Black Coffee

What bass would match Santa . ?

A coffee table sized 9 string monstrosity to cover the belly ?

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1356381397' post='1909826']
Good advice here. This is just what I did, i.e. paid just over a grand for a used Spoiler to put my toe into the water so to speak. This combined with my experience with my friends Series 1 left me somewhat disapointed...it burst the bubble of 30 yrs of Alembic GAS.

In fact in the aftermath of my personal Alembic experience I spent the next few years (after moving it on) playing passive Fenders and Laklands.
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I had a bad experience with Rickenbackers. I had bought and sold three in the space of a year. Total money out was in excess of £4,800.00 and I was left with a very sour taste in the mouth and not all the money came back the way it went out so I am very skeptical of VERY expensive basses. The Ric bass ideal I had adored all my youth was a disappointment. My playing style clashed miserably with a Laredo, a 4003 and a 4003FL. The neck profile/shape and the U bend on the 4003 was the reason.
I bought a mid range Dingwall (ABZ) before lashing out on a dear one and they are worth every dime - but again it's not everyone likes them and that's their right. I love the playability, string tension on the B and the look on peoples faces as they try to figure out what's different on the fretboard. I will continue to try to climb the Dingwall model tree until I reach the top.
Perhaps time will heal my gripe with this. Either that or the good Lord will deliver an opportunity to test drive new basses for some luthier somewhere as a full time job.

Maybe someday hopefully I will be in a postion to purchase and find out for myself.
Thanks for the candour Dingus. I know you ain't dissin' them, just an observation on my part that they have priced themselves as new so out of reach for the ordinary everyday man / woman to be able to play and maintain; and why would they change when the Paul McCartneys of this world could buy six at a time and only feel a financial speedbump. It's good business sense for them.
My bubble is burst though . . . . I'm an also ran.

[sup]Are you interested in a trade?[/sup]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1356369139' post='1909628']
They are delicate in the sense that there is a lot to go wrong on them . The electronics on a full-spec Alembic ( and even some of the lesser models ) are very complex by most standards , and it can be difficult to get them fixed properly by anyone except Alembic . Also , the necks can be prone to needing regular adjustment according to some reports , and the dual truss rods can be a bit of a challenge . Bear in mind that Alembic started out as a kind of instrument technology collective for Bay Area musicians rather than as a strictly commercial undertaking and you get some idea of how their unique approach to just about everything has come about . A lot of the things we take for granted nowadays such as neck-thru body construction , use of exotic woods , brass bridges and active electronics were all [i][b]invented [/b][/i]and / or pioneered by Alembic and considering that , you begin to realise their massive contribution to the industry .
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I bow to a lot of knowledge here and I respect that Alembic did it all and laid the groundwork for more, so hats off to them. No complaints or dispute.
But why spend so much hard saved money to have a delicate bass with a likely to be problematic truss rod system and electronics that NASA would be happy to orbit the earth with.
I'm not being sarcastic here, it's just that I am a little dismayed that one of my bubbles has been burst a little as I thought that for that amount of money it would be a cast iron workaholic. I considered a secondhand Orion 5 string a while ago and on reading this I'm glad I didn't buy it. My basic bass maintenance and tweaking skills would probably have ruined the thoroughbred before it played half a dozen gigs and I would have been left with a mess.
Seems Alembic have it sown up. Charge so much for your product that the only people who can afford to play them are the people who have bank accounts that have at least seven figures before the decimal point. Then when (not if) they go wrong you have a blank cheque to fix them at the price of a new Warwick or USA Jazz bass.
- Are they based in the Carribean ?

Also. Dingus mentioned they were delicate.
Delicate how?

I agree too with dingus.Just waaaaay out of the mere mortals league. It will forever be an unaffordable delicacy. Bit like owning a house without a mortgage. I will continue to dabble in pleb basses while the rich and shameless enjoy the alembics of the world.
Im not bitter about it though.

Have alembic not heard of the global credit crunch? I wud love a really expensive bass but if they want me to buy one and play it as badly as i try not to then they will have to change the rules and drop their price.
Dummy now spat firmly from cradle.
Wot about a boxing day sale? Do they do cheap copies?

Pardon my complete ignorance.
But. Why are they so ridiculously expensive?

G . A . S . attack

[quote name='dincz' timestamp='1356287726' post='1908844']
Wow, I've never heard that about Corts before. Don't know about Curbows but the neck on my cheap Artisan was what made me buy it.
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Sorry if I seem really on their case here. It's just my own opinion. There is a small music shop near where I used to work and they only sold Cort or Tanglewood basses and whatever else they had secondhand too. Any instrument they had in stock made by Cort seemed really roughly finished on the neck and odd. Unless they got a bad batch in stock or something....? I haven't tried anything since which would convince me to feel any different.
Again this is just my own opinion, if it works for you that's fine but you could buy a much better secondhand 'other' bass for the price of a new Cort.

US made fenders are one of the most common brands the emperor wears.
Nice basses but too big a step up on price just to have the letters usa on the instrument. Does that mean the rest are rubbish. I think not.

Dung.
Avoid due to awful necks. Any cort i played was dreadful.
Anything other than cort will do. Curbow shape looks good though, shame.

Queen without JD ?

I will maybe take my chances and hold off for the 2013 model.
Maybe it will have long sleeves free - in some strange German finish that nobody has heard of before for an extra £2,500.
Also with 5% added on just so that I can say it was made in the land of ze volksvagen.

[quote name='jaydentaku' timestamp='1355996896' post='1905368']
You vill be shot.
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Do Warwick do kevlar t-shirts ?

On a further note . If i planned to put guitar hooks on the wall like that i might end up hanging from them myself.

Thats a lovely bass. I wish i cud afford impulse buys like that.
The management usually cuts me off mid sentence when it hears bass and buy in the same sentence.

I had the 5 string version of this. Awesome quality for the money.
Love the colour.
Good luck with the sale.

Mmmmmmm. Might have to agree.

The brand name has been less exclusive since mass production began. Its just another really expensive bass now. Just because its from the old volks homeland isnt enuf anymore.

Yamaha, Peavey and MIM Fender are excellent value basses for your budget , bought secondhand from here on basschat is likely a safer bet than ebay. As for amps, buy as big as you can afford and then you wont need to buy again in 3 months time when you discover your gleaming 15 watt marshall has less power than a sparrow fart when someone else is playing with you. I wish someone had told me that when I started.
Various opinions on 4 or 5 string; none are totally right or wrong. It'll depend on lots of things, if you have smaller hands you will struggle somewhat early on to get over a 35 inch scale and 5 strings. I had a Peavey Grind 5 string and they are a fantastic bass. I'd buy another no problem.
Most people probably started on 4 then the GAS starts and its all downhill from there. 5 strings, 6 strings, fretless, double neck and on and on.
Either way it should be fun and not a drag, enjoy it.

This is classic.
Surely this guy isn't seriously believing all he says.
Pure entertainment..
Especially the white felt from Holland. That was a gem. I'm sure the Dutch are as bewildered as I am.

[quote name='BassPimp66' timestamp='1355777298' post='1902701']
What's stupid and expensive here?
(1) the guy wearing 2 straps, instead of 1
(2) the guy buying hair conditionner to take care of his incredibly long goatee
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It's just all wrong looking. If it was scratch and sniff would it be head and shoulders and goat ?

Would nirvana have missed krist?

I have bought and tried some gimmicks in my time.
Some massively expensive string manufacturers materials which are plain useless and never stay in tune.
Some seriously awful basses which cost more than a months pay (Rickenbacker 4004), and are a struggle to get to sound different to a bass half the price. Felt short changed after that one, not because the purchase was bad, just the bass wasn't as good as the price suggested it should have been.
What is the greatest gimmick and waste of money in bass land ?