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CL Austin: JR Beck guitars and basses

#2
He's been trying to get rid of those things for what feels like forever now. I wanna say about a year-ish, and you find them at pawn shops all over the place here. I've never actually used one, but word is that they're manufactured overseas and have subpar playability. I guess they'd be fine if you wanted to end your set like Jimmy Hendrix or something lol.
 
#3
thanks for the heads up, im kinda new to this bass thing. As far as quality and playability goes, what would it compare to? I currently have a '95 Mecican Precision, would buying one of these be an upgrade?
 
#6
M5Yates said:
They're junk - stay away.
Click to expand...

I beg to differ quite strongly. The 3 basses I've seen from "that guy" on Craigslist in the last week actually quite well made, especially for under $300. I'll bet they have little to no resale value, but the 4 string fretless and 6 string fretted bass I played were well constructed, good fit and finish and the active pickups sounded great. I'll be picking one of his up 6 strings for myself which I plan on gigging with ASAP. The boys at Bass Emporium seemed to concur with that assessment when I querried them about the brand as well.

I guess opinions are worth as much as you pay for them. Maybe you should avoid picking one up so they're be a larger selection for me to choose from.
 
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#8
I picked up a violin bass made by J R Beck a couple of years ago off eBay, virtually identical to an Epiphone (except for the headstock binding) and it only cost me $100.00 new (maybe from the guy mentioned in this thread). Liked it so much I went ahead and bought a hard case from MF to store it in. Good workmanship, fit and finish. So-so electronics. Could be a could buy at a particular price. If they're still out there, try one.
 
#9
I bought an active four string last Spring and I can't complain. The neck is fairly straight and it holds tune well. Most of the complaints I had at first (buzzing, scraping etc.) turned out to be my poor technique. I would say if you are exploring whether you want to play this would probably be a good investment.
 
#11
I have never seen played one... but he does pop up on CL all the time.

They're probably Chinese made basses/guitars similar in quality (I'd imagine) to the SX/Agile stuff that's sold through rondomusic.com
 
#12
I went to his place when he still had a bunch of stuff. He was not the most friendly sales guy I have seen, but the instruments were decent, some more than others. There were some that were really good deals for the money. They were made in Korea. I picked up a Telecaster that was really cool. I haven't played any of the basses. It looks like he's only got a couple left.
 
#13
MarkRubin said:
I beg to differ quite strongly. The 3 basses I've seen from "that guy" on Craigslist in the last week actually quite well made, especially for under $300. I'll bet they have little to no resale value, but the 4 string fret-less and 6 string fretted bass I played were well constructed, good fit and finish and the active pickups sounded great. I'll be picking one of his up 6 strings for myself which I plan on gigging with ASAP. The boys at Bass Emporium seemed to concur with that assessment when I queried them about the brand as well.

I guess opinions are worth as much as you pay for them. Maybe you should avoid picking one up so they're be a larger selection for me to choose from.
Click to expand...
Yeah real world (actually playing them) reviews are all I'll accept. Lots of opinions without ever touching one.
 

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