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What do more costly basses provide?

#41
I have 2 basses.

An off-the-rack MIA P which is a perfectly fine bass, absolutely nothing to find fault with.

I also have a small-shop J which is simply a better instrument. Attention to detail, quality of materials, finishes, overall playability, etc.

Does one have to pay for that? For Playability, probably not. I've played, and owned, many wonderful basses that didn't cost a lot, and played great.

But having owned a costly instrument, quality does tell in the details.

Oh, yeah...

Get off my lawn.
 
#42
vindibona1 said:
It's a given that you can buy a bass guitar for $100... or $10,000+. But lets say we find some middle ground; $600-$2000 and $2000-$4000. I'm curious as to what you get as as benefit as you move up in price class? And I will stipulate that with a player who earns a living playing bass, price almost doesn't matter because you want the best for your needs, even if the gains for significantly more money brings incremental benefits. But for the rest of us, I'm wondering what would justify spending even $2000 as opposed to $1000 or for some well made budget basses, even $600.

But first, I'd like to take "artistry" off the table. We know that many wooden instruments are genuine works of art and the art should be acknowledged. But I'm just wondering about value and benefit from a MUSICAL INSTRUMENT standpoint. As a brass player I often see top players playing beat-up, Frankenstein mash-ups, playing and sounding terrific.

So if we boil bass guitars down to playability, sound, electronics and finish quality (excluding "works of art"), what drives and average player to pay over $1500 for a quality bass? Let's start there for conversation's sake.
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While I think with the more expensive bass, you should expect better components, fit and finish, playability, and increased useful life. It’s up to you to decide if the alpha is worth it. But at the end of the day, it’s a tool. To me, nothing more, nothing less.

I will say this, your bass is only one part of the equation. You can have the most expensive bass in the world, but if your ability to produce the sound, IE played through a sucking amp, your $10,000 bass’s ability to produce sonic heaven is going to be greatly diminished.

Frankly, I’ve never scrimped on better amps or strings, and for the most part ( with the exception of a German Warwick Corvette 5 string I bought a few years ago for less than $600) I’ve played Fender Basses, none of which was more than $600. Over 40 some years, thousand of gigs, countless studio sessions and rehearsals, I have never heard anybody offer constructive critical comments about my tone.

Please don’t misunderstand, no doubt there are much better instruments out there. Better on a number of different levels that what I’ve been playing. I certainly am not begrudging somebodies joy in having a top quality instrument.
 
#43
vindibona1 said:
It's a given that you can buy a bass guitar for $100... or $10,000+. But lets say we find some middle ground; $600-$2000 and $2000-$4000. I'm curious as to what you get as as benefit as you move up in price class? And I will stipulate that with a player who earns a living playing bass, price almost doesn't matter because you want the best for your needs, even if the gains for significantly more money brings incremental benefits. But for the rest of us, I'm wondering what would justify spending even $2000 as opposed to $1000 or for some well made budget basses, even $600.

But first, I'd like to take "artistry" off the table. We know that many wooden instruments are genuine works of art and the art should be acknowledged. But I'm just wondering about value and benefit from a MUSICAL INSTRUMENT standpoint. As a brass player I often see top players playing beat-up, Frankenstein mash-ups, playing and sounding terrific.

So if we boil bass guitars down to playability, sound, electronics and finish quality (excluding "works of art"), what drives and average player to pay over $1500 for a quality bass? Let's start there for conversation's sake.
Click to expand...
Hype, pride, image, hardware, time put in to the instrument. Sure, a Mexican standard and an American standard have differences. But, they both play about the same, they both feel about the same, they both sound about the same, they both say fender. The more expensive one usually has better pots, bridge, tuners, and pickups. Also more time put in to the instrument, meaning: less fret buzz, more dependable electronics, less flaws in general. Now, if I had one of each, and played them together, I wouldn't really be able to tell, or really wouldn't care. But, if you spent 3 - 6 grand on a bass, you'd worship that thing right? Doesnt matter if the $600 one on the wall sounds better. This one was $6000!!! Status bro. The most I'd ever spend on an instrument would be around 1500. It's an instrument. It's not a vehicle or a house. You play it, love it, clean it, beat it up, and try not to break it in the process. When things do happen, get it fixed. No big deal. You want something different out of it, get new parts/wire it differently. Nahmeen?
 
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#45
I'm a very pragmatic guy. I always buy used whenever possible. I try to make sure my purchases don't overlap much and each gear serves a distinct function. I have owned cheap sub $200 basses as well as expensive ones that cost 20x that.

When I shop for a new bass, I first list the features I want, then I shop around until I find the cheapest one that has all those features, and aren't eyesores. Often mid-tiered products will hit the spot just fine, and I'll pull the trigger.

The times when I'm willing to spend the extra money on top-tier stuff, is when it has one or more of these qualities:

1) The unique design/feature is patented and can't be found elsewhere. For example, Torzal and Strandberg's unique ergonomic neck designs, or Enfield's Super-Quad pickups.

2) The collection of features/designs is only available on that specific model and you can't easily modify another bass to match it (or the modification is beyond my ability, or not cost-effective).

3) The aesthetics is unique and so beautiful that there's nothing else like it.

And that's it.
 
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#48
To the thread police I say the Fender J and P threads are a dead horse. Do you hassle posters over those threads?

To the OP I say artistry isn't important to me. $1000 is enough for a fine player's bass. For ~ 1K, you can get a great chambered Warmouth/AllParts/Mighty Mite/USCG instrument.

If you want a "mojo" vintage bass, that is another story. Old basses are cool.
 
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#50
part of it is association - with the builder's brand/story/legacy, with their attitude and ethics, and with the other players who use them.
part of it is qualitative - attention to detail, quality components, fit & finish, consistency & versatility.
both of those issues figure in, although the latter always supersedes the former.

as someone who plays glorified p-basses from a boutique manufacturer, i def recognize that i could find a solid model for FAR less. (i HAVE, many times over, and yet here i am.) some builders have an approach and a formula which is just exquisitely playable. once you play a bass with what feels like your "voice", it's tough to look away. not that one couldn't get by with less, but play what brings you joy. whether that happens to be a $150 bass or a $5k+ bass, go live your best life!
 
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#51
The Deep said:
I’m quite certain 99% of the people using computers these days knows how to perform a search.
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I'm not sure the number is that high. Look at some of the questions on Stack Overflow and other stackexchange.com sites. You get lots of people who apparently managed to Google their way to, e.g., english.stackexchange.com when all they needed was dictionary.com.
 
#55
A high end Squier or budget Fender is a decent instrument. But it’s not exactly what I want. What I want is slightly different than what anyone else wants. Given that, the bass I really want, one that inspires me to play, takes a lot of attention to get all the little details right. If you know how to build a bass, you can have exactly what you want for a bunch of money and effort. If you don’t know how, you pay someone who does know how to build it for you.

Judged against a Squier, a custom bass is expensive. Judged against other musical instruments that I play with(upright Basses, cellos, pianos, harps, even a bassoon or the like), a custom bass guitar is CHEAP.
 
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#56
Let's see.
Wood:
cheap bass: bass wood
Expensive bass: rare rainforest wood.
Difference? A little
Neck:
Cheap bass: maple
Expensive bass: maple, hand tapped for resonance, after truss rod and fret board added, resonance lost.
Difference, maybe a little
Frets:
Cheap bass: nickel
Expensive bass: super rare hand dug nickel from alps.
Difference: some
Tuners:
Cheap bass: stays in tune
Expensive bass: stays in tune
Difference, maybe a little
Electronics:
Cheap bass: cheap electronics, some do sound good.
Expensive bass: better electronics. Sounds better, maybe more different .
Finish:
Cheap bass: cheap finish
Expensive bass: much nicer finish.
 
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