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Two vintages basses....crying in pain

well call it just my opinion, i just hate seeing great gear get butchered. and maybe its cause i dont have kids that i dont get that angle, cant answer that at the moment.

all i know is that if youre gonna "strut" around with gear like that, you should be able to play. and again, its not sour grapes or jealousy, my gear is just fine.
 
I own vintage instruments. You may not think I play well enough to deserve them. You may be right about my abilities. I found them, bought them, and play them. I let people of varying skill levels play them in the course of my work. It is my right to do so.If you have a problem with this or some dad letting his son play his old instruments (that's all they are, really), then sir, you may go scratch.

Edited to add: I just checked out your videos. Yes, you may well question my technique. Musicality, however, would be another thread and discussion altogether.
 
I honed my skills on a early 70's Rick.:D It was a used guitar in the mid 70s. Cost about what a new Ibanez copy of a Rick did. It was just a used guitar then. Nobody got their panties in a bunch about some unskilled kid playing it.:bassist:

P-basses were available used all day long for about $150 in 1975. When the baby boomer generation kacks, all this stuff will be worth a fraction of what the collectors/hoarders have jacked it up to.
 
I think some kids do appreciate and respect the value of instruments, and other things too. Some do not. If a kid is in the former category, I'd have no problem with him using any particular bass. But I do think it's a shame when a youngster gets hold of something of value (financial or otherwsie) and wrecks it due to a lack of respect for its intrinsic worth.
 
I think some kids do appreciate and respect the value of instruments, and other things too. Some do not. If a kid is in the former category, I'd have no problem with him using any particular bass. But I do think it's a shame when a youngster gets hold of something of value (financial or otherwsie) and wrecks it due to a lack of respect for its intrinsic worth.

Agreed. In this case, I hardly think wearing a dorky strap and playing it for all he's worth at this stage of his "career" is wrecking something of value. He's just playing the thing.
 
well call it just my opinion, i just hate seeing great gear get butchered. and maybe its cause i dont have kids that i dont get that angle, cant answer that at the moment.

all i know is that if youre gonna "strut" around with gear like that, you should be able to play. and again, its not sour grapes or jealousy, my gear is just fine.

Ridiculous.

Did the basses get butchered, or just get played? I doesn't seem that either of the basses suffered any damage and, since basses don't actually feel pain or humiliation, I doubt that any basses were harmed in the making of this thread - however badly they were played.

It seems to me that more experienced musicians should be encouraging any youngster with the drive and desire to get up and play in public rather than whining that they shouldn't do it on better instruments than you think they deserve.

My drummers son was 14 just 5 years ago. I taught him his first faltering notes on my bass and 6 months later, when he had an end of term school gig with his first ever band, I lent him my '73 Ric to splutter through a couple of teen anthems on in front of his classmates. Now that he's 19 he has his own Warwick 5 string, plays some wicked bass and is taking a music degree at university. You never know where a little encouragment will lead.
 
stepswork4me said:
Or on someones wall, glass case, or stand; never getting played. :scowl:

Some folks think I should not gig my US Laklands. Jeez, I'd gig a 50s P or 60s J if I had them... if they're in a glass case, they're worthless to me.

But.... I wouldn't let my teenager gig my nice stuff, she can't even keep a cell phone working for more than a few weeks or keep up w/ where she left her purse!
 
mglabrie said:
+1000

You won't get it until you have a kid who wants to play... I did give my son my beloved 70's P bass to get started on....which he completely thrashed and gave back because he preferred a POS Ibanez somebody else gave him... Turns out I didn't care at all. What I got in return was to see him posing and playing crappy death metal to sold out shows for two or three years... I'd throw my Roscoe, my Zon and my Warrior under a truck right now to see him strut and smile like that again.

If my kid trashed a piece of my gear, she'd learn a lesson in respecting her father and his stuff that he entrusted to her.
 
I'm still trying to figure out in what way was the Ric and P being "butchered".
All I read is a band of kids played a set. It's doesn't matter what their playing level is. I didn't read anywhere in there where the instruments were getting butchered.

When I was in high school we were playing vintage Selmer wind instruments worth twice a 70's Ric and 70's P combined. Nobody told us we should have instead been playing Bundy or Vito instruments.

I bet the dad (obviously is or was a mucisian) is excited his kid wants to play too.
 
well call it just my opinion, i just hate seeing great gear get butchered. and maybe its cause i dont have kids that i dont get that angle, cant answer that at the moment.

all i know is that if youre gonna "strut" around with gear like that, you should be able to play. and again, its not sour grapes or jealousy, my gear is just fine.

Well, let's call it my opinion that, per your videos, at your skill level you should be limited to playing Chinese plywood copies of real basses and should stay the hell away from gigging at all costs....

Do you see how condescending this is? They're just basses. From the little interaction you had with the kid, there's no way to tell if the kid takes care of them or not. He might just wipe them down and treat them very lovingly. He might beat the hell out of them. Neither are any of your business at all. Get over yourself. As the great Richard Pryor said: Have a Coke and a smile.... :D
 
Agreed. In this case, I hardly think wearing a dorky strap and playing it for all he's worth at this stage of his "career" is wrecking something of value. He's just playing the thing.

Yeah, I was just thinking of what my step-brother did to a very nice pre-CBS P bass that my stepmom bought for him when he was about 15 (the bass would have been about 15 too, at the time).
 
if the dad wants to take a match it it its his right. worry about your own stuff.

I once finished up a show where I had my Lull and Lakland. Another bass player was in the audience. We got talking and I told him I had a Cirrus at home. He said "Wow, you must be really good." Its unfortunate that we attach skill level to basses.
 
Acquiring an expensive bass doesn't mean the talent comes with it. Yeah, he probably doesn't realize how lucky he is, but I'd be willing to say almost no beginner bass player understands the significance of gear like that. Sounds like he's enjoying himself, and his dad is probably thrilled to see his son on stage playing his old man's basses. I say, live and let live.
 
I think that kids will be more apt to continue to play if they're on nice gear.....give em crap and they'll get frustrated......hell I built a custom short scale for my kid......no one is more worthy to play it than the person given the right to........I bought myself a ducati, am I a really good rider, nope, but I love it and if I had a used no/name bike it would probably be in the garage not being ridden.......
 
I own vintage instruments. You may not think I play well enough to deserve them. You may be right about my abilities. I found them, bought them, and play them. I let people of varying skill levels play them in the course of my work. It is my right to do so.If you have a problem with this or some dad letting his son play his old instruments (that's all they are, really), then sir, you may go scratch.

Edited to add: I just checked out your videos. Yes, you may well question my technique. Musicality, however, would be another thread and discussion altogether.


lol, its not me saying "oh man im so good and he shouldnt have those cause he sucks", its me saying i find it odd that a little 15 year old clueless kid is walking around with 4K of vintage basses that he has no clue about. thats odd to me, clearly most of you seem to think this is fine. i play out a lot, this is the first time in my playing experience ive ever seen a kid show up with that kind of gear and have 0 clue about what hes holding. again, in my experience, most peoples gear fits their level. beginners show up with beginner stuff, great players come out with better stuff, it just seems to work out that way.

maybe its the lack of appreciation due to his age that floored me, i get just as irked when some local highschool kids first car is a BMW M3, but again, maybe most of you think thats fine too, which again is just a difference of opinion.
 

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