Why worry about price?

[DJ Bebop]

He sounded good on it!

Yes he did, I was kidding

 

[Bass Viking]

Tell me about it. 1962 P bass...

View attachment 4948905

If that bass could talk:

"Hey! What are you - OWWW! #*$%&$!! Stop that!!!"

 

[Chad Michael]

@WRM

FWIW, I gigged the snot out of my Pedulla. Smells like stale beer and cigarettes. Paid for itself many times over.

Totally worth it.

 

[JuanB]

After a few threads wondering if the prices of given basses are justified, I have come to the conclusion that it just isn’t worth worrying about. If you cannot afford a bass or don’t think it worth the price, buy one that fits your budget and call it a day. We are fortunate to be consumers at a time when quality instruments are available at many price points. I say spend your time getting better instead of getting caught up in instrument prices.

Do I sense that the Doc is GASing hard?

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Do I sense that the Doc is GASing hard?

No, but I have read a few posts where people are really unhappy about prices and I feel it is good to remind folks that target fixation is not good thing for GAS or vehicle operation. Don’t get hung up on one thing when you have options.

 

[Kubicki Fan]

We all know that when all of that was done a 62 P-bass was not worth what it is now. I can forgive folks for not being able to predict the future, especially if they are young.

I think if some oracle were to have described the future to a certain young bassist, he'd have said: "Get the f... out of here.", and we'd still have the Tractor, for example.

 

[fishdude101101]

I did not say don’t buy gear, I said don’t dwell on gear you can’t afford. If you can’t afford a boutique Jazz, get a Sire, get an MIM Fender, get a RSD. Marcus Miller and Jeff Berlin are two of the best in the world and they never depended on expensive gear. Just do it!

I've never dwelled on what I can't afford. Just because I can drop 10k on a bass doesn't mean I would, but I'm happy for the people who buy those basses and enjoy them. The only reason I'll ever mention price is that I think used gear prices today are crazy. I'm not going to pay 80% of new for something used, and it baffles me why people do that and then brag about the "deals" they got.

 

[Bass Viking]

re: "i could care less"

col·lo·qui·al·ism
a word or phrase that is not formal or literary, typically one used in ordinary or familiar conversation.
"the colloquialisms of the streets"

It means the opposite of what the speaker is trying to say. Therefore, I oppose it's use because I could care less.

 

[wiscoaster]

..... I say spend your time getting better instead of getting caught up in instrument prices.

Bingo. Getting better requires practice time and development of one's technique, not money spent on a different bass. A mistaken idea I think most of us fall victim to at least once until experience teaches better, self included.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Why worry about price? VALUE.

Many basses are way too high priced, even in a time of high inflation.
TB does it’s part, perhaps as a by product of the community it’s built, to support those prices.

Not buying over priced instruments is ultimately the most effective way to change pricing policies. Complaining about on TB likely does nothing.

 

[Hot Rats]

Why do it with your mouth?
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I'd like to see first chair play that!

 

[Peterson]

Isn't that point of this thread - the price? If people stopped looking at a bass as an accessory, but their tool, having a collection would not be important. I see lots of threads here where bassists have a collection of (for example) precision basses - the primary difference being color and other cosmetic options. When is the last time you saw a carpenter with a collection of different colored claw hammers?

Not every precision bass sounds the same..

 

[buldog5151bass]

Not every precision bass sounds the same..

I never said it did. But most are very similar, and plenty of the threads talk about having them for their cosmetic differences.

 

[Snert]

Not every precision bass sounds the same..

But unless they have pickups at the extreme end of the sonic spectrum, eg very overwound, they sound enough alike, I'd put money on most people not being able to pick one from t'other in a mix, blind.

 

[foothilla]

Bingo. Getting better requires practice time and development of one's technique, not money spent on a different bass. A mistaken idea I think most of us fall victim to at least once until experience teaches better, self included.

Practicing requires inspiration. For many, a super high quality instrument can provide that inspiration. Different strokes for different folks.

 

[foothilla]

Very true, Doc. And yet, I still crave a Rob Allen bass that I will never be able to justify because of the cost.

For what it's worth, I have/had a lot of nice basses over the decades. Many of the basses were in the Rob Allen price range.

I bought a Rob Allen Deep 4 a couple years ago and it is by far the most addictive bass I have ever touched. The other expensive bass stopped getting picked up as much, and slowly I have begun to sell many of them off.

I guess my point is, after playing it a few months, you might find the price of a Rob Allen more justifiable than you think.

 

[foothilla]

I often reference Marcus Miller because in conversations like this because he reached GOAT status playing a bass that I think his Mom bought for $275. I remember him doing the tour with Victor Wooten and Stanley Clarke, I think Marcus’ Fender sounded pretty good compared to Wooten’s Fodera and Clarke’s Alembic.

These days, Marcus Miller uses a Sire five for his fretless segment. If the GOAT uses modest basses, I can be happy with them too.

The GOAT doesn't use modest basses....you just mentioned, he plays Foderas!

 

[wiscoaster]

Practicing requires inspiration. For many, a super high quality instrument can provide that inspiration. Different strokes for different folks.

Hmmmmm .... the tool needs to be adequate to the job, true, but I've learned to do a lot with modest tools. Practicing requires discipline more than it requires inspiration. And discpline is not dependent on the tool; it's dependent upon the will. So, sorry, slight disagreement on cause and effect, but like you said: different strokes. I've got a couple really beautiful basses that rarely get played. It's the cheap(er) basses that get used most for practice.

 

[foothilla]

Hmmmmm .... the tool needs to be adequate to the job, true, but I've learned to do a lot with modest tools. Practicing requires discipline more than it requires inspiration. And discpline is not dependent on the tool; it's dependent upon the will. So, sorry, slight disagreement on cause and effect, but like you said: different strokes. I've got a couple really beautiful basses that rarely get played. It's the cheap(er) basses that get used most for practice.

For most humans it's far easier to be disciplined when you are inspired. That's great that you are a person of modest requirements. That's a gift. But many others will find inspiration in a hand-crafted, artisan instrument. It all depends on the person and their finances.

I think it's important that people play whatever inspires them, and of course it has to be something they can afford.

 

[pepj]

I think you definitely get what you pay for...its upto to you to reconcile what you will settle for.

My current cheapest bass is around $1500 and I'm aware what the limitations are on it as far as I'm concerned. I'm not playing other people's basses..unless I buy it...and they aren't playing mine.