to have fun. I want him to have something playable, and nice sounding. I want him to keep it forever. I'm just having fun about stealing it from him. If he hates it, I'll take it off his hands, sure. If he doesn't, it's his bass.
B) Not going to spend $600 on a first bass for him. Budget is about $200, with $300 max. I'll give him one of mine and/or buy him something nicer if he shows a real interest/takes care of his instrument. I'm loving all the suggestions. I should at least consider a 'nice' instrument for him with the right deal.
That said, I don't seem to have the same luck as those who 'bought a nice Wal Mk. 3 for $150 on Craigslist.' I'm being facetious, but there seem to be some very lucky bargain hunters out there. If I see an MIM Fender or sub $300 I'd likely buy it. I don't, though. $400 I see a lot. That's overbudget a bit.
C) I'm not a brand guy. I don't care. I have some nice basses, and still gigged a Squier CV for a year or so just because it's a nice bass, and sounded perfect in the band I was in. SX is a great suggestion, and I may buy one for him, and one for me.
"SX is a great suggestion, and I may buy one for him, and one for me."
Just to be clear, I'm saying the budget for HIM is $200, possibly $300 for the right bass. That's not an overall budget for the household to spend on basses..
Just to be clear, I'm saying the budget for HIM is $200, possibly $300 for the right bass. That's not an overall budget for the household to spend on basses..
I totally get what you're saying. One thing I will add along the SX line is that they're fun to modify. You can take a $150, nice SX and drop another $200 in pups, and I think you then have something at the very least comparable to a MIM Fender. Without question, the upgraded pups will be better quality. But in the big picture, that MIM Fender new is $600 and the SX at that point might have $350 in it. And there's dudes on TB that will say the modified SX would be nowhere near the quality of the MIM Fender, and they'd be wrong. They'll just drop opinionated terms as to why they think that, but when it comes down to the real fact specs and the playability of those two basses, there's no real difference. And again, any real difference they're able to pinpoint, it won't warrant the price difference.
Not sure if you're being modest here or not, but if you can't tell the difference between an SX and a higher end instrument, it just means you're not good enough to tell the difference.
I own SX's. They're great for what they are. But it's not at all uncommon to require some pretty substantial adjustments to make them more playable.
Kinda like how your opinion that an SX bass is better and not based on any real fact? hmm......
Specs only tell half the story. They don't tell you anything about build quality.
Also, the question of whether it's worth the $250 price difference is more of a personal decision. That's why it's important for this kid to play some of these basses first-hand.
I totally can tell the difference between higher end instruments. I owe them. I play them. Lefties too which are even harder to find and much pricier. I just don't think that a Sire is one of those instruments, because it's not.
And the SX is "better" because the specs, materials used in building it, the bolt on neck, the electronics, are all of the same quality of the Sire at roughly $250 less the price. That's not opinion. That's fact. And the build quality? Are you trying to tell me the build quality of those two basses merits a $250 difference? You know this? Really? Tell me about that? Sire uses better bolts? They attach the neck with more care? What exactly qualifies this?
When all the smoke clears with the back and forth, what we're talking about here is two entry level basses, where one is $250 more than the other and one has Marcus Miller's name on the headstock. Those are the only real differences between those basses anyone is going to be able to point out.
Ladies/Gentlemen:
Please let's keep this nice and civil. Everyone has an opinion - which is why I posted. Every opinion is valid in its own way.
I appreciate everything suggested so far. My OP was leaning towards a few options, and now I have many more.
My son has no idea how to play a bass at this time. Playing one to get a feel of it isn't going to mean anything to him.
I can help there.
Whatever he chooses, whether it's from shape, colour, or 'something like so-and-so plays' I'll be able to get it to a playable condition, and work around his eventual style with the set-up (can't expect him to be a 3/64th action, floating thumb, light handed, groove monster for a while, right?). He won't know for a while how a Ibanez SDGR neck, and a Louisville Slugger-style vintage P can be different. He won't know how a humbucker, a mudbucker, and a single coil can sound so different. I'm here to help him learn as he goes. He'll learn on a nice playing bass, and learn to adapt to its own peculiarities.
Aside from formal lessons, hopefully he'll learn to really play the way a lot of us did, by listening, watching, feeling, trial and error, and by wanting to get a certain sound. Lucky for him lifting, and skipping back the tone arm on the record player a thousand times isn't on the cards. I must have spent hundreds of hours on doing just that. The intro to "Fairies wear boots" was brutal!
Sooner or later he'll begin to understand the differences between a $200 bass, and a $1000 bass. Again, I can help there. No rush.
He's not afraid to ask questions, so I'm sure I have hours of grilling to come.
Thanks to all for posting.
Please let's keep this nice and civil. Everyone has an opinion - which is why I posted. Every opinion is valid in its own way.
I appreciate everything suggested so far. My OP was leaning towards a few options, and now I have many more.
My son has no idea how to play a bass at this time. Playing one to get a feel of it isn't going to mean anything to him.
I can help there.
Whatever he chooses, whether it's from shape, colour, or 'something like so-and-so plays' I'll be able to get it to a playable condition, and work around his eventual style with the set-up (can't expect him to be a 3/64th action, floating thumb, light handed, groove monster for a while, right?). He won't know for a while how a Ibanez SDGR neck, and a Louisville Slugger-style vintage P can be different. He won't know how a humbucker, a mudbucker, and a single coil can sound so different. I'm here to help him learn as he goes. He'll learn on a nice playing bass, and learn to adapt to its own peculiarities.
Aside from formal lessons, hopefully he'll learn to really play the way a lot of us did, by listening, watching, feeling, trial and error, and by wanting to get a certain sound. Lucky for him lifting, and skipping back the tone arm on the record player a thousand times isn't on the cards. I must have spent hundreds of hours on doing just that. The intro to "Fairies wear boots" was brutal!
Sooner or later he'll begin to understand the differences between a $200 bass, and a $1000 bass. Again, I can help there. No rush.
He's not afraid to ask questions, so I'm sure I have hours of grilling to come.
Thanks to all for posting.
The problem that I have with your post is that you are asking for concrete reasons for why a sire is better than an SX, but fail to explain why an SX is better (or just as good as) a Sire. You merely make the assertion.
First of all, a Sire's specs aren't the same as an SX's.
And even if they were the same, just because specs are listed as the same doesn't mean the quality is the same. Different companies have different standards for quality control. SX's quality control is very, very low.
Look, the bottom line is that it's a personal choice. If someone wants to spend an extra $250 on an instrument, who the heck are you to say that they should or should not? I certainly will never definitively forbid you from playing your SX's.
I was in the OP's sitch a couple years ago. My daughter ignored the $1400 viola I bought for her Suzuki lessons. So I bought her a shiny red new Fender MIM P Bass Jr for CAN$600. 10 years later I sold it. Btw, I got $1500 for the viola, but only $250 for the P Bass Jr.
Lessons learned:
- go used
- as others have said, let him choose something himself within your budget limits
- if you want to go beyond your budget limits, "encourage" him to choose something you want/will play in case he looses interest
Lessons learned:
- go used
- as others have said, let him choose something himself within your budget limits
- if you want to go beyond your budget limits, "encourage" him to choose something you want/will play in case he looses interest
