With the damn GAS that I have/get..............I've bought all the basses I ever wanted!
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Beautiful basses you wish you'd bought.
- Thread starter jd56hawk
- Start date
mark beem
Wait, how does this song start again??
For me it will always be Valenti Basses #28. Nino sent it to me to try / review and I loved it. Didn't want to send it back but it was slated to go overseas IIRC.. That top!!!! drool
From TalkBass Classifieds, there have been a few "Basses that got away." I guess they all basically boil down to lack of (or no) money at the time.
This Alembic Epic 6 sold by @DELACIUS
This Ritter Jupiter 6sold by @ivlucas
This Linc Luthier 6 sold by @DrewinHouston
This Ken Smith Black Tiger 6 sold by @Mik Walker
This FBass AC6 sold by @DarnellBass
This Pedulla MVP 6 sold by @BWorm
From Reverb, the one that is coming to mind is not exactly fancy but $1425 was the lowest price I had ever seen for an Wal Mk3 6. I was determined to buy it. My paycheck was coming on July 15 but it was sold on July 13. Ugh!
This Alembic Epic 6 sold by @DELACIUS
This Ritter Jupiter 6sold by @ivlucas
This Linc Luthier 6 sold by @DrewinHouston
This Ken Smith Black Tiger 6 sold by @Mik Walker
This FBass AC6 sold by @DarnellBass
This Pedulla MVP 6 sold by @BWorm
From Reverb, the one that is coming to mind is not exactly fancy but $1425 was the lowest price I had ever seen for an Wal Mk3 6. I was determined to buy it. My paycheck was coming on July 15 but it was sold on July 13. Ugh!
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A contractor friend of mine had a client that went deadbeat on him. He took two Ritter Royas as payment. He offered me one (blue quilt 5er) for $4K. I didn't buy it. It was the most beautiful bass I've even seen.
Or just need to know a good deal when I see it and go with it instead of trying to squeeze more out of it......
After all the years here on TB and seeing the beautiful basses, I have zero remorse in not owning one of them.
I think that anything I thought was really amazing and I could afford, I probably did buy.
I rarely regret not buying something I couldn't afford, because I only buy things I can afford to pay for right then.
I rarely regret not buying something I couldn't afford, because I only buy things I can afford to pay for right then.
Similar sentiment here - two basses I've seen through recent decades seemed next level yummy, but I was comfortable with the reality that I wasn't ready or able to fork over $1,500 in a moment of lust.
One bass was a Wilkins Jazz with a honey-yellow quilted maple top. Nothing but right... or so it seemed in that quick looking over.
The other was a Kinal 4-string that literally felt as though it was crafted straight from my DNA. Wonderful fit and a sweet array of electronics on board.
I have big reservations about having to worry and constantly look after a really special instrument with a big dollar value when I take it to a gig. I wouldn't buy something like that and not play it, but I'm also not a pro who can really benefit from the extra craftsmanship, etc. of that sort of bass. So I don't have too much interest in Sadowsky, Mike Lull, or other funky labels.
For a Kinal though, I'll consider making an exception.
One bass was a Wilkins Jazz with a honey-yellow quilted maple top. Nothing but right... or so it seemed in that quick looking over.
The other was a Kinal 4-string that literally felt as though it was crafted straight from my DNA. Wonderful fit and a sweet array of electronics on board.
I have big reservations about having to worry and constantly look after a really special instrument with a big dollar value when I take it to a gig. I wouldn't buy something like that and not play it, but I'm also not a pro who can really benefit from the extra craftsmanship, etc. of that sort of bass. So I don't have too much interest in Sadowsky, Mike Lull, or other funky labels.
For a Kinal though, I'll consider making an exception.
I don't "regret" passing up anything, but there are a few I passed up that, despite the years I still remember fondly ...and so I sometimes wonder if they're still out there and/or whether I would have enjoyed them as much as I suspect I would had I actually bought them.
The one that first comes to mind is a green Modulus Graphite fretless 4-string that I found in a shop in NYC's Lower East Side sometime circa 1988 or '89. It was second-hand, a few years old, from the era when Modulus didn't even have model names, so it wasn't a Quantum or anything. The headstock shape was unlike anything they made since the Quantum line started, though I have seen a few older Modulus basses with a similar shape...kinda pointy and asymmetrical. Lined fretless phenolic fingerboard on a graphite bolt-on neck, green body that was sort of but not quite Fender-esque. I don't recall what the electronics were, but I suspect they were Bartolini pickups. I don't know, for some reason that bass really spoke to me...not so much because of its feel or sound but just because of how unique it was. I think they were asking ~$1200 for it?
Yeah, I still remember that one. Guess maybe I do wish I'd bought it...perhaps?
The one that first comes to mind is a green Modulus Graphite fretless 4-string that I found in a shop in NYC's Lower East Side sometime circa 1988 or '89. It was second-hand, a few years old, from the era when Modulus didn't even have model names, so it wasn't a Quantum or anything. The headstock shape was unlike anything they made since the Quantum line started, though I have seen a few older Modulus basses with a similar shape...kinda pointy and asymmetrical. Lined fretless phenolic fingerboard on a graphite bolt-on neck, green body that was sort of but not quite Fender-esque. I don't recall what the electronics were, but I suspect they were Bartolini pickups. I don't know, for some reason that bass really spoke to me...not so much because of its feel or sound but just because of how unique it was. I think they were asking ~$1200 for it?
Yeah, I still remember that one. Guess maybe I do wish I'd bought it...perhaps?
devnulljp
Supporting Member
Two basses I wish I had bought -- one I ouldn't because I didn't have the money at the time, the other ... I don't know why I didn't buy it.
The first was a Wal hanging in the music store where I grew up. A beautiful thing, with a price of GBP900 at the time (which was wayyy out of my price range). Worth a lot more now of course. If a genie or a winning lotto had appeared, that's the bass I would have bought.
The other was a Shergold Marathon I saw hanging in a pawn shop window. It was fantastic, but like an idiot I didn't buy it.
Actually, now you mention it, there was a 78 Aria Pro II SB1000 I wish I'd bought in Japan.
The first was a Wal hanging in the music store where I grew up. A beautiful thing, with a price of GBP900 at the time (which was wayyy out of my price range). Worth a lot more now of course. If a genie or a winning lotto had appeared, that's the bass I would have bought.
The other was a Shergold Marathon I saw hanging in a pawn shop window. It was fantastic, but like an idiot I didn't buy it.
Actually, now you mention it, there was a 78 Aria Pro II SB1000 I wish I'd bought in Japan.
Jim Carr
Dr. Jim
- Jan 21, 2006
- 16,223
- 7,614
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- Disclosures
- fEARful Kool-Aid dispensing liberal academic card-carrying union member Musicians Local 72-147
If the owner of Sadowsky #4320 wants to sell, I'll buy—TODAY! I've had gas for 12 years for this bass, and even missed a chance to get it about 10 years ago—which I have regretted to this day. Here it is:
Late 70s....young Thud was offered a natural, block Jazz bass for 300 quid.
Young Thud wasn't able to afford it.
Young Thud wasn't able to afford it.
I don’t have a bass like that. There is an electric guitar I wish I bought. Little red and white ‘66 Strat I played in a music store just after I got out of the Army in 1988. $600 iirc and I had the money. Dang thing played itself. Never played one like it before or since. Shoulda bought that guitar.
Ah, okay, that reminds me of a couple other beautiful basses I passed on that in hindsight maybe I wish I'd bought:
In 1991 I had just come off a three month cruise ship gig touring Mexico and the Caribbean, and I found myself with a sizeable wad of cash, jonesing for a fretless bass, and in Los Angeles for the first time in my life. So I went to the LA Bass Exchange and spent the better part of a day trying a bunch of blank planks.
- They had a bog stock F Bass BNF6 that was about $900 more than the wad of cash I had in my pocket. Man was that a nice bass! but, having been on the road (er, I mean at sea) for the past three months I was completely out of the loop on where my next gig was coming from and so couldn't quite convince myself to go into debt for the extra $900. So instead I just played that bass for over an hour, dreaming wistfully.
- and then just as I was getting ready to leave the shop, after having spent I think four hours playing six different basses, the sales guy says "if your budget was just a little higher I woulda shown you this" and he points to a fretless Wal Mk 1 with swanky flamed redwood facings (or something like that) ...right next to a matching fretted Mk I. I think those were about $1500 more than the wad I had in my pocket (each)...but for a brief second I had visions of buying the pair. Good thing I'd left my credit cards at home.
devnulljp
Supporting Member
I have a few of those too - early 80s, older guy I know is getting rid of his 'old tube amp crap to upgrade to solid state'. £50 for a Hiwatt head and matching 4x12 cab. I literally didn't have 50 quid.
Turnaround
Commercial User
Jim Carr
Dr. Jim
- Jan 21, 2006
- 16,223
- 7,614
- 76
- Disclosures
- fEARful Kool-Aid dispensing liberal academic card-carrying union member Musicians Local 72-147
