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What's the #2 Bass?

#21
Leaving aside for a moment theological questions of quality and pedigree, who sells the most basses?

The big retailers must have this information, don't you think? I'd guess Fender and Ibanez, since each seems to have a price point for everybody, but it's just a guess.
 
#22
Winemule said:
Leaving aside for a moment theological questions of quality and pedigree, who sells the most basses?

The big retailers must have this information, don't you think? I'd guess Fender and Ibanez, since each seems to have a price point for everybody, but it's just a guess.
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I would love to know this as well, if anyone has the info...

I would assume Fender has a large lead on the rest of the market, even Ibanez... especially if you factor Squier into the equation.
 
#25
Cor-Tek and Samick were two of the largest manufacturers on the planet . They are now in Indonesia . I don't know if they have Chinese factories as well . It's sometimes hard to identify their instruments because they build for so many different manufacturers . They build instruments for Fender , Gibson , G&L and many others . They are sold as Squiers , Epiphones , Tributes etc . They manufacture more instruments than the American companies that contract them do .

I've been trying to find a source that might say who built what but it seems pretty murky .
 
#26
awilkie84 said:
I've only seen 1 Ric in use since I got back into the music scene.
I see more Ibanez than Fender, too.
Maybe it's a demographic thing? Maybe it's an "I wish" for all the Ric & MM polls.
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Aside from myself I can only remember one local bassist who played a Ric with any regularity. Last time I saw him he was playing a P. I've pretty much put my 76 4001 away in favor of a 5 string Jazz because a) I like 5s and b) it slaps better than the Ric did. Not that the Ric was a shabby slapper, it wasn't, but I like the sound of slapped J better.
 
#28
In the 1960's it was Gibson (EBx, Tbird), in the 1970's, it was Rickenbacker. In the '80s, it was arguably Music Man. In the 21st century, though, I think the iconic non-Fender is the generic "modern 5-string", be it Ibanez, Warwick, Yamaha, Spector, Schecter, whatever. The niche is fragmented, but identifiable.

bdkthunder said:
So the thread about why it seems everyone plays Fender got me thinking, what brand would be considered to be in second place for being most common/influential across the board besides Fender/Squier (under the assumption that Fender is in top spot)?

What would it be? EBMM, Ibanez, Gibson/Epi, Warwick, Yamaha, Rick, Spector, to name a few?

Do you base it on mass production wide availability or higher end quality? What brand to do you see the most?
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#32
There is a huge difference between being influential and being widely used. To me, influential, is based on what popular artists are using or have used in the past. If the answer to your question was based solely on being influential, then I would say Ric, Gibson and Alembic.

If you are basing the answer on what you see other people playing it would be MM or Ibanez, which could be based on a combination of mass-production, availability, design, features and price.

I also see many people using low priced basses but I think budget is a major factor in determining what non-professionals are using and not who influenced them.
 
#35
Calaverasgrande said:
As far as influential. I basically see 3 pickups on basses over and over again.
Jazz style, P style and Musicman style.
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blindrabbit said:
I'm going to go with EBMM also. Even just the fact alone that we talk about "jazz", "precision", and "musicman" pickups pretty much defines it right there. Sure, Ibanez may beat it for sales, and Rickenbacker may have had an earlier influence on design features, etc etc etc, but until people start to refer to an "Ibanez pickup configuration" or something like that, I don't think you can dispute EBMM having the second spot on this list.
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I think this reasoning seals the deal in my eyes for Music Man as #2.
 
#39
Marial said:
By sales I'd say Ibanez, by influence I agree with those that put forth Music Man.
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You're right. One thing is the 2nd most common, another the 2nd most influential, and I agree with your choices.

I don't know how anyone can argue that Ibanez guitars and basses are up there in popularity, which probably have more to do with the fact that they produce affordable instruments of decent quality and a brand name, just like Squier/Fender. It's unlike you'll see Lakland in 2nd place in sales unless they start producing $250 models.

Now, as far as influential basses, brands like Rickenbacker and Hofner probably held second place in the 70s and 60s, but from the 80s the one that's been copied (either in PU configuration or design) has been Music Man.

Neither of those two distinctions (most common, most influential) mean that those brands make the best instruments.
 
#40
Sid Fang said:
In the 21st century, though, I think the iconic non-Fender is the generic "modern 5-string", be it Ibanez, Warwick, Yamaha, Spector, Schecter, whatever. The niche is fragmented, but identifiable.
Click to expand...
True, there's a lot of those basses around - five strings, two soapbars with no exposed polepieces, active EQ, non-weird shape but not exactly a P or a J. See those everywhere from hip-hop to country. If lumped together, they're probably ahead of MM and MMish basses. But it's kind of a fuzzy lump.
 

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