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Kids with expensive basses...

#342
Getting back to the first page and the OP's observation about spoiled kids with nice gear who are indulged by their parents:

It's not like every kid who has a quality instrument got it because he's been spoiled by wealthy parents. Some kids get their gear the old-fashioned way -- by working hard and earning the money to buy it themselves.

My parent's weren't wealthy. If I wanted anything nice I had to buy it for myself. I mowed a lot of lawns and shovelled a lot of snow and I saved my pennies. When I was 14 years old, I spent my entire life savings to buy a 1976 P-bass as my first instrument. I wanted a Ric, but I couldn't afford it. The P was the best I could do. I had never touched a guitar before, and I didn't know how to play a single note, but having spent years playing a crappy trumpet in the grade-school band, I knew that I wanted to learn on a quality instrument. So I went off to the music store and spent every penny that I had on a professional grade instrument, and I forced my dad to pay $5 a week for lessons. He thought it was a good idea -- committing to learn to play that bass kept me off of the street.

That was in 1976. It's 2013 now and I still have that bass. Looking back on it, I'm glad that I spent every penny that I had on that bass when I was a kid. It's brought me a lifetime of enjoyment.

My point is that there's no point in being jealous of some kid who's wielding a nice axe. It's entirely possible that he busted his butt and earned every penny that was needed to buy it, just like any adult would have to do.
 
#345
I have a great story from when I was 15 years old for this - and it doesn't just apply to "kids"!

In 2000, I was a sophomore in high school playing french horn (and briefly trombone when the french horn wasn't available) in the school's concert band. I'd also tinkered with bass guitar when my dad let me (a few years prior). We didn't have a tuba player, so we really didn't have a low-register instrument until...

...one day, we get set up in the band room and the instructor/conductor pulls out a Squier P. He plays along with the tune, sounds like diarrhea, and then complains that the Squier bass totally sucks. At the end of the day, I mentioned that I had a '76 Fender Jazz Bass at home, maybe he would sound better with that? He said "sure, bring it in".

Next day, I brought the '76 J. Somehow he managed to have the exact same doo doo/diarrhea tone on a totally different bass. I was surprised. At the end, I said "hey, maybe I can try playing the bass on some days", wondering if I could sound better - despite very little experience. He said "sure".

Next thing you know, it's several months later at the spring concert. I hadn't touched a brass instrument in months. I got up there, was the only person standing in the band (they didn't give me a seat), and played my ass off. I even got through the finale (Glenn Miller medley) without sheet music. Next day I remembered the rival jazz band's keyboard player coming up to me saying to people "this guy was f***ing awesome on the bass last night!" Next year, I wasn't in the band anymore. I continued to play bass, the concert band sucked worse each consecutive year while I was still in high school.

I haven't looked back. Player makes the sound most of all!
 
#348
awilkie84 said:
Who cares? You'd be a rich brat at that point. be happy with what you have and are given. The world owes you nothing.
Click to expand...

So he should be happy with the Fodera that his folks actually bought for him?

I don't need any lectures about "be happy with what you get," either. I grew up poor. I made many of my own toys out of thread spools, toothpicks, clothespins and scrap plywood. Oh yeah, and the quintessential rubber bands and pipe cleaners. I put myself through college and ended up making enough money that I can spoil my daughter - although I'm glad it's now hip for teenagers to shop in thrift stores. And I agree - the world owes me nothing.
 
#349
Munjibunga said:
So he should be happy with the Fodera that his folks actually bought for him?

I don't need any lectures about "be happy with what you get," either. I grew up poor. I made many of my own toys out of thread spools, toothpicks, clothespins and scrap plywood. Oh yeah, and the quintessential rubber bands and pipe cleaners. I put myself through college and ended up making enough money that I can spoil my daughter - although I'm glad it's now hip for teenagers to shop in thrift stores. And I agree - the world owes me nothing.
Click to expand...

He should be ecstatic if his parents bought him a Fodera. I could only dream of ever having the funds to buy my kid an instrument of that caliber! I'm well enough off now that I can buy him the little things he enjoys (wooden trains & an outdoor playset) and he's still young enough that he doesn't know how the world perceives wealth. I almost dread the day he comes to me and says "Dad, I wanted the H-O scale electric Thomas, not the wooden talking one! :mad:"

I'm definitely not trying to give you a lecture. I'm just saying that there's no point in being unhappy with what you have. Strive for better, for sure, but don't demand it when it's not necessary. I didn't grow up in money, either. I was fortunate enough to have my parents surprise me one Christmas with a 96 Fender MIM P. I still have that bass to this day and am very grateful for it. I could have complained that they didn't get me the MIA that was beside it in the shop that I wanted ($400 more), but I got a good bass at a time when we had little money.

I'm perplexed by this whole Thrift Shop movement. Thrift store prices are now on the rise for "Cool" clothes, and retail stores are now putting out stuff that looks like it sat in a closet for 30 years at prices that make my novelty superhero shirts look affordable. :hmm:
 
#350
awilkie84 said:
He should be ecstatic if his parents bought him a Fodera. I could only dream of ever having the funds to buy my kid an instrument of that caliber! I'm well enough off now that I can buy him the little things he enjoys (wooden trains & an outdoor playset) and he's still young enough that he doesn't know how the world perceives wealth. I almost dread the day he comes to me and says "Dad, I wanted the H-O scale electric Thomas, not the wooden talking one! :mad:"

I'm definitely not trying to give you a lecture. I'm just saying that there's no point in being unhappy with what you have. Strive for better, for sure, but don't demand it when it's not necessary. I didn't grow up in money, either. I was fortunate enough to have my parents surprise me one Christmas with a 96 Fender MIM P. I still have that bass to this day and am very grateful for it. I could have complained that they didn't get me the MIA that was beside it in the shop that I wanted ($400 more), but I got a good bass at a time when we had little money.

I'm perplexed by this whole Thrift Shop movement. Thrift store prices are now on the rise for "Cool" clothes, and retail stores are now putting out stuff that looks like it sat in a closet for 30 years at prices that make my novelty superhero shirts look affordable. :hmm:
Click to expand...

No butthurt here, BTW. I got a Tonka trunk one year at Christmas.
 
#353
I still remember the day I got my new Fender MIM Standard Jazz Bass V in 2003. I was ecstatic, and all I wanted to do was play it every day. It was the first bass I ever purchased, and to this day I say it was a great bass. This was when Alt Metal was still really popular (though slightly on the wane) and everyone thought that anything Ibanez & clacky was more awesome than anything else. I didn't care - my Jazz was awesome. I played that bass for 5 years before selling it after I got my MIA Jazz V.
 
#356
This comment takes me back to an old argument. Having an expensive bass or guitar will NOT make you a better player. Your friend with the expensive Ricky bass should fall to his knees and bless his parents for shelling out at least a grand. Remember this--give Jimi Hendrix a not so good Teisco guitar (with a bit of adjustment of course) and he'll make it sound fantastic. It's all in the head and the heart, not in the gear! MGM
 
#357
My son (now ten years old) will be one of the kids with a nice bass, but he's not getting a free ride by any means. I've worked out a deal with him that if he saves up half of the price from his allowance ($20/month if he does all his chores, plus whatever he gets in cash from relatives at Christmas and birthdays), and he works hard at learning on his short-scale MIM Fender, I will match him dollar-for-dollar. He's on track to be able to buy a $600 used instrument by New Years. From my perspective, it is requiring all the effort than can be expected from a kid his age (lots of practicing, plus passing on spending money on toys he'll outgrow in a year or two). Right now he's mulling over whether or not to go fretless, as he's been playing upright in the school band for the past year. The MIM short-scale was his only birthday present two years ago, and cost about as much as a typical bunch of toys would have. He was thrilled with it, still recognizes it as the best gift he's ever received.

I gave my younger son (now 7 y/o) a 70s-vintage Japanese bass with a 24" scale last Christmas, more for him to learn about taking care of an instrument than to actually play at this point. Earlier this month he picked it up and was literally frustrated to tears over not being able to get a clean note out of it. We sold it back to the store and picked up a Musicmaster (at a low price due to a refinishing job). Within a week he was playing and singing Tracks of My Tears and Devo's Gates of Steel. Now he's struggling with the chorus to Brown-Eyed Girl, and pestering me to teach him more scales. In a couple of years, when his hands are bigger and his arms are longer, I will probably make him the same offer about matching whatever he saves toward to decent bass. I'm just afraid that he'll have the discipline to force me into paying for half of an Alembic, instead of the Warwick Corvette his brother has been GASsing for...
 
#358
I saw a high school band in the stands one night while I was working. I'm in my school bus, kicking back and listening to them, I'm a ways from the stadium. I swore I heard an electric bass....but it's like ok no, it's a high school marching band.
It sounded good, and all that, so I was curious I hiked aaaalllll the way to the stands and got near the band. Close enough to see the guy was playing some weird off brand bass & some cheap amp. Doesnt matter the gear man, just have fun and play.
 

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