Expensive vs inexpensive basses

[Jeff Scott]

Luxury! We never had rubber bands. We had to fillet old bicycle inner-tubes and attach them to particle board strips using gum collected from under old restaurant tables. Still played in perfect tune and intonation with action to die for. Amazing tone too!

You didn't use any of the gum that I left there, did you?

 

[Jeff Scott]

You guys should have been watching when I was laying out the wainscot for the dining room!

 

[Skillet]

I happened across a Peavey Milestone at Goodwill. Brought it home, changed out a pot, put some Benson jazz pickups in it, and I'm having a blast with it. Super fast Ibanez-thin neck and as light as a feather. It feels good, plays good, sounds good. I get paid the same at a gig regardless of whether I bring my fender, lakeland, dano, or my $80 Peavey. Whatever floats your boat I say. Have fun.

 

[BigBigGuy44]

I remember seeing a thread like this before but can’t quite place where.

 

[Wolfhound32]

Expensive vs inexpensive...

As long as the build quality allows easy playing (noting, that will be unique to each person) a $300 Squire can be just as useful as a Custom Shop Fender-- basses are instruments (i.e. tools) after all

Personally, my MIM Steve Harris P-bass has become my favorite and is the least expensive that I own-- The only thing I've had to do to this bass is replace the strap lock buttons from the stock versions to Dunlops. There are a lot of fantastic instruments at the lower end of the price spectrum!

 

[stringthrough]

You never what you'll get when you slap wood, metal and plastic together. Once in a (great) while you'll end up with a good bass, but most of the time it will be, well, a poorly made, poor sounding bass.

 

[SirMjac28]

 

[Panther]

I've played both high end and low end basses in my day and I have to say I'm getting a pretty good sound and feel out of some less costly basses . The latest addition to my arsenal is a very inexpensive bass . An Ibanez GSR200SM . My wife bought this for me for Xmas a couple of years ago . I don't know what she paid for it . I think it was a "Stupid deal of the day" from Musicians Friend . She said she liked the way it looked . So did I for that matter . After disabling that crappy active PhatII EQ (The pickups are actually passive) it's turning out to be a very good bass . The construction is solid and it feels and sounds great . I find myself using it more often than my other 4s . Furthermore , it came out of the box completely set up . The action and the intonation were on the mark . So you can keep your Foderas , Alembics , etc . I'm happy .

I think your wife posted this.

 

[Usidore T Blue]

It's just bass, right? IJB, you know what I mean? The instrument that you try to keep from ruining the song? Half percussion, half melody, master of neither? The one that, if people notice it too much, causes them to whip bottles at the player? The one that's usually more interesting in church than in a stadium? That oen?

 

[Luciferiad]

My bass literally doesn't even have a brand name, and I paid $0 for it. But the feel and sound are perfectly serviceable.

That looks like Teisco, actually. I bet a dollar it is.

Some people decorate their homes with art. Other people decorate their home with item you can buy from Target and Bed Bath and Beyond.

I try to call my amps and guitars "decoration" but my wife just glares until I take them back to my music cave.

Anymore I try not to look at the price when I pick up a guitar to play it. Hoping one of these days I'll find a $300 bass I really like. I've found a couple I did like, but not enough to warrant the purchase (as in not play it enough to justify that moderate expense).

The downside of that approach is it's entirely possible I'll fall in love with something I absolutely can't afford. Better to have loved and lost, I guess...

And this thread really turned into a kicked anthill. Whew.

 

[Not yet]

When this thread gets closed maybe we close every thread that says my Arsenal in it

 

[micguy]

I read threads like these, where the general consensus is that a $10K bass is ridiculously high priced.

Then I go and play music with cellists and harpists - to them a $10K instrument is a student model - at best. I have a bunch of basses that are great instruments, and added together they’re as much as one modest Asian upright piano.

We have it really good.

 

[57pbass]

Same thing applies to cars.. I drive around town on an electric floor buffer..

 

[Karlson541]

Mod edit: take it down a notch, friendo

 

[kesslari]

Expensive basses often cost more than inexpensive basses.
Just wanted people to know.

 

[steelbed45]

Expensive basses often cost more than inexpensive basses.
Just wanted people to know.

You said often, which implies that sometimes they may not.

Is this also true?

My sleep cycle hangs in the balance.

 

[Bassbubble11]

Oh so you’ve never played a quality handmade instrument. Got it.

What’s your point? If it’s hand made is better my question is..... says who?

Are hand made hammers better?

 

[Element Zero]

What’s your point? If it’s hand made is better my question is..... says who?

Are hand made hammers better?

Yeah... you’ve never played a quality handmade instrument. It has NOTHING to do with being “better”. Could I continue to use my cheap Ibanez for everything I do musically? Of course I could. It’s done just fine in every musical situation I’ve had the pleasure of being a part of since I bought it in ‘98. However, since purchasing the boutique fretless I had wanted for almost a decade and also a quality fretted, I have no desire to use my cheap bass. Both my boutiques exude impeccable craftsmanship. You can feel the time and effort that went into making it BY HAND. I for one, and thousands of others, appreciate handmade craftsmanship. You couldn’t care less. Great.

You can keep on believing that a Squier is just as good as a Fender. I’ll agree there are diamonds in the rough. But if your basing your comparison of cheap mass produced basses to high end handmade basses off of a Fender, you’ve CLEARLY no idea what a high end basses can be.

 

[basted]

So a guy comes on this forum and is honest to us and says he is happy and that opens the floodgates.
C'mon guys, no need to get the knives out!

 

[blastoff]

i tell you what. if you buy an expensive you can sell it for dang near what you paid for it, or more if its vintage. buy a cheap thing, its immediately worthless as soon as you take the plastic off