Our local apps sell only a few bottom tier Squires and Ibanez basses. Our local GC is a great store with great people but the bass selection is dull, mostly lower end Ibanez models and a ton of Ray34s. An occasionally Fender or two also show up.
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How's the bass selection in your town?
- Thread starter Bass Viking
- Start date
- Jul 17, 2003
- 23
- 19
- 64
- Disclosures
- Endorsed by Fodera, MTD, TecAmp, Intex Cables...love them all!
I'm in New York City, so there's plenty of bass nirvana. However, this thread hits on a problem that I've been dismayed about. I have a friend, Glenn, a very knowledgeable friend, who had a brick and mortar store called "Bass Specialties" in Bensalem, PA. I sent all my students to him...from NEW YORK(!), because he could really tell them which bass would be best for their style, which rig would serve them the best for their individual gig...it was really, really worth the trip. Unfortunately, my friend Glenn eventually closed his shop, because his customers would go in, get his knowledge and wisdom and advice...and then, in front of him, go to Amazon and tell him they could get the rig cheaper (literally a matter of $25 bucks or so). Due to manufacturer rules he could not beat the price and finally got tired of this short-sighted and rude behavior. People don't realize what a treasure a place like that is, where you can get the advice you need and walk away happy, having been served well. I've always tried to support places like that and was very, very sorry to see it go. Sure, you can buy anything you want on the internet, but how do you get the advice you need...from reviews? I don't think so. To me it's worth the extra money to learn from someone else's experience.
In my opinion it like that with a lot of areas in retail, not just musical merchandise, "mail order" or now internet, and a few prominent web sites are making it really difficult for the local brick & mortar, mom & pop shop, to compete. I have always thought my local GC, has had a poor selection of bass product in general.In another thread I posted that I thought many bassists haven't played enough different brands to know what they really like, due to limited availability in local stores. I got in some hot water for thatbut I still stand by my statement. In my own city of 1 million people, the selection is not great. It's mainly Fender, Squier, Ibanez, Yamaha, Epiphone, etc. There's nothing wrong with these brands but it's the tip of the iceberg.
Brands I used to see, like Warwick, Lakeland, and G & L, have disappeared. You seldom see even a Gibson bass. You do come across a few Rickenbackers, Musicman, and the occasional Fender Custom Shop. Boutique? Forget it! Not even the Canadian stuff like Dingwall or F bass.
I currently own 11 basses. Only 2 were purchased in Ottawa stores. 2 I bought used and the rest I ordered from the USA. Even Club Bass in Toronto has reduced the number of bass brands they carry and changed their name to Club Bass & Guitar.
The store where I bought my Taylor guitar has a fantastic selection of acoustics and electric guitars, with high end Gibson, Fender, PRS, Taylor, Martin, Collings, Suhr. As for basses: Last time I was there they had 5.
Quite a few in San Francisco and the surrounding areas...even GC has a few shiznits!
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Not much here in Fayetteville, NC that catches my attention. Mainly beginner gear.
Local mom and pop shop is great for repairs and mods like pickups swaps, amp repairs and so on but they make their money doing mods and repairs and really mainly by renting instruments to music program students.
The local guitar center here is a small GC studios type one and rarely has anything interesting. They had a dingwall combustion for sale used a few months ago which a bass player in the scene bought. But it's mainly squier and lower model ltd, ibanez and schecter stuff. They don't even carry 6 string bass string sets.
The huge guitar center about an hour from here in Raleigh, NC used to have a lot of great basses but it seems I was the only one buying them lol, so they cut out the higher end stuff as well. I puchased two German Warwicks new from that store but the last two basses I bought from there were a used Warwick and a used Conklin. They did have a used Roscoe fretless 6 which I played but was way too expensive IMO nothing against the bass but I just don't play enough fretless to justify spending way over a grand on one like that.
Ive honestly seen more Ric copies than I do real ones which might be surprising to you guys. I want to say they were Cort Ric copies. Still never seen a G&L at a store although I've seen a few played by others at gigs. Never seen fodera or f bass or Ken smith in a store.
At this point I'm really happy with my thumb NT6 and am not really looking for a different high end bass to replace it. But I did sell the heard to pay for my NT6 so I'm on the lookout for a decent backup to have just to finish a show if my thumb bass went down. Leaning towards a rockbass basic corvette 6 at the moment.
Local mom and pop shop is great for repairs and mods like pickups swaps, amp repairs and so on but they make their money doing mods and repairs and really mainly by renting instruments to music program students.
The local guitar center here is a small GC studios type one and rarely has anything interesting. They had a dingwall combustion for sale used a few months ago which a bass player in the scene bought. But it's mainly squier and lower model ltd, ibanez and schecter stuff. They don't even carry 6 string bass string sets.
The huge guitar center about an hour from here in Raleigh, NC used to have a lot of great basses but it seems I was the only one buying them lol, so they cut out the higher end stuff as well. I puchased two German Warwicks new from that store but the last two basses I bought from there were a used Warwick and a used Conklin. They did have a used Roscoe fretless 6 which I played but was way too expensive IMO nothing against the bass but I just don't play enough fretless to justify spending way over a grand on one like that.
Ive honestly seen more Ric copies than I do real ones which might be surprising to you guys. I want to say they were Cort Ric copies. Still never seen a G&L at a store although I've seen a few played by others at gigs. Never seen fodera or f bass or Ken smith in a store.
At this point I'm really happy with my thumb NT6 and am not really looking for a different high end bass to replace it. But I did sell the heard to pay for my NT6 so I'm on the lookout for a decent backup to have just to finish a show if my thumb bass went down. Leaning towards a rockbass basic corvette 6 at the moment.
Who do you recommend checking out in NYC? I've been beside myself since we lost Manny's.
I think the biggest problem is Fender owns the bass market so much and the bass market is smaller than the guitar market. In general, someone going to a music store for a bass would like a Fender precision or jazz bass. If they can't afford that, they would go with a Squier.
Ibanez and Yamaha have some beginner basses that keep them on the shelves. The others you mention (Warwick, G&L, Lackland, etc) even if they have a cheap model, it is still in the intermediate price range.
As far as a store owner is concerned, I think it is tough to keep a $2000+ instrument on the shelf for a couple years when they would sell so many more Squires in that time.
I really wonder how many custom shop PRS, Fender, and Gibson instruments a guitar store like Guitar Center really sells.
As far as our impressions on different instruments, it does make it difficult not being able to just try out a bunch. I also play classical guitar, and that situation is even worse. If you want a new professional instrument, the buy in is $3000+++. Few stores carry these types of instruments. Often you have to go through a luthier with a wait time of probably a year and no way to try before you buy. Now there are boutique stores, but they are few and far between.
What I think happens in any event is you hear an album that gets you interested in music, and that is the type of instrument you want to play...no matter what. I think that every time I see p vs j vs mm type conversations. People like what they like and listening to recordings or even playing the instruments will not change most opinions.
Ibanez and Yamaha have some beginner basses that keep them on the shelves. The others you mention (Warwick, G&L, Lackland, etc) even if they have a cheap model, it is still in the intermediate price range.
As far as a store owner is concerned, I think it is tough to keep a $2000+ instrument on the shelf for a couple years when they would sell so many more Squires in that time.
I really wonder how many custom shop PRS, Fender, and Gibson instruments a guitar store like Guitar Center really sells.
As far as our impressions on different instruments, it does make it difficult not being able to just try out a bunch. I also play classical guitar, and that situation is even worse. If you want a new professional instrument, the buy in is $3000+++. Few stores carry these types of instruments. Often you have to go through a luthier with a wait time of probably a year and no way to try before you buy. Now there are boutique stores, but they are few and far between.
What I think happens in any event is you hear an album that gets you interested in music, and that is the type of instrument you want to play...no matter what. I think that every time I see p vs j vs mm type conversations. People like what they like and listening to recordings or even playing the instruments will not change most opinions.
and 
Here in Southeast Michigan we have about 4-5 Guitar Centers that once in a while get some nice basses and have some decent amps. There are several guitar stores in the metro Detroit area but they don't have a large selection of basses. The exception being Motor City Guitar in Waterford that has a wall of basses stacked three high. Most basses I've ever seen in one place.
I live in Detroit and I'm always looking on Chicago's Craigslist. Always nice basses on there. Will I drive 5 hours to buy a bass? Heck yea.
Seems like in everyone's post, the selection of available basses is actually great, but since it's the "same ol same ol", the selection is bad somehow.
What does a store have to gain by adding a niche item or brand? It's just gonna hang on the wall for years...
If you want something weird or rare, that's what online is for.
I wanted a short-scale fiver, I know I'm not gonna walk into my local GC and find one. GC online had some, though!
What does a store have to gain by adding a niche item or brand? It's just gonna hang on the wall for years...
If you want something weird or rare, that's what online is for.
I wanted a short-scale fiver, I know I'm not gonna walk into my local GC and find one. GC online had some, though!
I live in SF and it's pretty damn good in the Bay Area. Guitar center will even have some cool used gear on the wall at times and I just found a cool shop in Oakland recently. But in the seven years or so I've lived here we've lost a couple good music stores, especially those carrying more interesting and rare bass gear. I moved to SF from Albuquerque and it was surprisingly not bad. Not amazing for basses but I played some really great guitars in pawn shops and music stores there.
Teijo K.
Commercial User
I live in a tiny village with just a little over 100 000 residents. So the selection of basses in the one music store is really limited. And the sales guys don't seem to know that much about the basses they sell either. So I just roll my own. When I was a kid the local store had a single Fender Jazz and some cheap stuff. And the owner of the store used the Jazz bass with his own gigs so he kept the price really high so nobody would buy his gigging instrument. 
Samick, Jay Turser, Lyon... but that's pawn shops.In another thread I posted that I thought many bassists haven't played enough different brands to know what they really like, due to limited availability in local stores. I got in some hot water for that
Brands I used to see, like Warwick, Lakeland, and G & L, have disappeared. You seldom see even a Gibson bass. You do come across a few Rickenbackers, Musicman, and the occasional Fender Custom Shop. Boutique? Forget it! Not even the Canadian stuff like Dingwall or F bass.
I currently own 11 basses. Only 2 were purchased in Ottawa stores. 2 I bought used and the rest I ordered from the USA. Even Club Bass in Toronto has reduced the number of bass brands they carry and changed their name to Club Bass & Guitar.
The store where I bought my Taylor guitar has a fantastic selection of acoustics and electric guitars, with high end Gibson, Fender, PRS, Taylor, Martin, Collings, Suhr. As for basses: Last time I was there they had 5.
The local guitar shop sells all things Fender, a few Warmoth creations and even a nice Korean Spector.
The other local shop deals in Fender, Gibson, MusicMan, Squier, Ibanez, Jackson, KSD, Peavey, and maybe a few other basses.
I got lucky with the L-2000 I have now, that was a rare pawn shop find. Even luckier when I was able to find and flip one.
