How much is too much?

[William James Easton]

I have been a member of this board fo ra short time now and after reading various posts, i have seen and read about many an amazing contraption with regards to the world of the bottom end and the prices that are attached to them. basses with LED lights poly-urine carbon neck, flux capcitors and a little tray off water on the back to cool your nuts down, a world of add ons to be had. It all racks up on top of , what is at the end of the day, a very basic instrument.
but as i spew out this rubbish i was wondering what peoples cash limitis are when purchasing a bass?

Me for example, i am a fan of 4 string passive basses (like jeff berlin but with out the tash and hopefully not as much of a tool) i like things plain and simple. the most i've ever spent on a bass (acttive) was £850 on a second hand but gigged Stingray (sold on for the same prce in december! i do not joke) i would have to say that £1000 would be my very very top marker when it comes to buying a bass. anymore i'd have to slap myself and remeber it's gonna be slung in the back of a fan und well used in a sweaty club somewhere.

so come on everybody whats your limit?

p.s. sorry if this has been done many times before.

p.p.s thinking about it i wouldnt pay 1000 clams. i wlways look at the 550-850 ballpark.

Edited October 6, 2008 by Rusty Shackleford

[JakeBrownBass]

personally, as much as i can spare to spend at the time of purchase

-Jake

[William James Easton]

[quote name='jake_tenfloors' post='300630' date='Oct 6 2008, 04:53 PM']personally, as much as i can spare to spend at the time of purchase

-Jake[/quote]


good selection of Encore basses then?

[john_the_bass]

I started a thread along these lines a while back. I always thought that £1000 would be my absolute limit for an insrument, but when I set myself a goal of buying an acoustic guitar for about £600, I found it was impossible to get the tone that I wanted for that price and the only guitar capable of delivering that tone was about £1500 (more even, if I'd bought a new one). So what did I do? I saved up the cash and went and found a good one - and I'm glad I did, it was way more than I had ever spent, ever wanted to spend and will probably never spend that sort of money on an instrument again, but had I not done it, I'd have ended up with a guitar costing half as much, that sounded alright, but that I would have played and thought, "I wished I'd bought that Martin...."

When I bought my 'ray I looked at the going rate for them, decided whether I wanted one enough and then went and found one for as far below the going rate as I could get one, and I was very happy to discover that I could save a few quid. I think it boils down to how much you want something and what you're prepared to sacrifice to get it.

[waynepunkdude]

£500 would be top for me so all my GASing for Stingrays and Sadowski's is pointless.

[Protium]

£300-400 tops, it'd have to be something very special to go above that. Spend more money on amplification
Any bass can sound awesome through a great amp and any bass *will* sound awful through a rubbish one.

[LukeFRC]

hmmm
probably a grand. but who knows?
I don't mind paying for something special. What I look for is functionality. I want it to do well what it is trying to do well.
I wanted a P bass so looked around read a bit and bought a nice japanese one for 450 (i think). For a fender it does exceedingly well what i want it to. You would hard pressed to convince me to sell it and spend more on a 'better' one. I'm not sure it would be that much better. some 4k super p bass really i can not see how much difference it would be.
I bought a beautiful warwick for 600 because the first really bass i ever got to play was a wonderfull old thumb and so have always wanted a warwick. given I wanted an old warwick that price was a lot for me but cheap for what I got so I was happy to pay that much.
Again I dont think there would be much I would swap/sell to upgrade it for. An old thumb maybe but thats It. Im quite happy with what I've got!


EDIT:actually I only got the jap fender P cos i was GASing for a Squier JV '57 P so would wnat one of them over the fender. yup squier over fender yeah!

Edited October 6, 2008 by LukeFRC

[OldGit]

[quote name='Rusty Shackleford' post='300623' date='Oct 6 2008, 04:45 PM']anymore i'd have to slap myself and remeber it's gonna be slung in the back of a[size=3] [b]fan[/b][/size] und well used in a sweaty club somewhere.[/quote]


Goodness! Nicely polished headstock there then?





But seriously, I never thought I'd spend as much but then I saved a bit more and got a much better bass and a much better playing experirnce ..
PS. LEDs are worth every penny with my old eyes ...

Edited October 6, 2008 by OldGit

[KevB]

Most I've spent is about £800 on a barely used ric. Probably won't spend as much on a single instrument again. Despite what happens on this forum I think generally the depreciation on 'average' basses is sufficient to curb my cheque writing hand. For what I play and the way I play it most people couldn't tell the difference between a cheap bass and a top end one anyway in my inexpert fingers. I'll never own a bass with LED's if I can possibly help it.

Edited October 6, 2008 by KevB

[lemmywinks]

My most expensive instrument is my Zoot Deluxe Custom. I paid £710 for it (with flightcase), which is not a lot for a custom luthier built instrument. At first i thought it had more features than i need and that i wouldn't be using stuff like the D-tuner or the high pass switch, but they come in handy.
Plus it's got shedloads of ebony on it

[thisnameistaken]

I've never spent more than £700 on a bass, and I don't think I would. Ultimately I won't buy anything I won't gig, and I'd be nervous about gigging anything more expensive than that. The good thing is that most of the basses I'd want will show up on the used market for £700 or less anyway, so it's not much of a limitation.

[JimBobTTD]

All my basses were acquired on the cheap. But I would, one day, like to have one custom made for me. So, "too much" would be more than a fairly simple custom bass would set me back. I think £1500 would cover it, but £1500 right now is [i]way more [/i]than I can afford, and thus is currently too much!

[Dr.Dave]

[quote name='JimBobTTD' post='300685' date='Oct 6 2008, 05:49 PM']All my basses were acquired on the cheap.[/quote]

Good boy!

What's too much? Well , if you're short on readies you can do a gig with a £150 squier. Above that is luxury. I gig lots and earn a few quid so I consider those luxuries a reward , an investment in my pleasure and that of my audience.

Having said that - it would have to be something really spesh to go above a grand , most likely a birth year Fender. That would be several grand so is way out of what I'd be prepared to spend. If all my kit was stolen I'd be happy to have £400 to spend on a gigging bass and bank the rest of the insurance money.

Having said that !!!.... if I'd put a few k into a 61 Fender ( or 2 or 3) I wouldn't be shitting bricks looking at the stock market and seeing my retirement get further away right now!

[Tait]

the most i'd pay for a bass is £500.

obviously that'd change if i became a famous bassist or something, where playing bass is my life, but as a hobby i wouldn't spend any more than £500.

i paid £990 for the shuker course, but thats different, cos it includes the course as stuff as well. £500 for an off the shelf or custom bass.

[Waldo]

Whilst we're here, we might as well tackle the question of how long a peice of string is.

[sgt-pluck]

Law of diminishing returns dictates that you have to spend increasingly large amounts of wad to achieve increasingly small amounts of improvement - and that there should be a 'sweet spot' price bracket that no-one need exceed ( unless of course you're a hard-nosed coke-snorting bubbly-qaffing million quid plus bonus banking city w***er. Oh sorry that was last month ) . I'd like to say that I would never spend more than £500 on a bass for instance, but I just don't believe myself!

Pluck

Edited October 6, 2008 by sgt-pluck

[William James Easton]

[quote name='Waldo' post='300696' date='Oct 6 2008, 06:01 PM']Whilst we're here, we might as well tackle the question of how long a peice of string is.[/quote]

my cats playing with one, its about 45cm.

[markytbass]

I paid £850 for a 2nd hand Stingray last year, sold it a few months ago for £750 after I bought the Warwick Dolphin. I have also bought a load of parts and built my own Jazz bass, it cost me less than £160 and play's superb.

[OutToPlayJazz]

The most I've ever spent on an electric bass was £1900 for my KingBass. That was a very special case, as it was built to order for me, so it was worth the amount. The dream? A Wooten signature Fodera at $9200 is where it'd be at, but I don't have (and nor am I likely to have) that sort of money! I also need to justify the cost against how much money it's going to earn me back. Obviously a lot of my earnings come from playing, but it's got to balance out in the end.

So to answer your original question, I'd say if you've got it & you know you're going to love it & use it professionally for years to come, the sky's the limit.

Rich.

[Alastair]

Most I would spend is a grand tops. I'm after a stingray...and maybe after that a Dano shorthorn. That'd be a dream stable (coupled with my 2 jazz's ).

[Buzz]

How much is too much?

It's when you've done too much, much to young and you're......


Seriously though, I'm looking at around £450-500 for my next bass. I only want one so my other 2 will be sold.

[Lfalex v1.1]

[quote name='Waldo' post='300696' date='Oct 6 2008, 06:01 PM']Whilst we're here, we might as well tackle the question of how long a peice of string is.[/quote]

I think that you will find that it is twice the length from the middle to one end
The other answer being somewhere between 30 and 36 inches (for the most part)

Sarcasm aside, it is a good idea to spend as much as is necessary to achieve the tone and features that you desire/require, with the sole caveat being that you intend to keep the bass indefinitely. No bass is "too good" for any player. A good instrument will encourage you to play more, get better, and grow into it.

No point splashing out and then moving it on at a huge loss.
Furthermore, allow your "collection" to grow, and it's lovely when you come back to an instrument that you haven't played in a while only to discover that your technique or ability has moved on sufficiently for you to be able to wring even more out of it.
That really is satisfying.

[CPBass]

The piece of string question comes in strongly here.

It depends on my disposable cash situation I guess. I paid well over 2.2K for my Warwick (1997) and have never quibbled or toyed with guilt for a second, nor have I ever considered selling her on regardless of how strapped I have been. She has bought so much to my playing & tone the money does not come into the equation. If I won the lottery Id be after designing some Alembics a Carl Thompson would be a must and of course the obigatory vintage Jazz bass or two. All played through a full EBS stack with a roadie on call

At the moment the basses I seem to really take interest in and get GASsy over are in the 1500 - 2k mark.

Sky is the limit really.

Edited October 6, 2008 by Voodoosnake

[4000]

[quote name='Waldo' post='300696' date='Oct 6 2008, 06:01 PM']Whilst we're here, we might as well tackle the question of how long a peice of string is.[/quote]

[Tee]

[quote name='Waldo' post='300696' date='Oct 6 2008, 06:01 PM']Whilst we're here, we might as well tackle the question of how long a peice of string is.[/quote]

Twice the length of the centre to the end. Edit: i see someone has answered that one already. ^_^

I'd probably fork out 12-1500 for a nice custom shop strat. A little less for a bass, perhaps around a grand. Speaking of basses, why is it so hard to find the basic Sandberg CAL P4? They all seem to be the PM, PJ, or JJs.

Edited October 6, 2008 by Tee