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$how your bargain bass buys!
- Thread starter ghostinthemach
- Start date
I've picked these up all at pawnshops in the last 8 yrs.
If you want to see my killer guitar steals, I've got about 4X as many as this.
$64.64 - '74 Fender Jazz Bass:
$180 - '79 Fender P-Bass:
$315 - '89 Fender "Longhorn" Jazz Bass:
$125 - '90 MIJ Fender '57RI P-Bass:
If you want to see my killer guitar steals, I've got about 4X as many as this.
$64.64 - '74 Fender Jazz Bass:
$180 - '79 Fender P-Bass:
$315 - '89 Fender "Longhorn" Jazz Bass:
$125 - '90 MIJ Fender '57RI P-Bass:
Those Ibanez Musician instruments are really nice. 
I have only got to play one 6 string guitar version; really heavy, IIRC.
I have only got to play one 6 string guitar version; really heavy, IIRC.
I bought a Hondo like this for £30 a few years back:
Mine had white speed knobs on it. I bought it from a pawn shop (Cash Converters, here in the UK), who didn't know what it was. It had an 'H' on the headstock, and that was it. They wanted £40 for it, but luckily the previous owner had set up the 3-point bridge to be on a weird angle. I pointed out this "damage" to the salesman, as well as the anonymous manufacturer. I sold it pretty quickly after for £80...
Part of me wishes I had hung on to it, but it weighed a ton and neck-dived something rotten. The pickup was a beast however as it produced a really solid grindy P-bass tone on command.
Mine had white speed knobs on it. I bought it from a pawn shop (Cash Converters, here in the UK), who didn't know what it was. It had an 'H' on the headstock, and that was it. They wanted £40 for it, but luckily the previous owner had set up the 3-point bridge to be on a weird angle. I pointed out this "damage" to the salesman, as well as the anonymous manufacturer. I sold it pretty quickly after for £80...
Part of me wishes I had hung on to it, but it weighed a ton and neck-dived something rotten. The pickup was a beast however as it produced a really solid grindy P-bass tone on command.
Everyone loves a bargain! Only 4 of my basses I could consider to be "true" bargains though.
2 of these were "Westfield" P basses. Both in sunburst, with black guards. The first cost me a set of drum bags I got for free in a deal on a kit when I was about 15 or so. The second cost me £20 (about $26 US I believe) from someone 20 minutes away from my home.
The 3rd was a Squier P I bought off a local lad for £70 ($90 usd I believe!) And immediately flipped it. However, I am buying it back very soon as my needs require another P in my life! As a plus, it is very nice now and has a red tort guard
But for me, nothing will ever come close to the 4th...
My '74 4001 in mapleglo. Got given it from my Granny and Grandad just when I started playing bass on a crappy beat up old "marlin sidewinder" before my first gig. It had been lying in their loft (attic for anyone else) for years and was their son's (My uncle's) before he passed away before I was born. Has always been used as my main gigging bass (I even used it on my old band's debut album!), and since using it, apart from string and setup costs it stood me nothing (apart from when the electrics packed in one year, cost me £50 (around $70 ish) to have them redone along with a truss rod adjust after I switched to Ernie ball super slinkies, a fret re-crown and a hardware polish. Has been immaculately useful ever since and is still the most wonderful bass I have ever played.
2 of these were "Westfield" P basses. Both in sunburst, with black guards. The first cost me a set of drum bags I got for free in a deal on a kit when I was about 15 or so. The second cost me £20 (about $26 US I believe) from someone 20 minutes away from my home.
The 3rd was a Squier P I bought off a local lad for £70 ($90 usd I believe!) And immediately flipped it. However, I am buying it back very soon as my needs require another P in my life! As a plus, it is very nice now and has a red tort guard
But for me, nothing will ever come close to the 4th...
My '74 4001 in mapleglo. Got given it from my Granny and Grandad just when I started playing bass on a crappy beat up old "marlin sidewinder" before my first gig. It had been lying in their loft (attic for anyone else) for years and was their son's (My uncle's) before he passed away before I was born. Has always been used as my main gigging bass (I even used it on my old band's debut album!), and since using it, apart from string and setup costs it stood me nothing (apart from when the electrics packed in one year, cost me £50 (around $70 ish) to have them redone along with a truss rod adjust after I switched to Ernie ball super slinkies, a fret re-crown and a hardware polish. Has been immaculately useful ever since and is still the most wonderful bass I have ever played.
Your uncle is looking down upon you and smiling.
I think he like most would think I'm a bit of an add but hey, I'm committed! Anything my basses need, my basses get. I won't even put them in the spare room if it's too cold for God's sake!
Sorry for all the dupes. Of my 4 partscasters, these are the two bargains. The other two posted in another thread were definitely good buys, but these two were definite bargains in my book. The nameless 5 string electric is Warmoth Body and Warmoth neck. The electronics are all Alembic save for the Bartolini Pre Amp. I got her for $400. She has paid for herself many times over. The 5 String upright was roughly $2000 for the initial build and conversion. She's a converted 4 stringer, and, as with Nessie...the green bass, Bessie the upright has also paid for herself many times over. All three of my bows were relative bargains, but that's a different thread altogether.
Basically every stringed instrument I own was bought on the cheap, so this thread is perfect for me!
1996-ish Ibanez SR400: $50 from a friend back around 2002
German made Warwick Streamer Standard: $299 from the former Daddy's Junky Music
Epiphone Thunderbird Goth: $100 from an antique/junk store
And my latest, freshest acquisition...
Peavey Foundation S w/hardshell case: $40 via Offer Up this morning
The Peavey might be my greatest score yet. Ive been looking for a cheap USA Peavey for a while. I missed out on a $100 T-40 about a month ago, so this one is a nice consolation prize.
1996-ish Ibanez SR400: $50 from a friend back around 2002
German made Warwick Streamer Standard: $299 from the former Daddy's Junky Music
Epiphone Thunderbird Goth: $100 from an antique/junk store
And my latest, freshest acquisition...
Peavey Foundation S w/hardshell case: $40 via Offer Up this morning
The Peavey might be my greatest score yet. Ive been looking for a cheap USA Peavey for a while. I missed out on a $100 T-40 about a month ago, so this one is a nice consolation prize.
Nice score on The Peavey.....I miss Daddy’s Junky Music. I bought several amps from them over the years. There was an old Roland Cube w/0range Tolex I scored off of them for $65.....you’ve got some good looking picks they’re. Happy Hunting.
That J is absolutely stunning man. I'm actually half planning a warmoth build sometime in the near future myself! How would you say warmoth necks compare to actual fender necks?
I prefer the Warmoth neck. The only Fender necks I ever liked as much were The Pre-CBS Precision’s, but good luck finding one of those at a decent price. Warmoth makes exceptionally good product, but that’s just my opinion.
Basically every stringed instrument I own was bought on the cheap, so this thread is perfect for me!
View attachment 2797836
1996-ish Ibanez SR400: $50 from a friend back around 2002
View attachment 2797840
German made Warwick Streamer Standard: $299 from the former Daddy's Junky Music
View attachment 2797864
Epiphone Thunderbird Goth: $100 from an antique/junk store
View attachment 2797865
View attachment 2797866
View attachment 2797867
And my latest, freshest acquisition...
Peavey Foundation S w/hardshell case: $40 via Offer Up this morning
The Peavey might be my greatest score yet. Ive been looking for a cheap USA Peavey for a while. I missed out on a $100 T-40 about a month ago, so this one is a nice consolation prize.
Love a Foundation!!!!!!!!!
I paid less than $2000 for a $3500 bass in perfect condition. Not cheap but it certainly was a bargain to me.
- Dec 28, 2009
- 2,053
- 1,380
- Disclosures
- Endorsed by K.B. Guitars, Nordstrand Audio Pickups, Von York Strings and Gallien-Krueger Amps.
In November of 2016, I purchased from Guitar Center a brand new, old stock Music Man Stingray 5 H for I think it was $1,049.99 out the door. I then sold it to a guy in Ireland maybe 3 or 4 months ago for $1,350.00 plus shipping cost. I loved the bass and bought another SR5 to be its twin but then Music Man released the 30th Anniversary SR5 and I had to have it so I sold the one SR5 I got a smoking deal on to help fund the purchase of the 30th Anniversary one.
I also bought a brand new Stingray 4 H from Guitar Center that had been bought but returned so it was a new open box still in new condition. I guess the guy bought it, brought it home, wife got pissed and he had to return it about an hour or two later. I traded my Ibanez 20th Anniversary bass straight across for it but I think they had the Music Man marked down to only like $949.99 for some reason. I loved that bass too. I only sold it to pay off some medical bills from a few years before I bought it, when my wife went through breast cancer. One day, I will buy another one exactly like it again because I loved that bass a lot!
I also bought a brand new Stingray 4 H from Guitar Center that had been bought but returned so it was a new open box still in new condition. I guess the guy bought it, brought it home, wife got pissed and he had to return it about an hour or two later. I traded my Ibanez 20th Anniversary bass straight across for it but I think they had the Music Man marked down to only like $949.99 for some reason. I loved that bass too. I only sold it to pay off some medical bills from a few years before I bought it, when my wife went through breast cancer. One day, I will buy another one exactly like it again because I loved that bass a lot!
Certainly qualifies as a bargain and
we're all waiting for a pic
I thought someone would say this. . . I haven't a good photo available, but it was a Mike Lull PJ5.
