Cheap Acoustic Bass for a beginner?

[Bassman Sam]

My mate has asked me to look out for a cheap acoustic bass for his lad as he's getting lessons at school but I've no idea what I'm looking for. Any help welcome, BTW under £75 only.

[oxfordchris]

Hi
Is this any use a little more than 75.00
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[neepheid]

Unless there's some specific reason why he needs an acoustic I would say that a cheap acoustic bass will probably put him off bass for life.

[chris_b]

The Squire starter packs are usually very good as a first instrument. I'd agree that an acoustic bass would not be my choice to start learning bass.

[Bassman Sam]

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1319367230' post='1413071']
Unless there's some specific reason why he needs an acoustic I would say that a cheap acoustic bass will probably put him off bass for life.
[/quote]


I know what you mean but the school don't do one to one teaching, imagine 10 practice amps all blasting bum notes for a hour. Hence, the acoustic route.

[lemmywinks]

Keep an eye out for the old Ozark, Hohner, Alliance etc ones. They all look similar (same factory probably) and can set up quite well whilst keeping within budget. I would extend your budget a bit to include a setup though as acoustic basses can need a fair bit of work, also maybe some nylon coated strings although he'll get more volume from bronze or steel rounds.

When i got mine it rattled like hell (poor fret job/badly cut fret slots) and the bridge and nut slots needed filing right down. It's a nice instrument though and I never had any problems playing it, it just requires a bit more effort and focus to get the desired sound out of it which I never saw as a bad thing at the learner stage. Certainly not painful to play like a bad acoustic guitar with cheeswire strings, just made me think a bit more about how i fretted a note.

A friend of mine has a Samick AB which was pretty cheap and it's a dream to play, really well built with a low action straight from the factory. Lots more volume and low end acoustically than my Ozark too.

[Dubs]

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1319367230' post='1413071']
Unless there's some specific reason why he needs an acoustic I would say that a cheap acoustic bass will probably put him off bass for life.
[/quote]

+1

It's a different beast; can be difficult to get your hands around and play with any fluidity. Not ideal to start out with but I understand the reasons.