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Price vs Quality
- Thread starter Technotitclan
- Start date
Gorgeous wood is pretty, but does nothing for your sound. Please don't start with the tone wood thing, I don't buy it.
Scarcity is for collectors, not players.
So we are back to vanity.
yes. Vanity. Great components. Better contruction and fretting. And pretty wood. or Graphite. Not informed enough to know the tonal subtleties of wood....I can tell the difference between an Alembic and a Squier with my eyes closed with a bad cold.
I don't understand the broadly generalized vanity comments re: high end bass owners.
I play Squiers, Fenders and Foderas. Nobody knows what a Fodera is in the real world and if anyone is impressed with a bass I am playing (not my actual playing), it is always the Fenders.
I see more vanity, elitism and $h!t-talking from owners of MIM Fenders to Squier or cheap Ibanez Gio players than I do from boutique owners.
Play what you like. I don't know why so many musicians really care what others play.
To answer the OPs question, I think a great giggable bass can be found for about $700 new. There are great used $250 MIM Fenders out there as well IME.
I play Squiers, Fenders and Foderas. Nobody knows what a Fodera is in the real world and if anyone is impressed with a bass I am playing (not my actual playing), it is always the Fenders.
I see more vanity, elitism and $h!t-talking from owners of MIM Fenders to Squier or cheap Ibanez Gio players than I do from boutique owners.
Play what you like. I don't know why so many musicians really care what others play.
To answer the OPs question, I think a great giggable bass can be found for about $700 new. There are great used $250 MIM Fenders out there as well IME.
I have to disagree with this. Of course there are some people who think the name on the headstock makes them better than everyone else, but I think they are in the minority. The boutique thing is about getting exactly what you want in a bass. If you have a good luthier, you get the neck, body, electronics, hardware and feel that you are looking for. It's really hard to get everything you want in a single off-the-shelf bass. Many of my boutique basses have a blank headstock. Not much vanity in that.
Now you are talking about something entirely different. Designing your own bass as opposed to buying an off the shelf big name bass.
My experience has been different. I have owned or played most of the production basses available. Some I don't care for at all. Others I really like. But, for me, a Fender Jazz and a Fender Precision are all I need. I want good ones I played and picked out rather than something I ordered.
But if we all agreed, there would be only 1 bass made.
My "best" bass is a used Alembic Epic 5 I paid about $1500 for. My "second best" bass is a Bongo 5 HHP that was about $1200 new, IIRC. I really like them both. I had a couple of Ibanez 5 strings that cost me about $400 each at a pawn shop that I didn't like as much; I sold them to buy the Alembic. My first bass was a little 4 string Yamaha that I bought at Mars Music's GOOB sale for about $400. It's OK, a good bass for the money, and I keep it around as a guest player. That's the extent of my bass buying experience and I don't know that it's enough to make any sweeping generalizations.
IMO/IME the quality/price ratio starts to flatten significantly after about $1200. I am still willing to pay more for a smaller increment in quality or a feature I like that may be insignificant to others. I have played wonderful basses at pretty much all price points over about $299.
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I was extremely happy with my "around" 2000$ Vigier Excess, which even with 2 year-old strings sounded amazingly clear, even slapping. What bass! Things of life, I sold all my gear and now I'm equally happy with my cheap Ibanez GIO GSR200 (about 350$), which eyes closed, could pass for an instrument 3 or 4 times more expensive.
Bassed on comments I get from other bass players at my gigs, I guess I'd call myself "semi-pro". I have six basses. My first one was the most expensive. I paid $275 at a pawn shop. With the exception of a six string bass I got from a scratch and dent sale at rondomusic, they are ALL great basses. Even that one is not too bad (22nd fret is too low on the C string), since I put a shim between the neck and body.
These basses have been dropped, played hard, left in a shed where the temperature swings from 110 to 10 below, and they are all STILL playing great.
Maybe I'm just really forgiving...
I personally feel weird playing really high end equipment. I have giant hands and I'm a bit hard on my equipment. I've had to start making guards for my basses so my fingers will stop eating into the wood.
I've always preferred used equipment over new... I like finding something interesting that I can afford for a few hundred, then customize it. I kind of need it to be a one of a kind instrument. To make it my own.
So yeah... my price point is usually around $300... then if need be I'll put some more cash into the customization.
(Oh... and if I had to pick a skill level I'd say Semi-Pro.)
I've always preferred used equipment over new... I like finding something interesting that I can afford for a few hundred, then customize it. I kind of need it to be a one of a kind instrument. To make it my own.
So yeah... my price point is usually around $300... then if need be I'll put some more cash into the customization.
(Oh... and if I had to pick a skill level I'd say Semi-Pro.)
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I was in a photography class and noticed something interesting our class field trip. One classmate was a doctor and had at least three times more invested in his equipment than the instructor (who was a serious professional). The comic part was that the doctor continually produced the worst pictures in the entire class. The instructors were always spectacular. He clearly had an eye.
I see expensive equipment as being created for those that can afford it. It has nothing whatsoever to do with their ability to play or even their seriousness about it. It has to do with what part of their budget they are willing to commit to it.
I'll tell you right now that an exotic sports car is no more reliable than a Kia.
Big Hoss
Up note, down note, blue note, brown note...
- Sep 5, 2014
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If a high end instrument makes you want to play more, and be a better player, then it's worth it to you. I don't think there is any fault in that. By the same token, if you love rockin' an old beat up $75.00 pawn shop Squier and it works for you then great! It's all about playing the music. The instrument is just the tool to do the job.
feel like a broken record on these threads, but the best bass neck I've every played was on a bass bought used for 55 dollars. The best all together bass I've every played came in just shy of 4 grand.
