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Buying an instrument without trying it out

#62
With the TB classifieds ... I've purchased or traded quite a few basses with out playing them. Sometimes you stumble upon some basses you might not have owned if you had played them first. Sometimes GAS is enough to make you take the plunge.
The good part about it is, you get to play around with for a while before you move onto the next. :)

With that ... I dont' think I could really purchase any basses sight unseen ... unless it's just such a steal ... it's worth the shot.
 
#63
I've bought a lot of basses online without playing them first. Sometimes I've played the same kind of bass in a store, but not the one I'm getting. That can be a little risky at times depending on the quality control of the basses. But a lot of basses I've purchased I had never played prior to ordering them, and sometimes I really liked them and sometimes not so much. Luckily, they were either cheap basses or I got a hell of a deal on them so I could get most of my money back or wasn't out much anyway. If it were a high dollar bass, I'd be far more inclined to try it out first if possible, though I did buy one or two more costly basses sight unseen and did love them (still traded them since I suffer from serious GAS, but they were great nonetheless).
 
#69
Funny, almost all of my bass purchases have been sight unseen! Only had one bad experience. A Fender Jazz 24 which I got from MF. The bass sounded awesome and played great. But the so called "quilted maple top" was the ugliest piece of wood I'd ever seen! Looked more like blotchy driftwood! There was Zero quilt on it! How it left the factory looking like that is beyond me! So returned it. I actually wrote the CEO of Fender about it and they actually tracked the bass down so they can see for themselves!

The next Jazz 24 I ordered I think from Sweetwater, I had them take it out of the box and snap a photo for my approval.
 
#70
No problem buying sight unseen. Just buy them from a place that will happily take them back, as long as you don't mess it up so as it doesn't look new anymore. I've bought from BassNW, MF, SX from Rondo...no problems. Well, the SXs usually have at least a small problem, but it is expected for the price. I think this is a decent way to try basses that may not be in stock, or ones that have not had teenagers banging on them.
 
#71
Most of the 30 or so basses I've bought in the last ten years I've bought without playing first , most from the TB classifieds or SX . Only a couple come to mind that I didn't care for . One was a Peavey Axcelerator 5 string . It played great but I had to EQ the heck out of it to make it sound good to me . The other was a Lakland Skyline JO5 with a J-retro and Fralins . It played awesome and the tone was to die for but it weighed 12 pounds and that was just too much for me . Of the SX basses the only one I didn't really like was one of the P/J basses . The tone just didn't do it for me and I sold it to a kid in a punk rock band and he loves it .
 
#74
If I had played SAME MODEL basses before and liked them, yes.

I would probably take the chance, thinking that manufacturing tolerances would be SOMEWHERE still in the ballpark, unless I just was really unlucky and got a lemon.

If I had never played one of those model basses before... no.
 
#75
Bought five already this year without trying them, mostly because they were good pricing that I knew I could turn if I didn't like them. Two of the five were Schecters which I owned and liked though remarkably, they all three sound and play differently. I would probably act differently if I were paying $1000 plus instead of $100 plus.
 
#76
I've bought seven basses in the last few years without playing them. Four of them were cheapies that I got to fix up (two SX, a Danelectro 63 on clearance, and a low-level Dean). Two I still have and two I decided I didn't really care for. While I took some loss on them, the total dollar amount was pretty low and not out of line for the experience I had with them.

The other three were basses that were uncommon and pretty much the only way to get them was to buy them on-line. One of them became one of my favorite go-to basses (Gibson Les Paul Money Bass); one of them is more a collectible than a player so while it's not my favorite that's not really why I bought it (Acoustic/Mosrite Black Widow); and the other I just never really connected with (Carvin LB60, bought because it was solid koa and just looked so pretty).

Having done all that, I don't think I will be doing that much anymore. I have several basses I really like that will work well for just about any of the basic pop/rock shows I'm likely to be playing any time soon, so just being curious about a bass is really not enough of a justification to buy one anymore. I'm sure I'll get more basses over the rest of my life, but they will be basses that I've played and that really speak to me when I hold them. That's the best reason to buy another bass, and you can never get that buying on-line.
 
#78
I've bought quite a few basses without trying them first. I've only been disappointed in a few. Most were as I expected. One I remember absolutely hating and being very angry at myself for buying it. Luckily I sold it within just a few days of buying it.
I buy and trade for stuff all the time without trying it first.
 
#80
I bought a fender mim in the tb classifieds , and was a very good bass, come with sadowkys steel and well adjusted, I just had to ajust the truss rod and it was set, and for that price have no complains at all
 

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