What Bass to buy daughter for Xmas

Squier Vintage Modified Jazz bass or Precision would be a great starter. Otherwise I would look at the low end Ibanez and Yamahas.

 

Thats a good solid bass if its in your budget, I also quite like the Yamaha B414s but the jazz is a great classic...

 

Squire

 

yeah the squier precision starter packs are supposed to be pretty good. if she has small hands, a gretsch junior jet would be a nice start as well. MIM jazzes are usually good, but my personal favorite j-bass is the squier vintage modified, and it's cheaper too.

 

Everybody always says Squier and Fender. I started on a Fender Precision when I was 15, but the neck was always a tiny bit big for me. If you can find a P bass special, with the smaller P body and the jazz neck that would be my suggestion. The Jazz body is still a bit big for me, and I'm 5'10".

 

a 14yr. old student of mine has a J-Bass and it's a little on the big side for her but she's doing great with it and rockin' the Fall Out Boy riffs large!!

so ya, be sure to check the neck on the Squire Vintage models for any warp factor but a MIM J would be great (or the aforementioned Yamaha's) just make sure that she digs the look of it(and NOT because she's a girl)... it all helps all beginner players when it comes to the motivation factor of wanting to practice, if they've got a bass they dig and want to play, they'll play it.

 

Get her that Hello Kitty bass... I think it's Batz Maru the penguin or something. It's a little short scale bronco bass, I played one and it was pretty cool.
http://www.fenderhellokitty.com/gear.html

 

Does she have a prefrence of any kind? I bought my daughter a bass when she was 17, and all she cared was that it was red. I found a sweet MIA lefty P bass at a place that was going out of business, 50% off. Of course she loved it, but she kinda gave up playing before she turned 20. Maybe had it been a short scale or something, who knows.

 

SHORTSCALE

 

I'd recommend Ibanez, but I'd stay away from the lower end models. The SR500 series and higher, though, are wonderful.

 

Ok, here's the deal. My 13 year old daughter loves the bass and she uses my MIM Jazz. It's too big for her. She is compensating for its size, but she is learning al sorts of bad technique. Did I mention she is having a blast?

I would look into the Fender Bronco Batz model. We played one at a local music store and it fit her perfectly... Sure, she will need another bass in the future. But, the size fit and price can't be ignored. Good luck

 

That white Fender Mustang! I want one too

 

I'd say your leaning is pretty much dead on terrific. Budget or no.

 

Daisy Rock has some short scale basses that she'd probably like

 

What kind of music is your daughter into and is she small in stature or average? Would she like a classic looking bass or a more modern look? If she's smallish, the Bronco would be a good choice of a small and classic looking bass. A Traben Neo Limited and a Peavey Cirrus BPX would also be nice modern takes on the P-bass body. Another small bodied, modern bass would be the Spector Legend Classic. All of these are within your budget.

 

I did this summer before last with my nephew, who wanted a bass for his 13th birthday. He had some experience playing a friend's bass. I took him shopping, and he tried everything he could play (though I let him know his price range, which wasn't very high!). So he played squires and SX and the like. He's not real big, but by the time he'd laid hands on lots of basses, his mind was made up - he wanted the Epi Thunderbird. OK, fine.

I'm delighted to report that though kids that age have temporary wants and flit from one thing to another, he continues to play his Thunderbird fairly long hours, and he loves it. To him, it looks and sounds like a bass should.

(He chose the burst, but I'd have chosen the red)

 

Definitely SX. If she decides that the bass is not for her, you won't be out a whole lot of money.

 

A big +1! Don't be fooled by the price. Those SX's are great basses. I love mine.

 

I second that- if your daughter is on the smaller side, get her a short scale bass. Also... and this is just my .02, get her a
Fender, or something with similar build quality. I was 11 when I got my first bass, and my parents (like every other parent getting their kid a "rock" instrument) were afraid that I might play it for a while and then lose interest, so they bought me a very low end Peavey P bass copy.

Now, I like Peavey just fine, but the reason I bring it up, is that I (my parents ) ended up about a year later having to by a MIM P bass, because the Peavey was built poorly, and didn't even have a truss rod to straighten out the neck. Also, if she does lose interest, I think the Fender may have a higher resell value than something made overseas.