Buying blind: Win or fail?

[groooooove]

after my first bunch of purchases i got really good at knowing what i would or would not like.

only failures were ones where the condition was misrepresented by the seller- two cases of broken truss rods come to mind.

 

[AcadianBassman]

Bought my current bass, a Stingray 5 HS, blind on Kijiji fro a private seller. It shipped to my door from two provinces over. I had never seen one up close before let alone played one but I knew the reputation of the company. All in all, it was a great experience and I ended up with a great bass My previous bass was a Washburn XB125 bought blind from a shop in Vancouver BC the full width of the continent away from me. That was another great purchase. Awesome five-string for under five-hundred bucks delivered. Both of these were great purchases! I was lucky with both but I do believe my bass buying days are pretty much done And yes, I tell myself other lies too

 

[rtav]

Some people have good success others don’t.

 

[SemiDriven]

3-0 in the online Win column:

’94 Ibanez SoundGear SR-505 (eBay)
’09 Dingwall ABZ5 (TalkBass)
’19 Dingwall D-Bird (Talkbass)

Doing your homework, weighing the risk/reward ratio, and trusting your gut increases your shot at success.

 

[sj_bass]

Most all of my bass purchases have been online. And most have been total wins. Some of the best:
- Fano JM-4. Played a friend's bass and fell in love.
- Sadowsky MV-4. Best jazz bass I've ever played.
- Specter NS-2A. The white one. Like Sting's Synchronicty Bass.

Some have been ok deals but didn't fit the bill:
- Warwick Adam Clayton. Nice, but I already had a Streamer.
- Lakland 44-60. Great feel, but never liked those Neo pickups.

All in all, I wholeheartedly recommend the TB experience. It's definitely helped me with my GAS issues.

 

[Fishheadjoe]

I've only bought sight unseen once. it was during the RIC blow out of midnight blue 4003's. By the time I got around to buying mode, they were sold out. I called Music 123 and they agreed to match prices. I ordered a Fireglo.
It arrived with the following issues...
-none of the tone controls worked! They did nothing! Also, i was quite surprised to find three black paint dots, under the clear coat, beside the output jacks. It went back two days later.
-they sent me another 4003, again Fireglo. In the three months that I had that bass, it would not set up. Truss rod cover was put in the case as I was fed up taking it off EVERY day, trying to get it playable. I even took it to one of Toronto's best and well know shops and after 20 minutes of adjustments and head scratching, the tech with over 30+ myeaqrs of experience told me it would never set up as the neck wasn't planed properly. I sold it locally with full discloser to a guy who didn't play, but always wanted one to hang in the basement. He got the right bass for that!
This experience has me hesitant to buy online and even more hesitant to buy another RIC..

Fishheadjoe