Sue Ryder Bass Arrived

[mcnach]

[quote name='pikeman' post='1132425' date='Feb 18 2011, 04:33 PM']I went in to my local Sue Ryder shop on the off chance they had a bass left. No such luck.
I came out the proud owner of a new guitar stand for £7-99. Packs up nice and small and fits in my bag a treat.
Now to start modding it. [/quote]

It makes sense... sell them teh basses... then tehy'll need stands!

[JTUK]

[quote name='lemmywinks' post='1132336' date='Feb 18 2011, 03:22 PM']Damn right, as soon as i finish work i'm going to storm straight to the SR shop to challenge the old dear who sold me the bass, i'm gonna kick her in the t1ts and demand she rectifies the unplayable piece of junk she sold me. There's no possible way it can ever be a good bass because she had the cheek to sell it to me for £60.[/quote]

Yep...you should exactly do that

[JTUK]

[quote name='Johnston' post='1132389' date='Feb 18 2011, 04:02 PM']Just because some things are cheap doesn't mean they are. I used to work in cars . Dealer part £250 the same part from the same factory same stamped part No.s just without a hologram sticker from the motor factors up the road less than a ton. A wee sticker can make a big difference on the perceived value and quality of parts. Would you say the person that bought the cheaper part "thinks" they got a bargain or they did??

It's hard to even get a solid generic non painted P body for £60 delivered even if the rest is sh*te your already even plus the rest can go on Ebay for profit.[/quote]


You think this is the same thing...??

Anyway..I have changed my opinion on the basis of these posts.

I am so pissed off that Fender have the gaul to charge me £800 or whatever for a complete rip-off when I can get it for £60.
It's not fair, I tell you.

Edited February 18, 2011 by JTUK

[JTUK]

And what price would they be discounted down from..?

I really really really don't need to see these. You can go into any music shop that sells basses for £199 and you'll get the same.
That is a rough around the edges bass with cheap components. Some might play above that price grade, most will not.

As to the OP.. are the worth £59.99...? depends. They are certainly better value at that price than the original.

I find it funny that decent set of strings could cost you two thirds the price of the entire bass.

These basses have strings, right..?

[hillbilly deluxe]

I've got a feeling that fender,are making a bigger profit than whoever built the Sue Ryder basses.IIRC i read that it cost roughly £25 to build a Mexican Strat when they first came out.

[icastle]

[quote name='JTUK' post='1132559' date='Feb 18 2011, 06:29 PM']And what price would they be discounted down from..?[/quote]

Assuming they were after their original investment back - I'd guess about £99.

[JTUK]

For sure, buy one for your kids if you aren't sure they will stay interested, buy one to mod the hell out and get the practise, buy one as that is all you have spare at the moment..buy one for charity but don't buy one expecting it to be any good.

There are plenty of basses 10 times the price - and some, that are good only for firewood...
This will be a cheap and nasty bass.

But if it serves your purpose, enjoy.

[lemmywinks]

[quote name='JTUK' post='1132914' date='Feb 18 2011, 11:32 PM']For sure, buy one for your kids if you aren't sure they will stay interested, buy one to mod the hell out and get the practise, buy one as that is all you have spare at the moment..buy one for charity but don't buy one expecting it to be any good.

There are plenty of basses 10 times the price - and some, that are good only for firewood...
This will be a cheap and nasty bass.

But if it serves your purpose, enjoy.[/quote]


So i take it you have played a SR bass this evening then?

Or are you still saying they're cr@p without ever actually touching one?

[LawrenceH]

[quote name='JTUK' post='1132482' date='Feb 18 2011, 05:29 PM']I am so pissed off that Fender have the gaul to charge me £800 or whatever for a complete rip-off when I can get it for £60.
It's not fair, I tell you.[/quote]

I lived in the Middle East for a year a couple of years ago, at a time when their markets were just getting flooded with cheap Chinese consumer goods. If you saw the retail prices on goods there, identical to the ones they sell here in the uk that seem pretty damn cheap, you'd realise just how much of a mark-up there is compared to the cost of production.
It's simply astonishing how cheap stuff is to make nowadays especially in terms of raw materials. Improved QC is one of the main things you pay more for from those factories. But even with that factored in, given the measly wages they pay I bet they could churn out the equivalent of a US Fender bass for under £60 cost. It's only some cheap wood, paint and small bits of metal. A US Fender is a pretty damn simple item.

[LawrenceH]

Btw I've not played an SR (though a friend has bought a tele that I'll have a look at at some point), just making the point that price in a global capitalist market is dictated more by supply and demand than actual production cost, since that's just negligible. We pay way more for these items than some other places and I very much doubt they'd deliberately manufacturer and sell at a loss!

[mcnach]

[quote name='JTUK' post='1132914' date='Feb 18 2011, 11:32 PM']This will be a cheap and nasty bass.[/quote]


You know what? you're right.
It is truly awful. I bought one and repeated because my lighter broke so I couldn't burn a few notes that day.



better now?

[JTUK]

[quote name='lemmywinks' post='1132941' date='Feb 18 2011, 11:52 PM']So i take it you have played a SR bass this evening then?

Or are you still saying they're cr@p without ever actually touching one?[/quote]

Look, they are cheap and nasty. there is no doubt about it, just as they would be if they charged full price in the Hi St.
You can go to any shop that sells this type of budget gear like Encore and the like and find this type of bass.
They are terrible basses..and I have seen plenty of them...most music shops would be trying to sell them.
I'm sorry if I am telling you this and you don't like it but there is no way they are not cheap and nasty

The plating will be poor, the paint poor, the wood poor, etc etc ... if may well be true that these issues apply to
basses that cost much much more but it doesn't make any odds.

The only way they are not cheap and poor is if your definitions differ widely from mine. but there is widely and widely.
They might be worth the money to you and you might enjoy them for whatever reasons and that is fine..but some things cost nothing for a reason.

I've seen enough of these things to define them as cheap and nasty, I don't need to view every single one and I'd be quite happy if you'd actually got a decent-ish playable one by a stroke of good fortune but these aren't designed as decent instruments, they are designed to be knocked out and fill a void.

We don't need to go around in circles again..some of you are entirely happy with your purchase, that is ok.

[lemmywinks]

[quote name='JTUK' post='1133060' date='Feb 19 2011, 08:45 AM']Look, they are cheap and nasty. there is no doubt about it, just as they would be if they charged full price in the Hi St.
You can go to any shop that sells this type of budget gear like Encore and the like and find this type of bass.
They are terrible basses..and I have seen plenty of them...most music shops would be trying to sell them.
I'm sorry if I am telling you this and you don't like it but there is no way they are not cheap and nasty

The plating will be poor, the paint poor, the wood poor, etc etc ... if may well be true that these issues apply to
basses that cost much much more but it doesn't make any odds.

The only way they are not cheap and poor is if your definitions differ widely from mine. but there is widely and widely.
They might be worth the money to you and you might enjoy them for whatever reasons and that is fine..but some things cost nothing for a reason.

I've seen enough of these things to define them as cheap and nasty, I don't need to view every single one and I'd be quite happy if you'd actually got a decent-ish playable one by a stroke of good fortune but these aren't designed as decent instruments, they are designed to be knocked out and fill a void.

We don't need to go around in circles again..some of you are entirely happy with your purchase, that is ok.[/quote]


So you still haven't played one then?

[setekh]

[quote name='JTUK' post='1133060' date='Feb 19 2011, 08:45 AM']Look, they are cheap and nasty. there is no doubt about it, just as they would be if they charged full price in the Hi St.
You can go to any shop that sells this type of budget gear like Encore and the like and find this type of bass.
They are terrible basses..and I have seen plenty of them...most music shops would be trying to sell them.
I'm sorry if I am telling you this and you don't like it but there is no way they are not cheap and nasty

The plating will be poor, the paint poor, the wood poor, etc etc ... if may well be true that these issues apply to
basses that cost much much more but it doesn't make any odds.

The only way they are not cheap and poor is if your definitions differ widely from mine. but there is widely and widely.
They might be worth the money to you and you might enjoy them for whatever reasons and that is fine..but some things cost nothing for a reason.

I've seen enough of these things to define them as cheap and nasty, I don't need to view every single one and I'd be quite happy if you'd actually got a decent-ish playable one by a stroke of good fortune but these aren't designed as decent instruments, they are designed to be knocked out and fill a void.

We don't need to go around in circles again..some of you are entirely happy with your purchase, that is ok.[/quote]
I was working under the impression you just felt differently for a reason, but now you're seeming more and more to be that close-minded uncle people in the family don't talk about. The one with whom there's no point arguing with.

[LawrenceH]

[quote name='Johnston' post='1133106' date='Feb 19 2011, 09:55 AM']Saying something has to be nasty because it's cheap is just snobbery.[/quote]

Not exactly, I'd say it's more people often don't understand how global commodity prices work and base their assessment of what stuff costs to make on what we pay in Europe. Apart from supply and demand the other major factor dictating these things is how many middlemen an item has gone through, rather than material costs.

How many grams of metal on a p bass? Not more than 1kg I'd hope as a player, even with a high mass bridge, the scrap value will be pennies. Add a few kg of what are pretty common woods and some trivial electronics, your raw material costs are negligible! Especially where you're in an industrial country close to the production source. Factory costs are going to be far more significant, but they're really not going to be very much per instrument if it's a large operation.

So, whether these SRs are any good I can't say but even with poor QC a fair number of instruments will be well within the prescribed tolerances rather than at the extremes. They might have cheaped out on metal but equally they might not - either way the factory'll be making a profit. I wouldn't be surprised if a decent example did as good a job as a CV Squier and those are perfectly playable instruments.

[tom1946]

I'm not getting into an argument over these basses. I owned a guitar shop for some years up to my retirement and have seen a lot of crap come and go. Years ago a bass from china was total rubbish, in fact 'nowthenour**d' on ebay is still selling them by the look of it.

In the last 2-3 years the chinese stuff has got much much better and would compete with Korean guitars and basses easily.
If you took a part container load for say £10,000, you could buy a guitar or bass for around $12-$14 each. Naturally they weren't well setup but that was our job and we did it well.

As said I bought 4 of these SR's to keep and have a play with and I have seen much much worse for the money. So please try one before criticising them, passing judgement from a no knowledge position is hardly objective.

imo of course

Edited February 19, 2011 by tom1946

[JTUK]

[quote name='setekh' post='1133228' date='Feb 19 2011, 11:45 AM']I was working under the impression you just felt differently for a reason, but now you're seeming more and more to be that close-minded uncle people in the family don't talk about. The one with whom there's no point arguing with.[/quote]

Well, there is no point trying to convince they are any good...they may just about be playable for some people.
I have given reasons why they will not be any good as the parts will be cheap and the build nasty, IMV.
If a bass retails for £199 or less, then you can't expect any more as the retail and distributor could take the biggest part of all that leaving it with a build cost of...???
The whole thing is designed to be cheap ..there is no preimium built in quality here, none whatsoever..everything is done at lowest possible cost. If that is not a definition of cheap and ansty, I don't know what is.

People are talking about shimming necks and putting replacement pickups etc, so this is not a good build.
It might suffice for the job you want it to do but that is about it.

You shouldn't expect any more and if you get it..BONUS.
I am just replying to the OP who asked if they are any good. The answer will be no, but they may be worth the punt for £59.99

[JTUK]

[quote name='tom1946' post='1133247' date='Feb 19 2011, 12:02 PM']I'm not getting into an argument over these basses. I owned a guitar shop for some years up to my retirement and have seen a lot of crap come and go. Years ago a bass from china was total rubbish, in fact 'nowthenour**d' on ebay is still selling them by the look of it.

In the last 2-3 years the chinese stuff has got much much better and would compete with Korean guitars and basses easily.
If you took a part container load for say £10,000, you could buy a guitar or bass for around $12-$14 each. Naturally they weren't well setup but that was our job and we did it well.

As said I bought 4 of these SR's to keep and have a play with and I have seen much much worse for the money. So please try one before criticising them, passing judgement from a no knowledge position is hardly objective.

imo of course [/quote]

I don't need to go and see Ashden and Diamonds to know they aren't any good in the way you should measure these things in football, for example, I really don't.

As for Chinese production... most of my friends would say that are capable of knocking things up very cheaply but don't you dare expect them to put anything right..the price is too cheap for that.
So, another definition of cheap and nasty for you if applied to this case.

Maybe we don't have that same defintion of cheap and nasty., but I wouldn't dare sell one.

[setekh]

[quote name='JTUK' post='1133248' date='Feb 19 2011, 12:02 PM']Well, there is no point trying to convince they are any good...they may just about be playable for some people.
I have given reasons why they will not be any good as the parts will be cheap and the build nasty, IMV.
If a bass retails for £199 or less, then you can't expect any more as the retail and distributor could take the biggest part of all that leaving it with a build cost of...???
The whole thing is designed to be cheap ..there is no preimium built in quality here, none whatsoever..everything is done at lowest possible cost. If that is not a definition of cheap and ansty, I don't know what is.

People are talking about shimming necks and putting replacement pickups etc, so this is not a good build.
It might suffice for the job you want it to do but that is about it.

You shouldn't expect any more and if you get it..BONUS.
I am just replying to the OP who asked if they are any good. The answer will be no, but they may be worth the punt for £59.99[/quote]
Fair enough, it's sound reasoning. I just disagree with your assumptions.

Still, like I said earlier (and tom1946 gave evidence for), I feel like you might be looking at these the same way at these people looked at japcrap years ago. Even if they're still not your cup of tea, I think you'd be surprised.

[JTUK]

[quote name='LawrenceH' post='1133235' date='Feb 19 2011, 11:53 AM']Not exactly, I'd say it's more people often don't understand how global commodity prices work and base their assessment of what stuff costs to make on what we pay in Europe. Apart from supply and demand the other major factor dictating these things is how many middlemen an item has gone through, rather than material costs.

How many grams of metal on a p bass? Not more than 1kg I'd hope as a player, even with a high mass bridge, the scrap value will be pennies. Add a few kg of what are pretty common woods and some trivial electronics, your raw material costs are negligible! Especially where you're in an industrial country close to the production source. Factory costs are going to be far more significant, but they're really not going to be very much per instrument if it's a large operation.

So, whether these SRs are any good I can't say but even with poor QC a fair number of instruments will be well within the prescribed tolerances rather than at the extremes. They might have cheaped out on metal but equally they might not - either way the factory'll be making a profit. I wouldn't be surprised if a decent example did as good a job as a CV Squier and those are perfectly playable instruments.[/quote]


Not got a problem with this..... have seen a few awful Squiers and played them though.
Put them straight back on the stand...
Never wondered why they didn't sell and end up heavily discounted.

[JTUK]

[quote name='setekh' post='1133256' date='Feb 19 2011, 12:12 PM']Fair enough, it's sound reasoning. I just disagree with your assumptions.

Still, like I said earlier (and tom1946 gave evidence for), I feel like you might be looking at these the same way at these people looked at japcrap years ago. Even if they're still not your cup of tea, I think you'd be surprised.[/quote]

ok, no problem.

For me... I like a bass that I have a type of empathy with...any old block of wood doesn't work.
I think you can tell if you are going to get this just by picking one up...most you wouldn't have to bother doing that.
Things like the neck joint and the feel of the neck would be a cause for concern. even the finish on the neck would
be an indicator. The paint job as well.
That is without getting to the metalwork which will likely stain or flake after some use...that is if the pegs can hold them in tune. The metal itself will be poor. Not a problem for the bridge plate, but the saddles and grub screws..??? And the pickup..???

If someone is still using one in 2-3 years time, would probably say 6 months, even with original parts, then maybe I'll review my cheap and nasty post.
In fact, post your experiences after that time.

[lemmywinks]

I don't honestly know where all these negative comments are coming from. I'll repeat again:

[b]

[size=6]You have never played one![/size][/b]

[Ou7shined]

JTUK you are on to your spuds here pal. This is a fan thread and no place for common sense or hypotheses. Clearly until you have played one your assumptions (right or wrong) will carry little weight. It's a shame that there are positive comments from guys who likewise have not played one but their assumptions are going unchallenged (as are some of the less well conceived anti-anti-comments) but there you go.

I stuck my head above the parapet too but got no response to my post, presumably as I have first hand experience.... and maybe a less abrasive approach.

The fact of the matter is that the Sue Ryder bass has become a bit of a phenomenon and if it weren't for the fact that they were on sale for £60 no one would have batted an eye at them. I don't think anyone who has admitted to owning one (my wee joke ) hasn't found at least one bad point about them then followed up with "but for £60 it ain't bad". Who among us will not defend our newly purchased bass to the death? Apart from a few crazy claims most people seem to know what they have and where it sits in the grand scheme of things.
The scale of "playability" is not black and white - we all know that the punters at a gig haven't a scooby doo about basses. Is it not then reasonable to presume that even some of us players have cloth-ears too.

From what we've seen at this end of the thread there is little point upsetting the apple cart during the honeymoon period and until critical mass has evened out and normality has resumed it's probably best to just stfu or follow the flock and go out and buy one..... or four.

I've set a reminder in my phone to resurrect this thread in a years time. Get your facepalm smileys ready.

Edited February 19, 2011 by Ou7shined

[JTUK]

[b]Ou7shined[/b] yeah, I know. LMAO

I was just having fun and I, too, will be resurrecting this thread. I will also think of it when I see threads asking about this replacement pup or neck shims....just subjects off the top of my head, mind, that might end up being an issue in some distant future..or even sooner

I understand the point of fads and fashions on here. Have seen them from time to time and then watch how many of these greatly lauded pieces of kit are quietly put up in FS, it does make you wonder what criteria people use to buy such things.

It has been fun ..and an hey, £60 isn't bad. You'll get that back from all the work it gets you.

[Musicman20]

If mine is still alive ill let you know. Let's see what a few heavy gigs does to it.