If you can get everyone to agree on what "good" means then you can get a meaningful answer to your question. Since you can't, you have just started a pi$$ing contest. Only the buyer can determine if the extra money is worth it.
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Does price = quality/sound
- Thread starter mybassisalemom
- Start date
If you can get everyone to agree on what "good" means then you can get a meaningful answer to your question. Since you can't, you have just started a pi$$ing contest. Only the buyer can determine if the extra money is worth it.
Well this is just text so it is an easy mistake to make. I like to be optimistic so I thought you humbled yourself but for a moment.
At least now I know you are full of something else other than a smug sense of being stuck in your tired ways. I have a Sadowsky too; may I never get so old and jaded that I actually start believing it is something other than a toy of luxury. If that mindset is where this journey of life ends then it sure as hell isn't worth taking.
Being frugal with gear won't solve the midlife crisis dear old timer, but it will get the job done and that is what is important here.
People say talking about feel is off topic in this thread, but here is the truth: the question at hand is stupid because "quality" is entirely subjective and meaningless if it doesn't work for you. And if you absolutely need that extra capital infusion for your playing to be comfortable, then that is an interesting topic worthy of some introspection.
Don't sweat it - posters have been micro-defining and re-defining their own private 'topic' parameters of this thread since it started. Opinions are most easily and stridently supported when you limit the boundaries of the discussion to best suit your preferred POV.
I won't. I was just returning his strange insistence on making this personal with my own pettiness. It's a subtle art that I do not get to practice all too often these days.
This is such a weird topic to take so seriously and personally though.
Insofar as price = better hardware and better build quality,
OK, what is 'better build quality'? That implies less expensive instruments come with loose screws or something.
I've had this discussion with fellow photographers regarding consumer lenses ($400ish) compared to pro lenses ($1500+).
Better materials? Yes, for the most part. Better 'build'? No, not at all. More durable, robust? Slightly, but drop any lens 10 feet and it's dead.
How is an american fender 'built better' than a MIM or squier copy from china (or wherever they make them)? Setup perhaps, but that's not a build thing (and i've seen some poorly setup fenders and well setup indonesian rigs)
Well, I'll say that my older Asian Squiers use lighter neck bolt-on screws- wait, those are for the 80s so they're technically "vintage" and disqualified from this analysis
.
Even if and when you get finally get a super low set up on a squier it still feels cheap compared to its more expensive counterparts....I guess no one really understands this unless you have owned every brand..every level of bass made and worked on them yourself.
WHAT? That implies newer is better...or at least more robust. Or maybe bigger bolts are of an inferior grade metal..
But unless bolts broke can't say that has much to do with build quality. I have a chinese dean bass that is flawless - finish, fret edges/level, etc.
I can say on all the guitars in the house (6 elec of one kind or another) just about all have add elec issues - things coming loose mostly the nuts, a few tuner issues (loose screw or pot metal parts breaking). I guess those could be classified under build quality, right?
But unless bolts broke can't say that has much to do with build quality. I have a chinese dean bass that is flawless - finish, fret edges/level, etc.
I can say on all the guitars in the house (6 elec of one kind or another) just about all have add elec issues - things coming loose mostly the nuts, a few tuner issues (loose screw or pot metal parts breaking). I guess those could be classified under build quality, right?
Could be true - I've not tried everything out there and may not be enough of a 'coneissur' (sp?) to tell the difference.
I know with camera lenses there is a huge difference between a canon 50 1.2 and 1.4 and 1.8. Besides the price - 1500 vs 500 vs 80. Under ideal conditions (sunny day in the park) all work fine and it's hard to tell the difference. But take them to the limit and the difference soon becomes apparent.
How much to most of us play/use/move/abuse our instruments? Mine never leave the house, get played what, 4 hours a week, twice that if I'm lucky.
Vs a full time working musician that plays that much per day and moves it all over the place. My teacher has a gibson flying v as his main instrument, bought new in 1979 and he gigged on the road for 20+ years with it, uses it every day for teaching, plays on weekends. Sure, it's had some repairs but it keeps on ticking and has taken a licking - likeliving in a bus in nevada in the heat (3 years there), 3 more in minnesota's winters.
But if you make your living with it cost is secondary. I can easily justify a $2000 lens or $3500 camera. A $1000 bass? Not so much.
I know with camera lenses there is a huge difference between a canon 50 1.2 and 1.4 and 1.8. Besides the price - 1500 vs 500 vs 80. Under ideal conditions (sunny day in the park) all work fine and it's hard to tell the difference. But take them to the limit and the difference soon becomes apparent.
How much to most of us play/use/move/abuse our instruments? Mine never leave the house, get played what, 4 hours a week, twice that if I'm lucky.
Vs a full time working musician that plays that much per day and moves it all over the place. My teacher has a gibson flying v as his main instrument, bought new in 1979 and he gigged on the road for 20+ years with it, uses it every day for teaching, plays on weekends. Sure, it's had some repairs but it keeps on ticking and has taken a licking - likeliving in a bus in nevada in the heat (3 years there), 3 more in minnesota's winters.
But if you make your living with it cost is secondary. I can easily justify a $2000 lens or $3500 camera. A $1000 bass? Not so much.
You may find it odd that I'm in that group, too. But it has nothing to do with need.
I think there may be examples of more dough = better bass.
But I think in today's world some of the less expensive basses are pretty darn good.
But a decent bass with a good setup is better than a great bass needing setup.
But I think in today's world some of the less expensive basses are pretty darn good.
But a decent bass with a good setup is better than a great bass needing setup.
I think the setup has more to do with the playability of a bass than most would believe.
Albeit cheap fret work and other low end features can impact on a setup. I bet most people would be better keeping a cheap bass they like and getting it set up with strings that speak to them
This from a fool who has spent too much on basses.
I believe you are correct. IMO the real difference is between the $1300 basses and the $2800 basses. Thats where I have found the most noticeable quality difference.
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I'd put the break at about $2,000, but otherwise that's right on the money.
That being said, if I had spend $2,000 on a new instrument I would absolutely expect excellent fretwork and customer service, they certainly don't cost an extra three grand
I actually think the price point for quality basses starts at @ $2000.
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Some really great sounding music has been made by the USA made Fender Jazz and Precision basses, with a few Rics and Thunderbirds thrown in for good measure. These have been the industry standards for many years, and for good reason.
I listened to the recordings of one of the arguers for boutique bass value (in this thread), and IMHO they would have sounded better with one of the above. And I listened on a good stereo, too. Made me chuckle. But if an individual sees the value in spending the bucks, then I say go for it. Hey, it is your money and your bass.
I listened to the recordings of one of the arguers for boutique bass value (in this thread), and IMHO they would have sounded better with one of the above. And I listened on a good stereo, too. Made me chuckle. But if an individual sees the value in spending the bucks, then I say go for it. Hey, it is your money and your bass.
You are right that these (well some examples of them) are quality basses.
However to argue everyone would be better off playing them and they would sound as good as other basses is plain stupidity. So Stanley Clarke would sound as good on a Precision? Oh of course he would..........
P and J basses have their limitations. Just look at Marcus Miller - he modified his in a big way to make it fit his requirements.
200$ to the $1300 then again at around the $2400 level is where the biggest differences are you are right! everything else in between can really lean either way. you can get a $700 bass that feels like a $200 bass...or a $700 bass that feels like a $1300.....but a $200 bass will never feel like a $1300 bass and a $1300 bass will never feel like a $2400 bass!
As for the camera lenses...the newest technology always goes for a ton more! wait a month till the next version comes out and you can get those $2000 camera for $500....basses really dont follow the same rules as technology.....the manufacturers know how they made the bass and how it feels and prices accordingly. If you spend some time with every single bass Fender makes or even the basics like squier std, MIM std, MIM deluxe, MIA std, MIA deluxe, and MIA select....you can feel and see the quality difference in each.....now whatever subtle difference you hear or see might not be important to you.....but you can tell the difference in quality of each.
Now custom shop is the biggest rip off out there....there really is no difference between a select at 2399 and a custom shop at twice the price....other then you get to pick out the color, neck size and pickups.
