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Does price = quality/sound

#283
Mr. Lovejoy said:
I believe feel is most important of all.

A guitar that feels good will sound better because you will put yourself into it more easily.


Feel is entirely subjective and not tied to price. A used MIA Pbass could sound better than a full custom Sadowsky if it fit your hands better.
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That makes no sense.

A similar analogy would be to say that a used MIA PBass could sound better than a Sadowsky if you are wearing your favorite most comfortable five year old pair of torn, skid marked underwear.

I have a vintage MIA 1975 Precision that I have owned for 22 years. It feels like an old pair of slippers. It is a very long way from sounding like my active Sadowsky. They both fit my hands. If they didn't I wouldn't own either. How can I make by PBass sound better than my Sadowsky by feeling it better?

I know I'm missing something. Please elaborate.
 
#284
bmc said:
That makes no sense.

A similar analogy would be to say that a used MIA PBass could sound better than a Sadowsky if you are wearing your favorite most comfortable five year old pair of torn, skid marked underwear.

I have a vintage MIA 1975 Precision that I have owned for 22 years. It feels like an old pair of slippers. It is a very long way from sounding like my active Sadowsky. They both fit my hands. If they didn't I wouldn't own either. How can I make by PBass sound better than my Sadowsky by feeling it better?

I know I'm missing something. Please elaborate.
Click to expand...

I believe this is the point he was making: the tone of the instrument matters to some extent, but the player's technique will always be more important. So, if a player happens to prefer the feel (playability) of a low-end import over a high-end boutique, he will likely perform better on the low-end import.

We players get way too caught up in nuances of tone. Yeah, it matters to me too, but I don't pretend that anyone else will care (assuming it's not inappropriate). What really matters to the music is the performance of the player. Just one example: Sir Paul made magic on a Hofner, a J-bass, a Ric, and a Wal (I think).

Both of your basses have good feel, so you go with the one that sounds better to you. Point was, if one felt significantly better than the other, then you'd likely go with the one that played better even if you didn't like the tone as much. I would, anyway.
 
#285
I don't know why "tone" and "feel" keep coming up, since it's irrelevant to the topic. There's a guy out there that plays a bass made from an automobile gas tank. I'm sure to him, that bass has a better tone and feel than any Fodera.

The more you're willing to pay, the better quality product you're going to get. Whether it's worth it or not can only be answered by the buyer.
 
#286
Hard to discuss this topic without going into the specifics of each company.
In general, yes, the more you pay the higher quality the wood/parts will be but comparing companies side by side is difficult as some are more willing to have a lower profit margin and put higher quality components than a similarly priced competitor.
So what constitutes higher quality varies with the manufacturers. That's why Fender back in the 70s got into trouble- they were solely riding on their reputation and name, other companies were putting out basses of comparable quality but at a lower price point.
As smcd above pointed out, the worth of the bass to the individual though is something altogether separate from the quality. I have smaller hands and was ready to buy a high quality bass but would I be comfortable playing it? no... I bought a cheaper bass that sounded great but at least I won't be grimacing when playing it.
 
#287
Fuzzbass said:
I believe this is the point he was making: the tone of the instrument matters to some extent, but the player's technique will always be more important. So, if a player happens to prefer the feel (playability) of a low-end import over a high-end boutique, he will likely perform better on the low-end import.



We players get way too caught up in nuances of tone. Yeah, it matters to me too, but I don't pretend that anyone else will care (assuming it's not inappropriate). What really matters to the music is the performance of the player. Just one example: Sir Paul made magic on a Hofner, a J-bass, a Ric, and a Wal (I think).



Both of your basses have good feel, so you go with the one that sounds better to you. Point was, if one felt significantly better than the other, then you'd likely go with the one that played better even if you didn't like the tone as much. I would, anyway.
Click to expand...


Exactly.

Who cares how much your Bass costs if it does not get the job done. A $5000 Bass that isn't played is just wood at the end of the day. A $500 Bass that gives you a smile and a paycheck is a quality instrument.


The substance of any instrument is in your hands, full stop.



bmc said:
That makes no sense.



A similar analogy would be to say that a used MIA PBass could sound better than a Sadowsky if you are wearing your favorite most comfortable five year old pair of torn, skid marked underwear.



I have a vintage MIA 1975 Precision that I have owned for 22 years. It feels like an old pair of slippers. It is a very long way from sounding like my active Sadowsky. They both fit my hands. If they didn't I wouldn't own either. How can I make by PBass sound better than my Sadowsky by feeling it better?



I know I'm missing something. Please elaborate.
Click to expand...

"Better" is subjective.

But to bite, change up your setup / eq and stop listening with your eyes.
 
#292
bmc said:
That's the best advice I've heard in 41 years of playing.



Out of curiosity, where did you pick up that wisdom?
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I pulled the exact phrasing right out of my backside as I was writing the post ;)

I'm only in my mid 20's but I made an effort to play as many boutique and "high-end" brands as I could since I started playing at 17 and even own a few.


The revelation came a few years ago when I was at a guitar store blending in at lower priced guitar rack by warming up on the overseas made stuff before pouncing coyly on one of the sales attendants to take a guitar worth more than some people's cars off the top of the shelf (I've gotten "that thing has been sitting there for months and no one has had the balls to ask to try it before" many times). It then hit me while playing a beat-up, cheap instrument that was older than I was that "hey, this thing is great."


I then actively started searching for older, cheaper rare finds and haven't been disappointed since. That said, expensive guitars/basses are fine instruments (my favorite instrument is my Martin GPCPA1), but like I said it is what you do with it that matters in the end. It also helped to realize that I sounded like "me" whether I was playing through a tiny combo or a giant high-watt monster.
 
#293
smcd said:
The more you're willing to pay, the better quality product you're going to get. Whether it's worth it or not can only be answered by the buyer.
Click to expand...
That would mean that if I were willing to pay for this bass:
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...that the bass I recieve from my money would better quality than a lower-priced modern bass, like a Fender MIA, a new 63 P reissue, most Sadowskys...
 
#295
Consumers will determine what is a good price/quality ratio. If consumers determine a bass is worth a certain amount they will buy it. If they determine if a bass is overpriced, they won't buy it. It's really a simple concept.
 
#296
Gibson USA and Fender USA are the highest priced bass guitars I could afford at the time I bought them. Would I buy something less? Probably not if I could afford the USA stuff? Would I buy higher end stuff or boutique stuff? Probably not. I have other needs that have a higher priority than a boutique or very high end bass.
 
#297
hsech said:
Gibson USA and Fender USA are the highest priced bass guitars I could afford at the time I bought them. Would I buy something less? Probably not if I could afford the USA stuff? Would I buy higher end stuff or boutique stuff? Probably not. I have other needs that have a higher priority than a boutique or very high end bass.
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I'm like you and Fender USA is as high as I will go..no CS.

I will never have the need to go boutique.

Although I can afford really what I want and have owned MIA fenders including some vintage.

For me it's the thrill of the hunt to find mid level line basses that perform as good as those MIA's do.
 
#298
Mr. Lovejoy said:
I pulled the exact phrasing right out of my backside as I was writing the post ;)

I'm only in my mid 20's but I made an effort to play as many boutique and "high-end" brands as I could since I started playing at 17 and even own a few.


The revelation came a few years ago when I was at a guitar store blending in at lower priced guitar rack by warming up on the overseas made stuff before pouncing coyly on one of the sales attendants to take a guitar worth more than some people's cars off the top of the shelf (I've gotten "that thing has been sitting there for months and no one has had the balls to ask to try it before" many times). It then hit me while playing a beat-up, cheap instrument that was older than I was that "hey, this thing is great."


I then actively started searching for older, cheaper rare finds and haven't been disappointed since. That said, expensive guitars/basses are fine instruments (my favorite instrument is my Martin GPCPA1), but like I said it is what you do with it that matters in the end. It also helped to realize that I sounded like "me" whether I was playing through a tiny combo or a giant high-watt monster.
Click to expand...

I was being sarcastic. You have a long way to go, son.
 
#300
Well, to answer the OP's questions with my 2 cent's worth:
-Is the sound/quality worth the price? Yes, it is-to me, but only up to a point. Is it worth it to you? Only you can answer that question. Modern manufacturing methods (how's that for alliteration?) have narrowed the quality gap between the inexpensive and top end/boutique basses considerably, but will never close it completely. As several others have said, once you pay for the high quality electronics and hardware, the "perfect" finish, and the QC that should go along with it, anything more than that is usually bragging rights, snob appeal, and/or the satisfaction that having something made "just for you" gives. And I agree with those who say that, nowadays, you reach that point at about $2K. For example, while a 500/1 Hofner is a very fine instrument, and certainly has better hardware than my Rogue violin bass, does it justify the 20x price difference by sounding 20x better? In a word-no; but, Ahh, the snob appeal..;)

-Is the price proportionate to the quality/sound of the bass? That question is almost too subjective to answer. Insofar as price = better hardware and better build quality, the potential for better sound is certainly there. In general, and again, up to a point. But, is it really better sound? Better to whom? In my Rogue vs. Hofner example; yes, the Hofner does sound better-a little-to me (and everybody else, probably), but not enough to justify the 20x price difference. I"m sure all of us have heard or played basses that we didn't care for, regardless of the cost; as well as inexpensive basses we thought were the cat's ass. This is a question that, ultimately, I think we all have to answer for ourselves. Unless you want to let me borrow your ears for a month or so..:D
 

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