• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Buying blind: Win or fail?

Bass Viking

Bass Viking

Aug 30, 2004
10,347
13,461
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
#1
Over the years I've bought a number of instruments online. I thought it would be interesting to list the ones that worked out and the ones that didn't. All are quality instruments. My criteria for the failures is: would I have bought this if I had been able to play it first? Most of the failures I kept for a while before selling with exceptions described below. Feel free to make your own lists.


Wins!:

Ken Smith KSR 5MW
Carvin Icon
Keisel Xccelerator
Roscoe SKB
Modern Vintage MVJ4
D'Angelico Excel 59 guitar


Fails:

Eastman T386 guitar: shorter 24 3/4" scale difficult for my big hands. Otherwise a great guitar and bang for the buck.
Fodera Monarch Standard: generic sound, expensive
Kinal MK21; neck was uncomfortable. I ate the return shipping and restocking fee as I knew I would never bond with it.
Carvin BB75: Beautiful bass but sound was nothing great. I took advantage of the 10 day return policy.
Warwick Corvette $$: Had a noticeable dead spot at the 7th fret on the G string.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bassballs27, TK4261, jamro217 and 1 other person
#4
after years of blind wins and losses my 2 faves are budget production models from major Asian sources and consistently consistent, I'd have little issue phoning in another, but they'll outlive me.
current Epi T-Bird Std. IV
2000 Ibanez TR-50
 
#9
Online buys/Wins: 3 Stingray SR5s, 3 Mike Lulls.

Not so much online/Wins: One Fender P5. Slightly twisted neck, got screwed by local tech trying to repair it. But it was never unplayable.

Bought locally: American Professional Jazz 5
American Elite Jazz 5
Both needed neck shims, neck pocket side shims, extra shielding, had to enlarge the through-body B string holes (for a big-a$$ .135, I admit).
Wouldn’t call them wins, but they turned out to be quite decent basses after all.
 
#10
Bought my first electric bass online..... a Squier Jag Short Scale. Fantastic bass for the money and so easy to play for someone transitioning from guitar. I've gotten numerous better (in my opinion) full scale basses which get the most playing, but that little Jag is still a winner.
 
  • Like
Reactions: design
#11
Bass Viking said:
My criteria for the failures is: would I have bought this if I had been able to play it first?
Click to expand...
Providing I didn't take a big hit financially, I don't consider this a fail. Some years ago I bought and sold 150 basses in a few years and I reckon I came out about even $ wise, but I tried many I might not have been able to otherwise, so it reduced GAS for otherwise untouchable basses and taught me what I like and don't, so it was actually a win overall.

My last bass purchase was my BTB, bought from 800km away new from a dealer and I love it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bassballs27, MegaSwing and Wannabass
#12
Bought online:
- Steinberger Spirit XT2
- G&L L2500 - still own
- Peavey GV - still own
- Ergo 5 string EUB
- Michael Kelly Dragonfly
- Tobias Growler Fretless
- G&L L5000 - still own
- Ibanez SR885LE
- Peavey Millennium Plus (US model)
- G&L JB5 #1
- G&L JB5 #2 - still own
- Emerald Balor Bass - still own

The basses labeled still own will be in my collection forever. I count those as wins. All of the other ones were sold off after owning for a few years (except JB5 #1; I owned it for about 5 minutes).

The notable experiences were...
- Steinberger - I bought it new at full price. Sold it on eBay after using for several years for more than the price of a new one at that time (two guys got in a bidding war and I am still not sure why, but it was a win for me).

- Peavey GV - Purchased NOS for half price via eBay. Did not find out it was NOS until after the auction ended.

- SR885LE - Paid less than $150 for it. It had been modded with Bartolini electronics and poorly converted to a four string. I would not have bought it if I played it first, but after getting it back to a proper fiver it was a decent bass. Eventually sold it on here. Purchased because the electronics were worth what I paid for it. Spent too much money getting it working and broke even after playing it for a few years.

- Peavey Millennium Plus - Purchased for less than $150. It was advertised as a Korean Millennium, but it was an MM/J and very much an American one. Loved the bass, but sold it here due to not playing four string.

The only real bad experiences...
- Ergo EUB - I "needed" an EUB for my college jazz band. I read good things about the Ergo and found a used one in my budget. The bass was absolutely unplayable. The action was way too high and the bridge was constantly shifting out of position. After playing in the band for a few weeks, I realized they would have let me get away with playing electric (even though they said I needed an upright), which further compounded my annoyance with the situation. Note I have played other uprights and had several friends who primarily played upright try the Ergo. We all thought it was garbage (so for anyone thinking it was just me, it definitely was not). Noting I did purchase used, so cannot blame Ergo for the issues. It may have been a fine bass at one point in time. It definitely was not by the time I got it.

- G&L JB5 #1 was purchased in used excellent condition from Guitar Center. I had it shipped to my local store which was a good thing. I did not even take it home. Headstock had a string tree added that was right over the top of the truss rod. Original string tree was removed leaving a hole in the headstock. Screws on the body were all rusty. I returned the bass immediately after opening the case and the store agreed it was not in excellent condition, so they even refunded shipping. I ordered G&L JB5 #2 while I was at the store. I normally do not like dealing with GC, but I had some gift cards to use up.
 
#13
More fails than wins buying blind. No clunkers, just most of them weren’t as good as I thought they’d be. I did have a number of spectacular wins too. I got a super deal on a Custom Shop Les Paul and several outstanding boutique instruments.

I rarely buy anything on line these days.
 
#16
Win: Custom P/J 4-string listed in the classifieds here, which was likely built by Jeffrey Schloeder of Seductive Sound Guitars. It was listed by the TB seller with enough specs that I could get a rather good idea of how well it would fit me and the array of included pic's showcased enough details to make me confident that this one-off was a high quality build.

That bass came to me with a set of active EMG's installed, but I eventually swapped those for a passive set of P/J's from Joe Barden and I'm loving it with this layout.

Whiff: My first Covid bass gear purchase was a brand new Sandberg Electra TT that had a nice price tag during a clearance sale. When I ordered the bass, the dimensions that were listed on Sandberg's website included the same 39.5mm nut width (zero fret in their case) on the necks that come with their German built 4-strings. But when I unboxed my Electra and started playing it, I had trouble the fit of the neck. Sure enough the nut/zero fret width measured 37mm and when I checked back on the website, the specs had been updated to the accurate measurement.

It was unfortunate that I couldn't return the bass because I bought it on clearance from a shop and not directly from Sandberg, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. I know that it wasn't exactly a case of bait and switch, but it bummed me out that Sandberg listed the wrong specs in the first place. My hands just can't tolerate narrow necks like those anymore.
 
#19
I've generally had very good success buying blind, and would continue to do so. My only somewhat fail was a '75 Jazz Bass I bought on eBay years ago when I thought I needed a vintage bass. Some of you might remember an eBay seller going by Tune-o-Matic. He was an interesting guy to say the least. The bass looked great online when I got it, it was determined it need a complete re-fret. I had Mike Lull do the work and once done, it was a fine bass. However, I never really bonded with it eventually sold it for a bit of a loss.

Bones
 
#20
I've bought over 20 basses online, untouched. I'm pleased to say I've been quite lucky that none were 'fails', in that I don't regret the purchase. There have been a few that I didn't find to my liking for one reason or another (Alembic Essence 4 string had a very small body, not fitting my rather large one), but I've been able to move those along without taking any financial hit. All were great basses, some just not for me.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back