• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Who Is Going To Buy A Fleabass?

#21
The "vision" behind this kind of sounds like marketing BS to me. I'm not saying that he's gotta build multi thousand dollars signature basses, but cheap crap with some guys name on it is still cheap crap. I mean, no one really knows yet, but this kind of sounds like similar 200 dollar basses sold for 400 bucks because of an artist schemes. Bottom line, if they are good basses for the price, people will say so when they are really out there in the market. I'll reserve actual judgement on them until I've seen the goods.
 
#26
I'm going to make a wild guess here...this arrangement will be VERY lucrative for Flea. You can move a heck of a lot more $400 instruments than $2500 instruments. Sure, some good intent is in there. And from my limited vantage, he seems like a dude who won't be selling complete pieces of poop with his name on it.

However, I really believe that he is simply making a very smart business decision. I would probably do the same thing if I were in his shoes.
 
#27
Do you know that the total from KEYBOARDS ALONE is more than the revenue of all the CDs in the world (or this is what is being touted in the industry atleast.) Guitars are probably 50 times that. Everybody knows that instrument sales is where it's at in the music industry. my guess is that flea heard this and wanted to make a good investment. He probably does genuinely care about kids too, but I would accept that as his ONLY motivation if and when he makes his company a non-profit (which he could still make a good amount of money from.)

Now instrument sales is also pretty damn competitive. You can't go from being SX to Fender overnight (or probably ever) like you potentially could in the music business, but a smaller piece of the pie in sales could still be bigger than being a top40 act when it comes to money. If you can use one vehicle to launch you into the other then that could be a lucrative thing you got goin'.

As for the basses, they LOOK cheesy and overpriced BUT I will wait til I play one to say what I really think of them. Chances are that these will flood the used market if they are mass produced. How many little kids are going to get one and then never play it? Chances are good.

Or it could be a trick. They will not be mass produced and then they will stop making them suddenly and you will be kicking yourself because you are a flea fan and don't have every color, and the pink ones are going for $3000 now, and it's now your lifelong dream to get a green one, but you don't think you'll ver be able to afford it. Yeah this last paragraph is a little sarcastic but actually could happen.
 
#31
TimWilson said:
It IS nice that Flea wanted to do this for kids. I hope it gets a lot of 'em playing. ...but the thing about it that gets me is: There really ARE plenty of very good student-level basses out there—for even well under $300. Flea's interview made it seem as though this would be the first well-built bass in the world under $400, and we all know that's not true. I believe Flea HAS seen a lot of unplayable basses in student's hands...
Click to expand...

+1 I totally agree with that. There are other decent entry-level basses out there...some that are even cheaper than what these new "Flea" basses will cost. It is a nice idea and it's great to see someone with 'star-status' thinking about the new crowd of bass players coming up.
 
#32
For me, it's a great idea to have a different looking bass for students. Let's face it: there are a lot of affordable, good-looking and lightweight basses out there. By doing such a eccentric design, Flea can have an edge over other products, and maybe they can sell more just because of that. Just look at the Volkswagen New Beetle: it's nothing more than a Golf with a different suit, but that's its advantege.
 
#33
On the other hand, the real issue for me it's not just the quality of student's guitars & basses, but their setup as well. Last week I did a quick setup on a kid's Peavey and he was so happy he was laughing out loud, saying "wow, now it plays so easily!!" Just one hour before he was regretting having a bass because it was so hard to play, and now he's playing everyday. That's the difference a good adjustment can make.
 
#34
I would probably not buy one, i would play one and pass judgement then but its kinda cool. its sorta the antithesis of modulus, ya know high end boutique basses we all love but can't afford. it's like flea is givin a big middle finger to his old endorser, i wonder if there was more to the ending of the modulus relationship than we know about
 
#37
They are really cool looking for kids IMO and for those that hate the pastel/neon colours, check out the black one with white PG. Pretty normal looking to me.

As a poster above mentioned, if I found a used one for cheap, I would likely try it out. I am not going out of my way to drop $400 for one of these to say the least. One of my bands plays 5 or 6 RHCP tunes and it would be cool to rock one of these for those few songs live if they sound 1/2 way decent.

The bottom line for me is this... anything that makes a 10-14 year old want to embrace music is a great thing. Having said that, us as bass players likely percieve Flea as having more name/brand recignigion than he really does. Not sure many kids know/care who Flea is. My 11 and 13 year old don't and they are musically inclined and listen to rock/metal/alternative.
 
#39
Cool video. The bass is too low. Or the drums to high, given who's on the sticks! he's hits his kit like a gorilla.

if your wee kid asked for a bass, a 30'' flea bass does sound good. If it is 'expensive', that could be for ethical reasons as well. Although imo, a few years earlier wouldn't have hurt. Not for me, but I can see the appeal.
 
#40
RTL said:
I'm not sure I like the fact that they're so non-specific on the specs of this bass. Where's it made? What kind of pickups/hardware? I'm not expecting anything fancy at that price point, but at $499, you'd think they'd put something decent enough on these things to warrant some kind of description. "Duncan Designed" or "Hipshot Licensed" perhaps?

Sure, it has Flea's name on it, but when there are $200 OLP Stingrays out there (which are actually quite nice), this instrument will need more than a name on the headstock to make it worth the cash.
Click to expand...

Link Removed

click on the pictures for specs on the instruments.

it's amazing what you can find by changing the "page" number in your address bar, haha.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back