• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

I think I stop believing in expensive basses!

Status
Not open for further replies.
#701
I second that. Talkbass is very influencial, and I sincerely believe that all these threads saying how bad boutique basses are can be very hurtful to some of these bass builders who are struggling to make it in a tough economy, and having to compete with the huge asian companies.
These bass builders are keeping the jobs here. A lot of these basses are american made. They are excellent products, albeit expensive products....but products that I want to support.
On the internet, anyone can say anything and if not for us dissenters, there would be no fact checking.
So if you come on this forum saying your SX is just as good as an Alembic, Sadowsky or Fodera....AND you have convinced 30 other kool-aid drinkers to support you, damn straight I will do everything I can to stop you.
Yeah. You can say what you want. You have that right. But so do I.
 
#703
spade2you said:
I'm just not gonna allow people to piss freely on boutique basses.
Click to expand...

lucas vigor said:
I second that. Talkbass is very influencial, and I sincerely believe that all these threads saying how bad boutique basses are can be very hurtful to some of these bass builders who are struggling to make it in a tough economy, and having to compete with the huge asian companies.
These bass builders are keeping the jobs here. A lot of these basses are american made. They are excellent products, albeit expensive products....but products that I want to support.
On the internet, anyone can say anything and if not for us dissenters, there would be no fact checking.
So if you come on this forum saying your SX is just as good as an Alembic, Sadowsky or Fodera....AND you have convinced 30 other kool-aid drinkers to support you, damn straight I will do everything I can to stop you.
Yeah. You can say what you want. You have that right. But so do I.
Click to expand...

Out of the discussions I read, I never heard a boutique or high end bass owner say that the lower end basses weren't worth the money. In fact, everyone in those arguments said something along the lines of "Like and play what you want." But, numerous times were the high end/boutique basses bashed and argued so intently against that it could leave impressionable players with a bad taste, even though they haven't had a chance to try for themselves.

Again, like what you like. I don't care and certainly won't criticize you for it. Just do the same for others with different tastes and styles. :bassist: :D
 
#704
Yeah, I have never looked down on someone who can't afford something better, and who can still produce great music on a cheap instrument. it is to be admired, really. I also hate seeing non-talented individuals with the best gear. Gear they don't need.
But this is about saying that boutique and hi-end gear is worthless in the bass world, and that all you need to do is slap a good pickup on a bad piece of green wood and voila, you have a sadowsky. That is really, really insulting to someone like Sadowsky, who has spent a lifetime pursuing excellence.
 
#705
lucas vigor said:
I second that. Talkbass is very influencial, and I sincerely believe that all these threads saying how bad boutique basses are can be very hurtful to some of these bass builders who are struggling to make it in a tough economy, and having to compete with the huge asian companies.
These bass builders are keeping the jobs here. A lot of these basses are american made. They are excellent products, albeit expensive products....but products that I want to support.
On the internet, anyone can say anything and if not for us dissenters, there would be no fact checking.
So if you come on this forum saying your SX is just as good as an Alembic, Sadowsky or Fodera....AND you have convinced 30 other kool-aid drinkers to support you, damn straight I will do everything I can to stop you.
Yeah. You can say what you want. You have that right. But so do I.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that Sadowsky, Fodera, etc have not lost a single sale to SX.
 
#706
lucas vigor said:
I also hate seeing non-talented individuals with the best gear. Gear they don't need.
Click to expand...

This statement I don't care for at all.

If someone can afford it and enjoys owning something high end, regardless of talent level - let them be. you "hate seeing this" ? Pretty strong statement.

Thats like saying someone shouldn't own a fast, 500HP sports car if they don't have Formula-1 Track Racing skills.

:scowl:
 
#707
I've always thought that gear snobbery, and music snobbery in general, is detrimental to what we are as musicians.

Maybe it's just me, but I've always gone out of my way to give pointers to new bassists, NEVER slag their gear. When you're first starting, and even later, you play what you can afford.

Once while leaving a music store with my guitarist (that I no longer play with), he started slagging a young kid who was trying out a bass. I forget his exact words, but he said something about the kid playing on a junky bass, then pointed at me and said, "here's a REAL bass player."

I was mortified. Never been so embarrassed in my life. I went back and apologized to the kid for my guitarists idiot remarks, and showed him the rest of the riff he was trying to play.

We're all in this together.

The music you play is what's important. Play from your heart, and share your emotions through your music. It doesn't matter what brand you play it on, it's just important that you play it.

/thread.
 
#708
Modern Growl said:
This statement I don't care for at all.

If someone can afford it and enjoys owning something high end, regardless of talent level - let them be. you "hate seeing this" ? Pretty strong statement.

Thats like saying someone shouldn't own a fast, 500HP sports car if they don't have Formula-1 Track Racing skills.

:scowl:
Click to expand...

Well they are entitled...it is a free country, after all...but, it still makes me mad. Mad, and jealous....jealous because I wish I could afford them myself.

Way back when, I was starting out and had a terrible bass...but I made very rapid progress and quickly became the best bassist in my school...so good that I replaced the outgoing senior in the school's jazz band....yet my bass was laughably bad. An SX would have been an improvement. I wished and drooled and gassed but no matter how many lawns I mowed, a real brand name bass was an impossible dream back then. I had no money, and neither did my parents.

However, one kid whose parents were rich and could barely play was given an Alembic bass for Christmas, followed by another within a month. So, he could barely play and had 2 alembics. While I could definitely play, I had a bass that sounded like it was being played from underneath a blanket.

I have resented it ever since.
 
#709
cybersnyder said:
I'm pretty sure that Sadowsky, Fodera, etc have not lost a single sale to SX.
Click to expand...

How can you know that for sure? How can you know that it won't happen in the future?

Lets say I am thinking about saving for and finally attaining my dream bass, but then change my mind and just buy a Squire CV or SX, slap a nordstand pup on it, because I read 30 posts by so-called experts on this site telling me the net result will be a bass that sounds the same as my dream bass. This could happen, in fact, probably already has happened.
 
#710
lucas vigor said:
I have resented it ever since.
Click to expand...

Life is way too short for that stuff. Someone will always have it better and some in ways that are purely disgusting. When I was in high school, I knew a few people who got a new BMW for their 16th birthday and a 2nd BMW a year or two later when they wrapped the first BMW around a tree. No skin off my nose.

I got a job for my 16th birthday so I could eventually get a car. Made me stronger and appreciate the things I work for. Perhaps because I'm not very charming, my parents gave my younger brother all of his cars. He doesn't appreciate hard work, but that's another story for another day.
 
#711
spade2you said:
Life is way too short for that stuff. Someone will always have it better and some in ways that are purely disgusting. When I was in high school, I knew a few people who got a new BMW for their 16th birthday and a 2nd BMW a year or two later when they wrapped the first BMW around a tree. No skin off my nose.

I got a job for my 16th birthday so I could eventually get a car. Made me stronger and appreciate the things I work for. Perhaps because I'm not very charming, my parents gave my younger brother all of his cars. He doesn't appreciate hard work, but that's another story for another day.
Click to expand...

There may be some truth to that. Dealing with crap gear druing my formative years helped me develope an ultra clean technique...because If I wanted my notes to be heard, I had to play a certain way...the notes and great tone did not come easy like they would on a great bass.

For awhile, I played a better bass...but still, it was hard to find consistent great sounds and I found I only would ever use one setting...until the day I played a Pedulla for the first time, only to discover that every setting sounded fantastic. The notes seemed to jump out of the bass with little effort. It seemed like the bass wanted to play itself.

That is what you get when you play a hi-end bass. But that joy does not come cheap, and certainly not for 180 dollars.....and certainly not for 180 dollars and OUT OF THE BOX!
 
#713
Rip Topaz said:
I've always thought that gear snobbery, and music snobbery in general, is detrimental to what we are as musicians.

Maybe it's just me, but I've always gone out of my way to give pointers to new bassists, NEVER slag their gear. When you're first starting, and even later, you play what you can afford.

Once while leaving a music store with my guitarist (that I no longer play with), he started slagging a young kid who was trying out a bass. I forget his exact words, but he said something about the kid playing on a junky bass, then pointed at me and said, "here's a REAL bass player."

I was mortified. Never been so embarrassed in my life. I went back and apologized to the kid for my guitarists idiot remarks, and showed him the rest of the riff he was trying to play.

We're all in this together.

The music you play is what's important. Play from your heart, and share your emotions through your music. It doesn't matter what brand you play it on, it's just important that you play it.

/thread.
Click to expand...

Excellent message man, you probably impacted that kid more than you will ever know, and yet still not even as close as the impact would have been had you not have said anything at all.
Good for you.
 
#714
lucas vigor said:
Well they are entitled...it is a free country, after all...but, it still makes me mad. Mad, and jealous....jealous because I wish I could afford them myself.

Way back when, I was starting out and had a terrible bass...but I made very rapid progress and quickly became the best bassist in my school...so good that I replaced the outgoing senior in the school's jazz band....yet my bass was laughably bad. An SX would have been an improvement. I wished and drooled and gassed but no matter how many lawns I mowed, a real brand name bass was an impossible dream back then. I had no money, and neither did my parents.

However, one kid whose parents were rich and could barely play was given an Alembic bass for Christmas, followed by another within a month. So, he could barely play and had 2 alembics. While I could definitely play, I had a bass that sounded like it was being played from underneath a blanket.

I have resented it ever since.
Click to expand...

you seem very young and immature.
 
#716
I hope you guys never get into a political discussion.


The boutique builders will always have their following. If I had the cash and could find a light 5'er that felt good, I'd probably buy another. They DO have their finer points, but I've altered some on the other end of the price spectrum to play, feel, and sound just as good.

As I said before, I think the player is more important than the gear.


Carry on, and on...
 
#717
I'm one of those bass players that has better gear than my current playing level dictates. There are a lot of people in the world, and we all look at each other and question the other's choices. Not that the other guy's choices are bad, just different.

I live in a crappy double-wide, drive a 12 year-old car, live check to check, but I somehow feel it's right to buy bass stuff. I love the gear. I love the sound. Born a drummer, I'm losing a leg so bass is the next best thing for me.

And tonight I received the tracking number for a my custom bass built by a luthier I found here on TB. Does my talent level warrant it? No. Will it motivate me to play more? Probably. Is it worth EVERY cent ? Heck yeah.
 
#720
lucas vigor said:
But that joy does not come cheap, and certainly not for 180 dollars.....and certainly not for 180 dollars and OUT OF THE BOX!
Click to expand...

No. The One (MIJ Squier) cost me 350, the frets were eroded so I had to buy the tools and learn how to do a fret job, I made several graphite nuts for it using number and letter drills for files to get exact sizing and perfect height, one nut for every kind of string I use on it, had to replace the stock bridge with a cast Gotoh to eliminate rattle, I forgot what was wrong with the tuners but I had to replace them with Fender stockers and those are history as soon as my dealer gets in the Ultralite cloverleafs (to fix the horrendous neck dive, the body is super light), the neck pocket slop changed the intonation every time I removed and replaced the neck (which I had to do sometimes daily because the relief changes with the weather), so I had to shim it on both sides until it was tight, the '62 RI pickup needs to replace the '74 stocker I tried (it originally came with a Bart), and I may as well put in the better Angela wiring kit while I'm under the hood [pickup and found I already put an Angela kit in plus there was also a Bill Lawrence choke in there]. Yes, the "craftsmanship" sucked. Yes, it was 20 years old and lacquer-finished [correction: must be polyurethane with aromatic diisocyanates] when it was discovered to be magic. But it's still the cheapest of playable cheap basses from its era, and my argument stands that the tree it came from didn't know what decal was going on the headstock when it grew the way it did.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back