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What would you purchase in various price ranges

MultiScaleMale

MultiScaleMale

Gold Supporting Member
Jun 19, 2003
27,228
39,035
Maryland
#1
Under $300:
$300-$600:
$600-$1000:
$1000-$2000:
$2000-$3000:

Above that range, you’re mostly in boutique range where they’re all great but in different ways. Go with new prices. If someone wants used, they can look in the next bracket up. Exclude shipping and taxes, USD to make it easier to categorize.
 
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#3
Well, assuming that I don't have one already; that there's actually anything I want in those price ranges; and that it's available as a lefty?
- Under $300: A big, fat, nothing.
- $300 - $600: Eastwood Newport Bass
- $600 - $1000: Eastwood EEB-1
- $1000 - $2000: Backlund Rockerbox Bass
- $2000 - $3000: Rickenbacker 4003 (yeah, I know you can get one cheaper. Trust me: left handed players can not. A new lefty Rick will cost - at best - $3-400 more than a right handed one. From anybody you care to mention. The Left Handed Surcharge is a fact of life for us - unless we want an Alembic...):cool:
 
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#6
Under $300: cheap parts
$300-$600: better parts
$600-$1000: the best parts money can buy
$1000-$2000: two to three sets of the best parts money can buy
$2000-$3000: three to four sets of the best parts money can buy

parts = bodies, necks, tuning machines, bridges, electronics, pickups, knobs, strap locks, maybe pickguards, maybe some paint/clear-coat. maybe some mexican lager to help address the assembly process(es).

:D
 
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#7
JRA said:
Under $300: cheap parts
$300-$600: better parts
$600-$1000: the best parts money can buy
$1000-$2000: two to three sets of the best parts money can buy
$2000-$3000: three to four sets of the best parts money can buy

parts = bodies, necks, tuning machines, bridges, electronics, pickups, knobs, strap locks, maybe pickguards, maybe some paint/clear-coat. maybe some mexican lager to help address the assembly process(es).

:D
Click to expand...

I've built the spreadsheet for numerous builds of a Warmoth bass, but never pulled the trigger. I should.
 
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#9
MultiScaleMale said:
It's still what I would buy and disclosure is there. I added a second place if that helps?
Click to expand...

You are allowed to say that it would be something you’d purchased, but you do need to add your disclosure to the post itself suggesting the product as listed in rule 9.
 
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#10
Bryan R. Tyler said:
You are allowed to say that it would be something you’d purchased, but you do need to add your disclosure to the post itself suggesting the product as listed in rule 9.
Click to expand...

At first I thought why would that be necessary. But it makes sense as a rule since an endorsement deal might end or change and the profile sidebar disclosure would no longer be there after the poster made changes to the profile to reflect, but the endorsed product would remain in the post.

< $.3k - Used SR;
< $.6k - Used SR or vintage Ibanez;
< $1k - New or Used SR or vintage Ibanez;
< $2k - vintage Ibanez or New SR;
< $3k - Vintage Ibanez or lucky Alembic or Ken Smith find or something.
 
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#11
GIBrat51 said:
left handed players can not. A new lefty Rick will cost - at best - $3-400 more than a right handed one. From anybody you care to mention. The Left Handed Surcharge is a fact of life for us
Click to expand...
some of my best friends are lefties! of course, it can be awkward when planning the holiday seating/dining arrangements. maybe i should charge them a few bucks for the correct corner spots and end positions at the table! i'm thinking that $5 is fair --- i'd call it a "no-apologies convenience fee." :D "the left handed surcharge" sounds too much like discrimination. ;)
 
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#12
JRA said:
some of my best friends are lefties! of course, it can be awkward when planning the holiday seating/dining arrangements. maybe i should charge them a few bucks for the correct corner spots and end positions at the table! i'm thinking that $5 is fair --- i'd call it a "no-apologies convenience fee." :D "the left handed surcharge" sounds too much like discrimination. ;)
Click to expand...

'18 T-Bird front.JPG I'm pretty sure I speak for most left handed players when I say that "Discrimination" is EXACTLY what it is. There's no other reason, IMO, for the MSRP of this lefty '18 Gibson T-Bird to be $800 more than a right handed one. I didn't pay that - I wouldn't have bought it, otherwise. But, it did cost me just under the MSRP for a right handed one; which gives you some idea of how much less a right handed one would have cost you...:meh:
 
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#14
GIBrat51 said:
I'm pretty sure I speak for most left handed players when I say that "Discrimination" is EXACTLY what it is.
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i was trying to be cute/funny --- sorry! TBH: i've been more aware of the issue (re: basses) from the lefties on this site in terms of 'shortages' or 'slim-pickens'. the fact that you'd have to pay more for an instrument (in addition to fewer choices) is certainly discrimination. it's BS, IMO.

my apologies for both my ignorance and for appearing not to care! :thumbsup:
 
#17
$300-$600: A used Marcus Miller pretty much smokes anything out there
$600-$1000: Sandberg Electra TT4, hard to find something out there with this level of refined hardware, balance, preamp and setup. It smokes any Mexican Jbass I've tried but with the luxury of a great setup which means very easy playing and low buzz free action. 14 inch radius makes the neck nice and flat.
$1000-$2000: I wasn't impressed with the newer American 'Pro' Fenders, I would probably aim at the cheapest Fender Ultra on Reverb right now, great neck heel and overall neck a rounder Radius with the Sandbery which means you have a bit of a rounder fretboard which is a good compromise vs the flatter ones everyone likes, preamp and electronics are A+, noiseless pickups are pretty decent, no real compromise on this bass, I could see it played by pros and intermediates the same.
$2000-$3000+: I'd skip the 'boutique' noise and go for a Metroline Sadowsky or a Sandberg California DK Marlowe. The Sadowsky is an elite level instrument, not hollowed up like the NYCs but setup and preamp are elite level, no, sorry, I'd say 'divine' is more like it. These basses will deliver any tone needed with reliability and unparalleled factory support. The Sadowsky is so good from the frets to the output jack that I went to try a few a year ago and the consistency was great! The Sandberg german line, especially specialty sig models like the DK Marlowe among others are hard to ignore, go visit the assembly line and there is still so much handmade crafting and attention from this small factory that you can't help but admire what they are doing. The California line is completely customizable and setup is epic out of the store. Factory support though cannot match Sadowsky, I recently had to wait 3 months for a replacement pickguard, similar stories on replacement stuff from others, but the quality is on par with several high end boutique manufacturers.
 
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#18
GIBrat51 said:
I'm pretty sure I speak for most left handed players when I say that "Discrimination" is EXACTLY what it is.
Click to expand...
I've heard that bass guitar are about 15% of a guitar makers business, and lefties are about 15% of the population, so a minority inside a minority. It's a pretty short list of manufacturers that don't charge a premium, but better that than not make lefties at all. I always get sad when I compare Sweetwater's righty inventory to what's available for me.
 
#20
I don’t really think in terms of fixed price ranges. But this is an interesting exercise, so I’ll try to play along best I can. :)

In the $7K+ price range I’d be shopping a new Wal Mk1. (Which I’m not BTW! But I might be someday. We all have a unicorn lurking somewhere in our dreams.)

I don’t consider anything at all between that and the $2K mark.

$2K and below it all depends. I‘ve mainly shop used for the past ten years. Any new stuff I’m interested in seems to land somewhere between $400 and $1000 and tends to be on the “different” side since I’ve already got all the classic basses I want.

I’d go maybe up to $2K for a really nice Fireglo Ric 4001 with checkerboard binding in excellent condition. But other than that it’s very much up for grabs what I’d be willing to pay for something. I seldom go out shopping with something specific in mind anymore. I’m mostly into the surprise find thing these days. I have an ever changing list of about ten pieces of music gear (not all bass related either) I might be interested in owning at any point in time however. And should one show up, and it’s in the condition I’m looking for when I’m shopping (because I have the cash in hand), odds are good I’ll buy it. The rest of the time I don’t really think about getting stuff very much.
 
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