kerley

How do you know it is the colour that is the problem that is stopping a sale? It is a bass at the specialist end of things with a small market and who is to say it would sell any quicker if it was not blue. And if it costs you £250 to refinish could you not just sell it as it is for £950 and leave as is (worst case is you have to sell for £950 after a £250 refinish!)

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1357650411' post='1925930'] I think it's more of a wake-up call to shops to start setting basses up so they're vaguely playable before hanging them out on the wall. That way, if a bass is a dog, it's because it's a dog. Send it back. The internet is killing you all. Put some effort into it. [/quote] Good point. The argument trotted out many a time is that we must use the bricks and mortar shops otherwise they will dissappear. However, the shops may not be helping their cause if they remove the main reason for going to a shop (i.e. play before you buy)

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1357649205' post='1925892'] I can't recall the last item of any size I put on eBay that wasn't 'collection only'. Too much messing about with couriers these days.[/quote] That is why I use Parcelforce. I take it to Post Office in my own time and don't have to wait around for couriers to turn up etc,. Parcelforce is not the cheapest at around £16 but that is paid by the buyer anyway so no difference to me. Like you say, local pickup can make a massive difference to the final price.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1357639390' post='1925629'] How many people who aren't audiophiles sit and listen to huge speaker systems in their home? [/quote] Not as many as in the past, which is the point. And getting a good set of headphones is at least trying to get better quality sound but the weak point will remain to be the MP3 - crap in / crap out

Unless there is an actual fault with the bass (i.e. dodgy neck) then any bass can be made to play and feel good. I have made £99 basses feel and play great. What I can't do is change what they are made of (quality and type of woods and fit and finish) and what I can change (components - hardware, pickups electronics) all adds up in price. So setup of the is irrelevant when buying a bass but yet very important when testing it! As long as it sounds good and just needs adjustments in playability does it even matter?

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1357567652' post='1924565'] If the name Fender isn`t specifically required, the Squier Classic Vibes have to be worth checking out. Really nice players. Think there are a couple on here for about £220. [/quote] I went with an open mind last weekend and tried Affinities, Classic Vibe and Mexican (as well as US which was over budget) The best one for me was the Classic Vibe (playability, fit and finish). It also happened to be the nearest to how I have my basses (very low nut, and low overall action) which I guess is no coincidence... If I was going to be spending a lot of money I would take my allen keys with me and at least adjust the saddle height, neck relief and intonation to my liking as no shop can possibly know my preferences ahead of me going there and it is clearly such a large factor in whether I like one bass over another.

[quote name='paulpirie8' timestamp='1357566609' post='1924540'] It's no doubt down to nostalgia more than anything else but it just seems to me that people had an appreciation and respect for sound quality that is becoming rare nowadays. Paul [/quote] Or maybe they just don't know what they are missing having never heard a decent hi-fi system and are now sold iPod docks whch sound great to them as they have no reference point?

A lot of it does sound like the shop has not taken much time setting them up but the question is how much setting up should they need. For example why would the factory send out basses with high nuts and would a dealer be expected to lower it? I only ever buy lower end basses but pretty much all of them have nuts that are cut way too high (exception being my recent Classic Vibe Precision which is perfect). I know action is user specific and can be adjusted to suit but who and why would anyone want the nut to be high?

Yes, I think the quality of sound for listening at home has become less important to the majority of people. As you say a lot of people used to have seperates, nice speakers etc, whereas now these are fairly uncommon. This is probably because of the mobility of MP3s and the use of headphones while listening on the move rather than sat at home specifically listening to music. Less dedicated time is given to just sitting and solely listening and music has become a background thing whilst using internet, on train etc,. I still buy CDs when possible and listen to them through a nice CD player, amp and speakers.

No problem. Reading my post back I probably made it sound worse that it actually was and you may get one that had better quality control. It is definitely a good enough instrument to start playing fretless with and gauging whether it is for you/how much you would use it without any great outlay. I have a one bass at a time rule (self imposed masochism/control thing!) and use the bass for everything rather than just 'fretless' basslines. The difficulty will be to stop myself spending any money on it as when I sell it it will always be seen as a £99 bass to the buyer...

I bought one last week and for £100 it is good (a fretless) as long as you don't mind a bit of fettling though! (I enjoy messing around with basses so it is a bonus for me in a really odd way) The nuts were loose on the tuning machines, a spring was not on one of the screws under the J pickup so it rattled and it also hummed a fair bit. And the sanding of the headstock was not as smooth as it could be and was left totally raw. However neck fit was pefect. Within a few hours it was a lot better; - Removed tuning machines and sanded headstock and applied a couple of coats of oil - Sanded fretboard to give super smooth finish and applied lemon oil - Copper shielded cavity which removed all noise (even when solo'd on J pickup) - Filed nut slots to get strings lower (although I do this on all basses) For such a cheap bass it actually sounds very good and the pickups are both fine with good variation between them and a tone control that actually does something. Level of mwah is easy to control with action going low enough to give more than I require. If someone bought it who was not up for sorting it out they may have been dissappointed with it and just dismiss it as even for £100 you shouldn't really expect to have to do any work.

I can understand a band wanting a certain image and the type of instruments used is part of that. For example you don't want to concentrate on clothes and hair etc to get a certain image and then turn up with flying Vs that completely clash with that (irrespective of whether than sound good or can be played well) However, number of strings seem at odds and 5 is not that noticeable if on the right type of bass to fit the band.

I have heard they made one with a ribbed neck but it wasn't popular.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1355574284' post='1900062'] But the answers here will be unbiased I see you have the Stagg in violin burst whats it like? [/quote] The sale is assigned a person so you should be able to ask them when it will be dispatched etc,. biased maybe better than uninformed guesses

[quote name='lettsguitars' timestamp='1355316862' post='1896790'] Is any bass worth 1500? [/quote] is anything worth anything - nothing has a value other than the price that at least one human has put on it

I have the opposite problem. I have enough spare income to have many basses, or at least a few nice ones. But instead of that I only ever have one at a time and never spend more than a few hundred quid. It is a combination of OCD and the "tidiness" of just having one bass to play along with never feeling I am actually good enough to warrant a bass that costs any more. The plan goes a bit wrong though - because they are cheap I change them a lot!

Have done it loads of times. The only problematic part is getting the curly end of the string straight to get back through the bridge hole and sometimes after changing a number of times end of the string will have enough of it and snap. If you have a bridge where the strings drop in rather than go through a hole then it can be done endlessly.

Could always get a U-Bass and really fit in?

I don't think short scales should just be labelled for use by children or adults with small hands. The scale length is after all only a few inches shorter and it is still quite a way from a guitar size, which men with hands of all sizes play :-) I don't have small hands or short arms but have always preferred short scale and not such a stretch for arms or fingers and they just feel more comfortable to me. I think they are something people shoudl always give a try and might be surprised...

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1354317705' post='1884896'] Yeah, a fleabass is something i would like to try, but not buy. Not really my thing. What is interesting is that flea stopped producing them about a year ago, but they appear to still be churning them out. He must just have sold the rights to another company. But nonetheless, he tried his best to make a good cheap instrument, although i have heard quality on them can be a bit hit and miss. [/quote] I would guess all the ones for sale are the remaining stock as many are reduced and at the reduced price mine was very nice and good value (under £200) so must have been one of the hits rather than misses.

I favour short scale and have owned a few (all cheap because I am not good enough to need or justify an expensive one!) - Cort Action Junior - Fleabass Junior - Epiphone EB0 All of those basses have had good build quality and all played very well. Sometime the fit and finish of a £130 bass is surprisingly good anmd couldn't really choose between them on quality. The Cort and Fleabass sounded similar while the EB0 was always going to be different due that pickup position and a bit neck divy.

[quote name='RandomBass' timestamp='1353653417' post='1876954'] if you have enough bubblewrap to post him, i'm interested [/quote] sounds a bit creepy

To make it less subjective a list of players and their 'official' rating needs to be presented. You can then examine the ratings, what they are based on etc,. and then discuss which are over or under rated and why. For example, the majority here seem to think that Adam Clayton is overrated. Who is exactly rating him highly to make him overrated. The fact he is in a popular band doesn't mean he is rated highly as a bass player by anyone.

Squier VMJ (used) If you don't get on with fretless, or want to later change to unlined after realising you don't need them*, you should pretty much get back what you paid as they always seem popular. Or for higher quality, the used Warwick suggestion sounds good (apart from no lines!) (*Sorry, couldn't resist)

Status also make nylon tape wounds. I use them on an acoustic bass and they sound great. Very similar in sound (from memory to the Rotosounds without the 115 E and are cheaper than the Rotosounds - £17 delivered) They do give a sound closer to upright than any metal wound string I have ever tried. The attack/decay is different from metal. They are also really smooth and quiet (which is of great benefit when playing acoustically so you can hear the bass rather than string and fret noise!)