Burns-bass

I really don’t think in the UK we can laugh about China and it’s manufacturing. The UK is a fading power trading on past glories. China is technologically more advanced with infrastructure and industry we can only dream of.

Those tools that try and calculate the cost of an item historically in today's currency are really basic and flawed. A better way to relate it to lived experience would be the proportion of the sale price relative to income. For example, in the early 1960s an imported US Strat would cost about £200. The average weekly take home wage was £16 – so that's about 12 weeks work. Today, through the magic of manufacturing, we can get one for about a month's wage.

He still lives with his mum and dad. I’d be that enthusiastic if everything was still done for me rather than being a tired and jaded 43 year old man.

Excellent post. My computer is use for work cost 2 or 3 times a US Fender bass, but I need it for the speed and processing power. Given that the computers I own run my business and support the lives of about 10 other people, makes sense to buy the best and get the value from them.

There’s often a weird relationship where people with hugely expensive instruments can barely play. I’ve witnessed this many times in vintage guitar shops, or at bass shows. Manufacturing and production in 2924 is so good. The basses you can get for £100 we would have paid almost 5 times as much in the 90s. The £1500 bass I use now is head and shoulders above any vintage instrument I’ve ever played.

I’ve owned a few of the lower end models but I’d love one of the expensive ones.

In my experience, this is often smoking and/or drinking...

That seems like the only reasonably priced instrument on the whole site.

It’s from 1978 I believe and has previously been owned by several members here.

In over 30 years of playing I’d never played a Gibson bass (but I always wanted one). I remember in 2002 finding a Gibson Grabber for £250 in Trade-It (ask your dad) but it was gone when I called. Anyway, fast forward to 2024 and this dropped onto my inbox and promptly a deal was made. Pick up this week and the bass is here and what a wonderful thing.

I’ve had this happen to me and it’s really gut wrenching too. Bad form for the shop to do so. That’s noted.

Apparently you can request all the images but I agree. (Sometimes a CMS only allows you to upload a limited number of images.) This one was advertised before then removed. Too many unknowns with a refin like this to invest.

Took me years to save up and get it. Used to record a few albums and play all my big gigs. Now safely stored under a futon.

I’d never justify £7.5k on a bass but if I did I’d be at Andy Baxter.

Repro bridge as well. If the shop can’t spot that not sure I’d have confidence in their ability to authenticate the whole thing.

100% agree with this. What we're likely to see if the increasing importance of live performance and human interaction. We're seeing people losing trust (and faith) in digital media. When you can't be certain what you're reading, seeing and hearing is true, you'll look to validate it through your own experience. Current iterations of AI are useless for stuff like content generation. (I know because I work with it and see it every day.) But in a few years time, it'll likely be indistinguishable from human-generated content, at which point the value of that will disappear completely. My business, for example, won't exist in 5 years time in the way it does now. That's not scaremongering, it's true – and it will be the same for many other roles, professions and entire sectors. We can chose to embrace AI and allow it to perform transactional roles and socialising the benefits. Or we can let it be owned by billionaires who cream off the profits while the rest of us suffer. I have a hunch what will happen...

Sight reading with no prior knowledge of the piece is very very hard. Classical players will spend months (if not years) learning pieces and still need the music. I wouldn’t beat yourself up about it!

The "it cost less in the past" game can get boring and obviously price doesn't necessarily reflect value. But, as someone who has recently been through a fairly traumatic experience buying an old bass (and subsequently discovered it was stolen) I would agree with the statement that if it appears too good to be true it probably is. In the end, the used price here is probably still less than the new price.

I think the bass returned to auction where it was picked up but the weird fantasist / liar / crazy guy who runs Essex Recording Studios. I had a bass that was played by Entwistle with photos and never thought to mention it to the the new owner. This is just utterly pathetic and patent nonsense.

This was a concession sale apparently and had only just been dropped in. The shop is nice but everything is priced quite high. Still, lovely place and good luck to them!

Congrats! Seems like a lovely bass and still less than the cost of a new one…