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buying a bass unplayed

EBodious

EBodious

Aug 2, 2006
576
24
Iowa
#1
hi gang,

i know it sounds crazy and goes against the ultimate advice (pick the bass that sounds and feels right to you), but i live in a corner of the midwest that offers me practically no choice. i have read many posts about all these cool sounding basses, but can't touch any of them!!! grrrr.

i am (finally) in a position to spend about $1500-1700 on a good quality instrument, but am frustrated that i can't pick and choose in person.

i am hoping all of your collectivee wisdom can help me "logically deduce" a few good choices. then i can either go online for a new one (and go thru the buy / return cycle) or take a leap of faith on a used listing here.

here is a quick list of pertinent facts: i play fingerstyle. i am in an original rock band - we call it prog-rock for lack of a better term. i love the round, hollow, "boingy" sound (technically i believe this is a serious lo-mid scoop). i play thru an eden wt head and get the scoop by turning their "enhance" knob up around 11 o'clock. i also play in a blues band and use a more traditional sound for that (no enhance knob). my current bass is a 35" scale, 5-string, neck-thru t-25 (best i could do at the time). its got a fast neck and feels good. my issue with it is that it is real noisy on the upper strings on the upper frets and the intonation is mushy across the whole of the neck/ strings (it is only a $500 bass). i am using a friend's '78 p bass with flats in the blues band (fits great), but i can only borrow it so long....

i am looking for a 5-string. i would like it to be solid and fast. i guess i need some versatility too, though.

i have read about many great basses, but i have yet to wrap my head around the idea of buying a bass i have never played!

any advice?

thanks a lot
 
#3
I'd suggest dealing with a company that has good reviews, in case you need to do a return. My personal favorite is zZounds: Invalid Link Removed

Check their policy (who pays shipping) re:
  • Defective merchandise - exchange
  • Defective merchandise - refund
  • You just want a refunds
 
#8
Just make sure you buy something that you can sell easily if you don't like it for some reason. That's from a private party. I just sold a really nice bass last week that I found back up for sale today. That's the only way you can try out high end stuff that you don't have access too in the local music store.
 
#9
1. MIM Precision Special - Evilbay. Love it (the bass, not Evilbay so much)!
2. SX P\J - TB. Main gig bass last summer.
3. SX Jazz 5 - TB. Great, cheap way to learn 5.
4. Kubicki ExFactor (FCS) - Evilbay. My pride and joy!

So I've had luck buying physically sight unseen (other than photos) and unplayed.:bassist:

Plus I've always done tons of research here and other sources before making an online, unplayed purchse.

I'm not affiliated other than being a satisfied customer, but www.basscentral.com does, I'd guess, 85-90% of their biz online domestic and international.

Beaver and the guys could probably suggest many basses that fit your needs if you called them and told them exactly what you're looking for and what you situation is with the access to touching inventory in your area.

Just a suggestion. I bought my Lakland there in person and they were all very cool and helpful to me any chance they got a breather from their phone and online customers. They were pretty much glued to their phones\PC's the entire 2 hours I was there serving those customers! I couldn't believe it!

I'm sure the other bass online shops are equally as good (bass nw, bassemporium, theperfectbass, etc).

I'm in your situation regarding cabinets. No one in my area seems to have any GK NEOs on the floor to demo. The one GC has the NEO 4x10 but no one has the 212, 210 or 115!! So I feel your pain. Buying a cabinet unheard is equally as unsettling!
 
#11
 
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#12
I recently bought a couple of basses from the classifieds of this site and have been very happy. If you're going to buy sight unseen then i suggest you get it from here. If you don't like it, you can always flip it for about what you paid. Also this sites members are very honest about what they are selling. If you mail order new, make sure they have a long return policy so you can work with it for a while.

If I were you I would look into a Fender Custom Shop 5 string Jazz bass, Or maybe a Lakland.
 
#14
I have purchased 3 basses on eBay; an Alembic Epic 5, a Spector Euro 5, and a Warwick LX5, and all 3 basses were good deals and arrived intact (yes I know I was lucky I didn't get ripped off). I have also purchased a bass new and it came out fine. Of those 4 basses I hadn't played any one of the models in person previously but purchased them on the reputation of the builders and user reviews on harmony-central and here. I would not hesitate to buy anything unplayed as long as I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into in advance. Also on the used side I purchased a used P Special on the TB classifieds (thanks kevinmoore73!) and it was a great deal (I think the TB classifieds were designed to drain my wallet).

This is in no way any kind of guarantee that your shipped purchase will go as well; you could get a broken in shipping or misrepresented item. Happy spending!
 
#15
I have bought a Ric, Yamaha attitude, EB-0 off Ebay. All turned to be great basses no problems. The Ric was mint for $750
It's foolish to buy just about any bass today new. New Warwicks & Alembics loose huge value once you get it.

Also I bought my LP from a forum and got a great bass. Would not hesitate to buy from A KNOWN PERSON HERE.

Yamaha

http://cgi.ebay.com/YAMAHA-RBX765A-...oryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/YAMAHA-TRB6II-t...oryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
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#16
I just did. I got a Lakland 55-2 and good lord it plays and sounds great right out of the box.

112_8549.jpg


112_8552.jpg
 
#17
If I were you i would go for a "warwick corvette $$" as i have a "warwick corvette basic" and i play with my fingers and I get a very nice sound for the rock songs my band plays.

This bass costs about £650 which works out at about $1330 - 1500.

But that is only my opinion, so good luck and i hope you enjoy what you choose.

Hope this helps.:D
 
#18
I'm interested in some ESP LTD basses and without any local shops that carry ESP, I might have to order without playing one. I'm planning to order from a larger mailorder shop that has a good return policy.

With musical instruments, I think the shops know how picky and difficult it is to find a good feeling instrument.
 
#19
A pro-player friend of mine (who has more sponsorships than I can count), laid out his policy on buying gear for me, and I think it makes sense. I'll paraphrase: new basses are great -- in a lot of cases, they do make em better than they used to. The problem is that the value drops as soon as you buy it. His advice: never buy a new piece of gear at full price. If you can get a great deal -- like, if it's a mint condition floor model, or you know a friend with a sponsorship, or someone who works at guitar center and is willing to "bone one out" for you -- by all means, go for it, provided it's the bass you want.

OTHERWISE: buy used. Make sure you're not getting ripped off, haggle as much as you can, and buy something that you could turn around and flip for at least as much as you paid for it. So long as you're not getting scammed, this greatly reduces your risk of losing your investment.

I've been known to completely ignore that advice, but it sure sounds good, and seems to make a heckuva lot of sense. I, on the other hand, just bought a vintage bass, having never played it or even one like it, and probably paid more than I had to (though it is in exquisite shape), but what the hell... i really wanted it. Trust thy gut in the end. Hopefully mine hasn't led me astray (we'll see on tuesday when it gets here... ha!).
 
#20
if you are getting it new, get it from somewhere that has a return policy minus shipping.

If you are getting used, the key is the get it where the price + shipping is something you can get if you had to flip it again, once again possibly losing shipping costs. For the most part the reviews up here do a pretty good job of conveying what different builders usually offer, and reputation is really worth a lot.

But, getting some real custom used ax is a lot different then say getting a lakland 55-94. These custom axes sometimes got interesting wood and electronics combo that might not work for everyone, you really are better off getting something that many people are familiar with. 1500 wil definitely get a great bass that you can be sure will hold most of its value if you choose right.

And lastly, what is a hollow sound?
 

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