SimonH

Exactly this. Original Players with asking prices about £50 less, if that, than a new Player II. Call it £450 and maybe, right colour, mint, maybe. But asking £550+ for a Player when Thomann have a brand new Player II at £579... I just wondered if it was me, or is it some sort of weird, gaslit, alt. reality.

Yes, it's pre-age everything that isn't functional – as far as I know, there's no market for relic-ed bass amps yet – although maybe flubby cones and scratchy pots will be a 'thing' soon.

Agreed, the relic thing is a bit mad. In my other passion, motorbikes, can't imagine paying a premium for a rusty chain or a rotting petrol tank. I mean, it'd great if that was the case because hey, don't have to clean it! If a bass has a genuine patina, fair enough. But to fake it... I dunno. Fender got it right with the Highway series – nitro finish so you can do your own real-time relic-ing just by looking at it the wrong way. Mine's beaten up already I've hardly used it live because it bloody weighs so much.

I'm no expert but over the years I've been watching bass prices there's an enormous fashion/fad component – for some reason a particular style or model becomes popular and the asking price escalates. I've suffered myself, tempted to lump a few hundred quid on a bass on the sketchy basis someone else might think it's 'collectable' (never done it, though). I remember when you couldn't give a 1980s Ibanez away... now look at them. I mean, they are good – but there was a point in time when, because we all knew the name of the factory and it sounded clever, you sort of got this Matsumoku or Fujigen tax. Still do, I think. But anyway, thanks for input. It has to be a Mustang, I think – unless I just get a Sire U series instead.

Blimey, right, I'm going to pitch that a few times & see what happens 😉

Don't know if this is interesting, or usual, or maybe I don't buy enough basses (I mean, I've got 17, is that enough?) – but... Fancied a short scale for some time – I've got a Squier Paranormal Rascal (daft name) & love the scale length – and playability, and sound, and look – but not so keen on its weight (it's basically a full-scale body). So I've been looking at Mustangs – the Squier and the Player II – and also at the used market (which is mostly the original Player series, or US or Japanese stuff out of my league). I've noticed on Fleabay, the prices asked for a used original Mustang Player are almost as high as a new Player II (Thomann prices) – and the new one has, I understand, several improvements (rolled edges, better p/ups). Is that normal? Does anyone actually buy gear at those prices? Which leads to my main point: if a bass costs, say, £570 new, what's the highest price you'd pay for a used previous (slightly inferior) model? For me, I'd expect to be paying something like £450 tops. Otherwise I might as well soak up the difference and get a new, slightly better, one. Is that about right, or what does anyone else think? Just be interested to know people's opinions.

Hahahah – sorry, I just played it, meddled with the amp EQ and not got round to it yet! I *did* find this on YouTube tho...

Just acquired a Squier Paranormal Rascal and enjoying short scale on a long scale body (if that makes sense). Also enjoying the looks, if I'm honest. It comes with a pair of passive Squier humbuckers which sound pretty good at home but they lack 'sparkle' in a band setting – I've an Ibanez SR1200 (with Nordstrand Big Single passive pickups and Ibanez three-band preamp) and my bandmates said, A/B, that the Ibanez sounded "more hi-fi, more clarity, sweeter". So here's my plan for the Squier – and I'd really appreciate any input or advice! 1) Split both doublecoils. As standard, the pups route to a 3-way toggle, then single vol and tone. My idea is to install a pair of mini two-way toggles next to the three-way, and split both coils (the coils are wired together with a solder join so easy to spit them). That would give me the option to combine both humbuckers and/or single coils in any config. Don't know if that will help get me closer to the sound I want, but I think it might reduce the muddiness of the humbuckers. 2) Add a preamp. This is the bit I start to get confused about – I've installed a Noll in a Precision, a John East in a Jazz (pre-prepared), a Glockenklang in... I can't even remember now... what was that in? Anyway... they were all kinda like-for-like, or fairly obvious. This will be a bit more involved and will mean adding an extra pot for bass and treble eq. And a push-pull somewhere (vol?) for active/passive. Fortunately there's plenty of room under the scratchplate. Or can I can always rout out a bit more. I'll worry about the wiring later (the guitarist in the band is a professional amp builder). What I'd like to know before I start is, does that sound like a plan that might get me closer to the sound I want? Or do I need to simply replace the stock pups (with what tho?). All advice/critiques welcome (ie buy a different bass, play the Ibanez instead, etc). Thank you for reading this!