Burns-bass

Quite agree. I should say, my question wasn't so much about how to manage this financially, but socially – to ensure that it's positive and friendly, not acrimonious.

This is what we did with the original PA. I bought it and stored it until we jointly paid it off. Resale value is £0 I'm sure. The point, I guess, is that the musicians (singers, don't get upset) spend thousands on gear, including ongoing maintenance, consumables and the like. Singer's outlay = 0.

I play in a 4-piece band. We gig maybe 20-25 times a year. We bought a used PA from the lovely (and incredibly helpful and warm) chap here, but it’s showing it’s age. The singer wants us all to invest in a new, lightweight PA. This is purely used as a vocal PA (bigger gigs we’ll rent one). The drummer isn’t happy. He’s not hugely well off and his argument is that we (bass, drums and guitar) all spend thousands. I’m taking £5k of gear to each gig, for example, so I can see his point. So, how have you guys navigated this?

Great pub and some fantastic images!

I interviewed Carol Kaye once and she wasn’t very complimentary about Fender basses. Being a brand ambassador is more than being a generational talent, you’re forced to sell the product and she’s not going to win many friends on YouTube.

A lot of being successful is turning up on time, doing the job and not being an annoying idiot. Get that right and you’ll do fine. This applies as much to bass as anything else. Music producers don’t care much about looks but they do about talent. Perhaps she has great creative ideas, is fun to be around, nails things in one take and gets a great bass sound. (Likely all these things.) I understand more young women are learning to play guitar and bass. (My daughter is at school) and Fender wants to tap into that. Plus this bass looks cool.

You seem to think everyone here is out to make you look silly or belittle your achievements. That’s not the case at all. Wish you well for the future.

No worries. We’re all friends here and sorry if I came across as a stern and joyless. I just did what you are doing and it really messed up my hands until someone helped me to understand some of the basic principles. As people have said, you can get a lesson, check out some videos or even ask a player or two in the real world. Just be sure to protect your hands. You only get two.

Feels like 2005 again when posting stuff on the internet to get a rise out of people was risqué.

You’ve initiated a conversation here and people have offered advice and a view point that differs from yours. Your hubris is great. There are two ways to do everything: passably and properly. I’d politely suggest your 7 months experience, when compared with that of others here - many of whom have spent decades playing and do so professionally - doesn’t provide the evidence to support the assertion that DB is easy. Because it isn’t. Applying electric bass technique to double bass is a bad idea for several reasons, which people have tried to explain. It really isn’t a shortcut to anything but a bad sound, hand pain and long term damage. But their your hands, not mine so crack on.

It’s a fair point and the Discover Double Bass stuff is fantastically helpful. I hope the OP understands the the responses here are all people trying to help and offer the experience of many years of epic failures, dodgy gigs, painful fingers and eyewaterinlgy bad intonation (this is all me, by the way). 7 months in Id already started gigging though, and now have a lot of gigs if I want them.

Did two in a day (while since I’ve done that!) Played Wootton Blues Festival which was brilliant. Absolutely fantastically organised, great crowd and some lovely people there. Met a couple of bass players and had a delightful pint and burger. Will return (and recommend you apply to play there, too, if you play blues music). Next, a bar called Gin & Juice in Bristol full of very attractive, well dressed and actually very appreciative young people who danced and clapped along to a set of Chess-era blues classics. (Quite possibly in an ironic way, but the venue liked us and paid so can’t complain!) Ended up with damn near £200 for the night (minus taxi home), 3 free pints and a burger.

The problems is we’re all very trusting as BC is a community. You trust in the community but individuals can still let you down. Happened to me, too. I’m now all about meeting up where possible to avoid this. I did buy an amp here that didn’t work for me. The seller accepted my reasons, allowed me to return the all and we had an adult conversation to sort out details. It’s how things should be.

I also reckon that attempting to apply electric bass fingering to DB is a recipe for disaster in the long term. If you’re not using arm weight to pull the strings down you’re using your fingers and thumb which, if done over time, will really cause you issues. Love your enthusiasm but like all new experiences, it’s often easier with an experienced guide who can help you avoid common problems, pitfalls qnd potential disasters. Basically, get a few lessons.

I’d also suggest this thread doesn’t focus on the cost of basses and sale prices through time (you have been better off buying Greggs shares than Wal basses) but the inherent greatness of basses. You can’t quantify greatness in something like pounds.

You sold them for a reason. Never forget that!

Quite possibly!

Yes, I had a couple of old Fenders bought from two different dealers and neither was interested in taking them back as a P/X or buy them back. Personally, that rang a few alarm bells, but perhaps they were struggling with cashflow. Either way, none of those basses lives here anymore. The 66 is still in its case and never gets paid either, I just can't part with it given how much of me it took to buy it. Maybe I should start using it again.

Sorry story, Chris. In the end, the buyer had no recourse in any case and was probably trying to play off on your good nature. (I sent a cheap bass to someone on here once. When it arrived, the neck had seemingly developed a split. Instead of asking what had happened, I was accused of sending a broken instrument to someone and my character was impugned. I refunded all the money and blocked them, several reasons why I don't send basses anymore...) The vintage market is an odd one. One thing that I've experienced is that vintage dealers rarely want to buy back instruments they've previously sold, which raises a red flag to me. (Not all, but some.) The current ability of fakers and forgers is incredible. Musicians are, on the whole, a trusting bunch and I'm saddened to see a lot of the dodgy dealing that goes on. Thankfully, now I only use modern instruments I'm not forever worried that a replaced jack socket, pot or re-fret will reduce the value of my instrument by £1000. I realised the stupidity of this when the tech I go to replaced the jack socket in my 66 Fender. I asked him where it was and went through his parts trash to pull it out so I could keep it with the instrument (in some weird way, ensuring it's 100% original). The sheer stupidity of keeping a part worth a few pennies hit me at that moment and, since then, I've not fished around in bins!

I’m not a drinker of the vintage Fender Kool-Aid but appreciate there is a lot to learn about it all. When I paid a substantial sum of cash 10 years ago, I got 3 experts to independently provide their view on the bass’s authenticity and there was a consensus. Since then I’ve seen lots of dubious basses for sale and it’s quite sad to see people potentially getting ripped off. A few pages back I listed two I’d previously owned for sale without the seller providing details on the changes to them.

There’s always someone, somewhere with a big nose who knows… (That’s a Smiths lyric, and meant affectionately and respectfully) This level of knowledge is why I love this forum. Last time I bought an expensive vintage bass I received the input from lots of experts before handing over the cash. It’s to be encouraged.

100 to 150 but he only actually uses a few of them. They always say that.

I’m not going to read through the 4 pages here, but I think the post its are a great idea and I salute anyone who suggested it.

To be fair, he does mention this in the description.